Genesis - Song Cycles

 

The three major song cycles of Genesis were heavily Gabriel-driven and attempted to articulate some of the more mysterious things about our existence as a human beings in this peculiar universe. Although slightly hokey lyrically, that first album shows a willingness to 'work a theme', something the band later developed into a fine art and despite the cloying strings added by arranger Arthur Greenslade, some worthwhile musical ideas can still be glimpsed, particularly on In the Wilderness and The Serpent.

 

Supper's Ready  was Gabriel's attempt to express a 'psychic' experience that he and his partner Jill went through in early 1972 that left them both shaken up. It must have had some considerable impact on his psyche, as he claimed that when he performed the 'new Jerusalem' section of the piece, he was "...singing for his life" and the idea of good triumphant over evil. Whatever, that this experience gave birth to the umberella-like Supper's Ready we can all be grateful.

 

The more convoluted Lamb took the Supper's Ready idea to its logical conclusion, this time with a talisman in the shape of Puerto Rican 'punk', Rael, who lived out Gabriel's scenarios in a mythical New York underground, confronting the hopes and fears of human life and taking in bondage, consumerism, medical trauma, sex, death and loss of identity en route, to name just a few - yes... all human life was there. The band served up a soundtrack of experimental proportions, helped in no small part by the prescence of Brian Eno, making The Lamb not only one of the band's most unique musical statements, but one of the most extraordinary artefacts in rock culture per se.

 

Once Gabriel had flown the coup, the song cycle was less influential on Genesis, although several later albums had a 'loose concept' such as the Volcano / Squonk / Los Endos trilogy on Trick of the Tail and the Earl of Mar / Quiet Earth thematic connection, the sophisticated song cycle had been very much a Gabriel-influenced thing. The closest the band came to reviving this idea was when it was announced in 1979 that their forthcoming album would have 'one long piece' on one side and a collection of shorter tracks on the other side - this never materialised but you can still trace the thematic connection of Behind the Lines / Duchess / Guide Vocal / Turn it on Again / Duke's Travels, that were originally intended to be joined as one song cycle.

 

That these were by far the best tracks on Duke testified to their strength in unity and it's a pity they were never combined in this way on the final album - although the band would have needed some stronger material for the other side of the album, as the remaining tracks on Duke were generally less inspired and considerably blander than this putative song cycle.