Why does everyone hate The Battle Of Epping Forest

Reading the lyrics, it seems Peter Gabrial hsd a little Charles Dickens fever, cause it reads quite in a Dickensian fassion of wierd characters

Sacro_Porgo wrote: zeuhl1 wrote: I remember reading that the band had conceived and written it as an instrumental and were displeased when they found out Gabriel had gone in late night and laid this torrent of words on top of it without consulting with them about it. I've read similar accounts. According to Tony, Gabriel would do that quite a lot. That's why the end of Apocalypse in 9/8 isn't instrumental. In Gabriel's defense, he's usually doing the song a favor.

chopper wrote: Sacro_Porgo wrote: zeuhl1 wrote: I remember reading that the band had conceived and written it as an instrumental and were displeased when they found out Gabriel had gone in late night and laid this torrent of words on top of it without consulting with them about it. I've read similar accounts. According to Tony, Gabriel would do that quite a lot. That's why the end of Apocalypse in 9/8 isn't instrumental. In Gabriel's defense, he's usually doing the song a favor. Well, it wouldn't have made the most exciting instrumental ever.

zeuhl1 wrote: chopper wrote: Sacro_Porgo wrote: zeuhl1 wrote: I remember reading that the band had conceived and written it as an instrumental and were displeased when they found out Gabriel had gone in late night and laid this torrent of words on top of it without consulting with them about it. I've read similar accounts. According to Tony, Gabriel would do that quite a lot. That's why the end of Apocalypse in 9/8 isn't instrumental. In Gabriel's defense, he's usually doing the song a favor. Well, it wouldn't have made the most exciting instrumental ever. In the early 90's I approached a friend who ran a recording studio about removing the vocals from Epping to see what the band heard in it as an instrumental. Was told: a) it won't completely remove the vocals and b) it's going to cost more than you are willing to pay. I can't imagine Apocalypse in 9/8 without vocals though

I do rather hate The Battle of Epping Forest... why? I just find it annoying and can barely hear it... and then, it's way too long. I can think of the 3 classic Genesis songs that I hate for being annoying, which are this one, Harold the Barrel, and Take them out by Friday. But the longest of them all is Epping Forest. And then, ruining the masterpiece status of my otherwise favourite Genesis album doesn't help on how I feel about it (More Fool Me is not all that good either, but it's short and bland enough that it doesn't really harm the album much).

Sacro_Porgo wrote: zeuhl1 wrote: chopper wrote: Sacro_Porgo wrote: zeuhl1 wrote: I remember reading that the band had conceived and written it as an instrumental and were displeased when they found out Gabriel had gone in late night and laid this torrent of words on top of it without consulting with them about it. I've read similar accounts. According to Tony, Gabriel would do that quite a lot. That's why the end of Apocalypse in 9/8 isn't instrumental. In Gabriel's defense, he's usually doing the song a favor. Well, it wouldn't have made the most exciting instrumental ever. In the early 90's I approached a friend who ran a recording studio about removing the vocals from Epping to see what the band heard in it as an instrumental. Was told: a) it won't completely remove the vocals and b) it's going to cost more than you are willing to pay. I can't imagine Apocalypse in 9/8 without vocals though I think there are ways of isolating and/or removing tracks from songs nowadays that are basically free. I was listening closely to the instrumental for Epping Forrest yesterday and I though I could hear what Tony heard in it that could've justified it being instrumental. Or maybe Tony didn't want a full instrumental but just not so many words all over the place.

I naturally speak in spanish but no one seems to speak it so I look forced to write in English. I like that song, all my friends like it and I have a friend that says that is his favourite Genesis song. Although I think that is is not a masterpiece and Genesis has better tracks.

Man people are just looking for stuff not to like, who is trashing time tables? What’s so offensive about that song or more fool me? Man, I just like music, do people listen to stuff actively trying to find something not to like about it?

Edited by dougmcauliffe - April 21 2020 at 21:28

zeuhl1 wrote: Sacro_Porgo wrote: zeuhl1 wrote: chopper wrote: Sacro_Porgo wrote: zeuhl1 wrote: I remember reading that the band had conceived and written it as an instrumental and were displeased when they found out Gabriel had gone in late night and laid this torrent of words on top of it without consulting with them about it. I've read similar accounts. According to Tony, Gabriel would do that quite a lot. That's why the end of Apocalypse in 9/8 isn't instrumental. In Gabriel's defense, he's usually doing the song a favor. Well, it wouldn't have made the most exciting instrumental ever. In the early 90's I approached a friend who ran a recording studio about removing the vocals from Epping to see what the band heard in it as an instrumental. Was told: a) it won't completely remove the vocals and b) it's going to cost more than you are willing to pay. I can't imagine Apocalypse in 9/8 without vocals though I think there are ways of isolating and/or removing tracks from songs nowadays that are basically free. I was listening closely to the instrumental for Epping Forrest yesterday and I though I could hear what Tony heard in it that could've justified it being instrumental. Or maybe Tony didn't want a full instrumental but just not so many words all over the place. I thought after I posted that what once was expensive and difficult to pull off is probably cheap or free and way more efficient. Ahh well. After I'd heard initially that it was designed to be instrumental, I'd had essentially your thought, what if there was a balance of vocals and instrumental with a proper hoedown in the middle? I'd imagine it would dissipate some of the dislike out there