Supper’s ready

It took a long time for 'Suppers Ready' to make sense to me but now it's probably my favourite peice of music. It's a bit like a book I suppose.The chapters on their own wouldn't tell you much so you need to read the entire book.

In my opinion, if you accept the concept of "song", Songs can't be different from what you find in the LPs, no matter how it could or should be.

It's true that the medium (LP and CD) and the marketing have always forced the musicians decision (even prog musicians, I think). And, of course, this is very far from my ideal of prog music.

Nevertheless, if you don't accept the song as "base unit" for popular music, you should suggest, or discuss, a "new base unit" (in another topic maybe?).

ivan_2068 wrote: Supper's Ready is not a disconnected collection of short songs is a narration of a battle between Good and Evil using humour, sarcasm and dramatism.

It is generally considered to be an adaptation of the Book Of Revelations (the ultimate horror novel) from the Bible

I hear you Maani, "Dark side of the moon" is a good example.

I think the difference between that and "Supper's ready" is that the tracks can be played in isolation. "Money" was released as a single, and the "Great gig in the sky" is often heard on its own. I can't say with any authority, but I think some tracks from DSOTM have been performed in isolation from the rest of the album by PF (open to correction!).

The various sections of "Supper's ready" would never be heard on their own*, most would sound far less impressive outwith the 20+ minute overall umbrella. (*perhaps that's why Horizon's isn't actually part of the track, Hackett wanted to retain it's "identity"?) The sum of the parts of "Supper's ready" is less than the whole.

Don't get me wrong, "Supper's ready" is one of my favourite tracks by anyone, I reckon many other bands could learn from what makes it what it is.

SR is a defining moment in prog rock, IMO, but by no means my favourite Genesis track. After I had explored the whole track time and time again I found I was able to listen to 'Willow farm' and 'Apocalypse in 9/8' in isolation quite happily.

Its when that mellotron comes in at the end of the 9/8 section - thats still melts me even now.. '..In blood, he's writing the lyrics for a brand new tune'..

Sorry, got carried off there..

It's SR and 'Watcher of the skies' which people most identify with Foxtrot, but my favourite is actually 'Can utility & the coastiners'

When Marillion first presented "Misplaced Childhood" to hungry audiences back in the 1980s, it was announced that it would be a 45-minute concept album with two tracks - one called side 1, the other called side 2.

"Kayleigh" and "Lavender" seem to have additional grooming, however, which, together with over-exposure makes the two songs stand out more than they rightly should.

"Supper's Ready", musically, is comprised of 5 identifiable sections with a reprise of the second section at the end. Whether they were composed individually and then strung together is conjecture for anyone apart from the band members. It certainly looks that way under the microscope, as thematic material from other sections is used as a kind of glue, hence unravelling the sections does not necessarily produce 5 complete 3 or so minute songs.

Compared to a piece of classical music, e.g. Beethoven's 5th, it is obvious which is the more self-contained, in terms of through-composition, but making a slightly fairer comparison to, say Beethoven's 6th, we can note passing similarities in the programmatic style.

Or we can just take it as the masterpiece it is!

 

Supper's ready was an attempt at Gabriel putting together a concept forged by music post-It note of he, Rutherford and Banks. It is conceptual not music snippits like Abby Road put together by George Martin not even a Beatle (although I might get at argument on that one). Gabriel tried to extend himself again in this manner on The Lamb and it ended the group for him (as well as being a father years ahead of the other Genesis members). Music Riff tend to be written sporaticly, but ideas concept on pros or poetry tend to be long winded at best.

This is why the comparison of Abby Road and Suppers Ready is wrong, One is an intellectual (you can accept it or not) conceptual story Suppers Ready put together by the main band membe with the help musically of fellow band members. The other Abby Road is a bunch of excellent musical and lyrical Post-it note put together by a virtuoso producer after the band left the studio!!!

See the difference my friend!

Easy Livin wrote:  Side one of Marillion's "Misplaced Childhood" (up to "Hearts of Lothian") is another which comes to mind. What if that had been actually called "Misplaced childhood", and deemed to be one track?

Marillion? Although Steve Hillage foresaw their coming popularity in 1975 (Fish Rising) they didn't come into being until ten years after Supper's Ready! Check out their song 'Grendl' for a straight lift of SR (still a good song though...)

Pop will eat itself, and what it craps gets 99% of radio airplay in the UK....

 It was definetely better with GABRIEL than COLLINS,I wasn't sure og the live version off'Seconds Out'.

flippedcanvas wrote:  It was definetely better with GABRIEL than COLLINS,I wasn't sure og the live version off'Seconds Out'.

Collins once said SR was the most nerve wracking song he had to front on the first post-Gabriel tour due to fans' expectations - imagine his chagrin then, when he stepped out at Hammersmith Odeon & saw Gabriel sitting in the front row......