Entertainment For Lively Minds
It Came From Space! : Genesis
(Take heed, this is my first time on the Word site, and I figured I'd just brainstorm a short entry to try this function out.)
I like Genesis.
What I like about Genesis, or at least the 70's implementation of said band, is how completely alien their output sounds. During their 70's heyday there were alot of similar prog rock outfits competing for the spotlight, such as Pink Floyd, Yes, Jethro Tull and more, but in comparison with those bands, Genesis still prevail in terms of being "progressive", which one would assume is the point of being in a progressive rock band.
Listening to Nursery Cryme (1971), I'm always struck by the genius of The Musical Box, a song that would become a cornerstone of their live performances. Unlike the songs of the aforementioned similar bands, who were still to a large extent based in rock, "The Musical Box" sounds like something sprung out of a warped medieval songbook. Even the opening chords sound endlessly complex, and the song continues in that fashion.
I'm quite adequate when it comes to musical theory and instrumentation, yet I have never tried to learn a Genesis song. Not because I don't care for their songs, but because the songs sound way too complicated for a mere mortal to master. And that's why I like to listen to Genesis. I can allow the musical theorist in me to relax and listen, in awe of the otherworldly music contained on the records.
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Coincidentally,
I played Nursery Cryme for the first time in ages only last week. It's still my favourite Genesis album, probably because I was 16 when it was released.
As a piece, I like the wide variety of influences it betrays. Although you'll often see it described simply as a "prog" album, it's actually got a very wide range of styles. You can hear rock, folk, jazz (at a pinch), classical and even vaudeville sloshing around in there.
What gives it a unifying thread is the band's oddly gothic sound from that period. No doubt there are some specific technical reasons for this atmosphere; the choice of synthesisers, guitar treatments and so on.
I think it's a bit of a one-off, and rather splendid. Thanks for the reminder, I think the Hogweeds will march again this evening.
I haven't swarmed around with the guards of Magog. . .
for a long time either. Time to pull them out of the box.
I might be some time.
Those Gabriel-era albums
do sound incredibly dated to my ears, even the remastered versions (though admittedly, mine are the ones from about a decade ago, and they may have redone them since), and I suspect that they might put a lot of people off on those grounds alone.
Supper's Ready still rocks though.
Dad to the office!
Dad to the office!
Innocent days.
"diddley", ackshirley!
'Dad diddley office, Dad diddley office' ;-)
(Oh bum, I've just used an emoticon - aren't they included in the worst of T'Interweb?)
You're right,
it's diddley. I've just embarrassed myself by revealing what we used to sing on the bus in school days, before we bothered to read the lyrics!
For a few weeks there was a sort of competition to remember longer and longer sections of Suppers Ready, and the prog clique would sing them, badly, at the tops of our voices. It was either that or regaling the classroom with verbatim reruns of Python sketches. Oh how we laughed.
A flower?
There's Winston Churchill dressed in drag he used to be a British flag plastic bag what a drag the frog was a prince the prince was a brick the brick was an egg the egg was a bird they're coming to take me away ho ho he he ha ha to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time and I'll be happy to see those nice young men in their clean white coats.
Back of the bus, top deck, September 1971,
it is pissing down outside and we've got maths first period, but in the fug along the back seat the Genesis clique are quickly checking your remembered version against the original on a third generation D90 played back on my Sanyo mono portable with the volume dial turned up full; your cred has just soared. Top marks for accuracy. OK, we speculate, who knows Hogweed? Frantic tape changing ensues....
Wasn't '71 pre-cassette?
It was all 8-track cartidges of the Easy Rider soundtrack strategically placed on the passenger seat of a Ford Cortina round my way.
I think you're right.
It must have been at least '72 by the time such space age technology had penetrated the primeval fug of south Devon's music loving teenage consumer society.
Always...
...delighted to discuss Genesis- been my favourite band for a fair few years despite my relatively young age. There are quite a few fans on this site, I believe.
I can't say I really got into the other prog bands until I was about 13 or so, but Floyd and Genesis I've been into since I was 7 or 8 (was also into Elvis, Beatles, Stones, Bowie etc. at the same time and was aware of VDGG/Peter Hammill/King Crimson/Soft Machine etc. as my dad was a huge fan). I don't know what exactly got me into Genesis, though- I got into those others either by the radio or my parents' record collections but anyway, 'Selling England...' ended up being the first album I ever bought for myself. I was definitely aware of Britpop and all that stuff as I watched TOTP and listened to Radio 1/Virgin Radio, but none of it quite thrilled me in the same way as this 60s/70s rock...and still doesn't!
I liked it but it wasn't until I was about 11/12 that I became a full-blown obsessive and what did that was when my keyboard teacher at that time played us the Mellotron intro to 'Watcher Of The Skies'. I was absolutely floored by it- it was beautiful yet otherworldly. I pestered the teacher to play it again and again in that lesson, and scoured local boot sales/second hand shops getting the rest of their albums cheap on tape/CD. All these years on, I'm still a huge fan...and I've always loved hearing the Mellotron on anything ever since as well.
Their music doesn't strike me as being quite as complex as, say, ELP, but there is as you say an underlying strangeness there- it's Peter Gabriel's very surreal stage persona and lyrics. I think the production values on some albums have dated (mainly 'Trespass' and 'Nursery Cryme') but the actual music I think stands the test of time better than some of their contemporaries. If anything, I think some of their 80s stuff has dated more because of the heavy use of syn-drums and programming.
You should check out
Cerulean Blue by Rain - I think you'd really like it.
http://www.telosmusic.net/index.htm
Obligatory Mail on Sunday Free CD mention
I visited the parents to deliver a Father's Day card and walked away with the Genesis giveaway featuring some of the stuff from the new live album, a couple of remastered old things and 'Cinema Show' plonked in the middle. The main thing it showed was how the group degenerated enormously once everyone started putting out solo albums and were reduced as a result to jamming in the studio in order to create some sort of product. Setting off a drum machine and seeing what happens (cf 'Mama') is no substitute for writing a song, and once you're reduced to looking at the rehearsal crib sheet for lyrical inspiration ('Abacab') things surely really have reached a creative nadir (IMHO). A Trick of The Tail, on the other hand, I consider essential. There's a band with something to prove, and I think they were probably right to give Nick Lowe the "Thank you for your interest, but at this stage..." letter
Interesting...
Nobody really seems to appreciate the Collins era Genesis. I much prefer the Gabriel stuff myself - more depth
However, I do like 'Mama' - incredibly menacing sound. The rest of the album's tosh though.
A little surprised 'The Knife' hasn't been mentioned yet - an absolute classic which predates The Who's 'Won't Get Fooled Again' by some years.
Second Home by the Sea
is not tosh, sir!
I do...
...like the Collins-era too. 'A Trick Of The Tail' is a personal favourite. I think the albums got patchy in the 80s and 90s (after 'Duke') but there's not one I don't find something to like about. OK, I have to try harder with 'Abacab', admittedly...
I find the early Collins era
I find the early Collins era a high point in Genesis' output. Trick of the Tail is an amazing album, and Seconds Out breathes new life into the classics.