Genesis

[Tony L]

To my mind The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is the high watermark to such a totally ridiculous extent you can barely see anything else below it, and it was the album that destroyed them. There was a brilliant interview documentary film shown on TV a decade or so ago that reunited most of them and the internal dynamics were hilarious. It was clear Tony Banks had a real seething hatred for the massive success Gabriel and Collins had achieved outside the band, he could barely look at them. It explained a lot.

 

[Cheese]

Any Genesis album after The Lamb is mostly pop piffle, IMO.

1974 was pretty much the last year to hear prog rock, after that you had 1-2 years of emptiness until rock was in extremis by the punk scene. Some bands continued on the prog rock path, listen to ELP Works I/II and Love Beach. Great.

Abacab was pretty good, great sound. Even the 'Mama' album had its fans, today it's impossible to listen to it but soundwise it went new ways. 'That's all' was decent.

In all honesty nowadays I can't stand any prog, I can't listen to it even for a minute (maybe some Jethro Tull) so even TLLDOB is out of the game.

 

[webster]

I've no interest in seeing them live now but will treasure the memories of their gigs in the mid to late seventies - on their night (a frequent occurrence) they were absolutely stunning but as with most great bands much more effective in a two to three thousand theatre venue rather than a big stadium.

 

[simon g]

I've no interest in seeing them live now but will treasure the memories of their gigs in the mid to late seventies - on their night (a frequent occurrence) they were absolutely stunning but as with most great bands much more effective in a two to three thousand theatre venue rather than a big stadium.

My first Genesis concert was at Ipswich Civic College in 1972, along with Caravan. Maybe 100-150 there? Ah...those were the days.

 

[webster]

My first Genesis concert was at Ipswich Civic College in 1972, along with Caravan. Maybe 100-150 there? Ah...those were the days.

They say that timing is everything and mine was definitely off in respect of Genesis.
They came to my attention a few months before Gabriel decided he'd had enough and so, unless you count the Milton Keynes Womad bailout gig, I never saw that version of Genesis live.
Smallest venue for me was Guildford Civic Hall, a warm up gig for the Duke tour in 1980.
The highlight of the live shows imo was the long instrumental passages with Collins playing in tandem with firstly Bill Bruford & then Chester Thompson (think Cinema Show) - the whole of the band at the top of their game was nothing short of mesmeric and I always found them to be extremely generous with the audience in terms of show duration.
Caravan - never saw them live but love most of their albums.

 

[Rockmeister]

Wow, you are that Mark King?

My thoughts exactly. Not Mark, the bestbasssolointheworld King? Level 42?????

 

[Rodrat]

I saw them at the NEC I think it was 77 or 78. They had speakers suspended from the ceiling in banks from front to back with I assume some form of system to make sure the sound was balanced. Best sound ever at a large gig.

 

[Arkless Electronics]

No, he's not. He's one of those who prefers the banal simplicity of the 'music' of Collins over the relative complexity of Gabriel's compositions. The latter is someone you need to invest time in to fully appreciate and some people just aren't capable. I'm very lucky I can and do as Gabriel is a bona fide genius in my book and his solo albums as well as the proper Genesis catalogue (not that of the Phil Collins led Genesis Lite) have been musical highlights for me for many decades now and will continue to be so. He's also a very decent human being with his work with world musicians and human rights organisations... not an accusation I could level at Collins!

Rubbish! Collins is 10 times the musician Gabriel is! He did a few good songs like Solsbury Hill and Games without frontiers but lost it after that and went all ethnic tribal drumming shite. Melody is everything in my book and, against all odds, Collins, even at face value, could write some great tunes.
And I'll not get me coat... as no jacket required

 

[Cheese]

Rubbish! Collins is 10 times the musician Gabriel is! He did a few good songs like Solsbury Hill and Games without frontiers but lost it after that and went all ethnic tribal drumming shite. Melody is everything in my book and, against all odds, Collins, even at face value, could write some great tunes.
And I'll not get me coat... as no jacket required

I don't agree very often with @Arkless Electronics but unlike many, he isn't here for collecting likes. This deserves a like.

What I agree with, here, is that Phil Collins does have a knack for writing melodies, and he was better than Gabriel at that. I'd say that solo he was even better than with Genesis. Not many can write a song that favoured the conception of thousands of babies.

 

[garyi]

I mean let’s be honest in terms of it all Gabriel had like plastic human balls before covid so that’s a thing.

 

[Seeker_UK]

No, he's not. He's one of those who prefers the banal simplicity of the 'music' of Collins over the relative complexity of Gabriel's compositions.

Yeah.

Simple and banal AF.

 

[Seeker_UK]

Except it wasn't his! The sound was born when Hugh Padgham opened a compression enhanced 'listen mic' to talk to Collins who was drumming in the studio for Peter Gabriel's third solo album. Gabriel and Padgham were bowled over by the sound of the drums through the the compression on the mic so set about recreating it in the desk (as the listen mic was for monitoring only and did not have an input directly into the desk). Using onboard compressors and noise gates they honed the sound and the first time you hear it commercially is on the first track of Gabriels' third album, Intruder. Collins then used it... well seemingly for ever more whereas Gabriel had already moved on by 1984's fourth solo album.

 

[TheDecameron]

I mean let’s be honest in terms of it all Gabriel had like plastic human balls before covid so that’s a thing.

 

[wow&flutter]

Knebworth in 78 was my first Genesis gig, quite an experience for a school kid from a Scottish village.

The toilets were mental, as were Devo!

 

[tiggers]

Yeah.

Simple and banal AF.

Not sure what your point is here. Both compositions you have Youtubed weren't written by solely by Collins and were anyway crafted before he found the formulaic bollocks songwriting gene.

 

[tiggers]

Er... yep, that's what i said!

 

[Seeker_UK]

Not sure what your point is here. Both compositions you have Youtubed weren't written by solely by Collins and were anyway crafted before he found the formulaic bollocks songwriting gene.

I thought you were referring to Genesis fronted by Collins, not solo, given the title of the thread.

 

[Seeker_UK]

Er... yep, that's what i said!

I shared the vid as it may have been of interest to other readers.

 

[tiggers]

I thought you were referring to Genesis fronted by Collins, not solo, given the title of the thread.

To be fair I wasn't clear as the expression 'the 'music' of Collins' is definitely open to being interpreted as the music of Hackett, Rutherford, Banks and Collins Anyway I'm out of here as this exchange is as tedious as listening to Sussudio (a solo track by Collins i.e. not with anyone else).

 

[kasperhauser]

Anyway I'm out of here as this exchange is as tedious as listening to Sussudio (a solo track by Collins i.e. not with anyone else).

Doubtless you’re off to an evening of gamelan music, as it has been scientifically shown to be the most complex music, and anything simpler would be an affront.