Genesis - The Album by Album Thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, Oct 15, 2018.

  1. peterpyser

    peterpyser Forum Resident

    Advert for the BBC Night Ride session 22 february 1970.
    If someone has a better resolution pic, please do share it!

    [​IMG]
     
  2. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    There is absolutely nothing wrong with "Seven Stones". I am also puzzled at the fact that so many Genesis fans seem to consider this a weak song.
     
  3. Godbluff

    Godbluff Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    It was shot on 8 February '73 at the Rainbow Theatre in London, so Foxtrot era. Not actually a gig though but a dress rehearsal, the gig was the following day. There are a lot of photos in circulation from it, many of which were used for record company promos - mostly of PG in various costumes, the Rainbow was the gig that introduced the batwings, flower mask, magog etc, hence the dress rehearsal the day before.
     
  4. Giant Hogweed

    Giant Hogweed Senior Member

    Location:
    Exeter, Devon, UK
    'Seven stones' is great, I kind of put this in the same bracket as 'Timetable' - just a 'normal' kind of story song, but nothing wrong with that - not everything can be epic length. Good bit of organ and mellotron in it.
     
  5. Godbluff

    Godbluff Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    It's easy to forget that Going Out To Get You was one of their key live songs when Ant was in the band, but is now largely forgotten as it never made an album. According to Tony Banks it went through hundreds of changes and, like The Knife, was around twenty minutes long at one point. It was being earmarked for the album after Trespass, but as the main part of the song was Ant's work it was dropped after he left only to be re-worked again later as a much shorter piece.
     
  6. peterpyser

    peterpyser Forum Resident

    I just wish the band members and Nick Davis looked for the presumed lost tape with more attention when they had the chance and motivation to do that.
    In 1998 for the Archive 1967-75 box and once again in 2007 for the remixing of the whole catalog they should have searched deeper in my opinion. I'm quite sure the tape for Going Out To Get You, together with the ones for Little Leaf and Wooden Mask are not lost at all, but they are still somewhere in Anthony Phillips' attic probably.
    I guess now it's far too late, nobody among the past Genesis members seem to care enough of their legacy, sadly.
     
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  7. Giant Hogweed

    Giant Hogweed Senior Member

    Location:
    Exeter, Devon, UK
    I've never thought much of 'Going out to get you' really, doesn't seem to go anywhere. Here's an interesting cover;

     
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  8. Joe McKee

    Joe McKee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Connecticut
    I've been lurking no this thread since it started - I usually don't have much to say but wanted to jump in on this -
    Seven Stones is a great song but on this album it has a lot of competition. Personally I probably rate it a second or third favorite on the album...

    A long delayed into... I started listening to Genesis based on the hits around the time of Genesis and Invisible Touch. I had a friend who had a radio show at her college - when I would show up to visit she would always play Squonk 'cause it was a longer song and would give us time to talk. (later on she did do Supper's Ready, once.) I picked up A Trick of the Tail, Wind and Wuthering, and Seconds Out. From Seconds Out it was into Gabriel era - Nursery Cryme was my first Gabriel era CD and then I worked forward from there to the Lamb. After the Lamb, I completed the three man era so lots of bouncing around from one time to another during my discovery of the band.

    In terms of the different eras, I've seen interviews where Tony and Mike both say they were always trying to sell records - prog wasn't top 40 but it did have a following at the time. Times change, so did the band. I still think they kept some of their prog chops with a song or two on each album and their hits are enjoyable enough, other than a song or two.

    A few years ago I kinda burned out on the band and have been listening a lot less. This thread has me really re-engaging and rediscovering the music and hearing things I didn't notice before (or more likely, noticed and forgot somewhere over the past 30+ years). Thanks everyone, especially mark winstanley for starting the thread and Rose River Bear for the excellent analysis.
     
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  9. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    You're welcome, glad to have you comment :)
     
  10. abzach

    abzach Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
    I think it's one of their absolute best.
     
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  11. Squealy

    Squealy Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Vancouver
    Seven Stones doesn't have much in the way of flashy solos or wacky lyrics but it's very rich melodically. I believe the song was entirely written by Tony... is it his first solo composition on a Genesis record?
     
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  12. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I'm not sure if it's his first, but now you say that, i can hear it
     
  13. Giant Hogweed

    Giant Hogweed Senior Member

    Location:
    Exeter, Devon, UK
    It makes sense that it's a Tony song, kind of grand and stately - a bit like later compositions like 'Mad man moon' or 'One for the Vine'.
     
  14. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    Seven Stones is credited to the whole band, like the rest of the album.

    I have no doubt that certain songs had more input from certain of the members than from others, but if they choose to share the credits it probably means they considered it a group effort so I prefer to think of it as such.
     
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  15. Squealy

    Squealy Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Vancouver
    They chose to credit the songs jointly while Peter was in the band, but the songs were written by various combinations of members, or individuals. Once Peter left they credited the songs more specifically (until they started writing only as a group in the 80s). Over the years fans have mostly worked out who wrote what based on interviews etc.
     
  16. fRa

    fRa Conny Olivetti - Sound Alchemist

    Location:
    Sweden
    Regarding credits, I found this list on the Internet, some years ago.
    Sorry to say, I dont remember from what site, could be progressiveears
    and I have no clue if it is correct or not
    but thought I would post it anyway, could be of interest

    Trespass:
    Looking For Someone (Banks, Gabriel, Phillips, Rutherford)
    White Mountain (Phillips, Rutherford)
    Visions Of Angels (Phillips)
    Stagnation (Phillips, Banks, Rutherford, Gabriel)
    Dusk (Phillips, Rutherford)
    The Knife (Banks, Gabriel, Rutherford, Phillips)
    Nursery Cryme:
    The Musical Box (Phillips, Rutherford, Banks, Gabriel)
    For Absent Friends (Hackett, Collins)
    The Return Of The Giant Hogweed (Banks, Gabriel, Hackett, Rutherford, Collins)
    Seven Stones (Banks)
    Harold The Barrel (Gabriel, Banks)
    Harlequin (Rutherford, Banks)
    The Fountain Of Salmacis (Banks, Gabriel, Collins, Hackett, Rutherford)
    Foxtrot:
    Watcher Of The Skie (Banks, Rutherford)
    Time Table (Banks)
    Get 'Em Out By Friday (Banks, Gabriel, Rutherford, Hackett, Collins)
    Can-Utility And The Coastliners (Hackett, Banks)
    Horizons (Hackett)
    Supper's Ready: a. Lover's Leap (Banks, Gabriel)
    b. The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man (Banks, Gabriel)
    c. Ikhnaton and Itsacon and Their Band of Merry Men (Rutherford, Banks, Gabriel)
    d. How Dare I Be So Beautiful? (Gabriel, Banks)
    e. Willow Farm (Gabriel)
    f. Apocalypse in 9/8 (featuring the delicious talents of Gabble Ratchet) (Banks, Collins, Rutherford, Gabriel)
    g. As Sure as Eggs is Eggs (Aching Men's Feet) (Banks, Gabriel)
    Selling England By The Pound:
    Dancing With The Moonlit Knight (Hackett, Banks, Gabriel, Rutherford, Collins)
    I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) (Hackett, Banks, Gabriel)
    Firth Of Fifth (Banks)
    More Fool Me (Rutherford, Collins)
    The Battle Of Epping Forest (Banks, Gabriel, Rutherford, Collins)
    After The Ordeal (Hackett, Rutherford)
    The Cinema Show (Banks, Rutherford, Collins, Hackett, Gabriel)
    Aisle Of Plenty (Gabriel, Hackett)
    The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway:
    The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (Banks, Gabriel)
    Fly on a Windshield (Hackett, Banks, Collins, Gabriel)
    Broadway Melody of 1974 (Gabriel, Banks, Rutherford)
    Cuckoo Cocoon (Hackett, Gabriel)
    In the Cage (Banks, Gabriel, Rutherford, Collins, Hackett)
    The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (Gabriel, Banks, Rutherford)
    Back in N.Y.C. (Rutherford, Banks, Gabriel)
    Hairless Heart (Hackett)
    Counting Out Time (Gabriel)
    The Carpet Crawlers (Banks, Rutherford, Gabriel)
    The Chamber of 32 Doors (Gabriel, Banks)
    Lillywhite Lilith (Collins, Banks, Rutherford, Gabriel)
    The Waiting Room (Hackett, Collins, Banks, Rutherford, Gabriel)
    Anyway (Banks, Gabriel)
    The Supernatural Anaesthetist (Hackett, Gabriel)
    The Lamia (Banks, Gabriel)
    Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (Rutherford, Banks, Collins, Hackett, Gabriel)
    Colony of Slippermen (Banks, Gabriel, Rutherford, Collins, Hackett)
    Ravine (Rutherford, Banks)
    The Light Dies Down on Broadway (Banks, Rutherford)
    Riding the Scree (Banks, Collins, Gabriel)
    In the Rapids (Rutherford, Banks, Gabriel)
    It. (Banks, Gabriel, Hackett, Rutherford, Collins)
     
  17. Thievius

    Thievius Blue Oyster Cult-ist

    Location:
    Syracuse, NY
    Seven Stones - A vastly underappreciated track which I can see calling my favorite depending on my mood. II honestly don't know what's not to like. Melodically it hits all the right notes and I'm a sucker for a good mellotrron passage. Seven Stones catures everything early 70s Genesis was about. One of the many reasons I adore Nursery Cryme and I've never understood why it doesn't get more love.
     
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  18. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    After getting through all the gabriel era with my prelistens. Nursery Cryme is still my favourite
     
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  19. Giant Hogweed

    Giant Hogweed Senior Member

    Location:
    Exeter, Devon, UK
    Has anyone seen the UK based early era tribute band 'The book of Genesis'? I haven't but I've just seen that they're playing my town next February so will probably go along.
     
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  20. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    Seven Stones

    Too much harmonic rhythm to discuss all of the chords but it is interesting to highlight the hot spots that give the song its character. The song opens in G major and then Peter sings a pickup line. A ominous sounding minor 7th chord at the word "tale". The verse starts in B flat at :20 and the goes thru tonal center changes giving the sense of uneasiness on the open sea. The chorus enters at :40 and quickly goes to the dominant chord E flat telling our ear that the verse in B flat is returning. The verse returns and the chorus follows. At 1:15 a key change enters at the chorus tail and a short interlude follows. At 1:30 a transition section leads us to the awesome bridge of the song. It starts in B flat and then goes into a beautiful half step hook of D-C# minor on the words "grieves him" and "believe him". Peter's vocals are awesome and the drama is killer. At 2:02 the intro line is reprised in partial form. A baroque sounding interlude follows based on the verse and chorus chords with everyone in perfect form. Beautiful interplay. The verse and chorus returns and then the transition section. At 3:25 the bridge returns but is ramped down dynamically and Phil adds some relaxed vocal harmonies. At 3:47 a transition section enters and goes thru a bunch of root bass changes in rock form and we don't expect the verse to return as usual. Instead at 4:01 the bridge is brilliantly reset to the key of F sharp and Tony plays a stunning series of variations on the bridge melody and chords. Listen to the amazing variation after the "believe me" hook...he uses the "old man's guide is chance" melody line and then extends it at 4:24 in chorale fashion. The song gradually slows and winds up on B major at 4:36. Some somber changes follow and a hook reminiscent of "A Salty Dog" is heard at 4:46. The song cadences and finally comes to rest on a pensive B Major chord....one half step higher than the opening key.

    I am probably in a small camp on this but IMO, this is one of Genesis finest songs. It really defies description in how it subtly changes keys. The musicianship is outstanding and Peter is amazing. Tony Banks variations on the bridge material is stunning and a masterwork of how he uses harmonic changes for emotional effect. A little bit of Procol Harum influence. In the top ten of my favorite songs by the band.
     
  21. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    I agree. It is one of their finest achievements.
     
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  22. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    I always thought that Mike or Steve may have written some of the transition parts in the song. Especially the transition to the bridge variation section where Banks solos. Sounds like Mike may have written it.
     
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  23. Highly agree with the praise of "Seven Stones". Even though it may be credited to the whole band, Tony Banks is the master of progressive rock chords. Emerson and Wakeman had a lot of flash, but there's nothing better, IMHO, than a series of chords that move you. And Banks had that ability in spades.
     
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  24. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    Interesting point about Banks chord style. His harmony approach has a balanced approach to it in that he is brilliant at using chords that have common tones but are not chords in the same key. The way he uses voicings is balanced as well and is symmetrical in many cases between the chord changes. When he does go outside of this harmonic frame, he and the band use it for added emotional impact. An example of this is the intro to The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.
    I will shut up now. :D
     
  25. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    It's all good mate. Enjoying the analysis you're all doing.
    I think a lot of these points about Banks, his technique and stylings really come into play in the late seventies and early eighties. My ear tells me he was, for the most part, driving the bus.
     
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