Nice catch - I can't recall it on You Might Recall but I can hardly remember Me and Virgil or Tell Me Why if I'm honest. Tony says in the ATTWT interview "You know we were doing alright. Yes was dead, ELP was dead - but we were alright" or something like that. Now that quote is slightly odd since neither band were "dead" when that record released but he wasn't far off since both bands WERE dead by 79 and Genesis were only gaining traction. I'd argue Yes did really well in the US even while they weren't a thing, Drama did well here. By the time Yes really died for awhile, Genesis had probably gained more public favor but I'm speaking purely in retrospect and with assumptions of how prog records were selling over here during the late 70s compared to EU. I wasn't there myself anyway.
This is the only post-Gabriel album I am familiar with. Maybe because of Seconds Out, which I bought years before buying Trick. I think it is really really great. Only that I like more all that came before except FGTR. I adcquired Trick when I had already finished studies and had a job. Less free time and starting a diversification in taste, getting into jazz, classical, etc. I have got the rest of the discography but never devoted much time to it. Great drum sound. I don't like how Phil voice sounds here, it sounds like from a distant room. Entangled: it reminds me of Mike Oldfield instrumental records of the time, like as Phil had overdubbed his vocals over one of them.
I remember clearly from a Phil interview in the eighties, when his solo work was big, that he used cocaine to maintain his activity.
I'm pretty sure it's an electric 12 string in both "Me & Virgil" and "Tell Me Why". In any case, I was referring to the more pastoral, acoustic songs and sections that were so common in the early records and almost disappeared when Genesis shifted to the 3-man lineup.
On "Me and Virgil," Rutherford does a nasty 12-string lead solo—something I don't think he ever did anywhere else. You're absolutely right, the 3x3 tunes and "Tell Me Why" all use electric 12-string. An interesting question might be what was the last Genesis song to use acoustic guitar? Or acoustic piano, for that matter—by Duke, I think Banks was exclusively using a Yamaha CP-70 electric piano but I'd love to be proven wrong. ...And Then There Were Three... definitely has some acoustic piano... But there I go, jumping ahead of the thread. Back to the topic at hand—is "Entangled" the last time Banks played guitar on a Genesis studio track? He's credited as playing 12-string on Duke, but I can't think what track that would be on.
Ah yes, that's an acoustic piano there. And of course I'm forgetting "Open Door" which is definitely acoustic—both guitar AND piano, sounds like. EDIT: And duh, the bridge on "No Reply at All" has acoustic piano. I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting about.
Truth is, they used less acoustic instruments from 1977 on and that pastoral sound was over the moment Steve left.
Snowbound, Undertow, and Burning Rope (And Then There Were Three ...) have a great pastoral quality about them IMHO
Don't laugh, but was that on Bruce Willis's, "Return of Bruno", mockumentary from the late 80's? I remember him in an interview about Bruce's alter-ego being able to use more cocaine than anyone he had ever seen. I'm serious. I know I saw it.
Trick really shows how important Phil was to the band. Obviously, there's the outstanding vocals; he basically saved the band when many press and fans had written them off. Not only was he great on LP and on stage, but they avoided the problem of having an outsider join the ranks. But Phil also contributes musically. The fusion influence during the middle of Robbery, the end of Volcano, and all of Los Endos. And the rock beat of Squonk is, I believe he's been quoted, something that comes from his love of Zeppelin. One of my favorite Genesis tracks is B-side It's Yourself, especially the full version from the 45. (As opposed to the shortened one on the Anthology.) Genesis nerds may know the last five keyboard notes at the end of It's Yourself are the same as the first five on Mad Moon Moon. (!) I have a bootleg where this is called "Beloved Summer." Maybe that was the band's title or the bootlegger's, but either way, I feel like this song perfectly captures the feeling of a lush, humid summer day. If I had a time machine, and could only travel to one Genesis show, I think it would be a 1976 one. (My first show was Mama tour.)
No, no, it was a real interview. I saw it on TV, in a kind of special on Collins. Probably because of a tour of his.
Come to think of it, yes I agree with you on Burning Rope, particularly on the bombast elements of the instrumental section, but yeah let us us wait the right time for this ride.
Squonk This track starts with a nice steady thump courtesy of those infamous bass pedals from the sound of it. Hackett's guitar at the start is simplistic but very effective in creating the rhythmic effect that the song requires. Banks is playing melodies lower in the mix. Collins' is putting is a good vocal here also. I really like the steady rolling beat we have here, and it gives the song an appeal to me, that it otherwise may not have. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Squonk The Squonk is a mythical creature reputed to live in the Hemlock forests of northern Pennsylvania in the United States.[1][2] Legends of squonks probably originated in the late nineteenth century, at the height of Pennsylvania's importance in the potential timber industry. The legend holds that the creature's skin is ill-fitting, being covered with warts and other blemishes and that because it is ashamed of its appearance, it hides from plain sight and spends much of its time weeping.[2] Hunters who have attempted to catch squonks have found that the creature is capable of evading capture by dissolving completely into a pool of tears and bubbles when cornered. A certain J.P. Wentling is supposed to have coaxed one into a bag, which, while he was carrying it home suddenly lightened. On inspection, he found that the bag contained only the liquid remains of the sad animal. The earliest known written account of squonks comes from a book by William T. Cox called Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, With a Few Desert and Mountain Beasts (1910). Cox's account is reprinted in Jorge Luis Borges' Book of Imaginary Beings (1969). The "scientific name" of the squonk, Lacrimacorpus dissolvens, comes from Latin words meaning "tear", "body", and "dissolve".[1] ----------------------------------------------------------- A good song, that holds its own, but not a favourite.
Squonk Great sequencing to have that big Zeppelinish sound following the delicate ending of Entangled. But it does seem kinda stiff and turgid to me. Needs moar funk. --Geoff
