I've grown to like the "Hey Man/I'm The Sandman" part quite a bit --- love the intro to this section (the jazz piano/Latin percussion) and the way the "sun and sand" vocal perfectly/beautifully returns to the main melody. Mad Man Moon is my all time favorite Genesis song, on days when One For The Vine isn't. In any given year, One for the Vine is my favorite Genesis song for 183 days, and Mad Man Moon is my favorite for 182 days.
For this lover of all things Genesis and all things in the Genesis family tree: Peter's voice got better with time, and Phil's got worse with time. Only slightly worse with Phil - but for me he peaked on ATTWT/DUKE
I've tended to see the "Mad Man Moon" as a metaphor for how the tides are controlled by the moon - and in the "desert is all there will ever be" landscape that our protagonist finds himself in, the Moon has become Mad and wiped out all tides. If this is indeed the case, MMM carries a thematic link with many "body of water" themes from the Gabriel era.
Phil probably did start to lose his voice, but I thought Mama was one of the gutsiest vocals ever ... and I kind of figured that doing Mama ever night for two or three tours was probably what killed it for him.
Mama is a great one. we'll get there in due time - but to me, Phil's vocals in "Taking It All Too Hard" are the highlight of the self/titled shapes album to me - featuring his more harsh/gutsy tones right alongside his more soothing and melodic/mild vocal tones.
the land he once lived in was fertile - with a large body of water and several rivers coursing through it. Until he left his lover (which he admits) and everything turned to desert sand. Maybe his lover was of the moon (a Moon Child perhaps?) and the Moon has become mad and is wreaking vengeance?
Mama is a MONSTER of a tune that, for some reason, I can't listen to very often. Perhaps its just that cathartic? Whenever I play it, I'm moved to a degree that few other songs in my collection can. Phil's drums sound fantastic - especially the "boom boom crash" at the song's climax. Tony's keys give me goosebumps all over throughout.
I think to some degree that album got thrashed, and like many other albums that are the victim of a thrashing, they tend to make you feel like you don't want to listen to them and when you finally do .... it's like "wow, this is a really good album, why haven't I been listening to it" ... To draw us away from the albums down the track I'll use a different album as an example ... I probably hadn't listened to Dire Straits Brothers In Arms for nineteen years when the 20th anniversary 5.1 sacd came out, because that album was everywhere and just overplayed to infinity. Being crazy about 5.1, I bought it, and it took me another two years to listen to it. I was reminded what a great album it was (although I prefer Love Over Gold by a long way) and I had left it long enough that all that over playing was a distant memory, so it was enjoyable. I stopped listening to the radio in the mid to late eighties because of the disease of overplaying stuff was causing me to not want to put albums on ... I have pretty much only heard stuff that I put in the player for about thirty years lol
it will be a great album discussion when we get there, but I often view the shapes/self-titled album (Mama, Illegal Alien, and Just a Job to Do excepted) as a return to the more pastoral sounds of the 70's, after the edgy/New-Wavey ABACAB
i reckon. I like them all to be honest. I'm waiting to listen to the last three. I haven't listened to Invisible Touch or We Can't Dance for so very very long, that I may surprise myself with what I think now.
We Can't Dance does have quite a bit of synth washes and melodica touches - now that I've fallen so head over heels with the late 70's Genesis, perhaps I will like We Can't Dance more than ever before - other than the overtly poppy tracks?
No Son Of Mine is quite a sparker of a tune - I must say I prefer the "mythical" quality of the lyrics of tunes like "The Lady Lies" and "One For The Vine", but that isn't to say that NSoM is a medicore tune. Just a preference of mine (with Genesis) for their mythical/ethereal lyrics. Oddly enough, for fellow prog greats Rush, I actually prefer their realistic/slice of life 80's lyrics over their 70's mythical/ethereal lyrics.
Returning to Mad Man Moon, I also like its sequence on the disc -- a little breather right between two rockers.
MMM is one of Phil's many great drum performances. Inventive, musical, great feel and pocket. Nice percussion on this one too. Such a beautiful song. The song I most look forward to on Trick.
I think so too. The thing I noticed about the percussion here is that it's not overdone. there is a kind of drum roll crescendo at the end of one of the lines, for dramatic effect. A less professional drummer would have inserted that feature every time, but Phil only does it once.
Oops, falling behind here. I will just say that ATOTT is really in the top 5 of Genesis albums and a more-than-worthy follow-up to “The Lamb”. My first exposure to “Dance on a Volcano” was that 1992-tour medley, so I was extremely excited the first time I heard the studio version with its insane fusion outtro - something I wish had stuck around live a bit longer. “Entangled” is my favourite “soft” Genesis song and to my ears is absolute perfection. “Squonk” is interesting, there’s not much else like it in the Genesis catalogue and to me it’s never been a favourite, but my best mate says it’s his favourite Genesis song ever - so it’s good to see a similar 50/50 split on this thread too! “Mad Man Moon” is a classic Tony-epic and almost feels like a dry run for “One for the Vine” - which is my overall favourite Genesis song. I’ve always appreciated what Tony brings to the party, and he really stepped up his game starting here.
Robbery Assault And Battery We start off with Banks slippery synth intro and then move into a bit of a show type tune. I get the impression with this song that the band were feeling a need to have a Harold The Barrel, Epping Forest type tune on the album to A) have a continuity from the pre Lamb albums, and B) also retain some of the sensibilities their fans were used to when Gabriel was singing. I could be completely wrong about that, but that's how it seems to me. This is musically very well written and there are some fantastic sections, and it is well put together .... but I find this a hard song to get into. Having a good listen through Selling England before we got to it has raised Epping Forest to be amongst my favourite early Genesis songs, yet as much as I have tried to do the same with this song, it just doesn't quite make it for me. I certainly don't hate it, but I just find it hard to put it at the next level. Although I like this album, it is a lesser album to me, and that has nothing to do with the change in vocalists.
I’m a big fan of “Robbery”, but mostly that’s because of the instrumental section in the middle, which has some of the best playing you’ll ever hear from the band’s “core trio”. The rest of the song appealed quite well to 13 year old me when I first heard it, but hasn’t necessarily aged that well. The video, though... I mean, you’d have to have a heart of stone not to chuckle heartily throughout. (I especially like it when Mike and Steve get “shot”, and their attempts at “dying” convincingly.)
Robbery Assault & Battery I like the verses, with the characterizations a la Gabriel era songs, but the chorus (repeated twice!) is kinda pedestrian. Very nifty drumming from Phil throughout. And great bass from Mike as well. The instrumental section has some highlights, especially when Hackett comes in. The chorus coda ("Done me wrong / same old song") just sounds bad to me, like a vaudeville bit. Overall ... mostly good, but let down by some naff choruses. --Geoff
Did Tony Banks direct that video? Almost all of the band shots are just him playing keyboards --Geoff
