„Tell Me Why“: Lame, just lame in every respect. First of all, when you take a title from a Beatles song, chances are that billions will be familiar with it, so better make an amazing song, okay? But instead it‘s a tired sounding, limp piece of conscience rock of the worst kind. Phoniness reeks from every phrase uttered from Phil. Worst of all: „So deep within my heart“ when it sounds absolutely heartless. But the attitude counts I guess. Look at the video...or better don‘t. And what‘s up with the Byrds-sounding 12-String Rickenbacker, when did that become a Genesis trademark? It‘s completely yawn-inducing. Leave that to Per Gessle from Roxette!
Pretty much agree with this regarding "Tell Me Why". I love the ringing guitar, and especially love the instrumental section in the middle, which is very Byrdsian. Overall, however, the track doesn't really ever take off and I think it's a bit of a mismatch between the music and the lyrics which, while obviously addressing serious concerns, don't really strike me as all that serious. I certainly don't mind the song, but it's a little bit like beige wallpaper. For some reason, it never sounds urgent, although the questions being asked certainly are.
It's the production. Where Another Day In Paradise sounds very sad, Tell Me Why is breezy and upbeat. There are a few melancholy chords but yeah, with different lyrics or arrangement, it could've been great.
Mike had dabbled with it a few times before, particularly on tracks like "You Might Recall" and "Me & Virgil" (which essentially quotes "Eight Miles High" in the guitar solo). Also a bit in "Scenes From A Night's Dream". There was a pretty big resurgence of the Byrds' sound in the 1990-91 period, with the release of the first Byrds box set and a "comeback" solo album from Roger McGuinn and a heavily played Tom Petty Byrds cover, so it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Mike had heard those releases or songs from them on the radio and was freshly inspired to go with that sound on one track. It's one of my favorite sounds in all of rock, so I welcomed it with Genesis. I just wish they had used it in a better song.
Dreaming While You Sleep is great musically and lyrically. Best track on the album and would have been among the highlights of any Genesis album from W&W on. Reminds me sonically of Security era Gabriel.
Tell Me Why is musically alright but I hate this kind on "I am so socially conscious" lyric unless it is done super artfully, and this is no Blowin In The Wind. 12 string sounds a little electric sitar-like on this.
Never a Time Gave this another listen, and it's... bland. It's fine. Tell Me Why Oh my god, what a missed opportunity. The jangly guitars could work fine with a personal lyric or really anything except a how the world sucks and lots of kids get the short end, it's so one dimensional and deaf... damn It kind of reminds me of Driven to Tears by The Police but that one did the socially problematic lyric well and had the proper mood for it, this is... wow, I want to appreciate the song itself but the vocal ruins the entire thing.
Okay, then perhaps a small subset of Americans feel that way (0r did 28 years ago). Probably not the kind to listen to Genesis or pop music to begin with.
Dreaming While... one of my favorites on the album, right next to Living Forever. Those are a couple of songs that just didn't see the likes on IT, I think both are really strong
Living Forever Here we start off with some good music. I would have liked Tony to have played around a bit longer and find a synth sound that wasn't so generic. Mike's guitar sounds good. Phil puts in a good vocal. The drums are good, but seem to be mixed a little low. Some nice changes in here. I'm neither here nor there on the lyrics, they're ok. I like the instrumental section, but again Tony is using a faceless synth sound, while Mike's guitar sounds nice and crisp. This song is good, but Tony either had reached a blandness of taste or just couldn't be bothered to try some more interesting sounds,
The song itself is okay, but the minimalist arrangement of Living Forever makes it sound more like a demo than a polished gem for the album. This one either could have been worked on a little more and given some life or left off the album.
Better than: Duchess Keep it Dark Mama Home by the Sea Tonight, Tonight, Tonight No Son of Mine Okaaaaayyyy
I think this is a pretty good song. I enjoy the lengthy instrumental jam at the end. As Wikipedia has it, the original working title was "Hip-Hop Brushes" after Phil "acquired new drum disks for his E-mu SP-1200 drum machine and devised a hip-hop oriented drum pattern using its brush sound."
Earlier I said Living Forever could be removed to make the album stronger. I might reconsider given the instrumental ending, which I’d forgotten. Although this instrumental might not have been the most creative of their career, it’s still enjoyable. And we must take special care to support such endangered species! I’m lukewarm about the chorus though, which I find drones a bit. I’m hearing Beatles all the way here. Having trouble pinning it down. Maybe “living forever...” sounds like, “when the sun shines...” in Rain. But the “tomoooorrow...” vocal harmonies behind that in the chorus are something else. Familiar to anybody?
I love this song - it's an album highlight for me. Partly because as the B-Side of No Son of Mine it was the other track I heard ahead of the album release, but mainly because I love the melody and the sound of this one, I think it does sound a little rougher around the edges which gives it a real energy lacking elsewhere at times on this album. The instrumental bit that ends the track may be relatively brief but I think it's better than the longer one on Fading Lights, it has a looseness and energy which is really exciting. It's another latter period Genesis highlight for me. We'll cover off some decent moments on the coming four songs but in my view this is best of the second half of the album.
Living Forever ... not overly fond of the song half, but the instrumental half is much better, with some odd metres, and almost sounding like the Genesis of yore. --Geoff
