This one is great - for sure, out the three live albums I probably put this in front of Three Sides Live for the lack of good pre Lamb bootlegs.
From my Youtube channel, and taken from my excellent boot. I'm uploading the rest of show in individual tracks throughout the day. Montreal Canada Live 21 April GENESIS - A Classic Broadcast Revisited and Remastered April 21, 1974 (University Sports Centre - Montreal, Canada)
Great stuff on Suppers Ready. Especially enjoyed RR’s in depth musical breakdowns. It does make me wonder how they made this amazing piece of music with all of its intricacies and emotional heft. Mike had just learned to play the bass a few years prior and had no formal musical training, Phil was not yet in his “arranging” role, Peter had very rudimentary piano skills, Steve was still feeling insecure about his contributions to the band and probably possessed a modest amount of theory this leaves Tony to mostly (I assume) oversee and make sense of these many interesting harmonic shifts and musical devices. RR rightly described some of them as Classical in origin. Not really a surprise that it would mostly be Tony, but how a bunch of young and mostly musical illiterates arrive at something like this is quite remarkable and strange. There was also no Hulger Czukay type member to go over the tapes and edit together the sections. I get how someone like Joni Mitchell uses chord shapes and an innate musical ability to arrive at something exotic and unconventional, but it takes some planning and ability to stitch it all together like Suppers Ready. I’ve read a decent amount about the band and its music and don’t really know the genesis of how the song came about. I’m sure there was an intention to do something long and complex, but the idea of attaching a bunch of musical bits together isn’t really a great impetus or starting point for a song. Also, superimposing a grand narrative over a bunch of disparate bits is not really ideal. They did do this on the Lamb a few years later. Mostly Phil, Tony and Mike jamming and writing while Peter wrote the lyrics in isolation. Would be inserting to know more about the compositional starting point for SR. I like both studio and live. Live the song is (especially in later years) heaver and more powerful, especially the 9/8 section. The studio version has all of the mystery and menace. So great to read about people getting misty eyed while listening, it’s happened to me to.
Love this album! For me, a perfect live album. Great sleeve art, too. The first Genesis record that I obsessed over. I, too, am bewildered by the choice to include the 1975 tracks on the reissue.
I don't think of "Supper's Ready" is a song but as a work -- I'm not sure this is the right word However, in my mind, it is more resembling of something like the Side 2 of Abbey Road than a side-long song like Pink Floyd's "Echoes". By the way, I like the way Collins sings many of the older songs but I think Gabriel really owns "Supper's Ready".
I've always loved the Magog headpiece the best, but is it just a cut up piece of cardboard painted pink?!
The reason Supper's Ready wasn't on the original album is that the band felt it would mean having two consectutive albums with at least half duplicated, more if Watcher and GEOBF were also included, so I can see their point there. However I just don't understand the reason for not including it on the remix version on the live box. I think it was Tony that vetoed its inclusion as he felt having three versions of it on the box along with those on Seconds Out and Live at the Rainbow was overkill. So they put on five random tracks from a tour two years later and think that's a better option? Proves that bands are usually the worst judges when it comes to knowing what the fans want. As regards other material, there is nothing else - just the five tracks on the album and Supper's Ready, that was the setlist for the tour and for the two gigs recorded they played exactly the same both nights (and on all the others on the tour as far as we can tell from what recordings are in circulation).
Not a fan of "Genesis Live", especially due to the selection of songs. I do like the live versions of "Musical Box" and "The Knife" more than the originals though.
I love the album. I got it when it was first released. At this point I only listen to the Dutch Test Pressing which has Supper's Ready and a couple more songs. I saw the band at the Tower Theatre in March 1973. It was one of the best live shows I have ever seen. Maybe the best but close with Queen at The Tower. The Tower was a fine venue to see bands.
"In bird language the tune you just whistled meant.... supper is ready." PG's between song banter was always fun to listen to.
The show I saw at the Tower in 1973 is pretty much exactly how the Dutch Test pressing of Live sounds. I am pretty sure he stuck with the same inter song stories form show to show.
One of my favorite moments on Live is at 7:40 in The Knife when the bolero rhythm in A flat comes in......Steve's guitar is being attacked and it is on the verge of feeding back. When I saw them live it was just an amazing sound and as powerful as any rock band I had ever heard.
Nice post. Thanks. Interesting info. I think you are correct. Tony was the guy who understood classical music technique (sonata format, variations) in the band and was probably the one who composed most of the transitions and understood the key changes and made a lot of it all come together on SR on a technical level. Everyone else had amazing ears though and knew how they wanted their parts to sound. For instance I think Peter was probably the member that came up with how the final section should sound. Just a guess though.
I'm not sure when I first heard or first purchased Live but I currently have several different versions of it. One on a pink Charisma label pressed in USA, the original plain-faced Charisma CD, and an unauthorized version as well. I'm pretty sure I owned Seconds Out and 3 Sides Live before this one, and I prefer those two over this, mainly due to the sound. This isn't an audiophile recording by any means. I do appreciate the energy and talent shown on the record, especially on The Knife. That is a very powerful performance and a great way to end a live album.
Does someone have a link to the Gabriel's story printed on the cover? Also: there's a bum note in the intro of of Hogweed. The guys didn't like the recording quality that much and almost opted out. They settled for the album being issued at special prize.
I tried to find the story ... but all the shots were out of focus. The one i posted was the best i could find
I happen to be listening to the LP right now! I have the cover in my hand and I feel the need for some touch typing practice, so here it is: ================================ 4:30 p.m. The tube train draws to a halt. There is no station in sight. Anxious glances dart around amongst the passengers as they acknowledge each other's presence for the first time. At the end of the train, a young lady in a green trouser suit stands up in the centre of the carriage and proceeds to unbutton her jacket, which she removes and drops to the dirty wooden floor. She also takes off her shoes, her trousers, her blouse, her brassiere, her tights and her floral panties, dropping them all in a neat pile. This leaves her totally naked. She then moves her hands across her thighs and begins to fiddle around in between her legs. Eventually, she catches hold of something cold and metallic and very slowly, she starts to unzip her body; working in a straight line up the stomach, between the breasts, up the neck, taking it right on through the centre of her face to her forehead. Her fingers probe up and down the resulting slit; finally coming to rest on either side of her navel. She pauses for a moment, before meticulously working her flesh apart. Slipping her right hand into the open gash, she pushes up through her throat, latching on to some buried solid at the top of her spine. With tremendous effort, she loosens and pulls out a thin, shimmering, golden rod. Her fingers release their grip and her crumpled body, neatly sliced, slithers down the liquid surface of the rod and to the floor. SPLAT! The rod remains hovering just off the ground. A flagpole without flag. The other passengers have been totally silent, but at the sound of the body dropping on the floor a large middle-aged lady, wearing a pink dress and matching poodle stands up and shouts, "STOP THIS, IT'S DISGUSTING!" The golden rod disappeared. The green trouser-suit was left on a hanger, with a dry-cleaning ticket pinned to the left arm. On the ticket was written: -- NAME........................ ADDRESS..................... ............................ ............................ ............................
I always wondered what the hell it was about. Something I just noticed......"A flagpole without flag" but the dry cleaning ticket looks like a flag.
