surprised that so many people have so many issues with the story, such as it is, or the 'meaning' behind it; it's a creative story, and an imaginative one, and there may be some metaphor, and there may be things that don't map well to 'real life', but that's art and literature and imagination. It's not some puzzle to solve. This is by far my favorite album by Genesis and one of my favorite albums of all time. To me it's leaps beyond everything they did prior both lyrically and musically. It has a much more 'modern' feel to it; the lyrics, Lamia aside, don't dwell in common fantasy themes; and the music itself is sometimes hard-hitting and more akin to contemporary Peter Hammil work (I'm thinking of Nadir's Big Chance). The artwork is much more modern and stark. Back in NYC, the Waiting Room, Hairless Heart, Carpet Crawlers...these songs don't sound anything like the band that made Selling England or Nursery Cryme. And as much as I love Trick of the Tail and Wind and Wuthering, to me those albums seem like a distinct step BACKWARD from where the Lamb was heading; even Gabriel didn't get this experimental again until his fourth solo album. I think this album is a singular achievement. It was massively important to me when I got this double album on vinyl in probably...1985? 1986...I remember very clearly listening to it for the first time on new headphones. It's an album that has stayed with me even while my tastes have changed.
Cuckoo Cocoon - for my interpretation of the story, this is where Rael begins his rebirth into all the different characters he becomes during the course of the album. He isn't quite ready though, he has "come to, too soon" and next up, deals with the aftermath of that. This is the most Genesis-sounding track on the record, with the 12-strings and the flute interlude, it's quite lovely and pastoral in the music department. Lyrically, it fits the story well, with another Biblical reference (Jonah and the whale) so I don't have any reason to dislike this track.
In The Cage As the last chord of Cuckoo Cocoon dies down we have a steady beat come in with some pad chords and Gabriel sings the first lines of this song. We get a swelling choir/ship horn sound and the rhythm of the keyboards kick in. The keyboards sound out like morse code calling for help. Mixed low we have a guitar stabbing in the background. Collin's has a steady snare attack over these sections. Then we break out of this section with a double time chunk on the guitar. The keyboard starts with a fantastic bass line and then slides into a wandering quick time and highly melodic synth line. Collins is putting some great fills and beats behind this. As the synth lead break winds up the rhythm drops out and Collins plays some beautiful accents and Gabriel comes back to tell us what he can see outside the cage. Banks is playing a series of to and fro chords while Hackett has a relentless riff on the guitar, but this section belongs to Phil and Peter. We then move back into a steady rhythm with a shorter synth lead and "raindrops keep falling on ..." Peter's head.... as the song surges back into the relentless grind of the main section. This song is quite magnificent and it is probably a little difficult to appreciate how well the rhythm changes are kept smooth and almost hidden. I have no authority to speak on this, but I think Collins was so essential to Genesis writing so far as making quite difficult or awkward time signature changes sound smooth and rather normal. Gabriel throws in an excellent heartfelt vocal and I wonder if his singing is related to him feeling like Genesis had become a cage for him. This song in one form or another stayed in the Genesis live set for a lot of years to come, and rightly so. Such a great song.
Personally, that sequence from 'Lamb' to the end of 'Cage' is the strongest and most satisfying piece of music ever created by Genesis.
I completely agree on this. And, during the all Gabriel-era I can hear his contribution as essential as each other's contributions. As for this song, the melodic synths section irruption on the middle of the song stands out in my appreciation.
Cuckoo Cocoon is a perfect little song between Fly/Broadway and The Cage. There’s actually a lot going on especially during the flute parts. So lovely and kinda of a pastoral throwback as well. The Cage is one of the most famous of their prog epics for reason. It’s a masterpiece. One of Peters best vocals. Tony’s dark organ is haunting. That synth solo is definitely a Tony Banks highlight of his whole career. And then that interlude with that nasty sounding guitar riff and when Peter come me in with “outside the cage I see my brother john!!!” So powerful.
It's a lot better than the track that follows it. Seriously, though … it's easily one of the best tracks on the album. One of Tony's premier solos. I agree with you on the drug angle - it fits.
it is certainly possible . I know from writing myself, that sometimes I have used songs just because the words sounded good, not that they really actually meant anything .... It's always a hard call
I love In the Cage, and seemingly contrary to the common opinion of people on this forum, the In The Cage medley, specifically from 1983-1984, is one of the best Genesis live things ever. My favorite part is the synth solo with the sick bass line right after "memories of their wasted wings". Actually, the entire verse preceding that part ("In the glare of the light...") has some of my favorite favorite Genesis lyrics ever. "All tied to their things, they are netted by their strings, free to flutter in memories of their wasted wings". Genius! Certainly one of the high points of the album.
In the Cage is definitely one of the signature songs of the album, but I must concur with AidanB: I just played the album version and immediately felt compelled to jump to the Three Sides Live medley version. I prefer Phil’s take on the vocals, which is at once more frantic than Peter’s but also more musical. Peter’s approach—and rightly so—is to be playing Rael, whereas Phil is just the singer of the song. The live performances also smoothed out a few stilted parts found on the original: like the fuzz guitar bit that comes in at around 4:15 as Tony’s solo is completed. It sounds like it is played too fast on the studio version. The slightly slower riff in the live version seems just right.
Here's a live version of In The Cage from the Mama tour. I confess I've never heard this album, and this track is pretty impressive.
As a kid, I dubbed the soundtrack from the Mama Tour video to a cassette tape via a mono VCR. Man it sounded hissy, but I must have played it a thousand times in my Walkman and in the car, to my parents’ chagrin.
I wonder if Gabriel is just playing around with the ball that is lowered in Times Square as each year dies. Edit: I see Rancher has bet me to it.
Three Sides Live medley has to be my favorite rendition, but yeah they killed In The Cage in during the Abacab-ST era.
Phil's version of the In The Cage is like a joke, so are the 3 line up's medleys - I prefer the real deal.
Two things I hate about that video clip: 1) Tony's cheesy synths and 2) Stuermer's guitar (both his overplaying and the horrendous tone). It's like a Vegas rendition of their stuff. To be fair, though, I haven't listened to the whole 3SL album in many years.
The Grand Parade Of Lifeless Packaging I personally love this song. This is a tongue in cheek swipe at commercialism and consumerism and it is beautifully written. Musically is it fairly simple in many ways, but builds in intensity across the duration of the song. Brian Eno took on the task of effecting the vocals in this song , and he did a great job. I particularly like the spacious reverb as we go "to the Factory Floor". I get the impression that some folks aren't that enamoured with this track, but I think it is a beautiful piece of work. It is completely different from anything Genesis had ever done before. Starting with just a little piano march. We get a little train whistle to announce that the journey is getting under way and the strings come in and the intensity starts to build. We modulate up keys and there is a rotational feel about the music, which seems to be reflecting the continuous circle of production of junk to buy ... just for the sake of it.
I think I am one of those who "aren't that enamoured" with Grand parade. the lyrics are clever, but musically it's a bit ponderous and clunky, I feel. I appreciate Eno's skill, but I remain unconvinced that they actually improve the song. I suppose they are intended to sound like someone barking announcements through a megaphone.
The only medley of theirs that ever left me cold was the one from the ‘92 tour, which was as close as they came to a Vegas-style trotting out of “classics”. (But maybe I was just bitter that that was my first opportunity to see them in person and was hoping to see a variation of the medley I had grown to love from 3SL and the last couple of video releases.) Up until that point, the medleys were anchored by bookending cleverly transitioned instrumental highlights with two strong songs—In the Cage and Afterglow—in such a way that the amalgam was almost more than the sum of their parts.
