Genesis - The Album by Album Thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, Oct 15, 2018.

  1. HiredGoon

    HiredGoon Forum Resident

    In The Cage

    I heard the live version on 3SL first so that's my preferred version. Although I do prefer Gabriel's "In the cay-eeege" to Collins' "In the cage".

    Grand Parade

    Meh.

    Back In NYC

    Cool arpeggio riff in 7/8, but I always felt it should have been a bit beefier in the guitar, with a more metal sound.

    --Geoff
     
  2. AidanB

    AidanB Forum Resident

    Location:
    Indiana, USA
    I’d like to contribute a few videos to this thread. First are two excellent concerts from this tour: Providence, Rhode Island and the ever popular Empire Pool, England show. Here’s Providence:
     
    Last edited: Dec 2, 2018
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  3. AidanB

    AidanB Forum Resident

    Location:
    Indiana, USA
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  4. AidanB

    AidanB Forum Resident

    Location:
    Indiana, USA
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  5. mr. suit

    mr. suit Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Great Lakes
    OP did an excellent write up of this song. I completely agree -- especially about Gabriel's vocals. what a performance!

    one of my all-time favorite songs!
     
  6. rancher

    rancher Unmade Bed

    Location:
    Ohio
    Back in NYC, Grand Parade ... these are a couple of the more unique and different tunes in the catalog, love 'em
     
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  7. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Two of my favourites :)
     
  8. Rigsby

    Rigsby Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, UK
    He uses it again on the same side of vinyl in fact... Check out The Chamber of 32 doors.
     
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  9. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Hairless Heart/Counting Out Time
    Although this may not be the most important song on the album, the melody here is superb and this is a track that I am very fond of. I like the arrangement and the way this track rises and falls, but the overriding thing with this is that melody, sublime. In the face of what we have just come through it is just great.
    I have joined these two together because it sounds so wrong to separate them.
    This track has a fun and light sound after the heaviness we have been through. We have a nice piano lead verse and then in the change we get so very effective guitar from Steve. This is a great stand alone song.
    In the narrative this is described as Rael's first sexual encounter.
    We get a goofy little lead break in there that sounds like the guitar through some form of modulation device.
    This is a great song and again breaks the heaviness up just enough. Adding to just how beautifully this album flows.

     
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2018
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  10. Victor/Victrola

    Victor/Victrola Makng shure its write

    Hairless Heart is a great little instrumental. My interpretation is that Rael is transforming, both physically and emotionally. He is just a boy but becoming a man. He changes his appearance by shaving all his hair off, and then the Hairless Heart becomes a metaphor, as he removes all of his emotions and empathy as well. Then the subtle but effective change to Counting Out Time. Never before has Genesis been so overtly sexual. But at the same time it's incredibly childish with the cartoonish break and the subject relying on a book, believing that passion can be taught. Both of these tracks (taken as one, of course) are highlights of side 2, and Time would have been a very nice choice for a single, if radio stations could get past the lyrics (if they even paid attention to them in the first place.) While Time is important to the story and concept, it also shows a rare side of Genesis - their sense of humor. A track that is essential in their catalog and one of my favorites from this album.
     
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  11. abzach

    abzach Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
    Hairless Heart is the one of the absolute highlights of the album!
     
  12. Andre Acvedo

    Andre Acvedo Sargento Primero

    Location:
    Mijas
    The Lamb is probably the best thing the band ever did.
     
  13. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Such a fantastic use of melody. It really is pretty special.
    I like the way on this album, instead of taking all these great parts and making a big epic, ala Supper's Ready, they were confident enough in themselves to allow the pieces to stand up by themselves..... and it is such a great album, and so well sequenced
     
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  14. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic

    I know it’s a bit corny and the lyrics might take a bit of getting past, but “Counting out Time” really shows they knew how to write a good and catchy song, when they wanted to...
     
  15. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I don't really have any problem with the lyrics. They had proven themselves to have a quirky English sense of humour, that pops up all through their catalog. I suppose many may think it's weird for a serious prog band to have a sense of humour, but that, to me, is just another area where Genesis kind of stand apart from a lot of the other prog bands.
     
  16. abzach

    abzach Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
    Well, I don't see it as having anything to do with confidence, rather what by then was fashionable - but nevertheless, the result is great. You can chose as hearing it as different songs or as one long piece.
     
  17. abzach

    abzach Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
    I tend to agree.
     
  18. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    The same word appears again in "Pigeons", used in its literal sense. It's also an apt description of the song "Pigeons".
     
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2018
  19. Rojo

    Rojo Forum Resident

    I think a lot of people -- I'm one of them -- do not find the plot interesting or appealing enough. That's the starting point. And it's not anything suprising. That's what happens with art and literature, etc. You like some, and some you don't.

    I don't find the story interesting at all but I do like a lot of the lyrics in the album. I think they stand pretty well on their own for the most part -- songs like "Fly on a Windshield", "Broadway Melody", "In the Cage", "Carpet Crawlers" or "The Chamber of 32 doors" have great lyrics which you can enjoy even without knowing much about the plot.

    So the story adds nothing to the album for me but it does not detract either.
     
  20. abzach

    abzach Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
    The story is about life and everything we go through, surely that must be interesting enough.
     
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2018
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  21. Rojo

    Rojo Forum Resident

    We'll get to the medley into more detail later. But here is my take in general.

    I enjoy the well constructed medleys, incorporating transitions that were specifically created to make them run smoothly -- The Lamb/Musical Box; In the Cage/Cinema Show; It/Watcher of the Skies; etc. Some have simpler transitions, some are a little more polished, but I very much enjoy those.

    The "lazy" medleys that just stitch one song after another without transitions I find far less appealing though.
     
  22. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    I think "Hairless Heart" is where the album picks up again after flagging slightly on the previous two tracks - which are OK, just not particularly fantastic by Genesis standards.
     
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  23. Andre Acvedo

    Andre Acvedo Sargento Primero

    Location:
    Mijas
    :) Musically it's perfect. The story is often maligned but I enjoy the story and the the themes that it portrays.
     
  24. abzach

    abzach Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
    I actually never heard the story being maligned before coming to this forum, there's lots of strange opinions I've never heard of before coming to this forum, I wonder if it's a cultural thing, I don't know.
     
  25. Andre Acvedo

    Andre Acvedo Sargento Primero

    Location:
    Mijas
    Could be, something lost in translation.
     
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