Genesis's Dodo Suite - Naminanu: Intro or Outro?

Wow. Yes it is! Wouldn't it be great if that tape surfaced?

 

That tape seems to be quite similiar to the one known among the collectors under the name 'Abacab Complete'. Here are the pics of the actual Abacab Complete source tape:





Up to the Duke/pre-Abacab period Phil used to have very few problems giving away or letting broadcast some unreleased stuff like demos, live recordings or, in this case, personally sending advance copies of the forthcoming album.
His frequent visits to Capital Radio are proof of that, in fact during the 1976-1980 period Phil brought to resident DJ Nicky Horne a decent quantity of rarities, and the writer of the article on the italian magazine have been probably not the only one to receive a tape like that.
In the article, he mentions his tape actually didn't include the title track (and therefore not even its single edit tagged at the end of Abacab complete) because, as Phil explained him, it was a last minute addiction to the bunch of the songs already recorded, just to give the album a title!
The Abacab Complete source tape, including both Abacab and its single edit, should have been sent out later to some other journalist always for review purposes. That tape clearly comes from The Farm and it could well be the same as the one sent to the italian journalist with the addiction of both versions of Abacab.
It would be really great to get hold of that tape, too, but i guess it would be not very easy. From my recollections the italian writer has sadly passed away a few years ago, so it's not possible to trace the trajectory of the tape anymore.

 

The descriptions of those two codas seems like they match Submarine and Naminanu, respectively. Along with the Tony Banks interview posted above, which describes Dodo/Lurker as the "first two" of a four-track epic, this seems to prove the order is Dodo > Lurker > Submarine > Naminanu, and Naminanu was not the intro to the Dodo Suite as some believe but rather the outro.

 

Yes, that's exactly what i believe as well.

 

February 3rd, 2019.

I listen to Genesis since 1994 and I've never heard of the Dodo Suite until this very day!

 

But you have heard the songs right?

 

I heard them once, a long time ago.
All I remember is that Submarine sounded a bit like Eno's ambient stuff.

Will give them a listen now.

 

I always remember way back when Paperlate came out, and wishing that song and You Might Recall were on Abacab instead of stuff like Whodunnit.
I always always skipped that song.

 

Very interesting indeed. And I think it makes the case for Dodo/Lurker/Submarine/Naminanu as the suite's original order a very strong one.

 

One of the bazillion fan mixes.
Terrible transition between Naminanu and Dodo.
Didn't care to go further.

 

I like it, even though I realize it was not the band's intention to have that sequence. I think that in the wake of Duke & Face Value, the band wasn't that keen on producing a flawless masterpiece. So we end up with Abacab the way it is, with some duff tracks because they wanted it that way.

 

The same way they put 'Illegal Alien' on Genesis, they were taking the piss. They didn't have to put it there, they had material to pad out the album.

I think it's because of bands like King Crimson & Radiohead who intentionally never put out non-serious songs, that the other bands who occasionally put out 'joke' songs are considered to have committed some 'musical crime'.

 

Did the band ever perform the "Dodo Suite" live in its entirety? If they did, then where was "Naminanu" placed?

We have these two orders:
a. "Dodo / Lurker / Submarine / Naminanu"
and
b. "Naminanu / Dodo / Lurker / Submarine"

~Ben

 

With all due respect, option a. (Dodo / Lurker / Submarine / Naminanu) is the way the band originally sequenced the suite, as well proofed by the magazine pics on the previous page of this thread, while option b. is some fanboy youtube custom edit.
So, we actually have only one order: the one assigned by the band.

By the way, Genesis never performed any single b side live (except Inside and Out, but that was part on an EP), so they obviously only performed Dodo/Lurker as it was officially released.

 

No. Only Dodo/Lurker was ever played live.

 

Twilight Alehouse was also a B-side and performed

 

As was Paperlate and You Might Recall.

 

Naminanu is an insanely great Genesis song?

No. It might make you insane if you had to listen to it on repeat.

But in the pantheon of great Genesis songs that only hardcore fans know...it is nowhere to be found. I am so glad it didn't make the album cut.

Submarine is an excellent track and would have made the parent album better. But Naminau? A flaming pile that one is.

 

Is it insanely great whatever that means?? No

Is it awesome? You betcha!!

 

The Abacab Complete tracklist work’s quite well:



Abacab
07:06
1.2 Jangley (You Might Recall)
05:36
1.3 Nationwide (No Reply At All)
04:47
1.4 German I & II (Dodo/Lurker)
07:28
1.5 Sub (Submarine)
04:21
1.6 Vocal 3/4 (Naminanu)
03:55
1.7 Chunkey (Me & Virgil)
06:24
1.8 Odd (Keep It Dark)
04:36
1.9 Spike (Me & Sarah Jane)
06:02
1.10 Westside (Another Record)
04:42
1.11 Wierdsynth (Who Dunnit?)
03:41
1.12 Lonely Man (Man On The Corner)
04:30
1.13 Don (Like It Or Not)
05:00
1.14 Paperlate
03:39
1.15 Abacab Single Version
04:19

Total Running Time :
1:16:06

 

Neither. Leave the cut material on the cutting room floor and leave the album alone.

 

But that tracklist leaves all the weaker material for the latter third - the same problem the truncated actual release has.

 

It was released way after they stopped performing it live.

 

Oh, how I wish they've made Abacab a double album, it would be even better then the great album it already is.