The Genesis of Genesis was a study in Rock and Roll chemistry and, ultimately, a lack thereof.
I saw Genesis twice. Once in 1980, and then the next year. As I had worn out the grooves of Seconds Out, their live record from 1977, I somehow expected a duplication of the same, which meant playing some of those wonderful tracks from The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. I remember them doing lots of tracks off of the album Duke, which was fine, but the next year, when Abacab came out, it was, I knew, time to move on to other things.
The main line-up of Genesis during their glory days was Peter Gabriel, Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, Steve Hackett, and Phil Collins.
Rutherford and Banks wrote "Squonk". Tony Banks wrote "Mad Man Moon" and "One For The Vine". For chrissakes. So what happened? I dunno. Pay me and I'll tell you. I have an idea.
Peter Gabriel - A Wonderful Day In A One-Way World (1978) Any prog fan worth her salt recognizes that Chapman Stick being played by the most famous progenitor of the same, Tony Levin. Aside from being in King Crimson, he was in the movie "One-Trick Pony" with Paul Simon. But there's the Chapman Stick.
Anthony Phillips - Musical Box (demo) (1969) The opening track from the band's third album, Nursery Cryme, was, as you hear here, the birth-child of Anthony Phillips.
Anthony Phillips - Um & Aargh (1979) The drummer is Michael Giles, the drummer for King Crimson's first two albums. King Crimson's family tree, especially in the Prog world, is deep and wide.
Brand X - Nuclear Burn (1976) Phil Collins side-project that started off in the Mahavishnu-Chick Corea vein of Electric Jazz, but, like everything Phil Collins touched, devolved into pure pop.
Flaming Youth - Mars and Jupiter (1969) Phil Collins' pre-Genesis band recorded one album, Ark 2, a concept album about "the evacuation from a dying Earth". It's not bad. I think lots of these bands in the early days of Prog were trying to resolve Sgt. Pepper and The Beatles' affection for and use of old Music hall tropes with Robert Fripp's dexterity and distortion.
Genesis - A Winter's Tale (1968) This single pre-dates their debut album, From Genesis To Revelation (1969)
Genesis - Hair on the Arms and Legs (1967)
Genesis - It's Yourself (1976) B-side of "Ripples". There's a section that sounds like "Los Endos" as if it were meant to be a segue of sorts. this is from the Trick of the Tail sessions, the first album after Peter Gabriel left. It's a great record.
Genesis - One-Eyed Hound (1968) Genesis is a band with lots of pre-fame rarities that are worthy of a listen, if only for Gabriel's authoritative voice. Their first album sold 650 copies.
Genesis - Patricia (1967)
Genesis - Shepherd (1970)
Genesis - The Day The Light Went Out (1978) B-side of the "Many Too Many" single.
Genesis - Try a Little Sadness (1967) Tony Banks is a more prominent backing vocalist on these early sides. Good? Bad?
Genesis - Inside and Out (1978) The Spot The Pigeon EP was released when we would have bought a Genesis Taxidermy Kit if we had the money. But the more I heard it, the more I realized that there was a really fundamental shift in the basic tenets of one of my favorite bands.
According to Wikipedia: "The song was performed several times on the Wind & Wuthering tour in 1977. The first section, "Inside", concerns a man who is wrongfully imprisoned of rape. The second section "Out", is an instrumental passage that represents the man's freedom."
Mike Rutherford - Hideaway (1982) Mike Rutherford sings with the inflections of Phil Collins and the pipes of a drunken Dennis Wilson. Some of the drums on this album by Stewart Copeland. They were on the same polo team. The same polo team. The same fucking polo team.
Peter Gabriel - Moribund the Burgermeister (1977) Nothing but quality from this great. The more I listen the more I realize that he was the heart and soul of that group. Genesis was a different, much less chance-taking group when he left. They must have known this when they heard this album the first time.
Peter Gabriel - Biko (1980) Phil Collins played drums on this record, but if you listen, there are no cymbals on the entire thing.
Peter Gabriel - No Self Control (1980) Robert Fripp appears. He of King Crimson. See? I never said Phil Collins was not a master. He is and was. But the Genesis that old people like me love is the one with this guy sitting in the studio and saying "Why not?" "No cymbals. Why not?"
Robert Fripp appears on the album. He of King Crimson. See?
Phil Collins - Tomorrow Never Knows (1981) From his first solo album, which marked the beginning of the subsumption of the entire pop landscape in the '80s.
Robert Fripp - Here Comes The Flood (1979) PG on lead vocals.
Steve Hackett - Tigermoth (1979)
Mike Rutherford - Time And Time Again (1980) Released two solo records, and then formed Mike and the Mechanics.
Tony Banks - A Curious Feeling (1979) In the words of the Mighty Lew, why are all the solo albums by the two main Genesis songwriters so bland and safe? Could it be David Hentschel's ever-repeating production tricks? He says it's all down to chemistry. I honestly think that the core had the feeling there wasn't anything they couldn't do. And when people started leaving, that precious balance dissipated and mutated.
Tony Banks - This Is Love (1983)
Genesis - That's Me! (1969)
Genesis - Supper's Ready (coda) (1972) I am saying this because it's my show and I want to tell you. After Peter Gabriel sings "The new Jerusalem..." the band plays the coda chords for a while. If you own the original vinyl version, you might listen to the fade-out. There's a bass pedal mistake at the very end that was corrected when they mixed it for CD release.
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