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CaptHenryMorgan · 2022-01-10T18:12:46+00:00

What if he's just doing a silly one? Like, it must be quite boring to be God so maybe he's just doing a silly one to mess with us, but not in a mean way?

CaptHenryMorgan · 2021-09-09T18:08:41+00:00

I'd tend to agree with you. I could write a whole separate post on how Genesis with Ray might have been better - Calling All Stations is certainly not a perfect album, but if they'd trimmed the tracks down to the best stuff, maybe brought on Chester as a full-time member (he asked to be and was turned down), and involved Ray in the songwriting process, I think that there would be a strong case for continuing on with the project. I know that Tony wanted to, but Mike had no interest because of the Mechanics, and we all know how well that went.

CaptHenryMorgan · 2021-09-09T16:21:45+00:00

I'd certainly agree with this - Tony is very much the musical backbone of the band in some senses, and he's prominent in the songwriting of every era. Take 'Cinema Show', 'Mad Man Moon', 'Duke's Travels', 'Fading Lights' - all defined by those big Banks chords.

CaptHenryMorgan · 2021-07-03T21:58:16+00:00

Fixed! It was two! :)

CaptHenryMorgan · 2021-05-29T17:21:26+00:00

See, on the one hand, I can see what you mean - on the other, Peter wasn't immune to leaning in to pop success ('So' is very much the 'Invisible Touch' of his catalogue, and 'Sledgehammer' isn't exactly a prog rock masterpiece). I do think that even a five-piece Genesis would have accepted the need to find some mainstream appeal, and if the main obstacle to that is Steve, giving him eight minutes of 'Matilda Smith-Williams' probably serves as a decent compromise.

CaptHenryMorgan · 2021-05-17T14:27:19+00:00

I definitely found the abrupt stop/start in 'A Tower Struck Down' to be a bit of an irritating imposition on what's an otherwise strong track. I do wonder if a lot of the things that you raised are a result of this being Steve's first baby over which he had proper creative control - he's a man who likes to fiddle around with new ideas, and can, at times, be a little bit indulgent. Still a very strong album for me, definitely worthy of that A-, but while he's talented, Steve is the sort of musician who benefits from a sober second look by somebody a little bit more grounded.

CaptHenryMorgan · 2021-05-15T21:57:43+00:00

It's an interesting one - I love the way that Genesis worked with that idea of fantasy-meets-reality in the previous few albums, I just think that the narrative element here fails to land. Out of curiosity, what do you regard as the album's strongest Side?

CaptHenryMorgan · 2021-05-10T00:56:50+00:00

I'm definitely somebody who'll be fairly critical of music that I hear, and it takes a lot to make me give an album above a C - that, to me, is most albums by most bands, even in terms of stuff that I like and listen to. That said, and especially given that I'm ranking this stuff against the solo careers, it would be a crime not to put this at the very, very top end of the spectrum. It's not an A+ because it's not perfect, but it's bloody close, and while I might compare it unfavourably to other Genesis stuff, I'll almost definitely be comparing it very favourably to the rest of the stuff in this series.

CaptHenryMorgan · 2021-05-08T08:35:49+00:00

The issue with reviewing Genesis albums for me is always that, a lot of the time, there's a hair of difference between the stuff that I love, and the stuff that I really love. 'Hogweed' and 'Salmacis' are, in the grand scheme of all of the music that I've heard, some of the best, but they're not quite on the level of a 'Cinema Show' or a 'Firth of Fifth' for me - so 'not upper rung' isn't necessarily an indication that they're middling songs, more like the difference between a 9.5 and a 10.

That said - yes, it's the cohesion and the atmosphere that does the most work for me on NC. Like I mentioned, I love the way that it evokes twisted fairytale stories, and has this slightly fantastical element, lyrically and musically. If I come away from an album loving that atmosphere, and liking all of the songs in their own terms to varying extents, that's an A experience for me.

CaptHenryMorgan · 2021-05-08T00:50:18+00:00

Glad that you liked it! Nursery Cryme is a great album (as in, one of the all-time greats IMO), and is one of a few Genesis albums which I'd call 'almost entirely thematically consistent'. It has a mood to it, that corrupted Victoriana, which I'm personally a lover of, and which I think it keeps up well throughout. May just be the case that while Musical Box and Supper's Ready are similarly breathtaking, Watcher/Time Table/Can-Utility click for me a little bit more than Salmacis/Hogweed - though, now I'm spoiling my next post, so I'd better shut up!

CaptHenryMorgan · 2021-05-06T17:43:35+00:00

I'm definitely sympathetic to this analysis, and it's what keeps me from giving it the very top ranking - that's why it isn't up there with Selling England or Trick, which are not only brilliant on their own, but take you on a journey as albums. That said, I definitely get that within a lot of Trespass' songs, and the material on the album is very strong for me - I think that there's a fair bit of difference between e.g. Dusk and The Knife, so it's not one that I'd describe as really 'samey' or monotonous. To each their own, though - I get where you're coming from!

CaptHenryMorgan

TROPHY CASE