Showing posts with label Genesis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Genesis. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Genesis - Silver Songs (1977)

While the band were at their peak in the early 70's, current and former members of Genesis were often active with solo projects, and they would sometimes call on their band-mates to help out. Founder member Anthony Phillips has released a number of solo albums over the years, and Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins were always happy to lend a hand, while Phillips joined Collins in recording a couple of demos with Peter Gabriel, and Hackett's own superlative 'Voyage Of The Acolyte' featured Collins and Rutherford on one track. Youtuber The Beatles Archeology & Other Subjects realised this and has complied a collection of these recordings, spanning the years from 1974 to 1977, and because a majority of the core group was present in the studio, it really does sound like a lost Genesis album from the mid-70's. I've added artwork by the same artist that designed the 'Selling England By The Pound' cover, and titled it after one of the tracks, so enjoy this mix of familiar and not so familiar recordings by the core members of the band. As the album was a little short, I have cheated a little and included a 1973 track by Peter Banks, as it does feature a rare guest appearance by Hackett, as well as Collins, but it actually slots in quite nicely, so I hope you'll forgive the slight artifice. 


   
Track listing

01 You Never Know [Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Anthony Phillips] (1974)
02 Only Your Love [Anthony Phillips, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford] (1974)
03 Star Of Sirius [Steve Hackett, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford] (1975)
04 Knights (Reprise) [Peter Banks, Phil Collins, Steve Hackett] (1973)
05 Firebirds [Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Anthony Phillips] (1975) 
06 Silver Song [Anthony Phillips, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford] (1974)
07 God If I Saw Her Now [Anthony Phillips, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford] (1977)
08 You Get What You Want [Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Anthony Phillips] (1974)
09 Which Way The Wind Blows [Anthony Phillips, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford] (1977)

Thanks to The Beatles Archeology & Other Subjects for putting this together.

Friday, October 29, 2021

Various Artists - The Cinema Show (2013)

The recent neo-prog tribute album to Yes seemed to go down pretty well, so the obvious follow-up is a similar tribute to Genesis. As with Yes, my favourite albums are the early Charisma ones from the early 70's, and this album concentrates on those, picking some of the classic songs from 1970 to 1973, and letting some modern neo-prog bands loose on them. The Flower Kings make an appearance this time, which is great as they are one of the best of the bunch, and they tackle the title track with some relish. In 2010 Genesis were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, and as part of the celebrations Phish performed a live version of 'Watcher Of The Skies', which went down a storm. Chaneton are an Argentinian prog-rock band formed by Alex Chaneton, who are heavily influenced by Genesis, and who have covered some of their songs on their albums, so I've picked 'Eleventh Earl Of Mar' as one of their best. Ex-Gong supremo Daevid Allen joined space-rock band Solid Space and contributed their version of 'Visions Of Angels' for a 1998 tribute album, as did Evolution for a similar record in 1996, and Over The Garden Wall in 1995, and these are the best examples from their respective albums. Neil Morse and Roine Stolt's Transatlantic love their progressive rock, and have covered many classic tracks on bonus discs of their albums, and they included a great cover of 'The Return Of The Giant Hogweed' on the extras disc that came with the special edition of 'The Whirlwind', while The Samurai Of Prog included a great cover of 'Dancing With The Moonlit Knight' on his 2013 album 'Secrets Of Disguise'. Like the Yes post, we close the album with a live recording by a band who aren't afraid to tackle a 24-minute track and record it live in one take, with Nursery Cryme's cover of the classic 'Supper's Ready'. You can hear the love and respect that these bands have for Genesis, and so enjoy an hour and a half of classic prog-rock by some of their biggest fans.   



Track listing

01 Firth Of Fifth (Over The Garden Wall)
02 Watcher Of The Skies (Phish)
03 Eleventh Earl Of Mar (Chaneton)
04 Visions Of Angels (Daevid Allen & Solid Space)
05 The Return Of The Giant Hogweed (Transatlantic)
06 White Mountain (Evolution)
07 Dancing With The Moonlit Knight (The Samurai Of Prog)
08 The Cinema Show (The Flower Kings)
09 Supper's Ready (Nursery Cryme)
 
The cover is from a brilliant collage by Paul Whitehead, which includes figures from just the four albums that these songs come from, and so was perfect for the post.

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Genesis - In The Beginning (1970)

I would think that most fans of Genesis have a fairly good idea of how they formed, but it's worth repeating for anyone who isn't aware of how they all met at Chaterhouse School, with the original line-up of the band, Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Anthony 'Ant' Phillips, Mike Rutherford, and drummer Chris Stewart, meeting at the public school in Godalming, Surrey. Banks and Gabriel arrived at the school in September 1963, Rutherford in September 1964, and Phillips in April 1965, and all five played in two of school's bands; Phillips and Rutherford were in Anon with singer Richard Macphail, bassist Rivers Jobe, and drummer Rob Tyrrell, while Gabriel, Banks, and Stewart made up Garden Wall. In January 1967, after both groups had split, Phillips and Rutherford continued to write together and proceeded to make a demo tape at a friend's home-made studio, inviting Banks, Gabriel, and Stewart to record with them in the process. The group recorded six songs: 'Don't Want You Back', 'Try A Little Sadness', 'She's Beautiful', 'That's Me', 'Listen On Five', and 'Patricia', an instrumental. They wanted to have them professionally recorded and so they sought out Charterhouse alumnus Jonathan King, who seemed a natural choice as their publisher and producer following the success of his 1965 UK top five single 'Everyone's Gone To The Moon'. After a friend of the group gave the tape to King, he was immediately enthusiastic about becoming involved, and under King's direction, the group, still only aged between 15 and 17, signed a one-year recording contract with Decca Records. From August to December 1967 they recorded a selection of potential singles at Regent Sound Studios on Denmark Street, attempting longer and more complex compositions, but King advised them to stick to more straightforward pop songs. In response. Banks and Gabriel wrote 'The Silent Sun', a pastiche of the Bee Gees, who were one of King's favourite bands, and it was recorded with orchestral arrangements added by Arthur Greenslade. The band considered various names for themselves, including King's suggestion of Gabriel's Angels, before agreeing to his offering of Genesis, indicating the start of his production career. King chose 'The Silent Sun' as their first single, with 'That's Me' on the b-side, and it was released in February 1968, achieving some airplay on BBC Radio One and Radio Caroline, but failing to sell. 
A second single, 'A Winter's Tale' / 'One-Eyed Hound', followed in May 1968 with the same result, and three months later Stewart left the group to continue with his studies, being replaced by fellow Charterhouse pupil John Silver. King believed that the group would achieve greater success with an album, and so 'From Genesis To Revelation' was recorded at Regent Sound in ten days during their school's summer break in August 1968. King assembled the tracks as a concept album, which he produced, and Greenslade added further orchestral arrangements to the songs - a fact which was kept from the band until after the album was released, and which particularly upset Phillips. When Decca found that there was already an American band named Genesis, King refused to change his group's name, but reached a compromise by removing their name from the album cover, resulting in a minimalist design with the album title printed on a plain black background. This actually backfired on him, as when the album was released in March 1969 it was a commercial failure because many record shops filed it in the religious music section upon seeing the title. A third single 'Where The Sour Turns To Sweet' / 'In Hiding' was released in June 1969, following the others into obscurity, and this eventually led to the band's split with King and Decca, although King retained the rights to the album, and has re-issued it numerous times to cash in on the band's subsequent success. After the album was recorded, the band went their separate ways for a year, with Gabriel and Phillips staying at Charterhouse to finish exams, Banks enrolling at Sussex University, and Rutherford studying at Farnborough College of Technology. They regrouped in mid-1969 to discuss their future, and Phillips and Rutherford decided to make music their full-time career, as they were starting to write more complex music than their earlier songs with King. After Banks and Gabriel chose to follow suit, the four returned to Regent Sound in August 1969 and recorded four more demos with Silver: 'Family' (later known as 'Dusk'), 'White Mountain', 'Going Out to Get You', and 'Pacidy'. 
The tape was rejected by every record label that heard it, and so Silver then left the group to study leisure management in the United States, and he was replaced by drummer and carpenter John Mayhew. In late 1969, Genesis retreated to a cottage that Macphail's parents owned in Wotton, Surrey to write, rehearse, and develop their stage performance. They took their work seriously, playing together for as much as eleven hours a day, and their first live gig as Genesis followed in September 1969 at a teenager's birthday party. It was the start of a series of live shows in small venues across the UK, which included a radio performance broadcast on BBC's Night Ride show on 22 February 1970, and a spot at the Atomic Sunrise Festival held at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm a month later. During this time the band met with various record labels, including Chris Blackwell of Island and Chris Wright of Chrysalis, but nothing came of them, and in March 1970 they were recommended to John Anthony of Charisma Records by members of Rare Bird, who they had previously supported live. Anthony attended one of their shows and enjoyed them enough to convince his boss, label owner Tony Stratton-Smith, to watch their next performance, at which he was so impressed that he agreed to a record and management deal within two weeks, paying Genesis an initial sum of £10 a week (equivalent to £200 in 2021). Genesis stayed at Wotton until April 1970, by which time they had enough new material for a second album, recording 'Trespass' in June at Trident Studios in London, but that's where this story ends, as this is all about those early days, and the music that they recorded in their first couple of years as a band which didn't appear on the 'From Genesis To Revelation' album. As well as the singles, b-sides and demos already mentioned, we have that BBC radio session from 1970, and some previously unreleased demos of songs that never made it into a proper recording studio, and bearing in mind that they were all still in their late teens when most of these were recorded, the confidence and assurance of the music points to the legendary band that they would become. 



Track listing

01 Try A Little Sadness (demo 1967)
02 That's Me (b-side of 'Silent Sun' 1968)
03 She Is Beautiful (demo 1967 - later 'The Serpent' with different lyrics)
04 A Winter's Tale (single 1968)
05 Hey! (demo 1968)
06 One-Eyed Hound (b-side of 'A Winter's Tale')
07 The Mystery Of The Flannan Isle Lighthouse (demo 1968)
08 Build Me A Mountain (rough mix 1968)
09 Hair On The Arms and Legs (demo 1968)
10 Image Blown Out (rough mix 1968)
11 The Magic Of Time (demo 1968)
12 Shepherd (BBC radio session 1970)
13 Hidden In The World of Dawn (demo 1968)
14 Pacidy (BBC radio session 1970)
15 Sea Bee (demo 1968)
16 Let Us Now Make Love (BBC radio session 1970)
17 Going Out To Get You (demo 1969)

Sunday, December 27, 2020

Genesis - Supper's Ready Illustrated

As a little treat before tomorrow night's posts, here's a couple of excellent Youtube videos that I found tonight, where Nathaniel Barlam has illustrated the whole of the classic 'Supper's Ready' in the form of a narrative comic. It's quite an impressive piece of work, so do check it out.



Enjoy

And when you've finished that, settle back, pour a nice glass of wine, and watch the complete 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' illustrated as a narrative comic. 



Enjoy

For fans of Genesis and Yes

 As a special treat before I start tonight's posting, here are a couple of videos that I stumbled on last night. The Genesis one is a 1973 concert that been around for a while, but the Genesis Museum have taken the original tapes and run them through some sophisticated equipment to significantly enhance the picture quality. In order for the sound to match the new video they've sourced audio from various bootleg recordings and expertly synched it to the pictures. I've studied 'Watcher Of The Skies' and can honestly say that I can't see the joins.
The Yes video is a number of their 1969 performances on the German Beat Club TV show, and these have also been remastered and cleaned up, and put together into one video.
If you are even the mildest fan of progressive rock or of these two bands in particular then you simply must see these two videos.





Genesis - Abacab (Double album version 1981)

I've always been into progressive rock, and I loved Gabriel-era Genesis, and even stuck with them for a couple of albums after he left, but I felt that they went for the commercial buck from 'Follow You, Follow Me' onwards, and despite a couple of songs that I did like in 'Illegal Alien' and 'Land Of Confusion' I've given them a pretty wide berth since then. Consequently I've never heard 'Abacab', and was intrigued to learn that when they were recording it in 1981 they actually taped enough music for a (shortish) double album, but it was decided to just release the single album that eventually came out. A couple of the tracks were just extended versions of songs which showed up on the album, but there were also songs which were shelved completely. If they had have released a double album they would probably have had to include the extended 12" versions on there just to make up eighteen minute sides, so perhaps it was never really a viable proposition. However, I decided to give it a go to see what it might have sounded like, and this is the result, including the legendary 'Dodo Suite', made up of tracks four to six. 



Track listing

01 Abacab
02 No Reply At All
03 Me & Sarah Jane
04 Naminanu
05 Dodo/Lurker
06 Submarine
07 Paperlate
08 You Might Recall
09 Man On The Corner
10 Like It Or Not
11 Keep It Dark
12 Whodunnit
13 Me & Virgil
14 Another Record