Not content with punching way above his weight in the women stakes (and a singular way of dumping them, if the rumours are to be believed) he seems dead set on dissing the Genesis legacy. I alight upon this as I have just been listening to the Genesis Remasters of their albums (Trespass to The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Trick of the Tail to ABACAB).One of the problems with the late seventies Genesis albums is that they used to run to well over 40 minutes. The limitations of vinyl were such that about 20 minutes a side was the most you could cram on before the sound quality suffered. Hence, those albums suffered from poor sound quality and have really benefitted from being opened up. They now sound more punchy and earthy, rather like Genesis always was in concert in those days. There are also parts that just never came through on vinyl (or even the first remastered versions) that are now revealed for the first time. In a sense, I think we are hearing these songs almost afresh and probably more as they were intended to sound but for the technical limitations of the time.
Opinions differ on the relative merits of the remastering process, with some fans preferring the older, smoother, more compressed vinyl sound to the bolder, more up front sound given to this series of remasters (which are, we are told, “definitive”). This seems to the modern way, where dynamics are sacrificed for volume, but I think on the whole, the remasters do justice to the source material. This is especially so on the Lamb, which has a depth, boldness and power that is revelatory.
I often find that great art, when seen from a distance, looks smooth and uniform but when you get up close, where you can see the brush work, the grit and sweat the artist has put into it comes through. Great art is not perfect – it is oily and rough and dirty. With these remasters, I think we’re seeing the grit, roughness and, well, bobbily bits of Genesis in a way never revealed before, especially on the surround sound mixes which are outstanding.
Now, vis-à-vis the pretence of this piece, I should admit an interest; I admit to a slight personal problem with Phil. At college I was besotted with a fellow student called Debbie Daynes. She was older than me, but was a lovely rock chick, kooky kind of girl (I’ve always been a sucker for that type). Now Debbie and I knocked about for a couple of years, but alas, my love for her went unrequited. Basically, Debbie was a bit of a tease (I’m a sucker for those types too !) and a massive Genesis fan and was particularly besotted with Phil Collins. This of course made me very jealous. What made me even more jealous is that she used to catch a bus to college and one of the bus drivers looked like Phil Collins, in his long hair and beardy phase. Because he looked like Phil Collins, Debbie went out with him. Of course, me being a spotty teenager hopelessly in love with the unattainable forgave her, and heaped all my ire onto the Phil doppelganger, and thence, to Phil himself.
As far as I’m concerned, Phil Collins is the reason I never got into Debbie’s pants.
I’m over it now.
Now I just think he’s really grumpy, and I suspect I know the reason why. In the documentaries accompanying the box sets, our Phil is talking about one of the revered, classic songs the band were working on, and then proceeds to say something to the effect of:-
“I just wish that people would remember that the guys who wrote that are the same guys who wrote ‘Land of Confusion’ or ‘Illegal Alien’” (I’m paraphrasing, but you get the drift).
To whit, Phil is trying to say that the later stuff has some kind of equivalence to the earlier stuff.
Well Phil, it doesn’t.
On the whole, the stuff done after 1980 is shit. To compare it to the slabs of genius created in the 70’s is like comparing diamond with coal; both are fundamentally made from the same stuff, but you know, it’s all in the execution.
I think underneath it all Phil knows that he used to be good; now he’s shit he hates the thought that the fans are right, and this is why he is a grumpy old sod who now claims that he never liked prog anyway and was always a soul fan.
As for the rest of them, none of them seem to be aware, or choose to ignore, the profound love and respect that their fans have for this material. It’s all very matter of fact and shrug the shoulders type stuff. If I was that talented, and had that body of work behind me, I’m not sure I’d be so sanguine. Maybe it’s the Public School façade.
Or maybe they are trying to prop up the later work as well by downplaying the significance of the earlier songs.
Anyway, there is one ace contribution from Tony Banks, where he is reflecting on that instance in the oeuvre that represents the quintessential Genesis moment. Is it the guitar solo on Firth of Fifth perhaps, or the piano on The Cinema Show ? Maybe the Apocalypse in 9/8 segment of Suppers Ready ? The climatic conclusion to The Musical Box ? Los Endos ?
No. It is none of these.
The moment is halfway through Fly On a Windshield, where Peter Gabriel’s voice slowly drifts away into the ether before the whole band come crashing in with a wallop of such force that there can be no doubt as to the sheer power they possessed.
Genesis’ ability to knock your head off is not often remarked upon, but in these remasters, it’s there for all to hear, and for the first time.
North Sea Radio Orchestra vs Fleet Foxes
Not sure this represents a heavyweight smack-down, but anyway…
The thing is, everyone seems to be going crazy about Fleet Foxes for the last year or so. I bought this album when it first came out, and found it pleasant enough. Nice harmonies and a certain West Coast charm straight out of Haight-Ashbury circa 1967. Clearly rooted in the folk traditions of America and buffed up for the 21st Century.
In repeated listening though, I found it all a bit one dimensional - nothing new here.
Now they are part of the zeitgeist if you will, and seemingly a perfect fit that has seen a summer of The Eagles, Crosby, Stills and Nash and (grumpy old) Neil Young (not to mention Bruce Springsteen, although the taxonomy is different).
They seem to be uniformly beardy too, which I must imagine in the heat of summer and on stage at Glastonbury (for example - of course, they HAD to be at Glastonbury…) must be really uncomfortable and itchy; especially for the drummer.
So the great record buying, festival going public seems to be certain that Fleet Foxes are the best thing since, oh I dunno, Seasick Steve.
In contrast, I have discovered a great band called North Sea Radio Orchestra, and I see parallels between them and Fleet Foxes. However, the roots of NSRO go way further back, embracing Olde English folk and choral traditions. There is a sense of words and music being passed through hundreds of years, not just a few decades, and yet it is as contemporary in a way that Fleet Foxes isn’t. It is a different take and angle, not just a reinvention.
So I ask the question, why would anyone bother with Fleet Foxes when our own home grown North Sea Radio Orchestra are a billion times better ?
Beats me.
What's the Problem With Dream Theater ?
Looking back a few years ago, I was bored with my music collection and was looking for something new to grab me in the way that in my earlier life had struck me like the first time I heard Queen or Rush. I got to hear of a band called Dream Theater that seemed to tick the boxes, so I bought their (then) current album, Scenes From a Memory.
Overplayed, overblown and over the top and yet with a unique sound and hookline. Plus (a real bonus this) no one I knew had ever heard of them. I moved on to earlier albums to complete my collection, by which time, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence had arrived.
The style is what has been termed “progressive metal” and I think with some of the stuff they were doing at the time, it was totally unlike anything else. You might not have liked it all, but you couldn’t deny that here were a band trying idea after idea and striving for something different. You could safely say that the “progressive” was ascendant to the “metal”.
By 2003 however, with the Train of Thought album, the positions had been reversed. I’ll admit, I don’t like this album at all, but with a band like Dream Theater you need to keep an open mind whilst they follow their muse to wherever it takes them. If they want to do a balls out metal album, that’s just fine. As a progressive rock fan, you get used to the hit and miss of the genre and being a fan means that you take the rough with the smooth as the probability is that next time round, it’ll be something you really do like.
Now, three albums down the line from there, with the partial exception of Octavarium, we have had Systematic Chaos and very recently, Black Clouds and Silver Linings. And the trouble is, they all sound like each other. In reaching out to the wider Metal audience, DT have started to sound very formulaic, which in my book is the exact opposite of what a “progressive” band should be doing. Of course, in doing this, they have massively widened their audience and their commercial success. Which is fine, I guess, I just find that the lapse into the relative safety of metal a bit disappointing. I have therefore produced this manifesto to get Dream Theater back on track:-
- Do not allow MP and JP to self-produce any longer or at least, get a decent co-producer in (Steven Wilson would be fine, or Jem Godfrey).
- A bit of judicious editing and pruning wouldn't go amiss.
- Clamp JP’s right hand so that he stops that ridiculous shredding. You’re a great guitar player, but you don’t need to play notes so fast that they lose all sense of what a musical note is.
- Stop the Cookie Monster vocals. It’s not big and it’s not clever
- You have one of the world’s greatest musicians on keyboards. FFS use him !
- Write about real things rather than quasi-fantasy rubbish
- Listen to ToT, Systematic Chaos and Black Clouds… and take an oath not to do the same thing next time.
- No more detuned riffs
- Remove 80% of MPs’ kit
- Go and hang out in the country
Don't get me wrong - I haven't got a huge downer on DT - I am a fan and have been since I first picked up Scenes… and I'd much rather they were here than not but nonetheless, it seems to me they have traded melody, musical inspiration and uniqueness for a more uniform, metal approach which probably has more appeal to the "Metal Hammer" market, which is where the bucks are to be found.
At the end of the day, the proof of the pudding as we say is in the eating. I guess it must be working for them ‘cos they're in the Billboard Top 10.
I have found that if I pretend I’m 14 again, I actually quite like Black Clouds… but then I was much more easily impressed then. I also just bought Death Magnetic by Metallica and guess what – it is exactly the bloody same and virtually indistinguishable from Black Clouds…
‘Nuff said
