Best Genesis album ever

[HopeHoops]

Poll question: Best Genesis album ever

Long list.

On Edit: How come we've got all these fucking comments and no votes???

[Amerigo Vespucci]

1. Wind and Wuthering.

I saw that tour at Winterland. When Gabriel left, the dynamic of the band shifted, but what was apparent that night was that Steve Hackett was the true heart and soul of the band. If I had a "Top Ten Least Favorite Albums Of All Time" list, the first post-Hackett album, "And Then There Were Three," would be on it.

"Wind" still holds up as a powerful album decades later, and I love "Seconds Out," because that is the same tour and the same setlist as the San Francisco show I attended.

:toast:

[HopeHoops]

2. Curiously, "Afterglow" was my "song" with my girlfriend of 2 1/2 years - she died.

She was chasing me in a car after an argument and slammed into a phone pole. I saw her die. A friend found out where Collins was staying and we met him at the door - he hugged me. I already had tickets for that night's concert and it was a rather emotional event.

[HopeHoops]

4. Hackett was probably more of the true "Genesis" than Gabriel was.

My favorite is still "The Lamb". I saw Musical Box perform it live with all props and the original 3-screen slide show. Damn was that a fucking concert experience - they did "Supper's Ready" as an encore, along with "Watcher of the Skies" and "Musical Box".

[Amerigo Vespucci]

8. What's interesting about Hackett's solo albums...

...is that he's succeeded in taking the moment when he left Genesis and turning that into the next series of logical steps.

He did the "Genesis Revisited" CD...some "faithful" versions of Genesis classics, some re-worked...plus the EXCELLENT "Live In Tokyo" CD with John Wetton on vocals and Genesis stage drummer Chester Thompson...but other than that, he hasn't lived in the past.

He takes a lot of risks but also "sounds like Steve Hackett," if that makes any sense.

The only point in his career that I didn't appreciate was "GTR." Howe pulled off the "prog pop supergroup" thing with Asia, but he couldn't make lightning strike twice. My biggest problem with GRT, though, was its lack of a charismatic frontman. I really couldn't stomach singer Max Bacon, so it didn't matter what Hackett and Howe were playing.

Hackett recently released a new album, "Beyond The Shrouded Horizon," and it is excellent.

[HopeHoops]

9. "Please Don't Touch"

"This song should only be listened to at the highest possible volume your stereo can muster and not by people in a severely hallucinagenic state of mind." (Sorry for the spelling error).

[Amerigo Vespucci]

12. "Icarus Ascending"...Holy FUCK.

And that's part of the genius of Steve Hackett. Who the hell would have thought that he could enlist Richie Havens and pull off a song like THAT?

I mean, I like Richie's music...in the 80s he did a KILLER version of 10CC's "I'm Not In Love"...but I think most people probably view him as a folkie, the Woodstock "Freedom" guy, but Hackett saw something else in him, and the song still makes the hair on my arms stand at attention.

The whole "Please Don't Touch" album is easily one of his best.

[hifiguy]

10. His solo debut, "Voyage of the Acolyte"

is a lovely thing.

Also well worth hearing are the myriad acoustic guitar albums done by the player Hackett succeeded in Genesis, Anthony Phillips.

[hifiguy]

3. Where, might I ask, is my favorite?

Selling England by the Pound is the definitive Genesis album, followed by "Lamb." "Trick of the Tail" and "Wind and Wuthering" were pretty damned good too. Agree 100% with Amerigo re: "And Then There Were Three." No Steve Hackett = No real Genesis.

[HopeHoops]

5. My bad. I love that album and I saw Musical Box perform it (props and all)

You can always tell the vintage Genesis fans.

[hifiguy]

6. Yep, we're easy to sniff out.

Drove all the way to Milwaukee to see the "Trick" tour with Bill Bruford on drums. Man, the drum duet he did with Phil was :wow:

:hi:

[HopeHoops]

7. Chester does a knock-out with Phil too. That was the Abacab tour. See-saw drum platform.

Okay, so that was like 82 or so.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

13. That was my only regret with the "Wind & Wuthering" tour...

...Chester SMOKED, no doubt about it, but the group of friends I ran with back then latched onto "Trick of the Tail" and played it to death. When they found out Bruford played on that tour, they couldn't WAIT for the "Wind" tour.

I clearly remember the moments when Collins would turn away from the mic and walk back up to his drum kit. I've never seen anything like it in my life. "Seconds Out" comes close to capturing the interplay with Thompson, but the visuals were a whole other matter...four arms flailing with precision, power AND skill. There are plenty of drummers who can pound the shit out of their kits, and there are plenty of "classically trained" drummers who can nail every beat with precision but lack the raw power.

When I listen to Collins in the "Trick/Wind" prime of his playing, as well as Thompson, I think of jazz players like Tony Williams and Jack DeJohnette. Same thing. They play with complete finesse, but they will also huff, and puff, and blow your house the fuck DOWN.

:toast:

[hifiguy]

14. Collins was a monstrous drummer

He recorded a few albums with a jazz-rock group called Brand X back in the 1970s as a side project. Awesome chops. Tony Williams and Billy Cobham are excellent points of comparison.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

17. Yep, I have ALL of the Brand X stuff.

He was also on an album called "Marscape," and if you liked Brand X, you'll probably want to check this out:

http://www.amazon.com/Marscape/dp/B000001Y0W

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost like a second Brand X album, February 9, 2002

By BENJAMIN MILER (Veneta, Oregon) - See all my reviews

(TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Marscape (Audio CD)

Moroccan Roll is Brand X's official second album, but you can call Marscape by Jack Lancaster & Robin Lumley the second Brand X album. Why? Well all Brand X members are here: Lumley, of course, John Goodsall, Percy Jones, Morris Pert, and Phil Collins. Not to mention ex-Blodwyn Pig member Jack Lancaster who handles the wind instruments including sax and Lyricon (an electronic wind instrument common to the mid 1970s). This album was recorded after Unorthodox Behaviour and before Moroccan Roll (some sources say Marscape was recorded before Unorthodox Behaviour, which is incorrect, as this album was recorded in the summer of '76, and Unorthodox Behaviour was recorded in the fall of '75). Marscape was actually released on the RSO label, Robert Stigwood's label that gave us the Bee Gees and most of Eric Clapton's '70s works, making Marscape the only album on the RSO label I know of interest to prog rock fans (Brand X albums were released on Charisma in the UK and Passport in the US). Marscape differs a bit from proper Brand X albums as the music is a bit more progressive and less fusiony and the music has much more stark contrasts to one another. One song might be quite aggressive, the next one is quite gentle with a spacy atmosphere that makes you think of the desolate Mars landscape. Some of the cuts also feature some great piano work, something I don't notice quite so much on Brand X albums. Robin Lumley's Moog style had also improved quite a bit over Unorthodox Behaviour, in fact it's that same style he'll be using on Moroccan Roll and Livestock. One song worth mentioning is "Hopper", which is a rather cheesy, but fun number using synth bass patterns and basically jamming over it, yet I find that one of the more fascinating cuts on the album, even if it's pretty simple. A couple other cuts actually have an Oriental bent to it thanks to the presence of bamboo flute and a certain Simon Jeffes playing Koto. So if you're a Brand X fan, if you're a Genesis fan (because Phil Collins is on this album), make sure you add Marscape to your collection.

[REP]

20. Yeah, no shit

[Iggo]

11. Definitely Maybe. (n/t)

[dawg]

15. Um .... Selling England By the Pound.

But the best one you have listed is Foxtrot.

[HughBeaumont]

16. Selling England By the Pound.

Very cohesive, some of Hackett's and Banks' best solo work with the group.

[MilesColtrane]

18. LAMB

[ArnoldLayne]

19. Foxtrot