Genesis

As an opener, I feel that we should give Where The Sour Turns To Sweet some credit. It's the very first track on their first studio album! And in my opinion, it has a strong melody and all together it's...beautiful.

The debut album, while having a terrible production, you can't say those vocal melodies suck. Listen to the previously mentioned Where The Sour Turns To Sweet and In The Wilderness. You can't deny those vocal melodies, right?

Come on guys, give it a chance. I hated it at first. I thought it was so "not Genesis".

What do I think of it now? It's in my top ten Genesis albums.
 
The debut isn't bad. I think they've always been really skilled songwriters, and the debut really shows that. But it's still just your average baroque pop. They'd improve with leaps and bounds over the course of the next few albums.

I liken it to the first could Yes albums. Good music that I enjoy when I put it on, but the band is still trying to find their sound and overall it's missing elements that blew me away initially.

Fireside Song is pretty nice I think.
 
What's the best Genesis instrumental section? I personally like The Cinema Show's instrumental section the most. What about you?
 
Cinema Show is up there. Also...

Firth of Fifth
Apocalypse in 9/8
Rockin' solo section after "We are only wanting freedom" in The Knife
Hogweed: intro, middle, drum solo coda
Dance on a Volcano, closing section
Tonight Tonight Tonight - a bit different but superb
Fading Lights - best since the 70s
 
You mentioned The Knife. It's a pure delight to listen to, is it not? The rocking energy of the song is cool, right? I find it a absolute blast the whole way through and it's definitely the best song on Trespass. Am I right?
 
SMX already mentioned the best ones, but I also really enjoy the instrumental to Robbery Assault and Battery. The rest of the song is kinda forgettable but that instrumental section is really great and reminds me of Selling England.
 
I've just watched Steve Hackett's new live DVD 'Genesis Revisited: Live At The Royal Albert Hall' and it blows me away.

This must be one of the very best concerts ever recorded. The performance of the mindblowing setlist is simply divine.

Songs included (among others) are:

Dance On A Volcano
Dancing With The Moonlit Knight
Carpet Crawlers
The Musical Box
Afterglow
Firth Of Fifth
The Fountain Of Salmacis
Supper's Ready
Watcher Of The Skies

What keeps this CD/DVD from being the best ever is the lack of 'Cinema Show', alas.

Do yourselves a favour and get this CD/DVD! You won't be sorry for doing this. It's so awesome.
 
Now...I want to go over something. Something BIG. It's called The Duke Suite. It was planned for Duke but scrapped.
It was split into six different songs and I will go over all of them now.

Behind The Lines introduces us to the new Genesis with a bang. It's a poppy, catchy and overall kickass opener to a great album. Man, I wish more people liked Duke...
For some reason, I really like the lyrics. They just...you know...stick with me in my head. Also, the whole track just reeks of nostalgia. I was going through all the albums a few months ago and when I came to Duke and listened to the whole album, I realized I had been too hard on the album. I realized it was one of their best. And now whenever I listen to Behind The Lines, I always start to smile.
So, what could come after such a amazing opener to the suite?
Well, the next one...it's a bit different.

Duchess opens with drum machines. It's the first time drum machines appear on a Genesis album, by the way.
The first minutes of Duchess are just build-up and atmosphere. And it's wonderful. It sounds so soothing...and to be frank, it's beautiful! Of course after that we have the main part and it's this one section that I feel more Genesis fans should pay attention to. It's not an intentional one but I can see a clear metaphor for some older Genesis fans.
In the Gabriel/Early Collins' era, the fanbase was a loyal and respectful fanbase, at least the ones I have seen, and I have seen a lot, mind you!
When they turned to pop, some of the older fanbase jumped ship and shunned their new music and they hated what Genesis had turned into. On the Abacab tour, they were even booed offstage! You see what I mean, right? Right! Back to the song!
The main part is absolutely amazing. It's definitely a high point of the suite. The lyrics as you may have guessed are amazing too. The song all comes together as something much more emotional than Afterglow could ever hope to be.
Then we return to the opening section again and Duchess comes to a end.

To end the first half of the suite, we have Guide Vocal. This is a small ballad with only Banks on piano and Phil's vocals.
Due to the shortness of the ballad, it's not as great as the two songs before it. But it's still great in it's own way.

If that was to be end of the suite, it would have still been a clear highlight in Genesis' history. But of course, Genesis had more up their sleeves. And the second half starts. And you know what?

It's much, much better than the first half!

What does it start with? Well...

Turn It On Again is one of those pop songs for me. Those pop songs that are just perfect. And it is truly a marvel. I was surpised by I Know What I Like, even more surprised by Follow You Follow Me and this one just blows both out of the water. The melody WILL make you sing along or at least, make you bop your head to the song. If you don't do that, then...I am so sorry for your lack of a soul, but let's press on. Of course like the two other earlier mentioned Genesis pop songs, it's short. But it doesn't need to. Turn It On Again is perfect both in the suite and outside the suite.
And so, Turn It On Again ends and we get closer to the end.

Duke's Travels' instrumental section is one of the best instrumental sections I have ever heard. The first two minutes makes me feel like I'm flying. And the rest of the song both make me bop my head and it kicks my butt from Sweden where I live to Mars once the fast paced section begins. And that section. Wow. I liked Phil's drumming before but THIS? It just blows me away! We have a excellent reprise of Guide Vocal after that and then the conclusion.
We have a amazing piano section and then to the synth only countdown to the final frontier.

Duke's End ends our journey with a big bang too big for words. It's great. It starts out as a Behind The Lines reprise which is also great until Phil does a drum fill and a Turn It On Again reprise starts and ends everything.

And that's The Duke Suite. It's definitely one of Genesis' most shining moments and I feel it's very underrated.
And here's the thing:

It's not even in my top ten Genesis songs!
 
Duke Suite is cool, I'm actually really glad it was broken up. The parts are greater than the whole and I rarely listen to it as an entire suite. The book ends work really nicely too, love Duke's End. Plus Turn It On Again in particular works better as a single song than part of an epic.
 
I've just compiled a 'Best Of Genesis: The Peter Gabriel Years' CD with my favourite songs (top ten) from that era:

White Mountain
Dusk
The Musical Box
The Fountain Of Salmacis
Dancing With The Moonlit Knight
Horizons
Firth Of Fifth
The Cinema Show
Carpet Crawlers
It

What songs would your 'Best Of' CD contain?
 
Way back in the cassette days I had 2 90-minute mixes I kept in the car. 3 hours that covered Trespass thru Trick Of The Tail.

I think it's tough to do a single CD length. Supper's Ready plus half a dozen epics fills it up, and I'd still have two dozen songs I want.
 
What songs would your 'Best Of' CD contain?
If I was limited to ten, I'd probably choose something like this:

1: Watcher of the Skies
2: Time Table
3: The Musical Box
4: Firth of Fifth
5: In the Cage
6: The Carpet Crawlers
7: It
8: The Cinema Show
9: Horizons
10: Supper's Ready

Not necessarily my top ten, but a good selection from the last four albums they did and a decent flow IMO.
 
What songs would your 'Best Of' CD contain?

Hmm...okay. Here's my Best Of. However...it's a bit different. It's divided into three different volumes.

Genesis - The Hidden Treasures (Vol 1: 1969-1976)

1: Where The Sour Turns To Sweet (2006 Remaster)
2: Visions Of Angels
3: White Mountain
4: Time Table
5: More Fool Me
6: Robbery, Assault & Battery
7: That's Me
8: Can-Utility And The Coastliners
9: Am I Very Wrong?
10: Looking For Someone
11: Harold The Barrel
12: Anyway/Here Comes The Supernatural Anaethetist
13: Twilight Alehouse
14: The Silent Sun

Genesis - The Hidden Treasures (Vol 2: 1977-1981)

1: Deep In The Motherlode
2: Blood On The Rooftops
3: Man Of Our Times
4: Another Record
5: Snowbound
6: Inside And Out
7: Heathaze
8: Dodo/Lurker
9: You Might Recall
10: The Lady Lies
11: Evidence Of Autumn
12: The Day The Light Went Out

Genesis - The Hidden Treasures (Vol 3: 1983-1997)

1: On The Shoreline
2: The Dividing Line
3: Anything She Does
4: Taking It All Too Hard
5: One Man's Fool
6: The Brazilian
7: Just A Job To Do
8: Dreaming While You Sleep
9: Alien Afternoon
10: Feeding The Fire
11: Do The Neurotic
12: I'd Rather Be You
13: Hearts On Fire
14: Silver Rainbow
 
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Firth of Fifth is the best. I really like his solo on the battle section of Supper's Ready too. Very triumphant and thoroughly composed, it really shows Hackett's strengths as a guitarist.
 
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