But Prog Rock is all endless noodling about!
May 9, 2021 2:14 PM   Subscribe

In honor of Genesis (Phil, Mike, Tony, Daryl, and Nic Collins) touring for the first time since 2007 [Rolling Stone], let's revisit the Genesis catalog by looking at the shortest song on each album! Starting, very gently, with A Place To Call My Own, from From Genesis To Revelation.

Trespass continues the quiet, folk music based trend, albeit with a prog core, with Dusk.

For Absent Friends is a tiny little piece found on Nursery Cryme.

While technically the shortest track on Foxtrot is Horizons (the instrumental introduction to Supper's Ready), a full dose of Genesis magic is wrapped into a neat package in Time Table.

Again, Selling England By The Pound's shortest track is the coda to The Cinema Show, Aisle Of Plenty. But the shortest standalone track is More Fool Me, which is also notable for debuting Phil on vocals.

Ravine is a curious atmospheric instrumental from side 4 of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.

The title track of their sixth album, A Trick Of The Tail, features some of the best Peter Gabriel vocals that he never sang.

While Afterglow flows out of the previous track Unquiet Slumber For The Sleepers...In That Quiet Earth, it stands on its own as the closing track to Wind & Wuthering.

The very playful Scenes From A Night's Dream remains one of the deeper cuts off of ...And Then There Were Three...

The interstitial track Guide Vocal, from Duke, states the Duke's Theme for the first time, that will come back again and again across the rest of the album.

Abacab's Man On The Corner has been a favorite track of mine for literally decades now.

The self-titled album Genesis included Taking It All Too Hard which was released as a single only in the US but didn't really fly very far.

The very similar in tone Throwing It All Away is the shortest track off their most pop album, Invisible Touch. It was slightly more successful as a single than Taking It All Too Hard.

Yet another short ballad! We Can't Dance had the track Never A Time which also was a low-level chart success as a single.

And finally, Shipwrecked, from the last Genesis studio album, Calling All Stations. Which makes for an interesting closer to this little tour of the Genesis catalog through an odd lens!
posted by hippybear (43 comments total) 33 users marked this as a favorite
 
Bonus: a short (under 1m) preview of the upcoming Genesis tour.
posted by hippybear at 2:14 PM on May 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


Love the idea of checking out a band’s catalog’s shortest songs! Over They Might Be Giants’s 22 album discography, only one album has a shortest song that cracks the two minute mark (and that’s only if you don’t count the bonus tracks on the Japanese release).
posted by ejs at 2:34 PM on May 9, 2021 [2 favorites]


Was Collins air-drumming in that clip?
posted by mhoye at 2:50 PM on May 9, 2021




BlueHorse: I'm going to Charlotte, NC (of all places) to see them.
posted by hippybear at 3:05 PM on May 9, 2021


Now do Napalm Death.
posted by Paul Slade at 3:20 PM on May 9, 2021 [6 favorites]


I adore the Peter Gabriel era Genesis. Trick of the Tail and Duke are pretty great, too.

I hate prog-haters!
posted by SoberHighland at 3:43 PM on May 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


Was Collins air-drumming in that clip?

He doesn't drum anymore due to health issues. (Nerve damage and damaged vertebrae I believe.)
posted by dobbs at 4:16 PM on May 9, 2021


As a hardcore early Genesis fan I can’t fave this any harder. Thanks hippybear. I just last night happened upon a bunch of YouTube videos of Steve Hackett in some elaborately staged productions involving orchestras etc, very well done. Cinema Show and Supper’s Ready were the ones I saw. Great to see several dozen professional musicians intently recreating what your heroes made as early twenty somethings.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 5:36 PM on May 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


My bff just scored tix to their concert at TD Garden in Boston and I am jealousing so hard right now. If someone asked me to list my favorite Genesis tunes, I would be hard pressed to do so. I love this band with every inch of my being.
posted by sundrop at 6:31 PM on May 9, 2021 [2 favorites]


Over They Might Be Giants’s 22 album discography, only one album has a shortest song that cracks the two minute mark

Who's knocking on the wall?
posted by aws17576 at 6:48 PM on May 9, 2021 [2 favorites]


Abacab's Man On The Corner yt has been a favorite track of mine for literally decades now.

That may be so, but we all know, we all know, we all know, we all know, that "Who Dunnit?" is the shortest song on Abacab.
posted by escabeche at 6:57 PM on May 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


Anyway, "Scenes from a Night's Dream" is a gem, one of the near-perfect songs that came out of their long teeter between prog and pop.
posted by escabeche at 6:59 PM on May 9, 2021


Is that the one about Little Nemo or the one about a night in the life of a household mouse?
posted by Atom Eyes at 7:24 PM on May 9, 2021


The one about Little Nemo. I've listened to it three times since this post reminded me of it.
posted by escabeche at 7:30 PM on May 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


The one about the life of a mouse was "All In A Mouse's Night" off Wind And Wuthering.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:51 PM on May 9, 2021


I wondered why Chester Thompson wasn't the drummer and found this fantastic interview.
posted by indexy at 8:40 PM on May 9, 2021 [4 favorites]


I wish I could afford tickets. Even the cheapest seats were $300+ each. I'm hoping for a pay-per-view option.
posted by Wild_Eep at 9:27 PM on May 9, 2021


One of the things I liked best about Genesis is how the band members changing kept their sound evolving in ways that you could hear each former incarnation of the groups lingering influence over the next, solidify into their own sound, then go through the process again.

It felt to me that Gabriel left at the right moment, where that version of the band had more or less gone as far as it could with Supper's Ready and the double album Lamb, and was occasionally feeling almost too dense in competing musical ideas. Gabriel's solo work not only made up for his loss to the band, but showed an interest in a more "cinematic voice" where had more precise control over the atmospherics than in the flow of the more theatrical musicality of his time with Genesis.

Trick of the Tail though still feels like Gabriel's Genesis in a lot of ways, but Collins gives the singing a different edge for being, appropriately enough for a drummer, punchier while ranging more than Gabriel within lines of the songs. It might have been nice to have Hackett stay for at least one more album, but his influence still seemed to linger for the next couple of albums, even as the band drifted towards pop. That mix of influences prog to pop made Duke probably my most played, if not necessarily favorite album the band made, with Nursery Cryme a close second, but almost all of them found repeated play for at least one side of the album up until Invisible Touch where the punchier style felt more like working the light bag in lieu of having a sparring partner.
posted by gusottertrout at 9:32 PM on May 9, 2021 [5 favorites]


For a second the phrasing made me think this was a Genesis comprised entirely of Collinses, which is not the case, although I would listen to an all Collins prog band.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 10:26 PM on May 9, 2021


He doesn't drum anymore due to health issues.

I’m sad to learn that - not many people could get around a drum kit like Collins at the top of his game - but I’m glad they’re still out there making music.
posted by mhoye at 4:47 AM on May 10, 2021 [1 favorite]


Genesis was THE band for me when I was 19 or 20. This post has made Monday a little less Monday, thank you.
posted by JanetLand at 5:46 AM on May 10, 2021 [1 favorite]


Damn you, hippybear. This post was the straw that broke the camel's back and made me go by tickets for the second MSG concert this December. I've been spending the morning fixing my budget to account for the $500 hole I just created in it.
posted by KingEdRa at 6:07 AM on May 10, 2021


He doesn't drum anymore due to health issues.

A friend of mine saw Phil on his solo tour back in 2019. She said it was a fantastic concert (she had front row tickets at the Barclay's Center). She also said that Phil did a number of his songs seated on a chair, which I found interesting.

I've been spending the morning fixing my budget to account for the $500 hole I just created in it.

Good for you! I went straight to the site for the MSG upcoming 12/5 and 12/6 shows right after reading this post last night. Not a whole lot of tickets left and what I could afford (nosebleed seats) would definitely take me over $500 as well. I'd LOVE to go, but just can't swing that right now.
posted by sundrop at 6:27 AM on May 10, 2021


not many people could get around a drum kit like Collins at the top of his game

Agreed. But if you go back and look, he had horrible posture when he played - he had a habit of being a little hunched over, with his shoulders scrunched up and his neck back. I'm pretty sure that years of playing drums like that took a toll.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:36 AM on May 10, 2021


I find I'm enjoying this thread in spite of myself. But because it is Monday and some squabbling crows and seagulls got me up way too early, I feel I must weigh in.

I didn't bail on Genesis. They bailed on me. Not when Peter Gabriel split, not when Steve Hackett split. It was a more gradual thing. I do remember having a great seat for their 1984 tour. Mama was the big deal hit. The lights were extraordinary. The sound was to die for ... but too much of the set list just wasn't doing it for me. The epic stuff like Home By The Sea was epic and the climax of the main set (Dance on a Volcano into Los Endos) was everything I could've hoped for. But overall, the bland MOR tracks kept tripping up the experience. I REALLY DIDN'T LIKE THAT STUFF. And don't get me started on Phil Collins' between songs blather ...

I guess I just wasn't in the target audience anymore.

So I moved on. I'm pretty sure I saw Talking Heads on the Stop Making Sense tour around the same time. Now, that was a concert! And then Laurie Anderson a few months later. Also any number of small venue punk-hardcore-whatever explosions. I very quickly didn't miss Genesis at all, or Yes, who I also saw around the same time and found equally underwhelming.

I've been spending the morning fixing my budget to account for the $500 hole I just created in it.

So basically, eighty-three times as much as I paid the first time I saw them, 1977, the Wind + Wuthering tour. Unless that's for two tickets. Either way, I think that's a little BEYOND any known realm of "adjusted for inflation".
posted by philip-random at 6:57 AM on May 10, 2021 [3 favorites]


That tour list must be a work-in-progress because there don't appear to be any stops in the US west of the Mississippi. I don't know how they're going to skip the entire west coast or places like Red Rocks in CO.
posted by fuse theorem at 7:58 AM on May 10, 2021


I gave up on Genesis when Peter Gabriel left. Today I discovered that not only are there people who like the Phil Collins' Genesis, they are even enthusiastic about it. Takes all sorts.
posted by epo at 7:58 AM on May 10, 2021 [2 favorites]


Can we please, please all try to avoid shitting on particular eras of Genesis, or the people who may happen to like a different era than you personally do?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:11 AM on May 10, 2021 [8 favorites]


"Even the cheapest seats were $300+ each."

The same was true when they first went on sale in Chicago, but now there are (terrible) tickets available for $160.
posted by MrJM at 9:43 AM on May 10, 2021


looking at the shortest song on each album

:snrk: After all, they can't all be "Supper's Ready."

Amusement aside, that's actually a pretty good window into their range. Thanks!
posted by Quasirandom at 11:29 AM on May 10, 2021


I gave up on Genesis when I learned about Super Mario 64.
posted by box at 12:20 PM on May 10, 2021


I still love the mid 70s Genesis albums, through Foxtrot to Wind and Wuthering; I can't help myself. It goes past my critical faculties and hits somewhere else.

But if you go back and look, he had horrible posture when he played - he had a habit of being a little hunched over, with his shoulders scrunched up and his neck back. I'm pretty sure that years of playing drums like that took a toll.

Absolutely. Collins was a fantastic drummer in his day, but has had terrible issues with his back including surgeries that left him walking with a cane.
posted by jokeefe at 2:46 PM on May 10, 2021


Can we please, please all try to avoid shitting on particular eras of Genesis?
No. We can't. We really really can't. Unpossible.
posted by 3.2.3 at 4:24 PM on May 10, 2021 [2 favorites]


The amazing thing about this band is how Phil took over from Peter's vocals on his songs. It's like a once in a lifetime phenomenon. (well ACDC did something like this too so it's like a twice in a lifetime.)

The not-amazing thing is some of their later pop-era songs. Apologies.
posted by ovvl at 6:35 PM on May 10, 2021 [1 favorite]


eighty-three times as much as I paid the first time I saw them, 1977, the Wind + Wuthering tour. Unless that's for two tickets. Either way, I think that's a little BEYOND any known realm of "adjusted for inflation".

Remember when The Eagles went on their Hell Freezes Over tour and they were selling tickets for the then unheard-of price of $50? Nobody had ever charged that much for a rock concert ticket before!

I don't think I've paid UNDER $50 for an arena show in decades.
posted by hippybear at 7:17 PM on May 10, 2021 [1 favorite]


BTW, new dates and shows have been added to the tour, and if you keep checking TicketMa$ter regularly for the next week or so, you might be able to get face-value tickets directly from them as people's purchases go sideways for various reasons and the tickets get released back into the wild.

Chicago, Montreal, New York, Philedelphia, and Boston all have shows going on sale at 10am ET on Friday May 14.
posted by hippybear at 9:03 PM on May 10, 2021


Quality post!
posted by ShakeyJake at 12:44 AM on May 11, 2021


I don't think I've paid UNDER $50 for an arena show in decades.

I haven't been to an arena show in decades.

I do feel compelled every now and then to make a point of the absurd prices folks now seem willing to pay for a live music experience. I guess it's just the free market in full-on, unrestrained action, but it does feel wrong. And everybody knows it. They complain about the ticket prices but that doesn't stop them from paying, encouraging the corporate monster.

The turning point for me was probably that mid-80s moment when I saw both Yes and Genesis in their re-imagined 80s forms and found them underwhelming. Though I'm pretty sure the last big show I ever attended* was U2 in 1987, the Joshua Tree tour. They may have been a better band then, working better, more sophisticated material, but the energy in that football stadium just didn't come close to the two previous times I'd seen them (1000 and 3000 seaters). Anyway, that was it for me. From then on, it was clubs mostly, or warehouses, basements, the smaller and weirder the venue the better.

* I did go to Lollapalooza a few times in the early-mid 90s, but those multi-band, multi-stage outdoor situations had an entirely different feel, offered room and freedom to roam.
posted by philip-random at 7:22 AM on May 11, 2021


I guess the last arena-y show I saw was Elvis Costello and The All the Guys Except Bruce Thomas-ions, and Steely Dan.
posted by thelonius at 7:50 AM on May 11, 2021


The one and only stadium gig I've seen was Bowie in Sunderland in '87. I remember standing in the rain listening to him whine some nonsense about glass spiders and wondering how much more fun I'd be having if I'd taken the £50+ it cost and gone to the Hacienda instead.
Having said that, Big Country were the support band and they were awesome.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 8:39 AM on May 11, 2021 [2 favorites]


here's a gem that just popped up on my Youtube sidebar.

Phil Collins - Interview November 1974

On November 26th, 1974 Genesis was playing the second of 2 nights at Cleveland on their Lamb Lies Down on Broadway tour. In mere hours, Peter Gabriel will announce his departure from Genesis to the band. But before this happens, and before the show, Phil Collins joins friends/local musicians Ken and Steve in their studio.

Thankfully, Ken and Steve started rolling tape, as we are treated to a 40 minute interview and drumming with Phil, never heard before now. Since Steve was a drummer, he talks with Phil about drumming techniques, gear, and drummers such as Steve Gadd, Bill Bruford, Carl Palmer, Billy Cobham, and others. There are also a lot of details about the new album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and tour.


Hear what he really thinks about Emerson Lake + Palmer.
posted by philip-random at 8:04 PM on May 11, 2021 [2 favorites]


and thanks, hippybear, for the post. If you hadn't put in the work and I hadn't clicked some of those links, the youtube mega-brain would never have suggested that Phil Collins interview/discussion. Which, as a big fan of the old Genesis (golden age 70s prog in general), fills in some serious blanks for me. I love how he comes across as a guy calmly talking shop, not trying to hustle or sell anything, just sharing a few trade secrets, saying (as one would with friends) what he really feels about his contemporaries and their situations, no ass kissing or sugarcoating. His take on Bill Bruford (obviously a friend) as a guy whose craft, brilliant as it was, had been limited by playing with the same brilliant but idiosyncratic bass player for five years -- that's just not something I would've considered.
posted by philip-random at 3:31 PM on May 12, 2021


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