Early Genesis with Peter Gabriel

[Pete70s]

::Posted both here and on RL::

Is anyone here a fan of this stuff? I got Trespass, Nursery Cryme, Selling England By The Pound, and Genesis Live recently, and have been checking out some of it. It's VERY different from their later Phil Collins stuff. The song "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" is probably my favorite track so far.

[Ken]

I'm not familiar with that much early Genesis, but I like what I've heard so far - "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway", "Supper's Ready." I seem to recall hearing "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" here on our classic rock station awhile back.

I really like "Squonk" as well from A Trick Of The Tail - if my memory is correct I believe Peter Gabriel had left by then.

[SAT-I need more room!!]

kenfrank said:

I really like "Squonk" as well from A Trick Of The Tail - if my memory is correct I believe Peter Gabriel had left by then.

Yep, their first of two studio albums as a foursome.

As far as the initial question, Pete, I intend to eventually look into all the albums. I checked Lamb Lies Down from the libaray about a year ago. Of course I already knew the title cut. I have the reissue single (which the classic rock stations seem to play over the album version, even though it's not much shorter). I also know Carpet Crawlers pretty well.

From Trick of the Trail, I know and like the title cut.

From Wind and Wuthering, their last before commercialism, I know Your Own Special Way and I LOVE Eleventh Earl of Mar.

[Dawn]

I have most of the early albums, except for From Genesis to Revelation and Live. There's some great moments on all of them, although it's more of an acquired taste than their later material. Definitely check out The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway when you get the chance, as that is said to be their best early work.

The "middle period" albums - A Trick of the Tail, Wind & Wuthering, and ...And Then There Were Three - are also worth checking out. This is an underrated period, in my opinion. As Adam mentioned, they hadn't really become commercial yet, so many the songs from this era are kind of a cross between the early proggish sound and the later material. A Trick of the Tail is one of my favorite Genesis songs.

[Pete70s]

I've been checking out more and more of Genesis's stuff recently. I have all the middle-era re-masters from "A Trick Of The Tail" through "Abacab". I want to get the Shapes album when the re-master comes out next month. I'm not that interested in "Invisible Touch" and "We Can't Dance", as most of that stuff got played to death back in the day. As for "Calling All Stations", I've heard a few clips and it sounds pretty good, I'd like to check that one out.

For the Gabriel-era stuff, I used to have a vinyl copy of "Lamb", but I must have not kept it. I do like the title track and "The Carpet Crawlers". I'm hoping to get "Foxtrot" soon, because I really want to hear "Supper's Ready", I've heard it's amazing. A lot of that stuff isn't easy to acquire a taste for, it's so "out there". I can see why it didn't sell in America (American rock fans in the 70's tended to want Robert Plant and Roger Daltrey-type frontmen, not guys dressed in flower costumes).

"A Trick Of The Tail" is probably my favorite album so far. "Dance On A Volcano", "Squonk" and the title track are all great! (Dawn, I can see why you like that one so much, I hear bits of the Beach Boys in it. Very 60's bubblegum-sounding, with an updated 70's sound, kinda like Flo & Eddie).

I think the big reason I avoided Genesis for so many years was because I couldn't separate Phil Collins from that adult contemporary fluff he did in the late 80's, to see him as a member of a serious rock band (Similar to Peter Cetera in that regard). When "Invisible Touch" was selling like hotcakes, they were kind of looked at in my school as a "chick band" (ironically, up until "Follow You, Follow Me" came out, it was the exact opposite).

I really like them a lot, but I still doubt they'll ever get in the Hall.

[cairnterrier]

a great early Genesis song is called "In the Cage". To this day the band still performs it in concert, often as a medley containing "Cinema Show", "Dukes Travels" and finishing with "Afterglow" (another great early song). Give it a listen in both the later live forms, and the early studio version from 1974.

My personal early favorites are "Carpet Crawlers" (love that song!), "Firth of Fifth", and "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)".

I honestly can say that I like all eras of Genesis. Even the later pop era material.