Pawed by Mott the Dog
Re-mastered by Ella Crew
5 Stars
Genesis
were formed in early 1967 out of a couple of bands that met at Public
School, Charterhouse. (In England, the posh expensive Schools are called
Public Schools, which has always puzzled this dog. They certainly were not
public as they all cost a fortune to attend). They recorded their first
album “Genesis To Revelation” and released it in 1969. That was before
the band had even played before a live audience. That by itself is an
amazingly long incubation period. They also had already a change of
drummers by that time, Chris Stewart left and John Silver (great name for
a drummer) came in. This album hardly caused a ripple in record stores
around the country, and is unrecognizable as anything Genesis were to do
after this point.
A re-think was in order. It was decided that drummer
Silver was unsuitable. Out with him and in came John Mayhew. They all
de-camped to a conveniently empty cottage just outside Dorking to work on
their sound and a possible stage show. Eventually Tony Stratton Smith
signed them to his new Charisma label, which on the strength of watching
one dodgy rehearsal, and one badly recorded demo tape, must be one of the
most inspired signings in the history of Rock ‘n’ Roll. The album
“Trespass” was recorded and the band began to gig. However, before the
album was released disaster struck.
Anthony Phillips, original lead guitarist with the band
and instrumental in defining the guitar sound that stayed with the band
through all of their career, decided that the Rock ‘n’ Roll lifestyle
within a band was not for him. At the same time the three remaining
original members decided that John Mayhew was not the man to be sitting on
the drum stool (scratch deep enough all bands have had their Spinal Tap
moments). Replacing Anthony Phillips was not going to be easy, but finally
Steve Hackett was found. He was a very earnest and intense young man,
whose character was in keeping with his guitar playing.
The drum stool was the next problem. After fourteen
drummers had a go, a certain young chap by the name of Phil Collins
answered a Melody Maker small ad and was drafted into the Genesis ranks
straight away. As a child actor Phil Collins had been in several T.V. and
stage shows including the part of the artful Dodger in the Londoner West
End production of “Oliver”. After “Oliver” he drummed in several
bands, the last of which had been a group called “Flaming Youth”. They
were just rapping up in the aftermath of some ill advised and unsuccessful
publicity, so Phil Collins was glad to get the gig with Genesis. But I am
sure the other four did not realize what a useful little chap their new
drummer was going to be in years to come.
So by early 1971 the re-shaped Genesis was finally
gathering some real momentum with growing approval from the press and a
steadily increasing hard core fan base. Each album they released
outstripped the last (“Nursery Cryme” in 1971 and British breakthrough
album “Foxtrot”, which followed in 1972). By now they were out on the
road almost consistently wowing their fans with their unique blend of rock
music, dexterous skills, and groundbreaking stage show. A quite remarkable
sight on stage they were, too. Steve Hackett would play his blistering
solos from a seat on the left hand of the stage, while
multi-instrumentalist Mike Rutherfood would wander the stage with his twin
necked guitar enabling him to play the bass and twelve string guitar at
the same time.
Tony Banks would be on the right hand side of the
stage, almost invisible from the audience as he was completely surrounded
by his multi collection of keyboards. But the wonderful wall of sound that
became the trademark of Genesis left you in no mind that he was there.
Then of course, out the front, was charismatic lead
singer Peter Gabriel, who would often go through eight costume changes per
concert in an effort to better put across the story of each song. Not for
Genesis to play short sharp little songs; most clocked in at over eight
minutes. The only single that Genesis had released at this point was
“The Knife”. To accommodate it into the single formula it had
literally been cut in two with side ‘A’ being “The Knife - part
one” and Side ‘B’ being ‘’The Knife - part two”. That didn’t
exactly endear them to radio play. So Gabriel’s role was crucial in
“Genesis” to keep the audience’s attention. His flute playing also
gave the band an extra dimension.
While the band was on the tour promoting “Foxtrot”,
several of the concerts were recorded to give the fans something while
they came off the road to record their next album. (“Selling England By
The Pound” 1973 became their worldwide breakthrough album for them.)
Five songs were selected for “Genesis Live”, which
rocketed into the charts in Britain reaching #9. What you got were five
epics all clocking in at over eight minutes, in all forty five minutes. A
lot for the days of vinyl. And although not a whole concert, the running
order of the songs worked very well.
First we have two songs off the “Foxtrot” album,
but no problem there as the band had quickly adapted the songs for the
road, beefing them up quite considerably. In the case of opener ‘Watcher
of the Skies’ Tony Banks had added an awe inspiring opening played on
the Mellotrone and the Moog Syntersizer. By the time Phil Collins comes
thundering in showing the chops on the drums that would soon have him
rated as one of the best drummers in rock music (this was way before
anybody had thought about putting him out front to sing), you are already
caught up in the web Genesis set out to catch you. Tony Bank’s keyboards
rather dominate the opener, using the guitars to keep up a strong but
slightly slower beat than on the studio album.
Then Peter Gabriel takes over on ‘Get’em Out By
Friday’, a tirade against despicable landlords. Gabriel plays all the
roles in different voices. With the amount of energy this must have taken
up, it is no real surprise that two years later he stunned the rock world
by leaving Genesis when they were on the crest of the wave. ‘The Return
Of The Giant Hogweed’ was always a favorite of Genesis fans and was
probably as close to actual Rock ‘n’ Roll that Genesis would ever get
to; something to actually bang your head to - heavy metal style. ‘The
Return of the Giant Hogweed’ was one of two from “Nursery Crymes”,
the other one being ‘The Musical Box’. This is the centerpiece of this
album and shows all the light and dark that the band put into their music.
The mid section features a guitar solo from Steve Hackett that would lay
the template for all progressive rock guitarists to follow. The final
climax to this epic as the band hammer their way home with Gabriel wailing
over the top of them all, has often been imitated but never bettered.
After ‘The Musical Box’ has left you exhausted, the
band carries on with a track from ‘Trespass’, ‘The Knife’. You can
tell by the audience reaction to Gabriel’s announcement of what the band
intended to play next that this was another crowd favorite. Expectations
were running high. But the band gave an interpretation that exceeded the
studio version in astonishing fashion. This must be partly due to the
relative new inclusions of Phil Collins and Steve Hackett into the band.
Phil Collin’s drums gave the song a much crisper definition, while
Hackett’s guitar work reached new heights. A dramatic conclusion to a
fine album.
Songs
Watcher of the Skies, Get’em out by Friday, The
Return of the Giant Hogweed, Musical Box, The Knife
Musicians
Peter Gabriel - Vocals, Flute, Tony Banks - Keyboards, Phil Collins -
Drums, Steve Hackett - Lead guitar, Michael Rutherford - Bass and Twelve
sting Guitar
My
colleague, the delightful Ms. Hillary, should have asked me to review the
book Bangkok Angel, (ISBN - 1898754233 and published by Asia Books)
written by Englishman Mike Smith a couple of years ago. Hillary would
enjoy this book, because it is one concerning the relationship between a
foreigner and a Thai lady that (surprisingly?) has a happy ending. With so
many of the cries for help published in Hillary’s column, she needs
someone to show her that the coin does indeed have another side to it.
This
is a book that any male will understand, and any male who is having, or
has had, a relationship with a Thai lady will immediately relate to -
every subtle nuance as well as the assaults from what Mike calls the
Phantom Bangkok Bum Biter! Such gems as Mike asking Whisky why she had not
written to him, one month after she had promised she would, to be met with
the response that she was writing to him, she just hadn’t finished it
yet!
Mott’s CD review: Genesis - Live