Genesis - the Peter Gabriel era

Genesis - the Peter Gabriel era

Author
Discussion

iSore

Original Poster:

4,011 posts

143 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
It's a tad late (I'm old) but I'm just getting into this now. I bought Duke (1980) as well as Abacab in 1981, then 'Genesis' in 1983, didn't really rate Invisible Touch, thought their last album 'We can't dance' was pretty dire. I don't count 'calling all stations' as it doesn't even have Phil Collins.

Collin's solo work and acting career really put me off - he was just everywhere back then.

But, to have seen them live in the seventies. eek

This is my fave at the moment, the Foxtrot album played in a 1973 promotional gig at Shepperton studios October 31st 1973. This is supposedly the only known recording of this, found in the US and restored after several hundred hours of work. I always admired Peter Gabriel/thought he was a fruitcake but having seen this, I'm pretty sure he was the equal of Bowie in terms of songwriting and live performances.

Anyway, enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FBcz3tBH74


Pericoloso

44,044 posts

162 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
I've got Duke on CD ,like it a lot.

iSore

Original Poster:

4,011 posts

143 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
I've got some old vinyl somewhere.

Funny thing is, I used to skip the pre 1976 stuff on CD's because I thought it was just too weird. Perhaps it is.

Now, I think it's just brilliant. Phil should have stayed on the drums - that's what he was best at, and he really was superb.

To think these guys were 22 or so when they wrote this. clap

K12beano

20,854 posts

274 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
Go find Steve Hackett and Genesis Revisited. Best possible live versions of what Genesis were like from about ‘70-‘76....

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
Pericoloso said:
I've got Duke on CD ,like it a lot.
+1
Great album, and Abacab has some great moments especially Me And Sarah Jane. The Gabriel era seems rather dated now imho 'me I'm just a lawnmower you can tell me by the way I walk' wtf was that all about?
Was anyone else at the Six Of The Best show at Milton Keynes in 82, rained all day, Gabriel came on stage in a coffin,lol, far out man.

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
K12beano said:
Go find Steve Hackett and Genesis Revisited. Best possible live versions of what Genesis were like from about ‘70-‘76....
Your Own Special Way with Paul Carrick singing is a favourite of mine.

Pericoloso

44,044 posts

162 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
I've got a 120 mile trip tomorrow morning,I'm going to put Duke in the CD slot ,if I can find it.

Active75

245 posts

163 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
I think theres another thread on this, but I was lucky enough to see them perform some of Foxtrot at the Rainbow theatre '73 when the Selling England by the Pound album was released, yes Gabriel used to keep changing outfits through the show. Also saw the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway set in '74..

.. years later I found myself in an egg and spoon race with Mike Rutherford.. another story lol

craig1912

3,273 posts

111 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
Not a massive fan of Duke but love Trick of the tail and Musical Box from Genesis Live and some of And then there were three

037

1,315 posts

146 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
Love ‘Genesis’ album

cherryowen

11,683 posts

203 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all


I first listened to this when I was 14 (so, 34 years ago now), and I love it just as much now as then.


Northbloke

643 posts

218 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
I've just been flicking through old vids of the 70s Gabriel era too. I like a huge variety of music old and new but having just seen 2 Steve Hackett shows on CTTE I think the early Genesis stuff is my absolute favourite.

Gabriel is unsurpassable but Nad Sylvan does a pretty good job to make the tracks hugely enjoyable live today.

Best of all for me is Firth of Frith:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwe4r8RrSsY

Just so beautifully written with great piano, flute and guitar solos.

Musical Box and the epic Suppers Ready not far behind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsHU_e_x_fM

Duke has some nice tracks but it all started to go a bit wrong after that IMHO.

Raygun said:
Was anyone else at the Six Of The Best show at Milton Keynes in 82, rained all day, Gabriel came on stage in a coffin,lol, far out man.
Yep, I was there. Nearly got crushed getting out when some railings gave way then found my car had a flat battery and spent the night in my car. Woke up to find just my car in an empty field full of rubbish.

(My elder brothers also tell me they saw Genesis supporting Lindisfarne)

miniman

24,827 posts

261 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
Abacab is one of my favourite albums.

m1keg

30 posts

235 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all

Might want to check out this lot -

http://themusicalbox.net/extravaganza/

A French-Canadian tribute band but their thing is that they recreate tours from the Gabriel era, down to lighting, costumes for "Peter" and even the same rambling anecdotes and introductions.

Excellent musicians, having seen them do Selling England By The Pound (European Set), Selling England By The Pound ( US set - The Black Show) and Lamb Lies down on Broadway from recent tours.

They're touring the UK later this year, albeit this time it's a non Genesis tour set with music drawn from all the albums from Trespass to Wind & Wuthering.


iSore

Original Poster:

4,011 posts

143 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
Active75 said:
I think theres another thread on this, but I was lucky enough to see them perform some of Foxtrot at the Rainbow theatre '73 when the Selling England by the Pound album was released, yes Gabriel used to keep changing outfits through the show. Also saw the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway set in '74..
Fantastic!

I've found that a lot of the stuff I used to like before seems a bit dull after listening to Foxtrot. My cousin has seen both Gabriel and Steve Hackett play - something I'd like to do as well at some point.

anonymous-user

53 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
Northbloke said:
Yep, I was there. Nearly got crushed getting out when some railings gave way then found my car had a flat battery and spent the night in my car. Woke up to find just my car in an empty field full of rubbish.

(My elder brothers also tell me they saw Genesis supporting Lindisfarne)
Yeah Lindisfarne were on ' the famous charisma label' too along with Genesis and along with someone else they toured as a package I do believe.
After we left MK that night we got pulled in by the police on the way home at St Neots, they found some speed in my mates wallet so all four of us were stripped searched, so not a great end to the evening for me either.

stevejh

799 posts

203 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
I saw Genesis live three times. The first was in 1980 at the Lyceum Theatre part of which was broadcast as a 'Whistle Test Special'. The whole thing is now on Youtube and it was an excellent concert as they did a lot of the old stuff as well as most of Duke which had just been released. I saw them again at the NEC and then at Wembley Stadium. The NEC concert was great but nowhere near as good as the Lyceum and then Wembley was just disappointing partly because they didn't perform much of the old stuff but mainly because I was so far from the stage I could barely make out who was on stage.

For me the seventies stuff was the best although I have all their albums apart from 'Calling All Stations'. If I was on a desert island and could only have one album it would be 'Seconds Out' which was actually my introduction to Genesis in 1978 and I worked back from there.

I also saw Peter Gabriel live in the mid eighties. He was, of course, excellent and I would have loved to have seen him front Genesis live.

I love that Steve Hackett still performs a lot of the old Genesis stuff. His guitar work really lifts the old classics and, for me, was the missing ingredient from Genesis's later work particularly the live performances.

anonymous-user

53 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
stevejh said:
I saw Genesis live three times. The first was in 1980 at the Lyceum Theatre part of which was broadcast as a 'Whistle Test Special'. The whole thing is now on Youtube and it was an excellent concert as they did a lot of the old stuff as well as most of Duke which had just been released. I saw them again at the NEC and then at Wembley Stadium. The NEC concert was great but nowhere near as good as the Lyceum and then Wembley was just disappointing partly because they didn't perform much of the old stuff but mainly because I was so far from the stage I could barely make out who was on stage.

For me the seventies stuff was the best although I have all their albums apart from 'Calling All Stations'. If I was on a desert island and could only have one album it would be 'Seconds Out' which was actually my introduction to Genesis in 1978 and I worked back from there.

I also saw Peter Gabriel live in the mid eighties. He was, of course, excellent and I would have loved to have seen him front Genesis live.

I love that Steve Hackett still performs a lot of the old Genesis stuff. His guitar work really lifts the old classics and, for me, was the missing ingredient from Genesis's later work particularly the live performances.
I had that Lyceum show on a tape unfortunately it ended up getting chewed up due to me keep re-windinding it on 'Say It's Alright Joe' great live version. Like you I saw Genesis at Wembley circa 87 on the Invisible Touch tour and to say I was disappointed was an understatement, it seemed they had really sold out to the mid 80s sound by this time, Phil Collins obviously made a stack of money during this period but I felt the quality of music was no longer there ending the period with the patronising 'Another Day In Paradise'. He gets wrongly critisicised with people overlooking the fact he's a great singer and drummer and he made some great music shame lots of people gauge him on the Live Aid/mid 80s period.

stevejh

799 posts

203 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
This is the full Lyceum concert :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZnP6eq9kcM&t=...

Although he is clearly a good guitarist Darryl Stuermer never really filled Steve Hackett's shoes in my opinion.

Although I have all Genesis's albums I really only listen to the seventies ones. From Duke onwards there is the odd track on each album that I enjoy but no real classics like 'Supper's Ready', 'Firth of Fifth', 'Musical Box' or 'Blood on the Rooftops'.

anonymous-user

53 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
I first saw Genesis in concert as a 16 year old in 1980 here -

https://www.aylesburyfriars.co.uk/genesis80.html

Gabriel and Hackett had gone by then unfortunately but Hackett’s last album, Wind and Wuthering, is the album that first got me interested in them.