I’ve been reviewing music on this blog for over six years.
Wow! It seems like a long time. Though sometimes I get bored and pick an artist
one year and explore their discography a bit. You may have noticed. Last year I
went through the Beastie Boys catalog, the year before it was Tom Petty.
However, this year I’ve decided to make it an official thing – pick one band
and really make an event of it. I’ll review one album each month and decide if
I really am a fan.
After much deliberation I chose Genesis. My experience with
them started when I was still in the single digits, age-wise. I’m mostly
familiar with their Invisible Touch material
– more specifically, the song “Land
of Confusion.” It was one of those
truly iconic videos that always stuck with me as being surreal and rather
frightening. Those strange looking puppets along with the urgency of the song
really struck a chord with me. I watched it again the other night and my wife
said, “This video is truly horrifying.” I loved the song, though. Still do. I’d
also heard the album’s title track and really enjoyed that as well. Peter
Gabriel’s videos for “Big Time” and “Sledgehammer” were MTV staples. Back in
the day, I’d watch for hours just to see those two clips. I’ve even enjoyed a
lot of Phil Collins’ solo songs. Hey, don’t hate - good tunes is good tunes. When
I finally had two digits in my age, I’d be glad to see “Jesus He Knows Me” and
“I Can’t Dance” pop up on MTV.
I was ignorant of their status as progressive rock legends
until much later. I was far too young to have heard any of that material. My music
exposure at the time was limited to radio stations and MTV. If it wasn’t played
on either of those outlets, I didn’t hear it. In my early twenties, a co-worker
let me borrow a copy of Nursery Cryme for
me to sample. I remember absolutely none of it. What I do remember was not
being that impressed. But, hey, I was young and stupid (Well… stupid at any
rate. I don’t ever remember being young). I like progressive rock and I like
pop music, Genesis has done both reasonably well. Seems like a good fit to me.
So here I am in 2016, ready to dive down and really dig into
this band with whom I’m only passingly, but positively familiar with. The rules
will be a little different for this project. I’m going to do a bit more
detailed write-ups for these albums. I wanted to really marinate in each piece
and take notes before I write up the reviews. I’ll even be…like…revising them
and stuff. I want these to be a cut above what I normally do. There will be one
Genesis review at the end of every month. I’ll still be doing my informal
paragraph-long reviews as well.
The tentative schedule for my experience is as follows:
Janurary: Duke
February: Foxtrot
March: We Can’t Dance
April: Selling England By The Pound
May: Invisible Touch
June: Trick of the Tail
July: Abacab
August: Nursery Cryme
September: Genesis
October: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
November: …And Then There Were Three
December: Wind and Wuthering
I say “tentative” because I may change the schedule a little
bit or replace an album in the line-up. At the end of each review I’ll let you
know which one is next in case I do change.
Okay, I know what you’re asking: why start with Duke?
The answer is… it seems like good middle ground. I’ve heard
that
Duke is sort of the mid-point
for the band’s career, mixing progressive rock with more pop sensibilities. In
all honesty, that sounds like my kind of album! It also comes highly
recommended. There’s
this article that recommends
Duke for those who want to get familiar with prog-rock. I also have
the whole-hearted endorsement of a movie psycho. If that weren’t enough,
there’s this article from a
fellow gamer and prog-rock lover, Jeremy Parish.
Oh, and don’t forget
NolifetilMetal’s Scott Waters likes it too. So it seems
like the place to start. I’ve also tried to pick albums from the band’s entire
catalog, switching it up each month - one month I’ll do something progressive
and another more pop. That way I’ll have palate cleansers and, hopefully, be
more objective.
As I said before, I like both progressive rock and pop. I
won’t be too worried about questions like “who ruined the band?” and the like.
I don’t care. I will be listening to these pieces long after the fact and I will
only have one question in mind. Namely, do I like it? I won’t be worried about
its history or its placement in the band’s discography. No, each album will be
a singular experience and that’s how I will rate it. At least that’s what I
hope to do… Oh yeah! That’s the other thing, I’m actually going to give each
album rating from one to five (five being the best, naturally).
One last thing, I don’t expect to find the band “ruined.”
See, sometimes fans don’t realize that our favorite artists kind of get tired
doing the same thing over and over again. Case in point: Deliverance.
Deliverance remains one of my favorite bands of all time. They started life as
a speed metal band, but gradually become a more melodic, more alternative
sounding band. Everyone hated that. They wanted speed metal or nothing. Forget
the fact that the band had been doing speed metal for almost ten years. Some
artists want to try different things and that’s not wrong.
I suspect something similar happened to Genesis. It’s great
to do sprawling epic progressive masterpieces. But I bet it’s just as good to
put together a strong three-minute pop song. I can see where all the theatrics
might get tiresome after awhile. Playing a ten-minute song probably takes a lot
out of you. Also, I would bet pop music pays better. And as someone who’s had
to worry about whether or not I could buy toilet paper, financial security is
nothing to sneeze at.
So join me, won’t you? It’s should be a fun and enlightening
year!
