The way we Listen

The news has just been posted on Genesis official website. The DVD capturing the 2007 reunion tour of the band is coming out on May 26th, 2008 !

So watch out and be ready to buy your copy of this treasure.

I really like rock band stories… especially how they managed to survive throughout the years, despite unfortunate events of all kind. In 1974, The british progressive band Genesis lost their singer and acclaimed leader Peter Gabriel, who left for a solo career. Back then, fans and critics were very doubtful about the band survival. But thanks to Phil Collins, who only was the backing vocalist and drummer of the band at the time, Genesis released a new album two years later, called “A Trick of the Tail”. After auditionning several lead singers, Phil Collins tried to fill in on vocals and finally remained the new frontman of the band : a successful intuition.

A Trick of the Tail is the first Genesis album with the new line-up. Like previous albums, this one came with its universe and its set of fictional characters.

1. Dance on a volcano introduces us to a classical Genesis album, but the vocal talent of Phil Collins is surprisingly high. The song has a traditional rock part and a progressive rock part, so that everyone gets what he wanted. To me it is by far the best tune of this album : tempo acceleration, great drums, excellent melody. (8.5/10)

2. Entangled begins with a kind of faeric guitar and melody. This song has a very catchy chorus and carries you in a 7-minutes journey to another world. (7/10)

3. Squonk is more like a rock tune, with an odd pattern that can stay in your head for days! It reminds me of their earlier work, but with more modern sounds. (6.5/10)

4. Mad Man Moon is very similar to Entangled : a tiny piano melody starts and you immediatly switch to a faeric world. Not as catchy as Entangled, but technically more exciting… listen to the piano solo in the middle of the song. (6/10)

5. Robbery, Assault and Battery … kind of a strange title! It’s a relatively fast song, with melodies and voice intonations similar to Peter Gabriel. The song also reminds some of Toto’s early work (especially the song Girl Goodbye). (6.5/10)

6. Ripples is another faeric ballad, although I find it even more catchy and beautiful. The chorus “Sail away, awaaaay” really emphasizes the newly discovered singing talent of Phil Collins. The structure of the song is really similar to progressive songs (I’m thinking about Dream Theater ballad songs : slow verse and chorus parts, then a completely different instrumental section, then the chorus). Can’t get it out of my head right now (8/10)

7. A Trick of the Tail is kind of a Beatles song, with an upbeat tempo. You can find aspects from both periods of the band, with really shows the transition between the Peter Gabriel era and the Phil Collins era. (6.5/10)

8. Los Endos… what a weird title too ! Like you might have guessed, this is the ending track of the album. It’s an instrumental track, like a recap of the album. It contains themes from every other song, mixed with a crazy drum beat. When played live, it used to follow the special drum duet performed by Phil Collins and Chester Thompson, Genesis’ tour drummer since 1977. (6/10)

In conclusion, this album is really a classic progressive rock album, it contains a lot of elements which are significant to progressive style. The overall theme is really faeric and carries you in another world if you just close your eyes. And above all you can see the transition between progressive rock Genesis and pop rock Genesis… all fans will be pleased! On the other hand, the progressive aspects and the faeric environment can keep away a lot of listeners, so I will mark this album 7.5/10.

Share your thoughts !

Here comes the summer… Another concert is scheduled in june… Quick! Listening to their albums before the date of the concert arrives… And then let’s take a break…

7. Listening to Genesis (June-July)

July 12th : we’re going to see Genesis in Lyon, France!! I have always been very impressed by Genesis and Phil Collins work. But my knowledge of Genesis music was very limited : 4 songs. Great songs but I wanted to discover more. Then I learned about the famous “Pre-Duke era” where Genesis music was much more progressive… I discovered a whole new side, and I became enchanted : I especially like Dance in a volcano, I know what I like and the whole double-disc album The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. I also learned more about the more notorious side of Genesis with albums like Invisible Touch… I really like the way they managed to mix up progressive music and traditionnal rock music. So, what are you waiting for? Go listen to these guys!

8. Genesis, live in Lyon (July 12th)

10 years of silence… And then they reappear! Genesis is back for a big reunion tour and cool they come to France, our country… What a show, one of the most incredible shows I’ve seen in my short life (I’m 22 years old :p). 2 hours and a half travelling all the periods of Genesis music. Progressive songs, “radio rock” songs, … they managed to please everyone. And the lights and video effects were incredible : we even got the pleasure to see amazing fireworks at the end of Invisible Touch. The DVD of the tour will be released in March 2008, so if you missed that, I recommend to take a look at the live DVD!

9. Instant Karma (June 12th)

In August, the non-governmental organization Amnesty International released a compilation titled Instant Karma : Make Some Noise, Save Darfur. The benefit album is part of Amnesty’s campaign to stop the crisis in Darfur. Several artists recorded cover versions of John Lennon songs and the sales benefits would help saving Darfur from horror. I found it a great initiative, a lot of great artists participated in this : U2, Green Day, R.E.M., Aerosmith, even Duran Duran ! Anyway, I hope you bought it because this is a small gesture that can save a lot of lives. Here you can find the official tracklist.

December… almost the end of 2007. Well this year was very very full with concerts for us! And most of all reunion tours and things you cannot miss. We’ll post live reports for each of these concerts that we attended throughout the year :

• The Scorpions, Zenith, Paris 14/05/07 - Humanity Hour I Tour
• Aerosmith, Bercy, Paris 19/06/07 - 2007 World Tour
• Genesis, Stade Gerland, Lyon 12/07/07 - Turn It On Again Tour
• The Police, Stade de France, Paris 29/09/07 - Reunion Tour
• Dream Theater, Zenith, Paris 05/10/07 - Systematic Chaos Tour
• Superbus, Zenith, Paris 23/11/07 - WOW Tour (French Band)

Almost a concert per month Some money went away this year! Come check out this website soon if your want to share details about these concerts.

Genesis is a prog rock band which include musicians Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford et Tony Banks. Perhaps you already know that, the “Turn it On Again Tour” is a reunion tour that took place last summer in Europe (and still touring in the US), 10 years after their last studio album. The double-disc album “Live Over Europe” gives a great souvenir of the european tour. It contains the complete setlist (over 2 hours and a half live), recorded in differents towns throughout the tour… Here’s the lovely setlist :
CD 1
1. Duke’s Intro / Behind The Lines / Duke’s End (Live In Manchester)
2. Turn It On Again (Live In Amsterdam)
3. No Son Of Mine (Live In Amsterdam)
4. Land Of Confusion (Live In Helsinki)
5. In The Cage / The Cinema Show / In The Cage / Duke’s Travels (Live In Manchester)
6. Afterglow (Live In Manchester)
7. Hold On My Heart (Live In Hannover)
8. Home By The Sea (Live In Dusseldorf & Rome)
9. Follow You Follow Me (Live In Paris)
10. Firth Of Fifth (Excerpt) (Live In Manchester)
11. I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) (Live In Manchester)

Disc 2
1. Mama (Live In Frankfurt)
2. Ripples (Live In Prague)
3. Throwing It All Away (Live In Paris)
4. Domino (Live In Rome)
5. Conversations With 2 Stools (Live In Munich)
6. Los Endos (Live At Twickenham)
7. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight (Excerpt) (Live In Rome)
8. Invisible Touch (Live In Rome)
9. I Can’t Dance (Live In Munich)
10. Carpet Crawlers (Live In Manchester)

This album has been released recently… I strongly recommend it! We’ll make a review of this album soon. My only little sadness is that none of these tracks has been recorded in Lyon (France), which is the concert that we attended…

To be noted : the DVD of this tour, which was filmed in Rome, and entitle “When In Rome”, will be released on February 18, 2008… We just have to be patient, then!