Least favorite musical instrument

[Mr.Krautman]

^ What? No love for "Turkey in the Straw?!

I'm just now watching Steve Hackett's most-recent live Blu-Ray, SEBTP & Spectral Mornings Live at Hammersmith, and during I Know What I Like, the woodwinds dude takes a long sax solo, center stage with a spotlight. It seems totally out of place, as the only (or surely at least nearly?) sax solo on a Genesis album, and was hideous. No matter how good the guy was, it wasn't even going to register with me. I do like good sax solos when they're used in numbers where they feel right. I know "Wardrobe" lends itself to noodling, but this sax solo was truly uncalled for. Sometimes sax can be as bad as an accordion!

I fully agree.
There's no doubt Rob Townsend is an excellent musician but he doesn't fit a band playing prog and old Genesis songs.
I've seen the S.H show 5 times and Rob ruined many songs with his shrill piercing soprano sax sounds replacing the original solo T.B keyboard (synth) parts.
There never were saxes in Genesis (a good thing !) and if the keyboard player can't play all the parts he could be seconded by another one, but PLEASE not a saxophonist !
It just sounds awful and out of place. I remember each time I was really suffering during the (sax driven) Los Endos which is the perfect song to close what would be otherwise a great show.
Re. accordion (another instrument I don't like in a prog context) I have a similar feeling with Jethro Tull: they allways had brilliant/dazzling keyboard players (John Evan, Eddie Jobson, Johns Vettese, Don Airey, to name a few) but for years they are using an accordeonist/keyboardist you can barely hear (live) except when he is playing accordion (which is much too often !)

[mozo-pg]

I fully agree.
There's no doubt Rob Townsend is an excellent musician but he doesn't fit a band playing prog and old Genesis songs.
I've seen the S.H show 5 times and Rob ruined many songs with his shrill piercing soprano sax sounds replacing the original solo T.B keyboard (synth) parts.
There never were saxes in Genesis (a good thing !) and if the keyboard player can't play all the parts he could be seconded by another one, but PLEASE not a saxophonist !
It just sounds awful and out of place. I remember each time I was really suffering during the (sax driven) Los Endos which is the perfect song to close what would be otherwise a great show.
Re. accordion (another instrument I don't like in a prog context) I have a similar feeling with Jethro Tull: they allways had brilliant/dazzling keyboard players (John Evan, Eddie Jobson, Johns Vettese, Don Airey, to name a few) but for years they are using an accordeonist/keyboardist you can barely hear (live) except when he is playing accordion (which is much too often !)

I feel really strongly about this. It took away from my enjoyment of hearing Genesis songs they way I am used to. Call me an old dog but there you have it.

[Rarebird]

Am I the only one who doesn't mind the saxophone in old Genesis songs?

But well, I also like Rewiring Genesis - A tribute to The lamb lies down on Broadway

[Czyszy]

Kazoo because it is in fact impossible to get a good sound out of it or make it fit in a different context than parody/satire. Also, the Vocaloid, especially Hatsune Miku comes really close.

[headphoneland]

Someone mentioned electronic percussion.. that live Hammill / K Group album 'The Margin' sprang immediately to mind.. Guy Evans's incredibly annoying percussion sounds impelled me to get rid of that LP despite the otherwise excellent performances on it.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Am I the only one who doesn't mind the saxophone in old Genesis songs?

No, you are not.

But well, I also like Rewiring Genesis - A tribute to The lamb lies down on Broadway

As do I.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Kazoo because it is in fact impossible to get a good sound out of it or make it fit in a different context than parody/satire. Also, the Vocaloid, especially Hatsune Miku comes really close.

Come now. Surely nobody can object to this...

[progmatist]

Come now. Surely nobody can object to this...

Perhaps not, but don't call us "Shirley."

[reynard]

I fully realize that a lot of my opinions differ from popular ones & no offence intended to any members here who play one but for me, it's the Ukulele, full stop. Drives me nuts when I hear one and I'm always expecting a Playschool piano to join the sonic fray soon after.

[llanwydd]

I fully realize that a lot of my opinions differ from popular ones & no offence intended to any members here who play one but for me, it's the Ukulele, full stop. Drives me nuts when I hear one and I'm always expecting a Playschool piano to join the sonic fray soon after.

Trying to think of any ukelele concertos I might have heard and their opus numbers. Or what Rick Wakeman could do with a playschool piano.

[Vic2012]

Today I heard Margaritaville at a pub. I don't think there are steel drums on the song, but there is Marimba. I like Marimba. It's corny but it's tropical and not as cornball as steel drums.

[chalkpie]

Today I heard Margaritaville at a pub. I don't think there are steel drums on the song, but there is Marimba. I like Marimba. It's corny but it's tropical and not as cornball as steel drums.

It's not corny in Zappa's music...it's quite beautiful.

[Rarebird]

It's not corny in Zappa's music...it's quite beautiful.

Marimba is not corny at all.



Yes, they used to be a progressive rock group.

[progmatist]

Trying to think of any ukelele concertos I might have heard and their opus numbers....

Perhaps Jake Shimabukuro will write an ukulele concerto. Much like Bela Fleck wrote a banjo concerto.

[Rajaz]

I fully agree.
There's no doubt Rob Townsend is an excellent musician but he doesn't fit a band playing prog and old Genesis songs.
I've seen the S.H show 5 times and Rob ruined many songs with his shrill piercing soprano sax sounds replacing the original solo T.B keyboard (synth) parts.
There never were saxes in Genesis (a good thing !) and if the keyboard player can't play all the parts he could be seconded by another one, but PLEASE not a saxophonist !
It just sounds awful and out of place. I remember each time I was really suffering during the (sax driven) Los Endos which is the perfect song to close what would be otherwise a great show.
Re. accordion (another instrument I don't like in a prog context) I have a similar feeling with Jethro Tull: they allways had brilliant/dazzling keyboard players (John Evan, Eddie Jobson, Johns Vettese, Don Airey, to name a few) but for years they are using an accordeonist/keyboardist you can barely hear (live) except when he is playing accordion (which is much too often !)

You could not have hit the nail on the head more precisely! I totally agree with all that you said and adding that Rob's flute parts (that Gabriel did) are fine and fit well but it's the soprano sax that poisons all those Genesis classics and I just can't understand why Hackett likes it so much that keeps letting him smother songs on and on.
Ian Anderson played the soprano sax a lot during the Thick as a brick/Passion Play era but it fit very well and kept the flow of the song going as it was intended but in the Genesis case, the intent was for keyboards, something Carl Palmer doesn't get either with his "Legacy" trio that is another travesty.

[r2daft2]

There are no musical instruments that I can't enjoy - unless they are overused.
The instruments with the greatest potential to annoy me tend to be those that have a whinny, or tinny sound - especially if it becomes shrill.
The "common" instrument I get fed up of quickest is probably the sitar.

[llanwydd]

There are no musical instruments that I can't enjoy - unless they are overused.
The instruments with the greatest potential to annoy me tend to be those that have a whinny, or tinny sound - especially if it becomes shrill.
The "common" instrument I get fed up of quickest is probably the sitar.

The sound of a sitar always makes me hungry.

[Pragmatic]

I am still trying to wam up to the sound of bicycle….the other instruments are OK by me

https://youtu.be/y9P2V0_p6vE


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[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

The instruments with the greatest potential to annoy me tend to be those that have a whinny...

Yeah, they sound hoarse.

[moecurlythanu]

^

[markwoll]

A new ( or old ) candidate

[Rarebird]

A new ( or old ) candidate

Sounds interesting. Would like to hear more and want to know what those instruments are.

[Mister Triscuits]

Would like to hear more and want to know what those instruments are.

They are forms of a medieval instrument called tromba marina or marine trumpet. (They have nothing to do with the sea; "marina" is probably a corruption of Maria, as they were played in church settings as a substitute for brass instruments.)

[Rarebird]

They are forms of a medieval instrument called tromba marina or marine trumpet. (They have nothing to do with the sea; "marina" is probably a corruption of Maria, as they were played in church settings as a substitute for brass instruments.)

A bit like a Stroh violin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroh_violin

It seems to have been used in nunneries, to replace trumpets, which weren't considered suited for ladies.