However they get out, I'd like them to be commercially available with bonus tracks!Originally Posted by Esoteric
5.1 would be nice too...
Mike
However they get out, I'd like them to be commercially available with bonus tracks!
5.1 would be nice too...
Mike
I remember one interview years ago where he said he had 10 albums worth of unreleased material. He didn't say if (or how much of) the material had actually been recorded. Before 'Six' came out, he (at the time of the esoteric reissue of 'A Curious Feeling') said the next album would be orchestral, but he'd like to do another one like 'ACF' afterward. So we'll see, but with people like Tony, I don't think the music stops flowing. I think it would be a good move, both artistically and commercially for he and Steve Hackett to do an album together, and I think it would be good for Steve too. Maybe get some of the modern proggers to round out the band. Okay, now I'm dreaming....
I think Seven is the best thing Tony has ever done.
What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)
Wicked Lady is out, has been for some time. I got it from Amazon.co.uk. Haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.However they get out, I'd like them to be commercially available with bonus tracks!
5.1 would be nice too...
Mike
I just checked my Amazon orders, and got this in April this year. It's on a label called 'fugitive'... :-)
Wow, more so than 'Six'?
I reviewed the Esoteric double-disc edition when it came out. Review here.
No. A very disappointing album made worse by the poor choice of singer.
Yes, that's Tony's own label.
Mike
Yeah, exactly
I think Six is excellent but Seven just draws me into the rich instrumentation, great use of violin.
What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)
I am a big fan of Tony, but the orchestral albums did little for me. They were well done, but I want to hear Tony play. Generally I am not a big fan of orchestral albums from rock musicians and Tony's didn't change my opinion much. He doesn't seem eager to record and release a new rock album, but I wish he would. I miss his brand of genius.
As for 'A Curious Feeling', it is a very good album. The only slight problem that I have with it, is that the tone of the album is not very diverse. That said, it is still an impressive piece of work. I am a fan of Tony's solo catalog and would welcome remastered versions of the albums.
A great album and well sung too. Kim Beacon could have done more - he was a regular on the live music circuit in the late 80's/early 90's here in Scotland with his own band. I know he had been greatly "troubled" in the late 70's/early 80's - I was told by his former record company in 1983 that it was substance issues , and by the time I met him around 1988, he was living an otherwise quiet, sober existence. His voice was still excellent, but he seemed to either move away or disappear from music after that. I am really sorry to hear of his passing.
I also love Mike's Smallcreep's Day, and thought Noel McAlla's vocals were excellent on that disc. Mike never matched the quality of those songs again on any of his M&TM stuff, and Acting Very Strange is best forgotten.
I always love this track - might as well post it. Always surprising somehow. It reminds me of something from Perrey and Kingsley's "The In Sound from Way Out":
Last edited by JKL2000; 10-29-2013 at 04:47 PM.
I love the album too, especially the keyboard solo on After the lie. Spent hours as a kid playing along to that one!
Love Kim Beacon's voice too.
If anyone knows anyone who sounds like him, or Peter or Phil in Melbourne, please get in touch for the Genesis Tribute. Ta kindly!
It was a big disappointment back in '79. Especially on contrast with Hackett and Gabriel releases about that time.
Have to agree, that solo was the brightest moment of the album for me.
Not amongst prog fans here in the UK from what I remember. I remember this and Mike's "Smallcreeps Day" being very well received here by Genesis fans, and the fact that we also had them sandwiched between Spectral Mornings & Defector, PG2 & PG3, ATTWT & Duke, plus Anthony Phillips' various projects meant it was an excitingly productive period for all members past & current & a great time to be a Genesis fan. There was very little negativity other than some dissenters bemoaning ATTWT's shorter songs but it was too soon to be seen as the start of any decline, plus Knebworth 78 had shown them to be as big a live force as ever. Plus no-one even suspected that Phil would have any sort of solo career.
Solo albums by anyone other than singers are rarely big sellers, but anyone I knew at that time who bought it, loved it. Admittedly that's not a long, long list, but as a very active member of the "fan club" back then, it was a good cross section of the hardcore fanbase.
Yes, a look at the chart placings in the UK show it performed quite well...given that I can't see that Tony Banks was a household name in his own right.
Yeah no kidding. For me, it blew away Peter's first couple albums.
I think a major problem with most G and PF solo albums in the 70s & 80s was that they were overshadowed by the main band's releases. And very few fans, myself included, investigated the solo albums, we were content with the band albums of the day, be it Duke or Animals or whatever.
With the obvious exceptions of course of excellent solo albums released by ex-members, e.g. Syd Barrett and Anthony Phillips.
A Curious Feeling and Smallcreep's Day were both quite successful albums - at least in the UK - and I'm sure sold vastly more than anything released by Ant Phillips or Syd Barrett. Of course they didn't sell as much as the Genesis albums but I don't think there was that much in it...so I don't think it's fair to say that "very few fans" investigated these solo albums. I would imagine that it was all Genesis fans who investigated them and made them top 20 albums
Yeah, I was talking only from my experience. Well, Rutherford album is a different thing - it came in '80, as I recall, and some of Genesis lovers even prefered this to Duke.
I wouldn't go so far, but Smallcreeps Day I rate much higher, than CF. Totally agree, that Genesis members were extraordinary active with solo projects at the end of 70s. And their business-wise drummer built his schedule comfortable enough for recording with Brand X.
Interesting point, never thought about it.Solo albums by anyone other than singers are rarely big sellers, but anyone I knew at that time who bought it, loved it.
I think it's a combination of the record companies don't really promote them and the performer doesn't tour or it's very limited. Especially if it's not the lead singer or sometimes a lead guitarist, for all but the hardcore fans, the keyboard players, drummers, bass players are unknown. They don't have the time or desire to start at the bottom with their own band. Busses and endless gigging in front of real small houses are not in the cards for guys who play in front of tens of thousands with there big name band.
When David Gilmour toured with About Face, I heard of the show only hours before the event. I figured that the show would be sold out so I did not try to get tickets. It was at an outdoor arena, so I listened outside. It wasn't until later that I found out that only 2/3 of the tix were sold. Wonder what a little more PR would have done.
I would agree that most Genesis fans that I knew of had these albums back when they were released. I liked both Smallcreeps and Curious Feeling back at the time and they still hold up well for me now. Smallcreeps Day was so good that it helped to make Mike's next solo album, Acting Very Strange, one of the most disappointing first listens that I ever had with an album. I have found some value in it since, but overall, it still vastly pales in comparison with Smallcreep's Day.
Totally agree. I liked some of it at the time - Maxine springs to mind - but I recall Mike saying he'd found it hard to handle signing an entire album until someone said he should try drinking brandy before singing - he ended up drinking about a bottle a day during the vocal tracking! As a vocalist myself, at the time I felt I had to see if it worked for me - but somehow I can't remember if it helped! I did enjoy it though.
I digress. I think I will have to check out AVS again as it is years since I listened to it without preconceptions. I do however think a lot of Tony's stuff was great - the Fugitive has a lot of warmth & good songs, even if the vocals are a little niaive, and Still has some great stuff - especially with Fish on vocals. Strictly inc had the magnificent Island In the Darkness, which could have been a great Genesis number.
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