That's a cool story. MMM is a great track!Originally Posted by rich
That's a cool story. MMM is a great track!
What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)
It's quite a complex song really; a lot of unusual chord changes and shifts in mood. Difficult to pull off live, I'd imagine. I remember Banks saying he wishes he'd played the piano solo better but yes, I think he's said a few times it's a favourite of his.
I've also read interviews with Tony where he says his piano work in MMM wasn't something he was proud of.. even calling it "a mess"..
Yes, he mentions on the 2007 interview disc that the middle section is "not played as well as it should have been". Sounds fantastic to me!
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
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Me too! But he's often critical of his playing. He said the same thing about his playing in 'After The Ordeal', whereas I think his playing fits the piece perfectly. Perhaps he envisioned something even better?
When I first heard Genesis I thought that some of Mr. Hackett's parts were keyboards (played, presumably, by Mr. Banks). I'd never heard a guitar sound like that before.
Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.
Yes, it's worth noting sometimes that while Tony is critical of others, he is equally critical of himself. I think people tend to forget or overlook that sometimes. As for After The Ordeal, he strongly dislikes that entire piece and didn't want it on the album, but they compromised and allowed everything on (I recall it being said that PG wasn't crazy about the long instrumental section of Cinema Show either).
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
It is just a matter of having seen this or that songs from "Seconds out" performed in one of the past genesis revisited tours. The only song that is not part of the bunch is "Robbery, assault and battery" so this idea will work although is not a novelty, from the contents aspect but it would be great to mimic the Boeing jet light feature!
And to have two drummers onstage but this is the Steve Hackett band, not the Musical Box so that won't happen. It is a shame that a lot of those songs are horribly ruined by Rob Townshend's wind instruments.
At the risk of thread-creep, and while I can't speak for Mr. Banks' expectations of his own technical execution, I can say that the piano on MMM is quite out-of-tune. The "unison drift" (as we call it in the trade) is particularly noticeable in the middle section starting around 2.38 (F#4 is particularly snarly, if anyone is interested in a specific example). I don't remember off the top of my head if there were any other tracks on the album that suffer the same flaw, but it's possible that the track was laid down during a session when the piano hadn't been recently touched up, and was deemed "good enough" in the days when studio time was still quite expensive.
David
Happy with what I have to be happy with.
I always get the impression that the "big 3" are basically retired and don't really care anymore. It is too bad that Tony, at the least, won't join Steve onstage for a song or two...it's not like he's terribly busy these days.
I think those 3 largely bought into the criticism (derision) of their 70s work, and don't have much affection for it as a result.
Then I'm not alone thinking that replacing (or doubling) the main keyboard solo lines with a very prominent sounding clarinet is not a good idea. I wouldn't call it "horribly ruined" but I don't like it (especially in the Genesis songs) and it significantly diminishes my listening pleasure from what would be otherwise a perfect band.
What you call a clarinet is known to most as a soprano saxophone.
that's what i was wondering. SO is just live versions of tunes he has already done. what's new here?
"She said you are the air I breathe
The life I love, the dream I weave."
Unevensong - Camel
I wasn't sure, now I am. Maybe a clarinet would have been less intrusive... hard to tell from the sound as it seems heavily processed anyway. Still it doesn't change anything to my comment: to my ears It doesn't sound right in this context and I don't like it.
Last edited by Mr.Krautman; 12-03-2019 at 11:51 AM.
Tony has affection for it. Mike evidently does not. Tony has said so many times, especially in his most recent interview posted about a month ago. He was also quite complimentary of Steve's guitar playing in 'One For The Vine'.
I actually like Rob Townshend's saxes and flutes. They add warmth to the music, to these ears.
Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.
Funny you mention that. I had the same experience, especially on Trick & Wind. When I saw the band live in 1977 I noticed a lot of keyboard-like stuff was indeed played by Steve.
(OT the same happened when listening for the first time to the first UK.)
(OOT Simple Minds New Gold Dream had that same effect on me.)
So do you mean ALL of his work with Steve (he asked incredulously) or are you referring to only the obvious example of "Firth of Fifth" wherein the original flute solo (played by Peter) is being taken by soprano sax?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwe4r8RrSsY (go to 3:30)
That is about the only time I would choose differently if I were the band leader (I play flute so I am biased). The original flute solo IS pretty darn iconic in Firth.
And Rob of course plays flute throughout the concerts so clearly, he could stick with the original concept if he wanted to but every time i see him it is the sax. Steve seems content with it being done on sop sax
Et voilà !
Bien joué
I like what Rob Townshend brings to the table. The only place I think the texture of the soprano sax grates on me a bit is in that mysterious little synth/tron interlude in Blood on the Rooftops.
I haven't kept up with him, so he may be saying a few nice things now, following decades of silence (at best.) I'm not terribly convinced.
Let's leave the baby kangaroos out of this.
I never said or meant ALL (that was the previous poster's opinion, to whom I reacted) and it doesn't really bother me in Steves's own songs but Firth is a good exemple where the sax doesn't fit and also Cinema Show where some of the main melodic lines (originally played on keys) are replaced (or doubled) by the (harsh sounding) soprano saxophone (got it right now ?), it just doesn't sound right or good to my ears. But I guess this is Steve's choice since unlike the Musical Box (the band) he apparently doesn't want to strictly emulate all the original sounds (though his guitar play/sound is VERY close to the originals). I can’t be completely formal but I don't think Genesis ever used saxes in their songs...
Last edited by Mr.Krautman; 12-03-2019 at 08:37 PM.
I genuinely wasn’t sure if you were referring to all of them. Thanks for clarifying.
I really like Steve’s approach in general and I feel that artists should do what they feel. But, to me, the replacement of the flute in Firth is a poor choice—for my tastes.
But I would never miss a show of course. The guy gets everything right, pretty much.
(Speaking of flute, I always got a kick out of the very accurate flute sounds (melllotron) that Tony used on the Trick album such as in Mad Man Moon. I always felt it was very clear that Tony was saying to the recently-departed Pete “we don’t really need you anymore...nah nah, nana nah...”)
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