New Book: Genesis – 1967 to 1975: The Peter Gabriel Years

[yesman1955]

The first book from Kingmaker Publishing (a joint venture between journalist Nick Shilton and Big Big Train’s Greg Spawton), Genesis – 1967 to 1975: The Peter Gabriel Years is the definitive biography of the early years of one of the world’s greatest bands.*Containing numerous exclusive interviews with band members and with all of the important personalities who were part of the story of Genesis between 1967 and 1975, Mario Giammetti's book also features a number of previously unpublished photographs, plus interviews carried out with members of the band during listen throughs of each of the band’s first six albums. Greg Spawton comments, “I have been a huge Genesis fan since my youth and have read every book in existence about the band. Mario’s book contains a wealth of details about the Peter Gabriel era of Genesis that were previously unknown to me. Mario Giammetti is an Italian music journalist with over 30 years’ experience. He has written for numerous Italian music magazines (including Classic Rock, Rockstar and Jam).* Genesis 1967-1975: The Peter Gabriel Years has been translated into English by Octavia Brown.

I just got this book from Burning Shed this week and it is fascinating! It has bios of each band member, including stuff that other books have left out, details about recording sessions, concert appearances, etc. Great for just jumping in randomly, reading for a few pages, jumping to another part of the book, non-linear reading (something I like to do) I highly recommend this book. It is better than Chapter & Verse (IMOHI)

[mozo-pg]

Cool.

[mozo-pg]

Purchased!

[lovecraft]

Having never read a Genesis bio I will be interested to hear opinions on this.

Is there a benchmark one already out there?

[proggy_jazzer]

I found Chapter and Verse very enjoyable and informative. The OP piques my interest, but I'd like to hear if this book brings significant new material to the the table from more people who have read both before I pull the trigger.

[moecurlythanu]

It's going to take some doing to supplant I Know What I Like by Armando Gallo as the definitive biography for me. I will probably get this book though. Maybe if I find it on Amazon.

[Rarebird]

It's going to take some doing to supplant I Know What I Like by Armando Gallo as the definitive biography for me. I will probably get this book though. Maybe if I find it on Amazon.

That Armando Gallo book is still something I would like to see re-issued. Had it some times from the library.

[rdclark]

I read almost exclusively e-books these days. Easier on my arthritis, easier on my eyes. I would buy this in a Kindle edition. Probably not in paper.

[yesman1955]

One of my favorite parts of the book is where they break each album down song by song and list each band member's impressions of the song. Some surprising & unexpected comments from Banks & Rutherford

[happytheman]

One of my favorite parts of the book is where they break each album down song by song and list each band member's impressions of the song. Some surprising & unexpected comments from Banks & Rutherford

"This song was a bit too busy for my liking, would have liked to have shortened it .. not so much soloing from Tony".. (Rutherford)
"I would have liked to expanded this song just a bit.. Peters vocals crowd out what otherwise would have been a brilliant solo from me".. (Banks)

[Progatron]

Rutherford: "Looking back, it's a bit busy. But these are period pieces, d'you knowwhatImean?"

Banks: "I wrote the whole thing myself and said to the guys: There you go, now play it."

Collins: "I don't remember it."

[Gizmotron]

"This song was a bit too busy for my liking, would have liked to have shortened it .. not so much soloing from Tony".. (Rutherford)
"I would have liked to expanded this song just a bit.. Peters vocals crowd out what otherwise would have been a brilliant solo from me".. (Banks)

"How Dare I Be So Beautiful" is how I see Banks statement there. LOL

[Gizmotron]

That Armando Gallo book is still something I would like to see re-issued. Had it some times from the library.

Yes, I have the original, the updated version, and Chapter and Verse.
I'll probably get this new book.

Because...Genesis.

[Twelfth Earl of Mar]

Is there a U.S. distributor for this book? Or only from Burning Shed? It's 11 GPB ($13) just to ship it to the U.S.

[yesman1955]

The English language version is only available thru BS at this point. I paid $35 USD to get the book to Texas with shipping. I'm not wealthy, but it was well worth the cost to me. 👍

[Trane]

I checked in my sheves and I've got four (found) and possibly 4 Genesis books

Armando Gallo,
Frederic Delage (in french)
Paul Russell
Alan Hewitt
and possibly Chapter & Verses (but couldn't find it)....

Think I've got enough as it is, but reading those one-liners up above, it'll most likely be a pass.

[yesman1955]

Trane: I'm pretty sure that all those "one-liners" above are jokes based on old interviews. I haven't seen anything like them in this new book.

[Trane]

Trane: I'm pretty sure that all those "one-liners" above are jokes based on old interviews. I haven't seen anything like them in this new book.

I guess I got fooled then.

Nevertheless I think I'll pass up on this. I'd be more interested in a book spawning from the 75 until 1980 (Duke) years.

[Progatron]

One of my favorite parts of the book is where they break each album down song by song and list each band member's impressions of the song. Some surprising & unexpected comments from Banks & Rutherford

Looking forward to this. Can you give a sneak peek as to what they say about White Mountain, Seven Stones and Time Table, by chance?

[yesman1955]

Here's a taste: White Mountain - AP: I found the demo where Mike & I had just started writing this, playing the tune together. You can hear Josie, Mike's then girlfriend, saying "Ooh that's nice! This was around the time Hey Jude was released and the tune is a little bit similar to that.
MR: It's a favourite of mine. The lyrics tell a story, which we always seemed to do. I think Tony wrote the lyrics.

[yesman1955]

Another taste - Seven Stones: SH: This (opening) bit was mine. These days I would probably make that into a whole chorus. You can hear the distortion on the tapes of the Mellotron, [the crescendo at 1'34"] I think it's Mike's Vox bass pedals. The effect is quite hymn-like, almost similar to what Procol Harum were doing, showing an admiration of church music. A song mainly written by Tony, who was the author of the lyrics.

[yesman1955]

Time Table - SH: At 1'37" we used tubular bells, while the solo melody was played with the piano but by picking the strings inside the lid with a plectrum so it doesn't sound like a guitar or a piano. The sound that plays out from inside the body of the piano is beautiful, it reminded me of Henry Mancini when he played on Charade. . . . this track is very accessible aspect of Genesis.

[Progatron]

^^^ Great! Thanks for that, your effort is much appreciated! Though I'm surprised to hear Mike say Tony wrote the lyrics to White Mountain (I'm not convinced he's right about that, but he could be), and the Hey Jude comparison from Ant is a bit of a head-scratcher...

[Gizmotron]

Ant is generally humble and a bit hard on himself, or at least, frank when he discusses his work. He is quick to cite his influences but unlike other musicians, he takes those ideas to entirely different places.

[Progatron]

Ant is generally humble and a bit hard on himself, or at least, frank when he discusses his work. He is quick to cite his influences but unlike other musicians, he takes those ideas to entirely different places.

A fair point. When I interviewed him, he was very down to earth, there wasn't even a hint of any kind of ego or pride. Only sincere gratitude at any praise.