ABBA, good or bad?

[schmosef]

That reminds me. "Once In A Lifetime" is one of my ole skule favs.

[Umfriend]

@Umf, Genesis had some good albums in the PC era too. Duke comes to mind. So do Invisible Touch and Genesis. I like all the songs on each of those. Their other albums were mostly good. I hate PC's new stuff. Their one album post PC is good too.

Not that I know of actually. Have (still) not heard them all, but:
- Wuthering winds or somesuch -> Sucks
- Genesis. Funny, this is actualy the very first G album I bought/listend to, years ago. OTOH, Silver Rainbow? Illegal Alien? That one must really get boring after hearing it three times (although the lyitcs are actually quite nice). THat "thoguth I was wrong, when you sday \I am right" song? Can't hold my attention. IN short, they may be nice song, but just for a bit and that ain't enough for me to call it great.
- We can't dance? Three decent songs: I can't dance, Jeses he loves me and erm, another one. That's it, and how long are they gonna last? No clue yet.

Moreover, the albums are just a collection of songs, there's no link (that I know of) between the works on any album that I know of, and that is not a plus in my book.

P.S. At first I was like "When were Genesis Politically Correct or what does it have to do with this anyway"?
PPS: That sonmg "Invisible Touch" I have heard. Sucks.

[schmosef]

Invisible Touch was the first album I ever owned. "Land Of Confusion" was getting a lot of radio play and I was curious to hear more of Genesis. That was '86, and I'm still a fan. "Land Of Confusion" is one of my least favorite Genesis songs though.

"Wind and Wuthering" is one of their least popular albums. PC made a pejorative comment about it in an interview once. I think you have to be a real fan to get most of it. "Your Own Special Way" is an enduring favorite though.

"Silver Rainbow" has a different sound. I didn't like it until I was sitting with this girl in my second year of university and she happened to put the CD on and I suddenly got the point of the song. Not into her pants though.

I like “We Can’t Dance” the least of all of Genesis’ albums. To me it feels like their tried to cash in on PC’s pop image too much. Not a fan. I didn’t like “I Can’t Dance” at all (but the video has a really hot girl in it). It still has some really good songs like “Never A Time”, “Hold On My Heart”, “Since I Lost You”, and “Fading Lights”.

“The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway” was probably their only album that had the kind of interconnectedness that you’re describing. Genesis’ members all wrote songs and when they’d meet to do an album they’d put them all in a pot and decide which ones to do together and which ones to shelve, or eventually, do separately as solo projects.

PC’s first album, “Face Value” was a collection of songs that he wrote after his first divorce, which the rest of the band chose not to use. Imagine where Genesis would be if they did “In The Air Tonight” themselves! Mike Rutherford once mentioned how he wished Genesis had as much financial success as PC did.

From what I hear, Mike’s own band, “Mike & The Mechanics”, grew pretty big in Europe. I once heard that he postponed doing a Genesis album because M&TM was touring so successfully.

[KvHagedorn]

True, they really should have just done all those songs as a band. M&TM had some pretty decent songs too. If all of that had been Genesis, its status would have been much greater.

[Umfriend]

Selling England By The Pound does not have the interconnectedness as far as the story goes, that is true. Nevertheless, I feel that Firth of Fifth and Cinema Show share an musical intermezzo that is not only great but also something that is seldom repeated by Genesis (to the extent i heard them). The way Dancing... and Aisle.. come to a close is just something that makes me feel they thought about the album. Epping is not just a song, it's an Epic on and by itself, which they have done otherwise, uhm, erhm, when exactly?

I maintain that this work is an Album as opposed to a collection of songs (but that may just be me liking these song a whole lot).

[schmosef]

I'm not quite sure what you're on about but if it ends in liking Genesis then I'm all for it.

I think that you're trying to say that "The Battle of Epping Forest" is a ballad and that you like ballads. Well, Genesis has quite a few. Too many to list. My favourite is probably "Duchess".

[schmosef]

Oh, and if you like that intermezzo stuff then I recommend that you check out "Three Sides Live".

[Nappe1]

From A-HA I recomend their come-back single "Summer Moved On" (released in summer 2001.) That is quite good, of course if you like A-HA generally.

Summer Moved On did just "okay", but I liked it. The A-HA sound is still there, though the track is kind of sad compared to their older production. (lyrics, melody, etc...)

[gt40]

True, they really should have just done all those songs as a band. M&TM had some pretty decent songs too. If all of that had been Genesis, its status would have been much greater.

Martha and the Muffins?

[schmosef]

@Nappe1, yep, I like that song too.

@gt40, M&TM = "Mike & The Mechanics"