On 23 September 2002, Peter Gabriel’s album Up was released.
Continue reading “Up (2002) – Peter Gabriel”Up (2002) – Peter Gabriel
Calling All Stations (1997) – Genesis
After Phil Collins’ departure from Genesis in 1996, the remaining two members Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford kept writing music and hired a new singer: Ray Wilson, born in 1968, known as lead vocalist of the band Stiltskin.
Continue reading “Calling All Stations (1997) – Genesis”Where the Sour Turns to Sweet (1969) – Genesis
In June 1969, Genesis’ third single ‘Where the Sour Turns to Sweet’/’In Hiding’ was released on Decca. It was released to raise interest in the LP From Genesis to Revelation, but to no avail.
From Genesis to Revelation
By 1969, Genesis had released two singles on Decca Records: ‘The Silent Sun‘ and ‘A Winter’s Tale‘, both in 1968, both produced by Jonathan King. King had then produced their first proper album From Genesis to Revelation*. At this time, the band consisted of Tony Banks (keyboards), Peter Gabriel (vocals), Anthony Phillips (guitars), Mike Rutherford (guitars and bass) and John Silver (drums). The album became a sort of concept album about the history of mankind, but the music was still far from being progressive. To the band’s disappointment, King added a string arrangement in the production which made the whole album sound very soft.
The album got about the same interest as the previous singles – not very much at all. So it was decided that a single off the album should be released. ‘Where the Sour Turns to Sweet’ was chosen.
Where the Sour Turns to Sweet
The song itself had been in the band’s repertoire for quite some time. They had already recorded it among three other songs in a one-hour session at Regent Studios in London, where many rock legends had recorded, in 1967. Jonathan King had taken them there to record a tape that was sent to Decca Records. The label had been impressed and signed them and King went into the studio with them again, this time to Advision Studios, to produce a reprise of ‘Where the Sour Turns to Sweet’ for their debut single.
The session was disastrous, the band (and the producer) were unexperienced and the idea was abandoned. Then, in 1968, the two other singles and the album were released and finally, in June 1969, the long-delayed ‘Where the Sour Turns to Sweet’ saw the day of light.
On June 27, 1969, the album version of ‘Where the Sour Turns to Sweet’ was released as a single, backed with ‘In Hiding’. It was their third single on Decca Records and also their last, as it was a unsuccessful as its predecessors. There were however, thoughts about releasing a remixed version of ‘In the Beginning’ as single, too, but these plans were never realized.
‘Where the Sour Turns to Sweet’ begins with a bluesy piano phrase and the snapping of fingers, giving it a jazzy swing feel. The added strings by Arthur Greenslade really get in the way of this powerful song. The lyrics are already a bit humorously and Peter Gabriel knows how to emphasize the words and use his voice. It definitely is one of the outstanding tracks of the album and has its charm, only the fade-out seems a bit uninspired.
Tony Banks accosted Tony Blackburn in the street
Tony Banks remembers that he was sent to disc jockey, singer and TV presenter Tony Blackburn to accost him in the street and tell him to play the single on his show. Tony Banks said ‘Well, don’t play the A-side, play the other side’ (‘In Hiding’). It was an embarrassing situation for both of them, but Blackburn was important enough for the band to risk it.
The end of their relationship with Jonathan King
After the album and all the single releases failed to chart and the band moved into a different musical direction than King, their ways parted. They went to the country to think about their future and write new music. Jonathan King however, had given them one lasting legacy: Their name Genesis.
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A Winter’s Tale (1968) – Genesis
On 10 May 1968, Genesis released their second single. Like its predecessor – and its successor – it failed to make an impact. Here’s the story behind A Winter’s Tale.
In 1968, Genesis were still schoolboys. The four classmates from Charterhouse were in their late teens when producer Jonathan King offered them a record deal. Tony Banks (keyboards), Peter Gabriel (vocals), Anthony Phillips (guitar), Mike Rutherford (guitar and bass), and Chris Stewart (drums) agreed. King chose to produce their first album himself, and it was he who came up with the name “Genesis,” symbolising both the band’s beginning and the start of his own career as a producer.
The first singles
Genesis had been writing pop songs while still at school, but by the time they signed their deal, they were already moving towards more adventurous material. Jonathan King, however, preferred straightforward pop. So, to please him, Tony Banks and Peter Gabriel wrote The Silent Sun, a deliberate nod to the Bee Gees, which King loved and released as their debut single. It flopped.
A Winter’s Tale
For their second single, A Winter’s Tale, Tony Banks and Peter Gabriel again collaborated. Like The Silent Sun, it’s a love song, but here, the band sounds more confident, particularly in the soaring chorus. Once again, Peter Gabriel’s distinctive voice takes centre stage, rising above a lush (and somewhat overpowering) string arrangement. Even at this young age, Gabriel’s vocal strength hinted at the frontman he would soon become.
Unfortunately, A Winter’s Tale also failed to chart. It received little radio play and only a couple of published reviews. New Musical Express praised the song’s “pulsating crescendo” and thoughtful lyrics, but continued: “The melody could have done with a little more substance.”1
Mike Rutherford recalls in his autobiography that the band brainstormed ways to boost airplay. Peter Gabriel suggested they hand the single directly to BBC Radio 1 DJ Tony Blackburn. Tony Banks was tasked with waiting outside Broadcasting House. Nervous and unsure, he apparently came across a little too forcefully when Blackburn emerged – likely startling him and not helping their cause.2
From Genesis to Revelation
Shortly after the release of A Winter’s Tale, drummer Chris Stewart left the band and was replaced by John Silver, who would record their debut album From Genesis to Revelation. The album was an ambitious concept piece about the history of mankind, but musically, it still leaned far more towards soft pop than progressive rock. To the band’s disappointment, King added even more lush string arrangements, giving the album a gentle, almost easy-listening feel.
A third single, Where the Sour Turns to Sweet, followed, but like the others, it failed to chart. Eventually, the growing divide between King’s pop sensibilities and the band’s evolving musical ambitions led them to part ways.
What remains from this era is a fascinating and surprisingly strong collection of songs recorded by a band still in their teens. Among them is A Winter’s Tale, a glimpse of what was to come.
(And as a footnote for collectors: there’s a curious story about a cover version of A Winter’s Tale by Rita Pavone’s brother – but that’s a tale for another time.)
3×3 (EP/1982) – Genesis
In May 1982, Genesis released 3×3, an extended-play featuring three previously unreleased tracks from their 1981 album Abacab.
Three songs from the “Abacab” sessions
Abacab* from 1981 had brought a change in sound and style for Genesis. They had a new producer (Hugh Padgham) and had bought ‘The Farm’ in Surrey, where they had their own studio and could take time to jam for the new record. When they put Abacab together, there was not enough space on the record to include all the songs they liked. So they decided to release an EP with three leftover tracks the following year.
The three tracks were ‘Paperlate’, ‘You Might Recall’ and ‘Me And Virgil’. All of them were written by Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford together. The EP 3 x 3* was released in May 1982 between two Genesis tours. In the US, they did not release 3×3, only ‘Paperlate’ was released as a regular single with ‘You Might Recall’ as b-side.
The songs
‘Paperlate’ is similar to Abacab‘s ‘No Reply At All.’ It also includes the Earth Wind & Fire horn section with which Phil Collins had worked on his first solo album the year before. The title comes from the song ‘Dancing With The Moonlit Knight’ from the band’s 1973 album Selling England By the Pound*. During a soundcheck of the song in 1978 or 1980, Phil was repeating the phrase ‘Paperlate cried a voice in the crowd…’ over and over again, which inspired the band to write a song around this term.
‘You Might Recall’ is a romantic tune, which resembles some earlier Rutherford compositions like ‘Alone Tonight’. The third track, ‘Me and Virgil’ resembles his ‘Deep In The Motherlode’ (1978) in lyrics. This time it was Phil Collins who wrote a Wild West story with the band trying to create a ‘The Band’-like song. Phil Collins was so unhappy with the song that it was left off the Genesis Archive release in 2000, which featured many non-Album songs on CD for the first time.
The artwork was inspired by The Beatles
Inspired by the Beatles’ EP’s in the 1960’s, Genesis decided to create a cover similar to their Twist And Shout* EP. They also called in Tony Barrow to write the sleeve notes. Barrow had been the Beatles’ publicity man 20 years earlier. He wrote the Genesis sleeve notes in the same style (‘These cheeky chappies from Guildford…’).
One reviewer was not familiar with the Beatles original and misunderstood the design for being serious. But it was another sign of the band’s humour and the EP was a success for them. With ‘Paperlate’ they appeared on ‘Top of the Tops’ once more. The EP went to number 10 in the British charts.
Three Sides Live
In the same year, Genesis also released the successful live album Three Sides Live*. As EP’s rarely charted well in America, they decided to put the 3×3 songs on the fourth side of the live album and not release the EP individually. To complete the fourth side, they added two leftovers from Duke (1980): The Rutherford composition ‘Open Door’ and the Banks composition ‘Evidence Of Autumn.’ The UK on the other hand had a fourth side live.
3×3 was never released as a CD. Instead, ‘Paperlate’ and ‘You Might Recall’ were released on the Genesis Archive 2: 1976-1992* box set from 2000. It features rare and unreleased songs for the first time on CD. All three songs were included in the box set 1976-1982* on CD. Even ‘Me And Virgil’ was remixed for this release.
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The Silent Sun (1968) – Genesis
In February 1968, Genesis released their debut single, The Silent Sun, on Decca Records. At just 17 years old, Peter Gabriel was already making his mark. Let’s take a closer look at the band’s very first single!
Genesis at Charterhouse
In 1968, Genesis were still students at Charterhouse School. Tony Banks, Peter Gabriel, Mike Rutherford, and Anthony Phillips had formed the band as a way to escape the constraints of school life. At the time, the group operated as two songwriting pairs: Banks and Gabriel on one side, Phillips and Rutherford on the other.
While still at school, they recorded demos and sent them to Jonathan King, a former Charterhouse student who had found success as a musician and producer (his best-known hit being Everyone’s Gone to the Moon). King was particularly impressed by Peter Gabriel’s voice and signed them to Decca Records, intending to produce a full album. However, when the band presented their next batch of demos, he wasn’t impressed.
A Producer Who Loved The Bee Gees
Jonathan King wanted the band to deliver a potential hit. Knowing he was a fan of The Bee Gees, Peter and Tony deliberately wrote a song in their style—The Silent Sun.
‘I tried my best Robin Gibb impersonation,’ Peter later joked.1
King loved it and made it their debut single, later including it on the band’s first album, From Genesis to Revelation.
Musically, The Silent Sun blends folk and pop, with Tony Banks’ piano already playing a central role. The song primarily highlights Peter’s vocals, with orchestral strings added later by King in the studio. It’s also one of the rare official Genesis recordings to feature their original drummer, Chris Stewart.
‘We had been drilled by Jonathan King to write short pop songs, which I resisted,’ Anthony Phillips recalled. ‘I didn’t like The Silent Sun at all.’ He later reflected that it was probably for the best that the song wasn’t a hit: ‘If it had been successful, the band would never have developed its proper style.’2
Tony Banks, however, believed it had the potential to be a great hit. For Peter Gabriel, seeing the name Genesis in Record Mirror was a career-defining moment, while Mike Rutherford fondly remembers the thrill of hearing The Silent Sun on the radio for the first time in Anthony Phillips’ kitchen.
Reviews and Reception
Upon release, the Decca catalogue described The Silent Sun as ‘quietly attractive.’’.3 New Musical Express praised its ‘beautiful flowing arrangement of violins and cellos,’ though they speculated it ‘might be a bit too complex for the average fan.’4
A Single That Failed but a Band That Flourished
Despite their enthusiasm, The Silent Sun failed to chart. The accompanying album, From Genesis to Revelation, was also a commercial failure. Eventually, Genesis parted ways with Jonathan King, allowing them to explore a more adventurous and distinctive musical direction.
As the band gained fame, King repeatedly re-released these early recordings in various formats, capitalizing on Genesis’ later success. But for Genesis themselves, The Silent Sun remains a fascinating footnote in their history—their first step on the road to greatness.
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Sources
GENESIS REUNION 2014: THE THREE. Part ONE. NOW FULL UNCUT VERSION ! + improved audio!
Thompson, Dave, Turn it on again. Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins & Genesis. (San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2005).
Face Value (1981) – Phil Collins
In February 1981, Phil Collins unveiled his debut solo album, Face Value, marking a significant departure from his role as Genesis’s frontman. The album not only showcased Collins’s personal and musical evolution but also cemented his status as a prominent solo artist in the 1980s.
Genesis and Personal Turmoil
By 1978, Collins had transitioned from Genesis’s drummer to its lead vocalist. The band’s 1978 album, …And Then There Were Three…, featured the hit “Follow You Follow Me,” signaling a shift towards more concise and direct songs. During this period, Collins faced personal challenges; his wife, Andrea, threatened to leave due to his extensive touring commitments. Upon returning from a tour, Collins discovered that Andrea had moved to Canada with their children. Despite efforts to reconcile, including a move to Vancouver, the marriage ended in divorce.
Creation of Face Value
In the aftermath of his divorce, Collins channeled his emotions into music. He set up a home studio in Surrey, equipped with a piano, drum machine, and an 8-track tape recorder. Here, he began crafting demos that delved into his personal experiences. When Genesis regrouped to work on their 1980 album, Duke, Collins presented some of these demos. Two tracks, “Misunderstanding” and “Please Don’t Ask,” were included in the album. Encouraged by the positive reception, Collins decided to pursue a solo project, collaborating with producer Hugh Padgham to develop his demos into a full-length album.
Musical Diversity and Notable Tracks
Face Value is a tapestry of various musical styles, reflecting Collins’s diverse influences. The opening track, “In the Air Tonight,” is renowned for its haunting atmosphere and the iconic drum break that has since become legendary. The song’s lyrics were largely improvised, capturing the raw emotion of the moment.
Another standout track, “I Missed Again,” introduces a brass section featuring the Phenix Horns, known for their work with Earth, Wind & Fire. This collaboration infused the song with a vibrant, funky energy, a sound that would become a hallmark of Collins’s future solo endeavors.
The album also explores a range of genres:
“The Roof Is Leaking”: A track with Delta blues and country influences, adding to the album’s eclectic nature.
“You Know What I Mean”: A poignant ballad showcasing Collins’s vulnerability, accompanied solely by piano and vocals.
“Hand in Hand”: An instrumental piece blending jazz and world music elements, highlighting the talents of the assembled musicians.
Commercial Success and Legacy
Upon its release, Face Value received critical acclaim and achieved significant commercial success. The album topped the UK Albums Chart for three weeks and reached No. 7 on the US Billboard 200. It has since sold over 5 million copies in the US and over 1.5 million in the UK. The success of Face Value not only established Collins as a solo artist but also set the stage for a series of successful albums throughout the 1980s.
In retrospect, Face Value stands as a testament to Phil Collins’s ability to translate personal adversity into a universally relatable and sonically diverse album. Its enduring appeal lies in its raw emotion, innovative production, and the seamless fusion of various musical styles.
The Longs (1993) – Genesis
Released in January 1993, Live – The Way We Walk, Volume Two: The Longs marked the end of an era for Genesis. Not only was it the band’s last release with Phil Collins before his departure, but it also became their final UK number-one album. As the second volume of the The Way We Walk live series, The Longs captured the epic and progressive side of Genesis, contrasting with Volume One: The Shorts, which focused on the band’s chart-topping hits.
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