tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7621501513493185029.post5849829619921468448..comments2024-03-27T12:50:36.135-04:00Comments on Everybody's Dummy: Genesis 8: Wind & Wutheringwardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07825405583474881509noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7621501513493185029.post-48517724864180501762023-01-30T17:38:41.039-05:002023-01-30T17:38:41.039-05:00I have really tried to get into this album over th...I have really tried to get into this album over the years, but I still remain underwhelmed. One problem has been solved that the earliest albums with Phil singing lead have. I used to think that he was just a wimpy singer. As it turns out, his vocals were just placed too far back in the mix. The 2007 remixes fix that. Now, his vocals sound almost as strong as they would in the 80’s.<br /><br />However, I don’t find the songwriting as sharp as it was on “A Trick of a Tail”. For starters, the instrumentals. I like Genesis’s long instrumental passages, but usually, only as parts of songs like “Supper’s Ready” or “The Fountain of Salmacis”; or, on “The Lamb..”, where they are effective as part of the soundtrack to Gabriel’s “mind-movie”. Here, they just seem to exist just to prove that the band can play, which we already knew. Space fillers without much purpose.<br /><br />“Blood on the Rooftops” and “All in a Mouse’s Night”, despite the former being somewhat of a hardcore fan favorite, just pass me by, no matter how many listens. “Your Own Special Way” is a bit too languid to have been a big hit single, but it is the first indication that Mike was just as responsible as Phil for leading the band down a poppier path.<br /><br />The other 3 songs are big winners. “Eleventh Earl of Mar” is a fine prog song, with great hooks and very interesting lyrics. “One For the Wine” are “Afterglow” are two of Banks’ best songs, but I think they came across better on “Three Sides Live”. The studio versions are a bit cluttered and overproduced.<br /><br />I was surprised to learn that “Pigeons” and “Match of the Day” were from the album sessions. Written by the “pop trio”, it doesn’t sound like Hackett even plays on them. The lyrics are way more lightweight than anything on the album. But “Inside and Out “-- “dull” and “sounds like Styx”? This is a classic Genesis prog tune, arguably their last one. Easily should have bumped those instrumentals off to B-sides instead.<br />trfesokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12631886869696528704noreply@blogger.com