BY HASAN MURAT SÜMER (EE/IV)
hasan.sumer@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
After dedicating a whole column to Yes in a previous week, it felt unfair not to do the same for their counterpart, Genesis. In every internet forum about progressive rock music, there are more than enough “Yes vs. Genesis” threads, which usually end as draws. After hearing the sounds of the two bands and learning more about them, it comes naturally to compare them: Yes is more about composition and structure, whereas Genesis is more about touching the heart. Their prime periods were roughly the same, and they both became huge sell-outs in the eighties and afterward. Genesis is a bit different, since their switch to pop made them popular enough to become one of rock’s best-selling bands. So, a lot of people know the Phil Collins-led pop rock band Genesis, but the Peter Gabriel-led symphonic prog band Genesis is pretty much in the shadows for the general audience.
For this column, I drew a picture with figures (except for the world in the background) from Genesis album covers. The girl on the right is from the cover of their 1971 album, “Nursery Cryme.” This was the first album to feature Steve Hackett on lead guitar and Phil Collins on drums; with, as well, Peter Gabriel on vocals, Tony Banks on keyboards and Mike Rutherford on bass guitar, the lineup for this album was one of the most memorable in rock history. In technical terms, they weren’t as talented as Yes, but in my opinion they were more original and influential. Their influence on subsequent (not necessarily progressive) rock bands was huge; there are even cases which could be called progiarism. (Get it?) Hackett was one of the first (the first, as far as I know) to use the tapping technique in rock music, and Gabriel was very creative at writing stories and, hence, lyrics for their songs. The first track on “Nursery Cryme,” “The Musical Box,” is in itself enough to show that the current Genesis lineup are beasts. Hackett gives a god-like guitar performance with a great demonstration of the tapping technique; Collins shows how capable a drummer he is with some crazy hard rock-style drumming; and Gabriel sings with an extreme dedication to conveying the feelings expressed in the piece. This track is number one on my list of recommended songs.
The fox figure on the left is from the cover of the 1972 album “Foxtrot.” Genesis takes another step toward becoming a legend with the famous stand-alone mellotron opening of “Watcher of the Skies” and the twenty-three-minute epic, “Supper’s Ready.” It’s a longer and more difficult album than “Nursery Cryme,” with “Supper’s Ready” being generally accepted as the pinnacle of Genesis’s musical achievements; there is so much to write about it, but so little space to do so here.
The sleeping lawnmower figure is from the cover of the 1973 album “Selling England by the Pound.” This album has some boring aspects, but it nonetheless takes its place among the best of the genre. There is this continuous feeling of being in a King Arthur story, or the play “Romeo and Juliet,” or some other production of British literature. The opening track, “Dancing with the Moonlit Knight,” includes one of Gabriel’s best vocal performances; his control over his voice in this track is truly remarkable. Its lyrics and the British essence of the music seem to be referring to issues concerning England at the time. After Gabriel carries the song for quite some time, Hackett takes the spotlight with a great guitar solo that features a great demonstration of two-hand tapping. However, his performance here is overshadowed by his slow but powerful solo in the third track, “Firth of Fifth” (a pun on “Firth of Forth”). Before the magnificent solo, the listener is presented with a lengthy build-up, sequentially led by the flute, piano and synthesizer. My opinion is that this solo is not as good as Hackett’s performance in “The Musical Box,” but Pink Floyd fans will go crazy over it. The final long track on the record, “The Cinema Show,” is my favorite. It’s a two-part suite, with the first part having the feeling of a theatrical play. The lyrics are about romance and sex, with references to Greek mythology, but the music is the definition of “beautiful.” There is an instrumental passage led by the oboe and flute with multiple strings in the background; it just carries you away when you close your eyes. The second part is where Banks shines with his mad keyboard solo; multiple keyboards including organs, synthesizers and the mellotron create a bubbly electronic flow. It’s hard to digest, but the rewards are great.
Genesis would go on to release more great albums and give some majestic live performances. Unfortunately, in time they suffered from the change in musical fashion and couldn’t go on being a prog legend after Hackett’s and Gabriel’s departures. It’s somewhat depressing, but I’ll say it again: Don’t be sad because it ended; be glad that it happened.