If this were the last day of your life, my friend,
Tell me, what do you think you would do then?
Tell me, what do you think you would do then?
This is an early turning point in this remarkable album - you can feel the energy of this album under the surface in opening track, Down and Out, but the above lyric in Undertow, is followed by blasts of emotion and a majesty of electronic harmonies.
We're talking a classic album today - it is Genesis' ...and then there were three...
This album was all about change and shifts of direction for Genesis - Steve Hackett had left the band, and the new three-piece had plenty to prove. This was their first opus. As Wikipedia mentions:
"...And Then There Were Three... heralded a move towards shorter radio-friendly songs and marked the band's move away from progressive rock at the height of punk rock"
The songs are long (9 of the 11 are 4mins+, and 2 are over 6mins), and show enormous depth - there are a couple like Ballad of Big that I don't find as memorable, perhaps because the lyrics tell a little more of a fantasy story. But, overall, there are a lot of layers to this album, and if you've only heard much of Genesis's later music (No Son of Mine onwards), listen to this as you're in for a treat!
I've often found that the better Genesis songs are those that have their softer side, as well as the rousing keyboard/electronic support. Songs like Snowbound start out softly, carefully, but conclude with the swirling, uplifting lyrics and music you're come to love in this album.
One of the reasons I like this album so much is that you do feel lifted - the songs blend together so sweetly, and the some of the keyboards and harmonies make you feel like you're flying along (see Deep in the Motherlode, for an example).
If anyone is listening to Genesis for the first time, I would have them listen to this, and then Duke, followed by some live albums (starting with Seconds Out - one of the greatest live albums there has ever been). Then they can get into the more commercial single-driven 90s Genesis, who were still pretty fab!
If you download three:
Undertow
Many Too Many
Follow You, Follow Me
To find out yet more about this album, long onto the following wikipedia link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...And_Then_There_Were_Three...
Menace2Music official soundtrack
The album is growing nice - we're up to nine tracks with today's three:
A Dark Knight - Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard
FILM: The Dark Knight
Plane to Chicago - Eliot Goldenthal
FILM: Public Enemies
Raising the Sail - Philip Glass, Burkhard Dallwitz
FILM: The Truman Show
Firstly, I just had to include another Batman track, and A Dark Knight, is an exhilarating roller-coaster of a track. Over 16 minutes in length, this track contains music from the film and is the resulting end credits. Quite simply, breath-taking. If you don't like music like this, then you don't really like OSTs and film scores. If this is the case, you can just by-pass the next couple of songs too - go on, don't let me hold you up...!?
I still haven't seen Public Enemies, but the OST got a good write-up in Empire magazine, so I listened on spotify, put in a playlist, and eventually went onto purchasing it. I like Plane to Chicago as it is one of those OST tracks that triggers emotion - you can feel the energy of the moment in the film, through the music. For me, you don't even need to see the film!?
Lastly for today, we have Raising the Sail, from The Truman Show. I think I always realised the music to this film was great, but I was reawakened when I watched it on TV the other night. There is plenty to enjoy about this film - the fantastic performances, the triumphant finale, but the music is also worth a listen on its own. I'm hoping to pick-up the OST on CD shortly, as I sense it might be one that becomes a classic for me as time goes on. This track shows how good this OST is - the blend of piano against electronic keyboard works perfectly. The only pain with the track is that it ends too abruptly, going into another track - Father Kolbe's Preaching (the music that plays as Truman beats the ball of his enormous cage).
Lastly, I'm going to try and post a few questions on Twitter (and my own personal facebook page) that will get people thinking, who might want to gesture an opinion - today's is one that has been asked many times before - "The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?"
For me, The Stones have their place (particularly when it comes to live performances and albums), but The Beatles were amongst the first bands I listened to as a child, and I was hooked from moment one.
I would answer "The Beatles" for three very important reasons:
1. Abbey Road album is my favourite album of all-time
2. Something was the first song that Emma (my wife) and I danced to at our wedding
3. George Harrison is a genius - I cried on the day he died, and the World misses him everyday that passes...
Already working on tomorrow's question - watch out people!
Have a great day, one-and-all!
All the very best - Menace2Music
menace2music@googlemail.com
http://twitter.com/menace2music
http://open.spotify.com/user/menoir16/playlist/1j3HXNYIHuGDfW7aLh5OlL
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