From: ipv@bway.net
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 09:28:42 -0500 (EST)
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Subject: "Plodding Genesis" by Chris Welch - 1974
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This review appeared in the November 23, 1974 issue of the Melody Maker in the Albums section. It features a photo of Mike Rutherford with the caption: Mike Rutherford of Genesis: characterless instrumentals. (Mike must have *loved* that - it was the first time ever that a photo appeared in the MM that didn't feature either Peter alone or the whole band together. This is how they chose to distinguish Mike!)
I'll skip the track listings and other credits from the liner notes. Here goes:
Best,
Chloe
I wish that rock musicians would learn the importance of self-editing. A few golden, miraculous notes, and some choice pithy words are worth all the clutter and verbiage in the world.
Somehow, when a band has such potential and originality as Genesis it is all the more disappointing when they fall victim of their own natural desire to explore ever further afield.
But they should take heed of the edict that "small is beautiful". And there is no delight and little satisfaction to be had in the deliberate obscurity evident in much of the lyrics and tale displayed on the gatefold, that forms the thread running through all four sides.
The old defence and protest is: "you can read what you like into the lyrics." There is a case for impressionism and surrealism, but unless there is some attractive substance to the theme, then the whole exercise of interpretation becomes a tedious chore.
There is a theme of sorts. The tale of "Rael", a Puerto Rican resident of New York searching for freedom and attempting to establish his identity by spraying his name on walls with an aerosol. He would probably achieve greater satisfaction by forming a voluntary association of citizens devoted to wiping clean the city walls from gaffiti, thus rendering them pleasant to behold, and removing some of the oppressive characteristics of big city life.
The Puerto Rican could also form a close harmony vocal group, and cut some top selling albums, thus making him popular and rich.
But no - Rael must have his say, to long and oddly uninspired accompaniment. Reading my own interpretation into the lyrics, the lamb is in fact a wandering British youth, startled to discover such terse instructions as "Walk" and "Don't Walk" controlling the flow of traffic in the seedy province of Broadway, quite unlike the "Please Do Not Stroll Across the Highway Until It Is Safe" signs of his native heath.
Faced with the bewildering rush of horseless carriages, he decides to lie down on Broadway, until a kindly patrol man places him in a pick-up truck and dumps him outside the city limits. The music follows his mood of confusion, despair, and ultimate metamorphosis into a fully-fledged sheep, bathing in the rushing waters of some idyllic, pastoral place.
There is a vast amount of music to wade through, with some 24 titles and only a few themes worthy of such interminable development. The musicianship is all that one would expect from a group of such calibre, and yet it is instrumentally lacking in character, as they tend to plod through the arrangements with little fire or purpose. I like the opening tune, while "Broadway Melody" has affinities with John Lennon's "Walrus" and "Counting Out Time" has some neat, clever tricks. Genesis have given us so much, and deserve respect for their efforts. Perhaps we must be patient and wait for the "Lamb" to grow on us. But I have a feeling it is a white elephant.
Chris Welch
