sent to Paperlate by Joanne Yearwood, May 2, 1996.
Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 10:28:44 -0400 (EDT)
I saw this over at the alt.genesis group and found it to be a pretty
interesting and accurate article on The Musical Box...
Oh sure, not even the departures of Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett
prevented the remaining three from occasionally stultifying their
adult contemporary faithful with a 20-minute wank-out, but the ornate
sophistication of Genesis' most medieval era had long fluttered away.
So where else but Quebec -- where the hankering for all things
progressive rock will likely linger for time eternal -- could the
premise of mounting a precise interpretation of the Selling England By
The Pound stage show possibly be better appreciated?
This resulting tribute to Genesis' 1973 road show -- dubbed The
Musical Box -- is now about to stray into a different province. Its
pedantry extends to every last visual detail of the original concerts
and every last musical detail of the original album. As a result, it
demands the presence of two more musicians than Genesis ever had.
"If this type of music inspires you then the commitment that was put
into it commands a certain amount of respect," suggests David Myers,
the classically trained keyboard player who acts as The Musical Box's
anglophone spokesman. "Back then, it was considered in vogue to
indulge in such intricate music, but all good composers should want to
challenge their own imaginations and abilities."
For the braintrust of The Musical Box, that meant two years and two
months of research and preparation. "The team consisted of musicians,
collectors and artistic designers," explains Myers. "The amount of
film footage of that tour is extremely limited, but eventually they
figured out exactly what type of equipment was being used onstage.
Getting it to sound right was even more of a challenge -- Genesis had
employed lots of non-standard guitar tunings to accommodate these very
particular parts. But some of the old photos were helpful in figuring
out exactly where Steve Hackett had his fingers on the fretboard for
the chords of certain songs."
Actually, getting the music accurately was only part of the process --
because they were determined that the stage presentation be just as
perfect. All the elaborate costumes worn by Peter Gabriel -- whether
dressed as a marigold, a colonialist jester or an old geezer -- were
stitched together from scratch and, just like Gabriel, the singer has
shaved off the centre of his scraggly hair. The other Musical Box
members aren't as faithful to the wardrobe of the other members of
Genesis, though. "Since we've got two more guys than the original
group it gets a little more complicated," admits Myers. "Nobody's
gotten any plastic surgery or anything."
What The Musical Box's lead vocalist, Denis Gagne, has made a point of
perfecting is Gabriel's often obscure stage patter from the era.
"Since the equipment was so primitive, between certain songs they had
to retune the guitars and change the settings on the keyboards, so
he'd fill the time by making all these bizarre speeches. They were all
pretty cryptic, but related to the songs to some degree."
Indeed, when touring around Quebec, the pseudo-Gabriel can duplicate
the exact monologues improvised in the exact same theatres where the
Selling England tour docked back in '73. But performing the full-
fledged spectacle in this town means being a bit more hypothetical
than the genuine Genesis. "The technical truck with all the sets and
visual effects somehow got lost between Montreal and Toronto," points
out Myers. "So when they showed up at Massey Hall, all they could do
was stand around and play."
From: Joanne Yearwood
To: Paperlate
cc: gabriel@ufsia.ac.be, Jack Beermann
Subject: Newspaper article on TMB (Long Posting)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Sender: paperlate-owner@ansto.gov.au
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: Joanne Yearwood 
Hi,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
eye WEEKLY May 2, 1996
Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LIVE EYE LIVE EYE
THE MUSICAL BOX
Thursday, May 9. The Music Hall, 174 Danforth Ave.
$32 at Ticketmaster, 870-8000.
by
MARC WEISBLOTT
Now that Phil Collins has bailed out, it's apparently up to Mike
Rutherford and Tony Banks to decide whether or not the lingering
legacy of their schoolboy rock band will transcend the image of three
middle-aged schlubs doing a dorky line dance across a stadium stage.
After all, there was once a time when the name Genesis carried with it
a staggering amount of mystique -- a cachet that imploded forever
somewhere around the time of "Illegal Alien."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright
http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available
music archives at ------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/Arts/Music
eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421
Joanne Yearwood - Willow Farm Graphics - Specialists in designing and producing
laminated posters, T-shirts and stickers.
