This is the POLL We Live In: Genesis - Invisible Touch

i have a feeling it was my dad's attempt to introduce me to his beloved prog at any early age, but i guess it kinda backfired because it only left me with a lingering obsession with mid 80s pop schlock.

thanks to Collins' pop instincts, "Domino" IS mid 80's pop schlock.

it's kind of crazy to me that "In Too Deep" is one of the weaker songs on this album

NOW SEE WHAT YOU'VE GONE 'N' DONE

You've got to go Domino.

btw Abbs, here's that post you referenced: So what about that New Toyota Ad with Phil Collins?

Collins at his most punchable?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW68T84RLHw

haha somehow I knew that was going to be the "Invisible Touch" video

although have you seen the "Anything She Does" video? it may be the most punchable thing ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxiQFNWGeq4

Immense poll. Side one is unfuckwithable, side two isn't sticking except The Brazilian, which is nice. Love Phil's vocals, they're so *urgent*. Has this been hugely compressed, actually? It's far more punchy than these headphones normally allow.

Anyway, I'm going with Tonight, Tonight, Tonight. This album is the most forbidden of fruit for me btw - has never been remotely fashionable, looks horrible, probably politically vile AND was one of the handful of contemporary records my parents owned.

The bridge on Tonight, Tonight, Tonight is epic.

I remember liking the bridge. Maybe I should listen to the album version before dismissing it (it's been years).

oh you really should

my god so everything here was a single or B-side except "Domino."

according to Wikipedia, both halves of "Domino" were b-sides (to "Invisible Touch" and "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" respectively)

bald Thriller, y'all

"Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" (album version) vs. "Throwing It All Away." "Land of Confusion" is really good, too. I like the dual epics at the end, but as much as I admire Tony Banks, in the '80s much of his work sounded like a preset demo (see: solo on "Abacab," solo on "Tonightx3," much of "Domino" and "Brazilian."

I love this record. I was talking to a friend about the drums on "Throwing It All Away," just this perfect, immediately-identifiable groove, something that Phil can pull off better than most.

The ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-AHH's on "Throwing it All Away" are A+.

a wonderful keyboardist but from the looks of those videos (and the "Behind The Music" episode) there might not be a duller person in the history of the world than Tony Banks.

By the way, I find these guys so far from punchable it's silly to even suggest it. No one could say they didn't put in the time and effort and talent. I think they were as amused at their super-stardom as anyone. Just a bunch of upper class - and yes, dull - British dudes and their hammy working class buddy. Who it bears noting took a while to give in to the spotlight and get his smug on.

a while back i made a thread about artists who had a long streak of every album selling more than the last where i just marveled at the fact that these guys had a thirteen-album streak of getting bigger and bigger (6 w/ Gabriel, 7 with Collins), which is kind of unheard of.

In a Q Magazine article published around the time of Calling All Stations (lol), Mike Rutherford, asked about that very fact, goes, "Well, we're prepared to take the hit this time."

well, We Can't Dance technically broke the streak but that still sold 4 million or something

I think the record stood until CAS in England.

Ed Goodgold on dullness (from the Genesis Archive booklet):

I told them that it was my practice to hire detectives to follow all the musicians that I managed while they were on tour and that I had just received the report from the agency. I took an envelope out of my pocket and started reading the report: 'Of the five detectives originally assigned to follow the members of Genesis on their inaugural tour of the States, four have died of boredom. The fifth...the fifth is in a coma.'

I like Tony Banks. He comes across earnest, straightforward, and mostly just interested in talking about the music.

Sounds a bit like Rush. In that (great) doc, the band talks about how on their stint opening for Kiss, the Kiss guys would be going nuts, while the Rush guys would be reading. Kiss could not compute.

For those who have not seen this classic 1972 clip, it's got Tony playing guitar. And Peter playing flute.

man the 2007 remaster of this is TERRIBLE, just A/B'd it with the original and i can tell even on spotify

2007 remaster shat all over Trick of the Tail, too.

Pretty sure 2007 Genesis remasters were actually reMIXES. Big difference.

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/archive/index.php/t-234428.html

fuck, this album is the bald Thriller
― Barack 2 Chainz Obama (some dude), Wednesday, July 18, 2012 3:33 AM (20 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this might be my favorite thing ever written on ILM
Serious thank yous

:)

The title track, which is the only thing I can stomach off this thing. Post-Hackett Genesis ain't really my bag.

but these are the hands we're givein

fuck, this album is the bald Thriller

― Barack 2 Chainz Obama (some dude), Wednesday, July 18, 2012 2:33 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

As well as being an epic meditation on intangibility? Listen to the brilliant ensemble playing of Banks, Collins and Rutherford. You can practically hear the nuance of every instrument.

Pretty sure 2007 Genesis remasters were actually reMIXES. Big difference.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, July 18, 2012 5:26 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah okay that makes sense because some stuff was way different (and way worse)

I agree that the 2007 re-releases didn't always get it right, but I thought Trick Of The Tail sounded great.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I wrote a long screed about a year or two ago about how "Tonight Tonight Tonight" (and to a lesser extent the album generally) had a massive emotional impact on c. 5 year old me. I can't really be objective in this poll.

can you link to the screed?

Defend the Indefensible: Genesis' "Invisible Touch"

The album cover completely mystified me until recently, but one of my possible interpretations of the image within the square was a penis head with cartoon eyes drawn on it with the shadow of a broken gun.

Fantastic post, Tim.

Wow. That's the best and most otm post on all ilx.

I read that before because it sent me on a Spotify question for this:

the gentle but widescreen mysticism of the extended mix of the Commodores' "Night Shift".

And agree, great post.

er, quest, not question

re: Tim's post and "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight", isn't that song specifically about an addict? Which makes its use in this Michelob commercial even more twisted/wrong:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV9u0zv3g9k

also I should not have started playing this album because I now am second-guessing my vote

both TTT and LoC are fucking monstrous

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Whoah, shocker.

yeah didn't really see that coming

off topic, but cranks......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_duQibI3Nvo

I can't keep up with all these threads tbh

This is the one where people are arguing about Genesis. HTH

In the beginning ...

As I've said, 'Invisible Touch' has a lyrical theme that pretty much anyone over a certain age can relate to.

tf is this self parody

Nope, just the truth.

Trollo, Lurker.

sadness, and i'm 49 - turd must be 109

I rest my case.

you won't; guaranteed.

As I've said, 'Invisible Touch' has a lyrical theme that pretty much anyone over a certain age can relate to.

tf is this self parody

I was thinking more Patrick Bateman parody

*QI klaxon*

Well, I don't think Invisible Touch is their undisputed masterpiece (and I hate 'Sussudio' with a passion, for that matter) ... but it's without doubt their second best album of the '80s.

'Throwing It All Away' just came up on shuffle and I was just struck once more by how much of a beautifully sung and beautifully written song it is. I had to listen to the rest of Invisible Touch immediately.

It is like the perfect midlife boomer ballad. That gently billowing guitar line is lovely.

compare "Follow You Follow Me."

I am willing to come out and say that "Throwing" is probably a better song. More nuanced in both lyric and in delivery.

"Throwing It All Away" is such a lovely song. I particularly love the drums. This is mostly a Mike song, right?

Think it's Mike all the way

In Too Deep badly stiffed here

In Too Deep is the ballad I always forget about, like Taking It All Too Hard. Unlike most IT songs (save maybe Anything She Does?) In Too Deep wouldn't be out of place on No Jacket.

'In Too Deep' is another sublime track - if it had been on No Jacket Required, it'd have been the best thing on there.

compare "Follow You Follow Me."

I am willing to come out and say that "Throwing" is probably a better song. More nuanced in both lyric and in delivery.

― you had better come correct (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, November 26, 2017 3:07 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh absolutely! They'd truly mastered the art of the concise ballad by the time of Invisible Touch.

YOU KEEP TELLING ME I'VE GOT EVERYTHING!
YOU-SAY-I'VE-GOT EEEEEEVERYYYYTHIIIIING IIIII WAAAANT!

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/6Gg6GtPg7U4UELscme8yjY/33cc5a70-c559-4785-8069-cd939c0abd85.jpg/r0_52_2528_1458_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg

“ it's without doubt their second best album of the '80s.”

Whatttt? It’s maybe the fourth, after Abacab, Duke, and S/T....and I’m not sure it edges out We Can’t Dance either...

I remember a school summer holiday when I played this album to death in rotation with Selling England By The Pound and IQ's Nomzamo (and I was still the coolest kid in my street!). I would've voted for Tonight Tonight Tonight. The ferocious release of the "You keep tellin' me I got everything" vocal after the super-tensile instrumental passage still resonates with me and is as raging as any Black Flag.

Absolutely! I've read some folks say "oh, the instrumental section on 'Tonight, Tonight, Tonight' is so dull" because they're not going full-on like they did in the '70s, but it's meant to be this long, slow build that climaxes in that part. As you say, a ferocious release.

I'd rank the '80s albums Duke > Invisible Touch > Genesis > Abacab at this point. While the latter two have their high points ('Home by the Sea'/'Second Home by the Sea', 'Dodo/Lurker', 'Mama'), they've also got tracks like 'Illegal Alien', 'Another Record', 'Who Dunnit?' etc. which aren't really all that great. Invisible Touch has absolutely no filler on it.

Aw, I love Another Record...

^ yeah, you can't mention "Another Record" in the same list with those other two.

round and round and round and a-round it go, uhhhh, see me smile

some talk on another thread reminded me that I actually used to love the song Illegal Alien as a kid, not only because it was super catchy but because I had assumed the lyrics were about space aliens that crashed to Earth and that for some reason they had been outlawed. I dunno, like half the video games I played on my PC had a plot like that. anyway, I'll still defend the music at least.