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

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

It has a built-in ability!

The Brazilian over In Too Deep! Wow.

As it should be!

"Domino" driving down a deserted Turnpike on an early Sunday afternoon.

If I'd been around for this poll, I'd have voted for "The Brazilian", but it really is a fantastic, underrated album as a whole.

bald Thriller, y'all

― Barack 2 Chainz Obama (some dude), Wednesday, July 18, 2012 10:21 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

used to love The Brazilian. am i mis-remembering or was it used in When The Wind Blows?

Yeah, that's right; think it was playing on their radio or something.

Looked at results, said to myself, "I hope I was the one person who voted for The Brazilian," don't think I was, though

"fuck, this album is the bald thriller" never fails

My guitar teacher and I were going through the solo for "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," and we came to conclusion that not only is Tears For Fears one of the few acts clearly influenced by '80s Genesis, but the guitar solo may be the only influence of something non-Genesis played in a "Mike Rutherford style."

Mike Rutherford: another candidate for least hard working man in in rock. Phil and Tony doin' the heavy lifting here.

Everybody Wants To Rule The World always sounded like an upbeat version of Albatross to me.

Albatross a la '80s Genesis.

well, there's two solos in EWTRTW, one of which is played by Orzabal.

What degree of overlap was there between fans of Genesis and fans of Phil's solo work? Did the latter buy Invisible Touch or were they generally two separate camps? What I'm trying to ask is, did Collins' solo popularity boost Genesis' sales or was it "hey, this song by this Genesis group on the radio is pretty good!"

each Genesis album going back to Gabriel's tenure outsold its predecessor, but, yeah, I don't doubt Invisible Touch sold a few million coming a year after No Jacket Required.

Worth remembering that Collins in various contexts was pretty ubiquitous from 1980 to 1987 or so. It was a constant momentum, because he was never gone. Genesis was already playing arenas in the late '70s, I think, and that's before they had any real hits. And then came the vari-lites.

being a former prog-Genesis fan when this came out were some hard shoes to walk in, I know y'all on this thread are fans of the record and that's cool but on the reactionary prog side it was like "fuck...was the suck always there or did they just start sucking any follow the suck train to moneyland?" I was already off prog by then so it was at some degree of remove but it was still "wow that band I used to love is terrible now"

I seem to recall the Xgau review noting how it best makes use of Banks' synths, more so than the self-titled, which is a much weaker record than this one. This is the album where they go pop, but confidently so, and as I'm wont to invoke when defending '80s Genesis, the group had without question paid its dues and was already massively successful, so it's hard to come down on this album as a shameless sell-out move. They'd been moving in this direction for years, and it should have surprised no one.

I'd like to recount my funny observation of seeing the group's 2007 reunion tour, that all the women seemed to leave for the beer line when the set turned prog, and all the guys seemed to leave when it went pop. But by and large, most people stayed. I've always been impressed, from live records and seeing the group live, how well the band balanced its epics with its pop stuff, sometimes breaking the epics down to their poppiest bits and then playing them as medleys. In 2007 they played proto ballads like "Ripples" and "Afterglow," which had no problem fitting in with "Hold On My Heart."

What degree of overlap was there between fans of Genesis and fans of Phil's solo work? Did the latter buy Invisible Touch or were they generally two separate camps?

In 1983 I was a big fan of Collins-era Genesis (basically Duke through and including IT but especially Abacab) but did not care about a) Gabriel-led Genesis or b) Collins solo. I mean, I probably liked both more than I disliked them but not enough to own any records by either.

the self-titled, which is a much weaker record than this one.

Utter wrongness, the s/t is their great pop record!

Geir, is that you?

First side has "Mama" and "Home By the Sea," which are great, but also "That's All," which is pretty crap, imo. Second side has "Taking It All Too Hard," which is an underrated ballad, but also "Illegal Alien" and "Just a Job to Do," both of which kind of suck. "Silver Rainbow" is an odd deep cut, but it's no "Brazilian."

"That's All," which is pretty crap

BRAIN ASPLODES

by and large, most people stayed.

one-line review of Genesis concert in need of no further clarification

Xpost no idea why, but at least two stations locally have put that song back in heavy circulation. I hear it on the radio several times week, and it's starting to drive me crazy.

I like "Taking It All Too Hard" too, and for years I thought it was a Collins ballad.

"just a job to do" kicks

no excuse for "illegal alien" though

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.