Supper's Ready

An apples and oranges comparison! Sometimes I want cider, other times oj!

Two different but similar interpretations for sure.

 

SR fans should also check out Steve Hackett’s solo version in recent years and the live version included on the first Genesis box set.  Impossible to choose the best, only a favorite at any particular time perhaps.  But the original on Foxtrot is THE one.  Recent digital remasters of that worth a check as well.

Genesis was at its best with Peter and Phil.

This seems simple to me.

The original album version for me, although the live Seconds Out version was pretty damn good.

IMO, Genesis lost more, musically speaking, when they lost Steve Hackett, than when they lost Gabriel.

Trick of the Tail and Wind and Wuthering, are just a small drop off in musical quality from their best. But all the albums after Hackett left, were a huge drop in quality. Most are a joke, IMO.

Hackett’s first 4 solo albums are better than any Genesis album without him.

Genesis was my favorite band for a long time; I first saw them in my college gym in Rochester, NY, in 1973 on the 'Foxtrot' tour, and yeah, they did a brilliant 'Supper's Ready' - I wish there was a way for me to insert photos, because I got some good ones from that show (and later shows, and PG solo).

I remained a fan after Peter Gabriel left; after all, most of my favorite music of their's was composed by Tony Banks, and I remained a fan after Steve Hackett left - I quite liked 'Duke' and 'Abacab', and even 'Genesis', but kind of lost interest after that.... 

I'd recommend that anybody who loves stuff like 'Get 'em Out By Friday' try to find an album called '9 Parts to the Wind' by a band called Strange Days, from 1975. 6 songs, four of them epic story/songs that could have come right off of a mid-period Genesis album, musically, vocally, and lyrically. 

Thanks Larsman. I will look for that. I just love that genre. It is funny. When I was a young boy, I would tape songs such as this off the radio. It was a hand held tape recorder so I would put it just outside the speaker. I would then listen to my mix when I filled the tape. I remember I would shoot baskets in the driveway with that mono mix playing as I was only recording just 1 speaker. I knew what I liked back then when I was just 10 years old. I had no clue it was called progressive rock. I just liked what I heard. Decades later I finally figured out that it actually had a name. 

@larsman 

'9 Parts to the Wind' by a band called Strange Days,

 

Yes, a very good album loosely in the early Genesis style.

There are plenty of bands that have used Genesis as their main reference point.

IQ is a band that got their start in the mid 80's, and have been producing strong recordings since, including "Resistance" from 2019.

The Watch from Italy, has some nice Genesis inspired recordings.

There has been so much great progressive music since the early/mid 90's, it's been hard to keep up. I guess that is what is known as a 'first world problem'. So many great bands from all over the world.

Anglagard from Sweden

Deus Ex Machina from Italy

Echolyn from the US

Corima from the US

Aranis from Belgium

Setna from France

The list is way too long for this forum.

@simonmoon - Holy cow - you actually know of Strange Days??? 😳  That's great, Simon! Are you in the UK? I was hoping that when Peter left Genesis, they'd get hold of Graham Ward of Strange Days - he's got it going on with songwriting, singing style, and is a fine guitarist to boot. But they put out that one brilliant album of 6 songs and then seemingly disappeared from the face of the Earth. 

I've not heard of those other bands; I used to be into Euro prog back in the 70's, with PFM and bands like that. Also like IQ, The Enid, etc, but these days (actually the last couple decades), my main man for prog is Steven Wilson and all his various projects.... 

 

When it comes to Genesis I’m a fan of the Peter Gabriel period exclusively. Suppers Ready off of Foxtrot has no comparison for me. Peter Gabriel was just as essential to this classic storytelling symphonic progressive rock bands sound as Tony Banks, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins. A classic example of a band needing each and every member to fire on all cylinders. A modern progressive rock band who have similar qualities is Big Big Train. Their album English Electric Part 1 in particular is an excellent release and also has that Old English storytelling flavor. The lead singer David Langdon can sound very much like Peter Gabriel without being a copycat. He tragically died of a car accident recently. The Watch is a good example of a band playing more directly in the retro-Prog Neo Prog style. I.Q. sounds nothing like Genesis to me yet are an excellent band. Their releases from Ever through The Road to Bones are all excellent. The symphonic Prog band Anglagard was mentioned. They are one of my favorite modern Prog bands of the symphonic subgenre. Another good band who has a bandmember from Anglagard is All Traps on Earth. My favorite Genesis album is Selling England by the Pound. All five classic lineup Genesis releases are 5 star releases to me.  I am also a Steve Hackett solo career fan. Excellent musician. I do not like Genesis after The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. To me the magic left after Peter Gabriel left. I like Phil Collins as a drummer and what a drummer until he started singing lead. Just my humble opinion. Steve Wilson was mentioned. The Raven that Refused to Sing is an excellent modern day heavyish Eclectic Prog release. He is also one of the most sought after studio recording masters. The Tull remasters are a good example.

@larsman I am with you. I enjoy everything up to and including Duke.

@paulg1966 - good post! To me and many others, Steven Wilson is kind of the King of 21st Century prog rock - just check out the massive amount of music he's put out both under his own name and with his band Porcupine Tree. Great with sound as well, hence those Tull remasters you mentioned; he first got big in the re-master thing with King Crimson; he's re-mastered a great many of their albums. 

I like Phil Collins as a singer - he does singing with Peter on a number of Genesis songs, and their voices blend in so nicely together. But Phil was one of the greatest drummers ever - shame most of his fans probably don't know he played drums! And as I was saying earlier in the thread, I suggest you check out '9 Parts to the Wind' by Strange Days, if you haven't already! 

And speaking of the darker side of prog rock, any fans here of Peter Hammill and Van der Graaf Generator?? 

 

@larsman Hello. So you like progressive rock too. Van der graaf generator are one of my favorites. H to He Who Am The Only One and Pawn Hearts are very good albums. Genesis used to tour with Van der Graaf in the early 70’s. Would’ve been quit an experience to see them tour together. You mentioned Porcupine Tree. I have their catalog on cd so yes I’m a fan. The releases In Absentia and Anesthetize are very good releases. My favorite is the Sky Moves Sideways. Alex Lifeson of Rush and Adrian Below of King Crimson both guest on Tree albums. He also collaborated with Opeth singer and guitarist among others. Am looking forward to the new PT album Continuum. Also a King Crimson fan of old. One of the first bands I bought on vinyl as a youth. Of course In the Court of the Crimson King. You may like a band from Poland called Riverside. Another good band is Anekdoten. There’s a lot of good Prog from the 90’s through today that people from the classic era would like. There’s even a few from the bone dry 80’s. I grew up with the classics and then found a whole new group of different modern Prog groups through the internet when it first went online. I’ll have to check out the band Strange Days. They are listed on the website Prog Archives. Thanks for the recommendation.

@paulg1966 - Yes indeed, I do like my prog right along with my metal, punk, post-punk, and reggae!

People who like long, complex pieces should enjoy 'Plague of Lighthouse Keepers' if it doesn't scare them off. I love Peter Hammill, but I laughed when I saw him described as sounding like 'David Bowie on bad acid'.

Are you a fan of Marillion and/or Fish at all? That lot were putting out great stuff in the 80's!

@paulg1966 . Thank you for bringing up the retro-Prog Neo Prog genre. I was confused about the categories of music until I heard about retro-Prog Neo Prog. I suspect that refers to those dudes in The Big Lebowski though I could be wrong???  If I am mistaken in my interpretation, my apologies.

 

You're missing out on the best version which is the live take on the '70-'75 box set. -Scott

Second's Out is one of my favorite albums. I am a huge Genesis fan and like both eras but at the end of the day I prefer the Collins versions of all the songs overall.

I am also a fan of Peter Gabriel and while Genesis would not be Genesis without him, I gravitate toward his solo artist material. 

As for Supper's Ready I think the Second's Out version is the winner. I also am rather partial the the last two sections performed after the In The Cage medley on the Invisible Tour in 1986 here in the US.

@larsman 

Yes, I know "Strange Days".

Back in the mid to late 70's in LA, there was a 2 hour radio show on Sunday nights, on one of the major rock stations.

It was called, "Over There", and they specialized in prog from all over the world, It was a sponsored by a record store with several branches, called Moby Disc. They, of course, specialized in music, mostly prog, from all over the world.

That is where a friend and I found out about "Strange Days", as well as so much more, obscure bands from many countries, besides the UK.

@simonmoon - that is very cool! I'm familiar with Moby Disc, though we didn't have that up here in San Francisco, where I've lived since '73. In the '74-'76 era, one of the big stations in San Jose, KOME, was all prog, all the time - it was brilliant!! I picked up on so many wonderful bands through them - one who they really championed was Man, from Wales, but also Camel, Caravan & the Canterbury sound, etc - they mostly stuck with British, though they'd get some Continental stuff and 'Krautrock' as well. I didn't hear about Strange Days from them, though - a real prog junkie friend of mine turned me on to that amazing album. 

Do you like Marillion and/or Fish at all? Early stuff especially was very Genesis-influenced, as were Fish's vocals then. The first time I'd ever heard of Steven Wilson was when Fish's 'Sunsets On Empires' came out, and I saw this guy produced it and co-wrote a lot of it.... I hung out with Fish and the lads when they were here in SF on the 'Clutching At Straws' tour.... 

If you get a chance, go see "The Musical Box" a cover band that does the PG era stuff. They bought the costumes and props from Genesis, IIRC, and I've seen shows in small theaters where they choreographed every move off old Genesis film. It's like a time machine to Selling England By the Pound tour, etc. Really fun. Cheers,

Spencer

As I previously mentioned, prog had a huge revival starting in the early mid 90’s.

Bands in the 80’s, Marillion, IQ, Twelfth Night, Pendragon, and all the "neo prog" bands, were good. But to me, they were kind of watered down. They tended to have the surface veneer of prog, but the deeper structure of the music, was just not as complex, creative, lacked the musical theory as most of the 70’s bands, and overall, the musicianship was not at the same high level of the 70’s bands.

Something happened in the 90’s, up through the present, where many of the new prog bands, were much more like those of the 70’s, not in that they were all retro-prog, but the level of musicianship, complexity, music theory, etc reached the same levels of the 70’s bands.

I can recommend many new prog bands, but my tastes are not always in the symphonic style (Genesis, YES, King Crimson, etc). I like a lot of avant-prog and Zeuhl prog, so, YMMV.

Bands like:

Anglagrad (Sweden) / complex, symphonic prog, with king Crimson, Genesis, Schicke, Fuhrs and Froeling influences.

Deus ex Machina (Italy) / jaw dropping musicianship, intense prog, that sometimes straddles the line between prog and fusion. Lead vocalist has a 5 octave range.

Tipographica (Japan) / avant-prog in the Henry Cow vein

Höyry-Kone (Finland) / more avant-prog, with some Crimson influences

Aranis (Belgium) / more avant-prog, with incredible musicianship. Not quite as thorny sounding as some avant-prog bands

Echolyn (USA) / great US band. Early on, they has some Gentle Giant influences in their complex vocal parts and constant time changes. Lately, they are a bit more song oriented

Miriodor (Canada) / kind of a mix of Canterbury scene prog, and avant-prog.

Koenji Hyakkei (Japan) / Magma influenced Zeuhl prog.

Corima (USA) / more Magma influenced prog

D.F.A. (Italy) / great band that sort of straddles the line between prog and fusion

Forgas Band Phenomena (France) / another prog / fusion line straddler

Mike Keneally and Beer for Dolphins / complex, quirky prog with Zappa influences

5UU’s (USA) / avant-prog

Isuldar’s Bane (Sweden) / really good, complex, symphonic. They have a couple recent albums, one with Steve Hogarth from Marillion on vocals, and one with Peter Hammill on vocals.

After Crying (Hungary) / started out being a chamber-prog band, later became more symphonic, with some ELP influences. Really good band. They did a great live album with John Wetton on vocals.

Finisterre (Italy) / very good, classical sounding Italian prog

Transatlantic (International members) - really good, classic sounding prog.

Other bands of various subgenres of prog: Univers Zero (Belgium), Setna (France), Riverside (Poland), Discus (Indonesia), All Traps on Earth (Sweden), Manna/Mirage (USA), I could go one for pages.

Once again, some of these bands will not be in the; washes of Mellotron, Hackett like guitar playing, Hammond organ, Squire bass playing type of prog. They will be a bit more 'thorny' sounding, with use of atonality and dissonance, and very complex arrangements. Some might even say, they may take a bit of work to get into (it did me), but the rewards are high.

 

 

Having never seen Genesis with Peter Gabriel, seeing the Musical Box, was my “prayer capsule” back to Supper’s Ready. As SBANK mentioned, they’re definitely worth seeing if you have the chance. 

As to all the various incarnations of Genesis, I have a soft spot for each one, but I never picked up, “Calling All Stations”, where they enlisted Ray Wilson as their frontman. Not sure what was going on there. 
 

 

 

 

 

@sbank - Yeah, Musical Box are great! I've seen them do 'The Lamb' and also the set from the 'Foxtrot' tour, which was a treat for me as I saw Genesis on that tour in 1973! Deja vu all over again, as the Yoge said.... 

@shredsled 

I've seen Musical Box every time they've been to LA.

I saw Genesis do the Lamb at the Shrine Auditorium back in 1975, and the Musical Box performance was a pretty good reproduction. So were their other shows of other albums.

My problem is every time I see a cover band, no matter how good they are, I can't help thinking about all the great, modern, original prog bands (in all prog subgenres), playing new, original music, that I'd rather see.

As I watched The Musical Box play The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway show, I couldn’t help but think about the articles I’d read about the difficulty Peter had with some of the costume changes back then. Especially, Slipperman.  I was impressed, based on pictures I had seen, how on point they were. Also, similarly when I saw them on their Selling England by the Pound tour.