I must confess my passion for the FIRTH OF FIFTH

[XNASA]

The path is clear
Though no eyes can see
The course laid down long before.
And so with gods and men
The sheep remain inside their pen,
Though many times they've seen the way to leave.

[HughBeaumont]

1. Never got that whole "reverse hawk" thing Gabriel tried to do there . . .

Still, one of SEBTP's finest songs and some fluid Hackett guitar work.

[jpgray]

6. Alas, he has no choice but to wear that bare now

:patriot:

[B3Nut]

2. Excellent track.

Banks's piano intro is pure brilliance.

Todd in Beerbratistan

[Squeech]

3. Nothing can cause us to part, hear me O Gods

Nowadays I'm thinking that "Firth of Fifth" is the last real Genesis song, that everything after that is either schlock or self-parody. They peaked early, with Nursery Cryme and/or Foxtrot.

It shocked me too to discover that I no longer thought The Lamb worked, but I don't.

And how come, if Banks and Rutherford were really responsible for the old stuff too ("Watcher," "Firth," "Seven Stones"), Gabriel's solo stuff is so much more powerful?

On a more personal note, I've gotten dragooned into giving my 15 year old nephew "guitar lessons," much of which involves just haranguing him on everything from what constitutes quality in music to how dreadful a job Bush is doing. (On my advice, he recently read 1984!) Since I spend a lot of time and energy telling him what to think, I thought it was only fair to elicit an opinion from him every once in a while. So last time I asked him what kind of band he thought I should start, giving him a number of options. He right away said I should try to do Genesis, saying that was the best. (And he can now almost play the "Firth" introductory arpeggio up to speed on guitar.)

[Tyrone Slothrop]

4. One of my faves, as well

[Giant Robot]

5. Has been waiting for some to post this!

Thanks for bringing up these memories!