Alternative Weekend: Abacab Still Sucks
....October 1981'...
"This is fucking crap" - my thoughts after listening to 'Abacab', the latest album from Genesis, my favourite closet band at the time.
It was Autumn or Fall as the Americans call it and I had paid full price for this 'thing' at the local Woolworth. There had been several varieties of the 12' to buy, different colours, but I didn't care about that.
...'music was my form of escapism before the advent of the personal computer. I could listen and forget this cunt ever existed'...
Cash was scarce; I was working at Kwiksave and enduring a life of suffering and cruelty due to the evil tyrant, 'Mort'..., and deserved some respite after working my arse off at that cesspit every day.
I wanted more 'Duke', the previous album that had engaged me so much the vinyl had almost worn out. I knew every track inside out, so where were the great tunes?
Abacab, the single was good, had been released six weeks beforehand and had dragged me in, lulling me with a false sense of security but even that turned out to be a load of bollocks.
...'too long is not always preferable, this is the version that caught my ear in the dwindling summer months of 1981'...
The 7' cut was decent, but the album version had been extended to almost 7 minutes and consisted of lame electronic filler.
You might be thinking 'Abacab' - the album sucks, well it still does... and in 1981 it did but I have visited it in more recent years and it does contain a few gems, though it visibly pales when compared to the masterpiece named 'Duke'.
Genesis – Dodo / Lurker (Abacab – 1981)
This is undoubtedly the standout track on this album and why did I miss it back in the day? Perhaps I listened to 'No Reply at All' which follows the title track with its horns…, what HORNS, BRASS..., ridiculous... and turned it off quickly.
Next would have been 'Me and Sarah Jane' which we will come to shortly…
...'1981 was a long time ago; did I jack it in halfway through 'Me and Sarah Jane'?, I think I might'...
Clocking in at over seven minutes, this is not your radio-friendly song, though it starts with a bang and draws you right in. Looking back at the order of songs, this was the first one on side two. Did I even reach side two, or did I disgustedly shove it on the shelf to collect dust?
Anyone with vinyl experience will know it's not a simple procedure to hit the next song easily. You pick up the needle and drop it, hopefully near the black groove, and not too hard or it's a free scratch. You listened to the lot, and did not skip tracks.
The Dodo part at the end does not compete with Lurker, and does contain some strange progressive-type sounds, though not reminiscent of their earlier material.
Genesis – Me and Sarah Jane (Abacab – 1981)
If I rack my brains I remember the first listen of ‘Sarah Jane’ and getting positively limp down below. I had endured that crap... 'No Reply at All' and this was not getting any better.
A quirky start was doing it no favours, where were the catchy riffs? This was a Tony Banks product and all I was hearing was this stupid plonkety piano, was that more brass?
In retrospect, 'Me and Sarah Jane' is one of the better songs on this mostly shit album, but it took me many decades to realise it. A slow-growing, non-repeatable song is not something one can easily digest.
'Sarah Jane' lacks the standard chorus, verse chorus, verse repetitive narrative that catches the ear of the idle radio-public ear and takes many listens to get anything out of it.
Listening to this song while I write this, I can now appreciate what they were trying to achieve…, something different, and after many listens I finally caught on.
Genesis – Like it or Not (Abacab – 1981)
It’s stinks of a Phil song but written by Mike. I wonder if Phil had a hand with the lyrics? I was going to have to get used to these as more and more were going to appear. I have a theory that Phil’s separation from his ex-wife, ‘Andrea Bertorelli', played a large factor in his rise from relative obscurity to being a mega-star in the 1980s.
On Abacab, we would be subjected to 'Man on the Corner' and 'Like it or Not' with the latter being my preferred choice.
This was not new, as on 'Duke', we had 'Please Don't Ask' and 'Alone Tonight', both soppy weepy tracks, and not my preferred 'Genesis' sound, but I can't deny that it was working.
Source
...'did this split result in Phil's and Genesis' meteoric rise to success?'...
The ladies were taking more notice, and their audience was now more than a bunch of progressive degenerates with long hair that took a bath every three or four weeks.
Perhaps that's a little harsh and I am trying to emphasize a point. I didn't bathe as much as I should have in 1980 and my hair was on the long side.
Did his split with Andrea result in Phil’s rise to stardom and him being both extremely popular and simultaneously hated for being just that?
As for the song, Phil is still proclaiming ‘there’s a chance to hold on to our love', and this is after 'In the Air Tonight' with the paintbrush proclamation.
Listen to the lyrics, and make your fucking mind up Phil.
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STOP1981, hot damn.
The Good Lady's mum loved genesis
I can't say anything, I think I was listening to twee pop then 😀
You're making me feel old now 😀, it was 'Two Little Boys' for me by good old Rolf Harris, the child abuser though it was more 'fucking listen to it' by my parents as it contained a good moral story.
'The Good Lady' was very lucky being brought up listening to this, I had Jack Jones, Perry Como, and worst of the lot, Johnny Mathis. Thank fuck the music appreciation gene is passed on just as a trait.
My dad listened to all that kind of thing. And he commanded the radio which was always on
I got sick of hearing those things sorry in later life I appreciate them more! Still would voluntarily listen to them tho!
Your dad liked the stuff mine did? My sympathies, if that's what you mean. I never appreciated 'The Wonderful Mathis' as he used to say. My Mum was never a music fan but got dragged to the 'Mathis' concerts by the feet.
It was all that and more. Any old crooner in a suit 😀
My parents had a copy of two little boys and all the Genesis albums up to And then there were Three and then stopped. My sister also worked as a wine buyer at Kwiksave around 2000 - she obviously had a good a good eye for cheap stuff that gets you wasted.
Me, nothing so fancy.
I can understand why they stopped, this was the start of the 'change' and not everyone liked it. Hackett leaving was major.
Must have been near they end, they went bust in 2007, and good riddance.
My sister probably helped :)
Was this the start of them becoming more of a pop act? They had some elements of that earlier. Duke is such a great album and hard to top. I preferred the progier stuff. They were such a great set of musicians who could make complicated music fun.
That said, I need to listen to this album again to see how I feel about it.
I thought you would have known. I waited for this with such anticipation that it left an imprint in my memory. The 4 tracks I list are what is salvageable from this mess.
It would be years before I looked at any of their other future albums, though they always seemed to pull something good out single wise, such as 'Mama' which I could not fail to notice.
I bet you love Emily in Paris since Phil's daughter is in it. I loved Woolworth growing up. The one in our town had a soda fountain and lunch counter.
Woolworth existed Statside? I didn't know that.., it was a good place to get cheap singles when the hype had left and they were cascading down the charts. I always seemed to get what I wanted on the cheap somehow. That's Kwiksave bad wages for you.
I was younger, so I always focused my attention on the toy section, not the music section. Ours was right downtown and I still have fond memories of it.
It was a US company. It's mentioned in some old songs and also in Oh Brother, Where Art Thou (George Clooney gets banned by them).
I didn't know, I do remember it vanishing from our streets... a sign of changing times.
Genesis is a great album then
I love all the sounds
Lovely!
The photos of Gabriel, a member of the rock band, in costume and mask on stage were very striking. In fact, fans who admired the artist even applied to the ads with masks. I think if the band's guitarist, Steve Hackett, had not left, they could have achieved much more successful work.
In foreign music, I really like The Jolly Boys' song The Passenger. I would love to hear your observations about this band.
I will always revert to the 'Iggy Pop' version (the original). They used to play it in clubs during the mid 80's.
Probably mentioned it or wrote a post ages ago - this album was one of the first "music cassettes" I bought in my younger years - the time of Genesis, Foreigner etc, early 80ies was my Rock time. But I love "Home by the sea" mos
To add - I came across Genesis after the Peter Gabriel times - prefer Phil over Peter and then leanred what they did before - this was though during my AOR times so i favoures the US rock stuff such as foreigner, Journey, boston, Styx and such but Phil convinced me - the turn to more commercial was not a bad move even for me as consumer.
But to me the most legendary one is Follow you, follow me (still admire Phil from a drummer to one of the mo0st successful ever music artists):
And on Abacap (ok I have to confess beoing a balad rock guy) I really loved "man on the corner"
'Follow You'.. was a product of 1978, when they were starting the slow transition to the band that you like! I love it too, but it's been overplayed.
The album it came from was also quite sketchy, but does contain 'Burning Rope' and 'Down and Out', great tracks. Do look them up.
I know all the others you list, though I kept away from the band until 'Mama' popped up in 1983. That got my attention.
I'd heard of Genesis before, but I only started listening to it on And Then There Were Three (I got a cassette as a gift), which I thought was a pretty cool pop keyboard sound. It was something else when I went back to listen to the older albums. Whether it was better with Gabriel or not is up to the listener, but they definitely became superstars or rock dynosaurs and got richer without him :)
This did contain some decent stuff, but was a little patchy. It's not a bad introduction to the band, and I still love 'Many to Many'.., a great ballad.
The best music seems to be written when the artists are going through relationships breakdowns. Just take a look at "rumors" by fleetwood mac. All of the band members were going through a breakup and they come out with this masterpiece selling millions of copies.
We have Woolworths over here too, know as woollies. Is a food supermarket a bit like tesco's
Rumours.., I was a little young to get caught up in it all... 1977. I had a break from music for a few years and got back into it the following year. I am a massive 'Mac' fan though, and made up for it later.
Great divide between my parents music selection to that of our era.
My favourite Genesis vinyl LP was Fox Trot, Abacab the last addition of four collected, some good tracks not all on many LP's we spent our hard earned cash on.
!BEER
Foxtrot.. I always had a thing for "Can-Utility and the Coastliners"... and still do. During my younger years I could not listen to 'Suppers Ready' but love it now.
I wish I could say the same for 'Epping Forest' and 'The Cinema Show'. Neither worked for me.. and they are off 'Selling England..' I'm sure you know that.
Where did bands go?
First heard Genesis on my 1st trip to the UK in 1973, after purchasing "Foxtrot" in London, back home found "A trick of the tail", later "And then there were three" and last "Abacab", really enjoyed many bands over the years. Buying LP's was an outing on it's own.
I was only watching that same YT video as few nights ago!
Stats always interesting when discussed, often wondered!
Still enjoy music if I hear unique like Heilung, an experimental folk music band made up of members from Denmark, Norway, and Germany my last added adventure to world of sound.
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BEERfrom @joanstewart for you. Enjoy it!Did you know that <a href='https://dcity.io/cityyou can use BEER at dCity game to buy cards to rule the world.
This made me laugh because I have had some funny moments trying to do just that and other days where I have ruined records because of a misstep with the needle. It's a real art getting it to drop just right!
It's been a long time, I don't even own CD's anymore now, it's all digital.
herein lies the "problem." Vinyl is fun and has a more authentic appeal to it and if I have friends over they always want to play with my very limited collection. After a certain amount of time though people quickly get bored with the process of having to switch out records for each individual song and we invariably return to digital after a few tracks. I think vinyl is fun to collect but we have to be honest with ourselves about how many albums there are in existence that we actually like every single track on... I think there are maybe just 5 albums or so over the course of history that I can enjoy from start to finish.
I gave away all of my CD's to Goodwill several years ago. I didn't feel as though I was losing anything of value either. Vinyl on the other hand, has a more permanent and nostalgic appeal to it that CD's were never going to be able to replicate, regardless of how much information they put into the sleeve in the jewel case.
Vinyl was all we had once, it wasn't a question of choice as tape was the alternative.. worse! CD's are worse as you say, physical again and but without the nostalgia. I am happy with digital as long as it's DRM free.
The only time I have had issues with digital music was with the one and only Apple product I ever owned. I didn't realize it at the time but it was nigh on impossible to move any of the music that you paid for off of that device. That was all the reason I ever needed to never dabble with Apple ever again.