Until There Were Three...
 

Genesis, the Peter Gabriel years. It occurs to me this is one of the only bands for whom I own every bit of music they ever recorded. Puts their "Abacab" - or whatever the hell they were - years to shame. One of the biggest selling, most successful bands ever - after they went to hell in a handbasket. It's too bad more folks weren't exposed to their early work. So, on that note, here is a bit of it:

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Sorry, don't care for early or late for completely different reasons.

My best friend in high school was a Genesis nut and that's where I got turned onto them. Still, I could never get into the old school stuff.

Boy, that brings back some fragmented memories.

Exactly. My youth was the era of "prog rock" (before they called it that - it was "acid rock" in those days), with bands like the early Genesis figuring prominently. More mainstream were Yes, ELP, and Pink Floyd. Less so were King Crimson, Gentle Giant, and other even more obscure (Arthur Brown, anyone?) bands. Some made it big - really big - but had to abandon their progressive roots to do so. Others are long forgotten.

I've seen Yes live many times. Never got into Floyd. Now I'm a Rush fanatic, but didn't get into them until I was 15 and started playing in bands and realized what it took to play their stuff.

the early stuff is very cool and creative.
an interesting band from that era, though quite unknown nowdays, is Can. some very outhere playing and singing for its time also

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and dont forget Soft Machine
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I'm the exact opposite. I do not care for the Gabriel years at all. I love the more electronica-pop version of Genesis. In the air tonight? Check. Land of Confusion? Check. Tonight Tonight Tonight? Check.

And IMO one of the best songs of all time right here: Mama.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwlzqPiUAqo

I just heard a Gentle Giant tune the other day. Boy, those guys were out there...they were like the John Coltrane of rock.

Early Blue Oyster Cult?

Speaking of long forgotten - Happy the Man?

In-a-gadda-da-vida, baby.

Anyone remember the Sensational Alex Harvey Band?

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What a trip down memory lane. 1975, senior in HS, a new guy shows up from CT, T. Morrison. He is deep into Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, GG and others, including, I think, a band called Horselips. Bands I had never even heard of.

I distinctly remember going over to his house after summer football workouts and "expanding my horizons".

Gabriel is IMHO one of the most talented consistent artists out there.

The "Collins" era of the band spelled it's inevitable doom.

Collins was/is a great drummer but he turned them into generic POP crap.

Indeed. Funny, I've heard it said Collins sounded more like Gabriel than Gabriel; Phil was a better singer, IMHO. Just not nearly as creative and daring. I actually really liked the first couple of releases after Gabriel left, but today, with the benefit of that good ol' "20/20 hindsight", those first releases after Gabriel's departure standout as their first baby steps towards top 40 pop culture doom. The ship had lost its rudder.

I would have to disagree about Yes not aging well. I have not missed many of their Seattle area shows over the last 35 years and, as far as I'm concerned, they just keep getting better. There were some lean years in the middle when they were suffering a lot of personnel changes, Squire had made off with the trademark to the name, and no one was talking to one another. Now that they are back together with their most familiar line-up (although I wish Bruford was back on drums), they put on one of the best shows one will ever see. Tight, professional, fun, relaxed with one another. Don't miss them if you get a chance to see them.

Of the genre, ELP was far and away my favorite. My friends/bandmates were much more into early Genesis and King Crimson. Much of the "prog" was bombastic and self-indulgent (which is ok), but what really annoyed me was the "hey, let's play 2 bars of 7/4 then a bar of 6/8 then 3 bars of 5/4....because we can!" To me ELP was a lot more melodic, and Keith Emerson is just sick as a keyboard player. I saw him about a year ago at a small club here and he is still sick as a keyboard player.

That said, Gabriel solo is about as good as it gets, and "So" is probably one of the greatest albums ever made. And Tony Levin is one of the most creative players I've ever seen/heard.

So Emerson must have made a full recovery; I had heard he had pretty severe carpel tunnel, or something like that that was making it difficult for him to play.

ELP was far and a way one of my favorites as well. They must have made a whole generation of stoners at least consider classical music...

I saw a documentary on Genesis that showed Bill Bruford playing In the Cage with Genesis. So awesome. Bill recently announced on his site that he's totally retiring from live performances. I think Alan White is just fine. Bruford says he still gets harrassed in restaurants to this day about why he left Yes for King Crimson. If you haven't seen it already, check out the Yes Years documentary. BTW, I think Chris Squire has the best live bass sound I've ever heard. I'm sure the lime green lab coat with purple sequins helps there.

Does the Moody Blues fit in here somewhere?

I just stumbled across "...and then there were three..." a couple days ago in my garage CDs. Listened to the whole album while at the workbench.