The Genesis poll

Sorry, this entry is only available in Greek. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.

Intro: Dimitris Kaltsas

The news of the forthcoming Genesis tour, which was rescheduled for April 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, surprised many of us. The reappearance of Banks, Rutherford and Collins for the first time in 14 years is hardly justified if we ignore financial reasons or the incurable nostalgia of some of the band’s fans. The return of the legendary band to the spotlight was the ideal occasion to do something that we would do anyway at some point.

The band formed at Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey in 1967 by pupils Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Michael Rutherford and Anthony Phillips, evolved unpredictably and proved to be the one of the most important groups in the history of rock music. The original singer-songwriter / pop-rock style in the late ’60s was quickly combined with great folk elements and transformed into adventurous compositions which defined the early British progressive rock sound, although Genesis was by no means a typical example of the genre. 

The arrival of Steve Hackett and Phil Collins skyrocketed the compositional and technical level of the band. Genesis brought theatricality to rock, invested on narrative instrumental parts, identified with the symphonic element and lyricism in rock sound, put the lyrics in the foreground, satirized substantially and timelessly, made records that today may sound dated, but are unsurpassed artistically. They raised the bar unbelievably high with their artistic achievements in the period 1970-76, and managed to be the only top prog band that never did the same thing twice. For too many differenet reasons, what we hear especially in Trespass (1970), Nursery Cryme (1971), Foxtrot (1972), Selling England by the Pound (1973), The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1975) and A Trick of the Tail (1976) will always stand out. 

In retrospect, taking a look back to the glorious period of Genesis, i.e. until their second live album (Seconds Out – 1977), the fact that the band’s classic line-up could not have remained stable for long now seems logical. Can you think of any other band with such important personalities who all embarked on such amazing solo careers later on?

The shift in their sound towards more pop and less adventurous forms from the 80s onwards brought commercial success and co-formed an almost completely twofold discography with 15 studio albums from From Genesis to Revelation (1969) to …Calling All Stations… (1997).

We chose our 5 favorite albums and songs of the band. Summing up the opinions of 22 editors, Selling England by the Pound proved to be our favorite album by far, with Nursery Cryme beating Foxtrot by one point for the second place, followed by The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Trespass and A Trick of the Tail.

So, aggregately, the ranking of Genesis albums based on the preferences of the 22 editors of Progrocks.gr is as follows:

	Album	Score	In top-5
1	Selling England by the Pound	95	22
2	Nursery Cryme	68	20
3	Foxtrot	67	21
4	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	34	13
5	Trespass	28	14
6	A Trick of the Tail	27	13
7	We Can’t Dance	5	2
8	Duke	3	2
9	Wind and Wuthering	2	2
10	And Then There Were Three	1	1

(each one of us ranked his/her  five most favorite albums. Scores were obtained by assigning to each list no.1 as 5, no.2 as 4 and so on)

Regarding the songs, the result was just as interesting. 32 different songs were included in our top-5 lists, and The Musical Box is our most favorite, followed by Dancing with the Moonlit Knight, Supper’s Ready, Firth of Fifth and The Cinema Show:

	Song	Score	In top-5
1	The Musical Box	51	14
2	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight	46	13
3	Supper’s Ready	44	12
4	Firth of Fifth	35	10
5	The Cinema Show	29	10
6	In the Cage	15	6
7	The Knife	15	5
8	The Fountain of Salmacis	11	4
9	Watcher of the Skies	9	5
10	The Battle of Epping Forest	7	2

 

	Albums	Songs
Dimitris Anastasiadis	Selling England by the Pound	In the Cage
	Foxtrot	Ripples
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	Firth of Fifth
	Nursery Cryme	Supper’s Ready
	A Trick of the Tail	Mama
Kostas Barbas	Selling England by the Pound	Firth of Fifth
	Foxtrot	The Musical Box
	Nursery Cryme	Supper’s Ready
	Trespass	The Cinema Show
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	In the Cage
Vangelis Christodoulou	Nursery Cryme	The Battle of Epping Forest
	Selling England by the Pound	The Return of the Giant Hogweed
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	Dance on a Volcano
	A Trick of the Tail	The Carpet Crawlers
	Foxtrot	Dodo/Lurker
Ilias Goumagias	Nursery Cryme	I Can’t Dance
	Trespass	Firth of Fifth
	We Can’t Dance	Los Endos
	A Trick of the Tail	The Musical Box
	Selling England by the Pound	The Knife
Paris Gravouniotis	Selling England by the Pound	Firth of Fifth
	Foxtrot	The Musical Box
	Nursery Cryme	Supper’s Ready
	Trespass	The Knife
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
Dimitris Kaltsas	Selling England by the Pound	The Musical Box
	Nursery Cryme	Supper’s Ready
	Foxtrot	Firth of Fifth
	Trespass	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	The Cinema Show
Spyros Konitopoulos	Selling England by the Pound	The Musical Box
	Nursery Cryme	Supper’s Ready
	Foxtrot	Firth of Fifth
	Trespass	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	A Trick of the Tail	The Carpet Crawlers
Alexandros Mantas	Selling England by the Pound	The Cinema Show
	Nursery Cryme	The Fountain of Salmacis
	A Trick of the Tail	Firth of Fifth
	Trespass	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Foxtrot	Robbery, Assault and Battery
Christos Minos	Selling England by the Pound	Supper’s Ready
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	In the Cage
	Nursery Cryme	The Cinema Show
	A Trick of the Tail	The Fountain of Salmacis
	Foxtrot	Los Endos
Eleni Panayiotou	Selling England by the Pound	Man on the Corner
	A Trick of the Tail	Firth of Fifth
	Foxtrot	Land of Confusion
	We Can’t Dance	Entangled
	And Then There Were Three	Looking for Someone
Petros Papadogiannis	Selling England by the Pound	The Musical Box
	Nursery Cryme	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Foxtrot	Supper’s Ready
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	The Cinema Show
	Trespass	The Chamber of 32 Rooms
Panos  Papazoglou	Foxtrot	The Musical Box
	Selling England by the Pound	Supper’s Ready
	Nursery Cryme	The Cinema Show
	A Trick of the Tail	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Wind and Wuthering	Watcher of the Skies
Thanos Patsos	Selling England by the Pound	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Nursery Cryme	The Cinema Show
	Trespass	The Musical Box
	Foxtrot	White Mountain
	Duke	Looking for Someone
Goran Petrić	Selling England by the Pound	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Nursery Cryme	The Knife
	A Trick of the Tail	The Musical Box
	Foxtrot	Entangled
	Trespass	Watcher of the Skies
Tasos Poimenidis	Foxtrot	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Selling England by the Pound	Supper’s Ready
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	Watcher of the Skies
	Nursery Cryme	The Cinema Show
	A Trick of the Tail	The Musical Box
Kostas Rokas	Selling England by the Pound	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Foxtrot	The Musical Box
	Nursery Cryme	Supper’s Ready
	Trespass	The Battle of Epping Forest
	A Trick of the Tail	The Return of the Giant Hogweed
Thomas Sarakintsis	Foxtrot	Supper’s Ready
	Selling England by the Pound	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Nursery Cryme	The Fountain of Salmacis
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	Looking for Someone
	Trespass	In the Cage
Lefteris Statharas	Nursery Cryme	The Musical Box
	foxtrot	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Trespass	The Knife
	Selling England by the Pound	For Absent Friends
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	Firth of Fifth
Panagiotis Stathopoulos	Selling England by the Pound	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Foxtrot	Firth of Fifth
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	Watcher of the Skies
	Nursery Cryme	The Musical Box
	Trespass	In the Cage
Alexandros Topintzis	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	The Knife
	Foxtrot	Supper’s Ready
	Selling England by the Pound	In the Cage
	Trespass	The Cinema Show
	Nursery Cryme	Squonk
Giannis Voulgaris	Selling England by the Pound	The Cinema Show
	Foxtrot	Dance on a Volcano
	A Trick of the Tail	The Musical Box
	Duke	Home by the Sea
	Wind and Wuthering	Watcher of the Skies
Giannis Zavradinos	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	The Lamia
	Nursery Cryme	Anyway
	Selling England by the Pound	Back in N.Y.C.
	A Trick of the Tail	The Fountain of Salmacis
	Foxtrot	Can-Utility and the Coastliners

Εισαγωγή: Δημήτρης Καλτσάς

Η είδηση της επερχόμενης περιοδείας των Genesis, που αναβλήθηκε λόγω της πανδημίας του κορονοϊού για τον Απρίλιο του 2021, εξέπληξε πολλούς. Η επανεμφάνιση των Banks, Rutherford, Collins για πρώτη φορά μετά από 14 χρόνια δύσκολα δικαιολογείται αν αγνοήσουμε οικονομικούς λόγους ή την αθεράπευτη νοσταλγία ενός μεγάλου μέρους του κοινού διεθνώς. Η επαναφορά του θρυλικού σχήματος στην επικαιρότητα ήταν η ιδανική αφορμή για να κάνουμε κάτι που θα γινόταν έτσι κι αλλιώς κάποια στιγμή.

Αυτό που ξεκίνησε στο Charterhouse School, στο Godalming του Surrey το 1967 από τους μαθητές Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Michael Rutherford και Anthony Phillips εξελίχθηκε απρόβλεπτα και αποδείχθηκε πως ήταν η απαρχή μιας από τις σημαντικότερες μπάντες στην ιστορία της rock μουσικής. Το αρχικό singer-songwriter / εγκεφαλικό pop-rock ύφος γρήγορα συνδυάστηκε με υπέροχα folk στοιχεία και μεταμορφώθηκε σε περιπετειώδεις συνθέσεις που όρισαν τον πρώιμο βρετανικό progressive rock ήχο, αν και οι Genesis δεν ήταν καθόλου τυπικό παράδειγμα του είδους. 

Η είσοδος του Steve Hackett και του Phil Collins στο συγκρότημα εκτόξευσε τη συνθετική και εκτελεστική ισχύ του σχήματος. Οι Genesis έφεραν την θεατρικότητα στον rock ήχο, απογείωσαν την αφηγηματικότητα στα ορχηστρικά μέρη, ταυτίστηκαν με το συμφωνικό στοιχείο και την λυρικότητα στον rock ήχο, έθεσαν τους στίχους στο προσκήνιο, προβλημάτισαν και σατίρισαν ουσιωδώς και διαχρονικά, έφτιαξαν δίσκους που ακούγονται ηχητικά ξεπερασμένοι, αλλά καλλιτεχνικά είναι αξεπέραστοι. Κι αυτό, γιατί με τα καλλιτεχνικά επιτεύγματά τους στο διάστημα 1970-76 ανέβασαν τον πήχη δυσθεώρητα ψηλά και το κατάφεραν όντας οι μόνοι εκ των κορυφαίων του prog που δεν έκαναν το ίδιο πράγμα δύο φορές. Για διαφορετικούς και πάρα πολλούς λόγους, αυτά που ακούγονται ειδικά στα Trespass (1970), Nursery Cryme (1971), Foxtrot (1972), Selling England by the Pound (1973), The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1975) και A Trick of the Tail (1976) θα μνημονεύονται εσαεί. 

Ρίχνοντας σήμερα μια ματιά πίσω στον χρόνο, στην ένδοξη περίοδο των Genesis μέχρι και το δεύτερο live album τους (Seconds Out – 1977), φαντάζει πλέον λογικό το ότι η σύνθεση με την κλασική πεντάδα δεν ήταν δυνατόν να παραμείνει για πολύ χρόνο σταθερή. Υπάρχει, αλήθεια, άλλη μπάντα που να συγκέντρωσε τόσο σημαντικές προσωπικότητες με τέτοιες εκπληκτικές solo καριέρες στη συνέχεια (από όλα τα μέλη);

  Η φυσιολογική στροφή στον ήχο τους προς πιο pop και λιγότερο περιπετειώδεις φόρμες από τα 80s και μετά έφεραν την εμπορική επιτυχία και συνδιαμόρφωσαν μία σχεδόν απόλυτα διττή δισκογραφία που μετρά 15 studio albums από το From Genesis to Revelation (1969) έως το …Calling All Stations… (1997). Από αυτά επιλέξαμε τα 5 αγαπημένα μας albums και κομμάτια. Η άθροιση των απόψεων 22 συντακτών μας ανέδειξε το Selling England by the Pound με διαφορά κορυφαίο, με το Nursery Cryme να ξεπερνά στο νήμα το Foxtrot για τη δεύτερη θέση, ενώ ακολούθησαν τα The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Trespass και A Trick of the Tail.

Συγκεντρωτικά λοιπόν, η κατάταξη των albums των Genesis με βάση τς προτιμήσεις των συντακτών του Progrocks.gr έχει ως εξής:

	Δίσκος	Σκορ	Εντός top-5
1	Selling England by the Pound	95	22
2	Nursery Cryme	68	20
3	Foxtrot	67	21
4	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	34	13
5	Trespass	28	14
6	A Trick of the Tail	27	13
7	We Can’t Dance	5	2
8	Duke	3	2
9	Wind and Wuthering	2	2
10	And Then There Were Three	1	1

(οι βαθμολογίες προέκυψαν αντιστοιχίζοντας σε κάθε λίστα το νο. 1 με 5, το νο. 2 με 4 κ.ο.κ. και αθροίζοντας στο τέλος για κάθε δίσκο)

Στα κομμάτια, το αποτέλεσμα ήταν εξίσου εντυπωσιακό. Στις προτιμήσεις μας περιλαμβάνονται 32 διαφορετικά κομμάτια, με κορυφαίο το The Musical Box, ενώ ακολούθησαν με μικρή διαφορά μεταξύ τους τα Dancing with the Moonlit Knight, Supper’s Ready, Firth of Fifth και The Cinema Show:

	Τραγούδι	Σκορ	Εντός top-5
1	The Musical Box	51	14
2	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight	46	13
3	Supper’s Ready	44	12
4	Firth of Fifth	35	10
5	The Cinema Show	29	10
6	In the Cage	15	6
7	The Knife	15	5
8	The Fountain of Salmacis	11	4
9	Watcher of the Skies	9	5
10	The Battle of Epping Forest	7	2

 

	Δίσκοι	Τραγούδια
Δημήτρης Αναστασιάδης	Selling England by the Pound	In the Cage
	Foxtrot	Ripples
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	Firth of Fifth
	Nursery Cryme	Supper’s Ready
	A Trick of the Tail	Mama
Γιάννης Βούλγαρης	Selling England by the Pound	The Cinema Show
	Foxtrot	Dance on a Volcano
	A Trick of the Tail	The Musical Box
	Duke	Home by the Sea
	Wind and Wuthering	Watcher of the Skies
Ηλίας Γουμάγιας	Nursery Cryme	I Can’t Dance
	Trespass	Firth of Fifth
	We Can’t Dance	Los Endos
	A Trick of the Tail	The Musical Box
	Selling England by the Pound	The Knife
Πάρης Γραβουνιώτης	Selling England by the Pound	Firth of Fifth
	Foxtrot	The Musical Box
	Nursery Cryme	Supper’s Ready
	Trespass	The Knife
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
Γιάννης Ζαβραδινός	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	The Lamia
	Nursery Cryme	Anyway
	Selling England by the Pound	Back in N.Y.C.
	A Trick of the Tail	The Fountain of Salmacis
	Foxtrot	Can-Utility and the Coastliners
Δημήτρης Καλτσάς	Selling England by the Pound	The Musical Box
	Nursery Cryme	Supper’s Ready
	Foxtrot	Firth of Fifth
	Trespass	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	The Cinema Show
Σπύρος Κονιτόπουλος	Selling England by the Pound	The Musical Box
	Nursery Cryme	Supper’s Ready
	Foxtrot	Firth of Fifth
	Trespass	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	A Trick of the Tail	The Carpet Crawlers
Αλέξανδρος Μαντάς	Selling England by the Pound	The Cinema Show
	Nursery Cryme	The Fountain of Salmacis
	A Trick of the Tail	Firth of Fifth
	Trespass	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Foxtrot	Robbery, Assault and Battery
Χρήστος Μήνος	Selling England by the Pound	Supper’s Ready
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	In the Cage
	Nursery Cryme	The Cinema Show
	A Trick of the Tail	The Fountain of Salmacis
	Foxtrot	Los Endos
Κώστας Μπάρμπας	Selling England by the Pound	Firth of Fifth
	Foxtrot	The Musical Box
	Nursery Cryme	Supper’s Ready
	Trespass	The Cinema Show
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	In the Cage
Ελένη Παναγιώτου	Selling England by the Pound	The Musical Box
	A Trick of the Tail	Supper’s Ready
	Foxtrot	The Cinema Show
	We Can’t Dance	In the Cage
	And Then There Were Three	Looking for Someone
Πέτρος Παπαδογιάννης	Selling England by the Pound	The Musical Box
	Nursery Cryme	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Foxtrot	Supper’s Ready
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	The Cinema Show
	Trespass	The Chamber of 32 Rooms
Πάνος Παπάζογλου	Foxtrot	The Musical Box
	Selling England by the Pound	Supper’s Ready
	Nursery Cryme	The Cinema Show
	A Trick of the Tail	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Wind and Wuthering	Watcher of the Skies
Θάνος Πάτσος	Selling England by the Pound	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Nursery Cryme	The Cinema Show
	Trespass	The Musical Box
	Foxtrot	White Mountain
	Duke	Looking for Someone
Goran Petrić	Selling England by the Pound	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Nursery Cryme	The Knife
	A Trick of the Tail	The Musical Box
	Foxtrot	Entangled
	Trespass	Watcher of the Skies
Τάσος Ποιμενίδης	Foxtrot	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Selling England by the Pound	Supper’s Ready
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	Watcher of the Skies
	Nursery Cryme	The Cinema Show
	A Trick of the Tail	The Musical Box
Κώστας Ρόκας	Selling England by the Pound	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Foxtrot	The Musical Box
	Nursery Cryme	Supper’s Ready
	Trespass	The Battle of Epping Forest
	A Trick of the Tail	The Return of the Giant Hogweed
Θωμάς Σαρακίντσης	Foxtrot	Supper’s Ready
	Selling England by the Pound	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Nursery Cryme	The Fountain of Salmacis
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	Looking for Someone
	Trespass	In the Cage
Λευτέρης Σταθάρας	Nursery Cryme	The Musical Box
	foxtrot	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Trespass	The Knife
	Selling England by the Pound	For Absent Friends
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	Firth of Fifth
Παναγιώτης Σταθόπουλος	Selling England By the Pound	Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
	Foxtrot	Firth of Fifth
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	Watcher of the Skies
	Nursery Cryme	The Musical Box
	Trespass	In the Cage
Αλέξανδρος Τοπιντζής	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	The Knife
	Foxtrot	Supper’s Ready
	Selling England by the Pound	In the Cage
	Trespass	The Cinema Show
	Nursery Cryme	Squonk
Βαγγέλης Χριστοδούλου	Nursery Cryme	The Battle of Epping Forest
	Selling England by the Pound	The Return of the Giant Hogweed
	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	Dance on a Volcano
	A Trick of the Tail	The Carpet Crawlers
	Foxtrot	Dodo/Lurker