Mike Campbell Photography
Day 015 - Nov 20, 2007
So, this is the start of the 3rd week of this project and still going strong. I'm finding it's hard to get out on my work days to get creative shots...but I'm not giving up on this.
Today was a rather slow day, spent almost 6 hours sitting in a hospital today...and on that note, i have this to say...
I've been a big Genesis fan ever since the releace of their 1980 album, Duke. Before that I didn't really understand any of thier work, though on their last album of the 1970s, the concept laden And Then There Were Three (a reference to band member Peter Gabriel, who left the group to start a lame solo career), I did enjoy the lovely "Follow You, Follow Me." Otherwise all the albums before Duke seemed too artsy, too intellectual. It was Duke, where Phil Collins' presence became more apparent, and the music got more moodier, the drum machine became more prevalent and the lyrics started getting less mystical and more specific (maybe because of Peter Gabriel's departure), and complex, ambiguous studies of loss became, instead, smashin first-rate pop songs that I gratefully embraced. The songs themselves seemed arranged more around Collins' drumming than Mike Rutherford's bass lines or Tony Banks' keyboard riffs. A classic example of this is "Misunderstanding," which not only was the group's first big hit of the eighties but also seemed to set the tone for the rest of thier albums as the decade progressed. The other standout on Duke is "Turn It On Again," which i sabout the negative effects of television. On the other hand, "Heathaze" is a song I just don't understand, while "PLease Don't Ask" is a touching love song written to a separated wife who regains custody of the couple's child. Has the negative aspect of divorce ever been rendered in more intimate terms by a rock 'n' roll group? I don't think so. "Duke Travels" and "Duke End" might mean something but since the lyrics aren't printed it's hard to tell what Collins is singing about, though thtere is complex, gorgeous piano work by Tony Banks on the later track. The only bummer about Duke is "Alone Tonight," which is way too reminicent of "Tonight Tonight Tonight" from the group's later masterpiece Invisible Touch and the only example, really, of where Collins has plagiarized himself.
Phil Collins' solo efforts seem to be more comercail and therefore more satisfying in a narorwer way, especailly No Jacket Required and songs like "In the Air Tonight" and "Against All Odds" (though the song was overshadowed by the masterful movie from which it came) and "Take Me Home" and "Sussudio" (great, great song; a personal favorite) and his remake of "You Can't Hurry Love," which I'm not alone in thinking is better than the Supremes' original. But I also think that Phil Collins works better within the confines of the group than as a solo artist -- and I stress the word artist. In fact it applies to all three of the guys, because Genesis is still the best, and most exciting band to come out of England in the 1980s.
Day 015 - Nov 20, 2007
So, this is the start of the 3rd week of this project and still going strong. I'm finding it's hard to get out on my work days to get creative shots...but I'm not giving up on this.
Today was a rather slow day, spent almost 6 hours sitting in a hospital today...and on that note, i have this to say...
I've been a big Genesis fan ever since the releace of their 1980 album, Duke. Before that I didn't really understand any of thier work, though on their last album of the 1970s, the concept laden And Then There Were Three (a reference to band member Peter Gabriel, who left the group to start a lame solo career), I did enjoy the lovely "Follow You, Follow Me." Otherwise all the albums before Duke seemed too artsy, too intellectual. It was Duke, where Phil Collins' presence became more apparent, and the music got more moodier, the drum machine became more prevalent and the lyrics started getting less mystical and more specific (maybe because of Peter Gabriel's departure), and complex, ambiguous studies of loss became, instead, smashin first-rate pop songs that I gratefully embraced. The songs themselves seemed arranged more around Collins' drumming than Mike Rutherford's bass lines or Tony Banks' keyboard riffs. A classic example of this is "Misunderstanding," which not only was the group's first big hit of the eighties but also seemed to set the tone for the rest of thier albums as the decade progressed. The other standout on Duke is "Turn It On Again," which i sabout the negative effects of television. On the other hand, "Heathaze" is a song I just don't understand, while "PLease Don't Ask" is a touching love song written to a separated wife who regains custody of the couple's child. Has the negative aspect of divorce ever been rendered in more intimate terms by a rock 'n' roll group? I don't think so. "Duke Travels" and "Duke End" might mean something but since the lyrics aren't printed it's hard to tell what Collins is singing about, though thtere is complex, gorgeous piano work by Tony Banks on the later track. The only bummer about Duke is "Alone Tonight," which is way too reminicent of "Tonight Tonight Tonight" from the group's later masterpiece Invisible Touch and the only example, really, of where Collins has plagiarized himself.
Phil Collins' solo efforts seem to be more comercail and therefore more satisfying in a narorwer way, especailly No Jacket Required and songs like "In the Air Tonight" and "Against All Odds" (though the song was overshadowed by the masterful movie from which it came) and "Take Me Home" and "Sussudio" (great, great song; a personal favorite) and his remake of "You Can't Hurry Love," which I'm not alone in thinking is better than the Supremes' original. But I also think that Phil Collins works better within the confines of the group than as a solo artist -- and I stress the word artist. In fact it applies to all three of the guys, because Genesis is still the best, and most exciting band to come out of England in the 1980s.