This is a 4K restoration of some 16mm film of Genesis in concert at the Bataclan theatre in Paris from January 1973. I find the new detail and intimacy astonishing. Incredible work.
Immaculate Restoration
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Shaving your head down the middle of your carefully cultivated centre parting was not going to convince anybody in 1973. No wonder Gabriel’s ‘do’ never caught on.
I always thought PG’s do was the result of his barber’s bursting out laughing after his casual “a little something for the weekend, sir?” was answered with a brief precis of Genesis’ latest concept album
“Yeah – it’s a sprawling double album about this young Puerto Rican guy in New York City who has, like, a strange castration complex. No – honestly – it’s really good …”
and unfeasibly large testicles
Visually interesting but lacking in dynamics, acoustically. Sort of muted and flat-sounding. Where’s the bass? Gabriel’s voice is a bit rough in parts too.
Note the audience sitting cross-legged on the floor. That’s what we did, in those days. Easier to skin up when you’re sitting down.
Yes, the sound is a bit weedy. Nobody is playing bass guitar on the first track The Musical Box, as far as I can tell. Hackett is on lead with his Gibson, Rutherford is playing a Rickenbacker electric (12 string?) and Banks is on acoustic 12 string. Banks must be doing a bit of bass filling-in with his keyboards. Phil is ace though, all over his kit like an octopus. Incredible how close together they all are. It’s a small stage, offering little opportunity for Pete’s prancing moves. There’s a lot of sharp edges on that stage. Pete’s fox head and dress, while visually striking, does little for his vocals. I remember reading that the band started to get pissed off with his head costumes because they were messing up his singing.
Still, I think the restoration is stunning and it feels like a new window on an old world.
I haven’t watched it yet – so I don’t know if one can see them – but I’d be surprised if Rutherford wasn’t playing a set of Moog Taurus bass pedals along with the Rick…
Good call, but it’s difficult to see what’s going on with his feet with Pete’s bass drum in the way. The sound is noticeably lacking in bass. Later on, for Hogweed, Rutherford switches to Rickenbacker bass guitar.
I used to see Genesis a lot in their early days [*], up to just before Gabriel took to wearing masks and dresses and partially-shaving his bonce. He was a very charismatic frontman for them.
They were unusual among bands of that time in the way they used sound dynamics, going from whisper-quiet to bombastically loud in the course of a single song at times. Most other bands then had just one performance mode, which was raucous-loud.
[*] They had a semi-residency at Hydraspace in the long-gone Kingham Hall in Watford. Every 6 weeks or so they’d appear there. I think the guy who ran Hydraspace had a tie-in of some sort with Friars at Aylesbury or the agency they used, because Friars headliners usually played at Hydraspace soon after.
There’s a lot to be said for a band having a basic sense of dynamics, ie ‘going loud and then quiet’. I’m a different era from you but I definitely remember when I started going to bands in the early 90s and noticing how much more enjoyable a band with good loud-quiet differentiation were (say, Spiritualized) compared to a band that just played at a deafening volume non-stop (say, Verve). Such an obvious thing, but makes such a difference.
Or, as Chumbawamba put it, quiet bit, shouty bit, chorus. Repeat.
But a killer on your back after a couple of hours squashed in like sardines
I’m going to watch this, it looks intriguing. I’ve tried and failed to get into Genesis, but I keep trying with them and something is bound to stick at some point. The footage looks terrific and sharp.
Also has Phil Collins in HD wearing very short shorts, if that tempts anyone.
You know what, I’m really enjoying this. Maybe I’ve finally been turned on to Genesis and I ‘get it’ at last.
I mean, not saying the short shorts did it, but you know.
I love it when a band member wears a t-shirt of their own band!
As if this thread needs any more crazy-ass mofos with flutes, there’s a great early clip of the proto-Kraftwerk where Flutin’ Florian is wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with a print of his own face.
1:48 in the unlikely event that you can’t be arsed with the whole clip.
Love the drummer in that clip. Too cool for school.
Love it, have watched it a number of times with an old pal I’ll be seeing on Friday night so we’ll probably watch it then too.
If you saw Steve Hackett in the street in January 1973, would you guess rock star or OU lecturer in advanced fluid mechanics?
In the street, would he be wearing a tatty tweed jacket with leather elbow patches? That would completely fox the ’70s prog fans.