henthorn@uiucdcs.UUCP (henthorn ) (02/12/84)
#R:sjuvax:-14200:uiucdcs:10800029:000:559
uiucdcs!henthorn Feb 10 17:19:00 1984
It just may be, although most creatures who criticize the
tastes of others would probably never be so sensitive to
realize, that members of groups like YES and GENESIS,
two bands that have or are undergoing similar changes in
musical style, have come to realize that songs concerning
fantasy-lands, tall spires and castles, and magical miracles
has little to do with the world WE live in, and hence has no
meaning or emotion to everyday people. Take your head out of
your a-- before you speak through it !
- Rich H. uiucdcs!henthorn C-U,Ill.rlr@pyuxn.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (02/14/84)
> It just may be, although most creatures who criticize the > tastes of others would probably never be so sensitive to > realize, that members of groups like YES and GENESIS, > two bands that have or are undergoing similar changes in > musical style, have come to realize that songs concerning > fantasy-lands, tall spires and castles, and magical miracles > has little to do with the world WE live in, and hence has no > meaning or emotion to everyday people. Take your head out of > your a-- before you speak through it ! > - Rich H. uiucdcs!henthorn C-U,Ill. I don't believe that is true at all. Obviously several years ago those songs did have meaning to the "everyday" people who listened to them. The problem was that the groups who wrote them failed to grow and change and mature, choosing to make poor attempts at rehash rather than to innovate the way they used to. Do Kenny Rogers songs have meaning or emotion to everyday people? -- Pardon me for breathing... Rich Rosen pyuxn!rlr
peterr@utcsrgv.UUCP (Peter Rowley) (02/15/84)
People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. R. Henthorn uses strong words to state that early Genesis lyrics had no relevance to our world. Absolute rubbish. "Get 'Em Out By Friday" was a comment on evil real estate developers. Virtually all of "Selling England by the Pound" dealt with workaday life in present-day England. "The Knife" from "Trespass" is a condemnation of false revolutionary movements. "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" has a good deal to say about urban US, as well as a good deal of mythical imagery. Many other examples exist. Genesis didn't always have literal lyrics, but literal lyrics are boring-- they don't allow listeners to provide their own interpretations. I feel they had a very good balance; lyrics specific enough to make the situation depicted unmistakable, but vague enough to add mystery and richness and to allow listeners to work out some ideas on their own. I haven't looked at Yes' lyrics closely enough to comment on them, but Mr. Henthorn is just plain wrong about Genesis. Early Genesis discography: Genesis to Revelation (69), Trespass (70), Nursery Cryme (71), Foxtrot (72), Genesis Live (72), Selling England By the Pound (73), The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (74) After TLLDOB, Peter Gabriel left and the band started its conversion from progressive music to pretty ordinary, though well-done, pop which is what it's making these days. Peter Gabriel, on the other hand, continues to make thought-provoking albums, all entitled "Peter Gabriel" and released in 77, 78, 80, and 82 (The last was also called "Security"). p. rowley, U. Toronto
folta@yale-com.UUCP (Stephen Folta) (03/04/84)
Tall spires and castles? FLAME ON!!!
I'm sick and tired of people criticizing progressive rock groups, especially
Yes, without knowing what they're talking about! Henthorn obviously has
formed his opinions by looking at album covers, rather than listening to the
music. A similar mistake is the one made by many critics, which is judging
Yes by Tales from Topographic Oceans, as if it were the only album they ever
did. No, their music (at its best) is NOT concerned with fantasy worlds or
mysticism. Their best work reached basic emotions through MUSIC, without
the use of lyrics. Their best lyrics are musical, not literary. They don't
make sense because their not SUPPOSED to make sense. I'll agree that Yes
made (and continues to make) music that's not very good, but why do people
continue to judge them by their worst work and ignore the really great music
they made in the past? I hope I have made it clear that it is the knee-jerk
Yes-haters, and not the Yes fans, who have their heads up their a--es.
Flame off.
Oh well, I guess I wandered off the subject a little. Anyway, I'll leave it
to someone else to defend early Genesis. I've run out of flame fuel.
Stephen Folta (folta@yale-comix)