Laughter, music (and perfume!) linger ’round the tabletop as the members dive deep in the motherlode that is 1978’s “… And Then There Were Three …” The lively discussion touches on Steve Hackett’s departure from the group and the “genesis” of the three-piece unit, while exploring everything from snowmen and all-star Indian tribes to pretty mamas and maidens fair.
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Great episode as usual! Listening to everyone gush about their favorite tracks always seems to be contagious; I’m reminded of how much I love some tracks and have the sudden realization that I love others. Scenes from a Night’s Dream is my surprise track to appreciate this time – absolutely bonkers! Speaking of which, Little Nemo is indeed a reference to the an old comic strip about a boy’s adventures in his sleep (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Nemo). Why Phil and the guys decided write a song around that of all things is anyone’s guess!
Great podcast, one of the best so far – thanks a lot.
But one question:
“My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard”…WTF is he talking about??
Hi Paul, Simon was referencing his favorite prog song: http://youtu.be/pGL2rytTraA
Regarding their need for success – I seem to recall reading that the band itself was not very profitable until this album. So probably true – they had to start making more money . Does anyone else remember this?
Hi AR, if my memory of the Genesis: A History documentary serves me right, I believe the band actually broke even after the ATTWT tour but the manager didn’t keep any receipts so they were still a bit up shite’s creek. If I’m wrong, I know Tom Roché will correct me because he’s memorized that documentary like a homework assignment.
Yes! I didn’t like it at the time, when I was all serious and “prog”, now I enjoy it for the great rhythm, melody, good production (compressed to the roof as it is), and Phil’s singing has good subtleties here.
“once he went. To the carnival. Of nations.” makes me laugh every time. News at 10, read by Phil Collins.
By the way, as with previous podcasts, I find I need to do some “remastering”.
huh? yeah, I do some dynamic compression, so I don’t have to bring up the volume when the music ends and you guys start talking 🙂
Great podcast as always.
Among many “serious” prog fans, this Genesis album seems to get a poor press. I’m not sure why this is so. Possibly people fixate on the personal issues, viz. the departure of Hackett, rather than actually appreciating the music for its own sake. It wasn’t supposed to be this good, with only three band members remaining.
The other thing is, this album had what to some is an unpardonable sin; a hit single.
“build myself a tower, NO way in NO way out,
then my friends can visit me..”
Can they, Phil? can they??
Great podcast, I enjoyed it even though this album is not one of my favourites.
After listening I thought about how it differs from earlier albums and I may be wrong but is this album not the first one without any 12 string guitar on it (at least since Trespass)?
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Love ATTW3, from that Lying Lady down to Little Nemo. Had to be the first Genesis album I heard, didn’t know from Steve Hackett’s departure. Simon, if you’ve saved this album, you have 38 years of listening to catch up to me. Go ahead, I’ll wait…
Did anyone else find the original recording a bit over-produced? It seemed Phil’s vocals were layered over by the instrumentals, and at times the sound was a bit mushy and treble-y. “One Louder”, as Stacey has said. However, on the podcast, the music sounds much more balanced and better mixed, and I had no idea that Phil was embracing the “more cowbell” theme on ScenesFaND. A much more enjoyable album recording, what version is this??
…I think y’all might’ve missed the deal with “Follow You, Follow Me”…by this time, the boys had to be well aware that each album had to have at least one or two radio-friendly songs that had ‘Top 40 potential’ to even be considered for backing by Atlantic, as well as to have the chance to squeeze a seven minute story-song onto an album…as far as the record companies were concerned, the days of the mini-opera were surely beginning to wane by SEBTP…candy pop sells…I respectfully suggest FYFM is in actuality ATTW3’s “I Know What I Like”, in the form of a ballad & without the creepy lawnmower man…the tempo’s nearly the same & their beats are both on the 2 & the 4 (please don’t tell the DJs)…;)
…btw, I think the same also goes for “Mama” & even “In Your Eyes”, tempo-wise…only the keys are different…
Thanks for the podcast – I have to put in my .02 though. It’s a funny thing. We all have sounds that speak to us -and for other people, not so much. I absolutely love Say it’s alright, Joe. I think it is a gorgeous song – and I liked it on the album even before I saw them perform it (at Knebworth in 78). I adore Mike’s work and the very “loungey” chords that Tony used.
Thanks, Jim – (Tom here). It was surprisingly how the love of that song fell between gender lines, with the three guys liking it and the ladies not so much. I’d forgotten to mention that in the live version, near the beginning during the quiet moments, it sounds like Tony adds a bit of a melody from another song, but can’t quite place it. It’s around 3:05 on this video:
This album was a bit overproduced and took time to grow on me. But when I was a student in the 1980s, I loved it nonetheless. “Undertow” and “Burning Rope” got me through bad nights in grad school — there are some Tony Lessons there! And I too remember looking up the lyrics to “Snowbound” and being freaked out.
BTW, the Little Nemo reference is to a famous cartoon character from my parents’ and grandparents’ generation — more of Phil’s obsession with period Americana:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Nemo
It’s just weird listening to such an English performer do this American stuff so well. The English culture of stagecraft, performance, and inhabiting characters served Phil well here, as it also served Peter, et inter alia, David Bowie, Kate Bush, and earlier the Beatles.
(The Latin means: “and among others.” Only on a prog rock site would I use Latin … I’m shocked Tony or Peter didn’t write something in that dead language.)
P.S. Listening to your podcast has been a highlight of my Genesis journey. I heard Hackett’s live show last year and Musical Box in 2014.
BTW, speaking of Latin, “nemo” means “no one” or “no man” (nil homo).
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I just discovered your podcasts and they are great. I am not picking at the review. I just thought of an interesting small point. At 42:26 a reviewer says he can’t imagine Jon Anderson doing country music. I thought of the Yes album TIME AND A Word the first song No Opportunity Necessary No Experience Needed in which the middle section contains an exuberant western motif.
Hey guys–I’ve been catching up on the podcast after discovering it when someone (I think from the podcast itself?) mentioned it in the dying moments of AV Club’s Disqus forum. I’m not even the biggest Genesis fan, but I’ve been enjoying hearing your conversations.
That said, I notice nobody seemed to know that Scenes from a Nights Dream was all about the classic comic strip “Little Nemo”, from the early 20th century. Little kid always eats before bedtime, has crazy adventures in his dreams, wakes up at the end. Doesn’t necessarily make the song any better, but Phil just isn’t making up psychedelic lyrics–he’s literally describing comic strip plots as they were published. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Nemo
Yeah, that was a brain fart on our part! Sometimes we each think the other is going to mention what seems to be either obvious or known about a song, but then no one does and we move on to the next song before we get the chance. We’ll finish recording and think, “Oh shit, no one said ___,” or, “I forgot to say ___.” Occasionally, we’ll record something to throw back in during editing, other times we might just be too knackered (as they say across the pond!). Thanks for listening!
Still catching up on the old podcasts. Re-examining this album brought back so many memories. I had discovered Genesis before this album came out and quickly worked through all of the back catalog. This was the first “new” album that I had to wait for. I was worried, and only slightly disappointed that it wasn’t as “proggy” as many of the earlier albums. Otherwise enjoyed it immensely at the time. Listening and re-listening to all of the tracks. I think my favorite at the time was “Follow You Follow Me” (even though it was the least “proggy” track). However, I was struck by how songs like “Undertow” and “Burning Rope” have so much meaning to me today at age 58 than they did to that squirreley 18 year old. So much so they brought me to tears. Also, the ATTWT tour was the ONLY Genesis show I ever saw live. Thank you for this podcast.
Hi there,
First of all. I’ve recently discovered this podcast and it’s fantastic I must say. I’ve almost listened all episodes in a matter of days and now I feel like I’m among friends commenting Genesis when I’m hearing you.
Of course I’m big fan of this band since I was a teenager (I’m nearly fifty now).
I’m from Argentina, like Eli, and living in Madrid.
Just a comment about “Little Nemo”. A great song for me. It took my attention that you haven’t mentioned Winsor McCay (or at least didn’t notice that). This song is a homage to a comic by this artist, titled “Little Nemo in Slumberland”. Winsor McCay was pioneeer of comics art and animation of early XX century. And the stories of this title always have the same structure: all are auto-conclusive in one page showing everytime a different dream of this kid Nemo. And always ending with Nemo suddenly waking up, giving a closure to a miriad of very surrealistic situations.
I’m illustrator myself so this song is very appealing to me.
Please keep on making this podcast. Now I’m not only a Genesis fan, but also a Tabletop Genesis fan. Great work.
Kind Regards to all of you
Andrés
Andres, thanks for this information – I’d never heard of “Little Nemo in Slumberland” before.
Looks really fasinating, quite ahead of its time in a very surreal way.
I see that Taschen has recently published a volume of all the comics – definitely worth checking out.
Just found this podcast. Great to see a podcast for my favorite band. Keep up the great work! Anyway, I would just like to say that And Then There Were Three is just about my favorite Genesis album! Powerful, aggressive, fun, intricate, and very prog. The musicianship is extraordinary! You need to take this album for what it truly is, transitional.
Firstly thank you for everything you are doing!
ATTW3 is a big album for me, brings back loads of memories; I had first heard of Genesis as an 8 year old when my older brother bought Selling England. I remember then being enchanted by that album cover artwork and I Know What I Like. Seconds Out was the first record I ever bought in 1977. 1978 I pre-ordered this album and can still remember collecting it on UK release date 20th March 1978.
Opening the album a flyer for Knebworth fell out , so that as a 13 year old was my first ever gig! I managed to get parted from the family friends who took me, so I went and sat down the front and then casually found them in the car park after the concert as if nothing had happened!
March 1980 was a good month for me because I saw Peter Gabriel (China 1984) and Genesis at the Hammersmith Odeon. So finally getting to my point – Say It’s Alright Joe actually worked on the Duke tour because the tour was not a Stadium tour but smaller venues.
Keep up the good work and keep it alive!
Hello!
Greetings from Scotland. Despite being a fan since 1978, I am in the lovely position of having only just discovered Tabletop Genesis, and what a delightful treat it has been, despite having listened to just 2 podcasts so far; clearly plenty more treats to look forward to.
This particular podcast was hugely enjoyable, but if you forgive me I am now going to say something very controversial here – of all of the band’s wonderfully diverse recorded output, for me The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is their greatest, Seconds Out is their best, but And Then There Were Three is my favourite. Sorry! There it is. I’ve said it, out loud. Please don’t hate me.
It’s probably because it was the very first record I got seriously into, at a time when the music one liked as a teenager pretty much defined you. And all of our first records stay with us, don’t they? This is, I would dare to suggest, a perfect album, with a wonderful progressive, wintery vibe, finished off with the perfect pop song. I think I know literally every single note of its memorable and evocative tracks, even Snowbound (but don’t tell anyone). Anyway, there you have it.
Oh, one final thought – Down and Out would be absolutely the perfect start to the new 2020 tour too, coronaviruses permitting. Let’s hope we all get safely through these difficult times.
Best wishes to the Tabletop crew and keep up the good work etc. Great fun, and much appreciated.
Cheers,
Kevin
P.S. – how cool must it have been to meet the great Mr Banks?! Great stuff.
No highs and no lows? I have to disagree. “Down And Out,” “Undertow” and “Burning Rope” are some of the best songs in their catalogue. “Scenes From A Night’s Dream” and “Say It’s Alright Joe” and some aspects of other songs on the record are weak.
Hello!
I discovered the podcast just before Christmas, and have listened to nothing else since. This is one of my top five favourite albums with Genesis (maybe even top three), and hearing you guys talk about it made me feel very good. I think this is an album that holds together extremely well soundwise and in feeling. I got it for my 15th birthday or so and listened to it while reading the rules for the fantasy roleplaying game Advanced Dungeons & Dragons which fitted very well, so when you guys suddenly talked about D&D I laughed out loud! Also, I listened a lot to Follow you, Follow Me as a teenager in love so the discussion about that song brought a lot of wonderful memories back. Thank you for a great podcast!
Best regards,
/Daniel (a listener from Sweden)