Addendum to BB's Genesis Album Rankings - Favorite Songs
As
part of my previous Genesis Album rankings post, I included some of what I
considered the best (meaning my favorite) songs from each album. Here,
as a follow-up to that post, I'm listing a tentative ranking of my
overall Top 20 favorite Genesis songs. Overall, this is more difficult
than ranking the albums, as there are so many good to great songs to
consider and come up with an absolute favorites list. In addition, favorite songs tend to change more readily with time and
circumstances, thus this list represents what I am thinking today, and
would probably change if reconsidered next week, month, or year (although the top 5 or so are pretty much set in stone and will probably never change). Anyway,
here is a list of my current top 20 favorite Genesis songs, as well as
my bottom 5 least favorite songs.
Top 20 Favorite Genesis songs:
20. Battle of Epping Forest
19. In the Cage
18. Cuckoo Cocoon
17. Stagnation
16. Blood on the Rooftops
15. Entangled
14. Chamber of 32 Doors
13. Mad Mad Moon
12. Behind the Lines/Duke's Travels/Duke's End
11. Watcher of the Skies
10. Dance on a Volcano/Los Endos
9. In This Quiet Earth/Afterglow
8. The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
7. Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
6. One For The Vine
5. The Musical Box
4. Firth of Fifth
3. Can-Utility and the Coastliners
2. The Cinema Show
1. Supper's Ready
Not surprisingly, the bulk of my Top 20 songs come from the albums in my Top 5, with very few from outside that, and none from post-1980. I have taken some liberties in combining some songs that thematically go together, such as the opening and closing tracks from Trick of the Tail and Duke, which reprise similar themes and passages, and serve as album bookends. As with any great long-running band, there are many songs I really like that don't make it into such a Top 20 list, but that doesn't mean I don't like them. There are actually very few Genesis songs that I actively dislike, that I just don't want to listen to at all. And so here are what are the bottom 5 for me. Songs that I really don't ever want to hear again:
The bottom 5 (for me at least):
5. Keep It Dark
4. Dodo/Lurker
3. I Can't Dance
2. Illegal Alien
1. Who Dunnit?
Again, not surprisingly, the bulk of these come from my least favorite album, Abacab. The only other one I would add to this list of Genesis songs I never want to hear is 'Invisible Touch', but it could not quite make the bottom 5.
OK, that's my list (at least currently). What's your favorite (or least favorite) Genesis songs?
A Music-related blog containing information and commentary of my favorite music, as well as some choice downloads of quality, hard-to-find music (unofficial releases, ROIO's, concert bootlegs, etc.) available on the web.
Again interesting that I largely agree with you as to what constitutes the best of Genesis, but not the worst!
ReplyDeleteIt was my then-girlfriend (later to be my wife) who pointed out the self-effacing humor in "We Can't Dance", something English prog groups were rarely the source of. It's funny, and it has a pretty decent riff.
As such, I can't count it amongst the nadir of their career.
Hope there are more of these comin'!
Somehow 'The Lamia' was forgotten.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful music and lyrics.
Great atmosphere.
Ago51,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your pick, but no, 'The Lamia' was not forgotten, it just did not quite make my top 20 faves. It is beautiful, and is certainly in my Top 30, but there are just many songs I like more.
You missed Ripples & Harold The Barrel.
ReplyDeleteUnknown,
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you mention Ripples, because that was right on the cusp of this list, probably right at #21 or #22, but I just couldn't quite fit it into the top 20. Harold the Barrel is a fun, oddball song, but it would rank somewhere further down on my list. Thanks for your input. There certainly are no wrong answers.
Nice picks. I generally agree with you accross the board...no 'Back in NYC' in top songs?
ReplyDelete