Originally posted by TinderArts:
He was one of the finest drummers that's ever played. Now, IMHO, he's the epitome of commercial crap. When do you think Phil lost it?
It was someplace in the late 70s, I think, along about the time he realized he could get big hits with bland, upbeat versions of old soul hits.
A couple times, I've caught myself making a big distinction between Gabriel's Genesis and Genesis after Phil stepped in to take his place. And there was a big diffrence -- but it wasn't necessarily all qualitative.
The early PC Genesis mades some heartbreakingly lovely music, if I recall correctly.
I'll admit I can't remember their lyrics all that well... I think by then I'd realized it was often better to ignore the words in a lot of pop music if everything else was okay... as a consequence, I've occasionally been caught up short by just how good the words were in a few songs I'd long liked in a vague and general way.
(Of course, usually it goes the other way. I loved "Night Fever" in a pop confection kind of way... it seemed to somehow communicate an air of adventure and abandon... and
then I ended up with a Bee Gees songbook in my lap with the notion of maybe covering the song. With the lyrics there in black and white and -- separated from the BG's trademark gelded chipmunk falstto vox -- now comprehensible, I was taken aback. The lyrics were... STOOPID with a capital "OO"... anyhow, I, as always, digress.)
At any rate, after a couple warmed over Motown leftovers and, as I recall, a stint hosting various lame TV shows, I pretty much wrote him off.
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