70s Phil Collins coulda been Cobham

Damn! I just got hold of a DVD of 70s Genesis in their pomp, and the drumming is just absolutly sensational! Truly wonderful stuff - Phil is singing most of the time but whenever he gets the chance he goes over to his huge Gretsch and joins in with either Bill Bruford or Chester Thompson, depending on the the tour, both of whom are also amazing.

He has a very light-agressive touch, Phil, and he makes odd-time signatures seems very smooth. He's always technically amazing wihtout ever sounding like he's showing off.

I truly belive, if we rewound to 1977 and Phil didn't turn into a singer-songwriter, he would have every bit as good a reputation as Cobham's work of that era. If anything I prefer Phil's playing - all the fire and chops but a little less 'look at me' if you know what I mean.

Did anyone here actually ever see Genesis with two drummers? I was born after the 70s and it was pretty much too late by then so I didn't. I wish I could go back in time!

Yes, I saw Genesis with Chester twice - once in Edinburgh (January 1977 - the tour featured on Seconds Out) and once at Knebworth (around 1980, I think).

If you want Phil with all the chops, check out Brand X.

Yeah Brand X certainly has shades of Mahavishnu in it, and amazing drumming of course.

Do you remeber anything about those shows?

Unorthodox Behaviour by Brand X is one of my favourite albums from that era, Phil Collin's drumming on that particular album is nothing short of phenominal, and way ahead of its time. I would advise everyone to check it out. In the track Nuclear Burn Collins burns it up and solos over 7/8 and then changes to 11/8, he plays crisp and clear ghost notes on the snare, and very clean fast rolls, as well as some nice hand/feet combos, comparisons to Cobham would be very accurate. The recording quality is also great.

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Originally posted by muskateer:
Do you remeber anything about those shows?

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I remember more about the first (Edinburgh) show - but they're mostly feelings and impressions now than specific detail. I mean, it was nearly 30 years ago ... many brain cells have been sacrificed to the ethanol monster since then.

Glad to see there are some others here who like Phil's playing. I agree with the comments about the Brand X stuff - really amazing...

muskateer - sounds like you are watching a vid of one of [if not the] Seconds Out time period tours?

Where did you [AWA can i] get [my grubby little mits on] a copy of this? [img]cool.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

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Originally posted by got_a_match_grip?:
Also, don't forget that Phil is one of if not THE most successful drummers of all time in terms of both artistically AWA financiallly

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">...and he's a left hander like me lol!

[img]cool.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ October 26, 2005 01:40 PM: Message edited by: elpatricio ]</font>

Phil did a great job on the Robert Plant stuff too.

Match - Phil isn't on Masques, it's all Chuck Burgi - who was my favorite of all Brand X's drummers.

Brad

Yeah the DVD is a combination of two shows, one from 76 and one from 77 (basically the end of the Golden Era before guitarist Hackett left and the band moved away from their prog roots). The first show, with Bruford, is actually a movie Genesis put out called "Genesis in Concert" or somesuch, and the second is with Chester but not as good (the sound gets LOUDER then quieter AT REALLY annoying TIMES...).

I'm afraid I got it from ebay (best 15 pounds I ever spent...) but they come up in some form or other fairly regularly there. Theres a 1980 gig on there at the moment which I'd love but can't afford. Highlight of my disc is certainly Dance on a Volcano into Los Endos, which, like on Seconds Out, is fantastic, truly awe inspiring! I just love it. Also double drumming on Cinema Show is incredible, really up-tempo.

I love the way they play almost in unison but have license to just do random fills whenever. I've played a little double drums before, and we found we pretty much had to be in unison or not, there was no middle ground or it sounded messy. I guess we weren't quite of Phil and Chester/Bruford's standard...

I just got hold of a bunch of live albums from that era (also ebay) and I'm just immersed in 70s Genesis at the moment, not really listening to anything else. Really, what else is there...?