Welcome to The Waiting Room - the Genesis web-fanzine featuring all the news, reviews, interviews and more concerning Genesis and related projects - first, a word from the creators of TWR...
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WORDS FROM THE EDITING SUITE….
Hello again, everybody and welcome to yet another edition of TWR. After all the excitement and furore of the last twelve or so months, things have quite naturally, quietened down a bit . That is not to say that there is no activity worthy of reporting however.
Most visibly active is Steve Hackett whose new album; Tribute was released on 11th February and which is reviewed elsewhere in this edition. Steve is also hard at work on the follow-up to 2006’s Wild Orchids album which, if the tracks we have been privileged to hear so far are anything to go by, should be the usual eclectic mix that we have come to expect from Mr Hackett. Hopefully Steve may take to the road in support of the new album later in the year. We were saddened to hear of the recent divorce of Steve from his wife Kim Poor - one of the most fruitful and inspiring partnerships in the world of music. Thankfully, the split was an amicable one and we wish both Steve and Kim our very best for their future lives.
The spectre of GTR has reared its ugly head again with the re-issue of the Making Of GTR video on DVD. Whether this edition contains any additional footage not seen on the original release has yet to be ascertained as a release date for this DVD has not been given yet. Steve’s earliest recorded effort with Canterbury Glass has also surfaced with the official release of the band’s Sacred Scenes And Characters album appearing. Steve appears on only one track and it makes “interesting” listening!
The album with Chris Squire which Steve had mentioned to us last year is also available. Titled Chris Squire’s Swiss Choir (try saying that after a few pints, folks!) the album is a compilation of traditional and Christmas songs on which Steve plays acoustic guitar on several tracks.
My own Hackett project: Sketches Of Hackett is also nearing completion. The final interviews are being scheduled and once they are done and the necessary transcription is completed, then the process of preparing a final draft for Steve’s approval can get under way. My thanks once again to everyone who has extended help in one form or another towards this project and especially to Steve himself for all his encouragement, to the various band members for their input and enthusiasm; Richard Nagy and Sarah Dean for the proofreading, graphic design suggestions and constructive criticism and good vibes and to Kevin Fearn for all his help and encouragement. Hopefully, the finished article will be ready by the summer of this year and published before year’s end, either as a hard copy book or perhaps as a CD Rom book if that makes things easier (and cheaper) for people? Let me know your thoughts on this one now, folks!
After all the live activity from both Genesis and Peter Gabriel last year, there is little visible sign of activity from either protagonist at present although rumours persist of the possibility of a grand reunion with Peter to re-create The Lamb… Personally, this does not fill me with any great excitement but I always was a perverse bugger wasn’t I?! There is some news however regarding an exciting new biographical project on Peter and a press release about this is reproduced later in this issue. There is plenty to anticipate from the recordings front however, with the imminent release of the “When In Rome” DVD from last year’s tour and also the long-awaited final 5.1 set of remastered albums covering Peter, Steve and Ant’s tenures with the band. It will certainly be interesting to see what material they have unearthed to make this one worthy of the investment price for us this time.
While on the subject of the Gabriel era of the band’s story, and film footage, I was intrigued to hear about the recent posting on the various Internet Genesis forums of a letter to a fan written by the late Geoff Parkyn on the subject of the Milton Keynes 1982 Reunion film. In this letter Geoff confirms that the gig was both filmed and sound recorded. The latter is confirmed by the fact that the soundboard of that gig IS in the band’s archives and the band themselves have confirmed this when the abortive “Archive Collectors Club” project was being discussed a few years ago. As for the film… well on the one occasion on which I was lucky enough to meet Geoff before his death, he confirmed to me personally that the Milton Keynes gig HAD been filmed although he expressed doubts about it ever being released. In addition to this, I was close enough to the stage on the day of the gig to be able to actually SEE two cameramen on either side of the stage during the proceedings and I know I am not alone in this either, having spoken to several other fans who were in similar vantage points. As if that was not enough, a mutual contact who was actually working with the band at the time of the gig has also confirmed that the gig was filmed by two on stage cameramen and a third located on the lighting tower. Having got to know Geoff well enough during the several years of correspondence I had with him both as a member of Genesis Information and also with him during the formative stages of TWR itself, I find it hard to credit that he would deliberately mislead anyone on this subject and certainly not by putting it in writing! Although even if he did, I do not doubt the evidence of my own eyes! Before anyone asks, NO I do NOT have this film, nor have I seen it but I DO believe that it exists and that it is about time that the dangling of this particular “carrot” was stopped. Given that the performance on the night was hardly a great one, I do not mind if the band decide not to air this particular performance in public but let’s lay this particular dog to rest, eh?!
Anthony Phillips continues to be very busy and has several TV/Library projects in preparation. Voiceprint Records have the European releases of The Geese & The Ghost, Wise After The Event and 1984 scheduled for April-June of this year with a compilation CD entitled “Wildlife” which as its title suggests, combines many of Ant’s contributions to tv programmes in that field which has just been released in Japan and shortly to be released in the UK/Europe. I was lucky enough to see one of the people who has worked not only with Ant but also with Peter Gabriel recently, when Guo Yue performed a rare gig in Liverpool as part of the city’s Capital of Culture celebrations and also to celebrate the Chinese New Year - a marvellous concert by a truly magnificent musician! Anthony and his archivist, Jonathan Dann talked at length to TWR about the re-issue project and the fascinating- and on occasions, amusing; results of that conversation can be read later in this edition. Ray Wilson continues to be active on the live circuit mainly in Europe however. Mind you, after hearing reports about the appalling attendances at the few UK gigs he did manage, one can hardly blame him for taking his business elsewhere! We hope to be talking to Ray about his career and future plans at some point in the near future and wish him every success. |
 "From one relic to another..." - Alan and John Mayhew’s Leslie Cabinet in Anthony Phillips’ attic. (Photo: A Hobkinson/TWR) |
Finally, thanks for all your comments about TWR, the criticism has in the main been both positive and constructive and wherever possible we will take your suggestions on board although obviously we will never please some people no matter what we try to do and we have long since given up trying to please the “let’s be negative-for-being negative’s sake” element among our readers. All, I can say is TWR is YOUR magazine if you want to have your input - get involved with it - the more the merrier I say!
Anyway, here’s the rest of this edition - enjoy!
Alan Hewitt
Liverpool
March 2008
"Words from the Engine Room" by Stuart Barnes
OK, first an apology. I am sorry it has taken so long to get the results for the TWR #67 competition published. I experienced a loss a couple of weeks ago, and have never fully got over it. I should clarify that. My computer died a slow and costly death, taking with it my working copy of the TWR website and, more importantly the e-mails containing the entries to the competition. Fortunately, my mild mannered alter-ego works as a computer guru, so the data was safely backed up. It's taken me this long a) build and configure a new computer and recover the data and b) convince the wife that the old machine (5 years old) is beyond economic repair and that we really need a completely new system to recover the data onto...
In that light, welcome to TWR #68 brought to you from a shiny new Quad Core, 4GB RAM, 1.5TB storage, all singing, all dancing computer. Looks the same as it always had, doesn't it? Still, I feel better knowing that I can play Solitaire without fear of it slowing down, and that the 1GB video card now rendering this text on my screen has more computing power than NASA used to put Apollo 11 on the moon...!
So here we are again with another issue full of news and interesting stuff on our favourite band and associated solo artists. I personally find it strange and oddly amusing that for a band that finished touring at the end of last year, there is still so much going on behind the scenes. I mean, there's the upcoming releases of the When In Rome DVD (and associated Hi-Def products as and when they are released) and more importantly, the final SACD boxset. However, let's take a quick look at the current/recent activities of some of the (current and former) band members:
Mike Rutherford - Recording with instruments made from car parts, and no doubt vacationing in one of his houses overseas...
Phil Collins - Unusually quiet. Chat on the internet suggests he may be writing something...
Tony Banks - Seems to have disappeared into the obscurity he seems to enjoy, except at the times when he has an album out...!
Peter Gabriel - Apparently he is still working on the follow up to UP...
Steve Hackett - has been a busy boy. A new acoustic album released and a rock one in the pipeline. Good to see at least one of the guys still making music.
It could be better, I suppose, but at the end of the day, they guys have to want to do something. Despite the clammering from the few thousand active members of the Forum, there may not be enough of an incentive, financial or otherwise, for them to do anything else under the Genesis banner. Still, we live in hope...
Oh, and I was right about Blu-Ray winning the Hi-Def war, wasn't I? :-)
Stuart Barnes
London, April 2008