The 1972 Genesis song Phil Collins was ashamed to play live: “I can’t listen to it”
It doesn’t matter if you are just a lowly busker caught in the act by a passing Instagram story or you’re an icon of a genre like Phil Collins and Genesis were for prog-rock; the last thing that any artist wants to do is look back on some of their old performances.
The whole point about being in a rock band centres around living in the moment, and getting a bunch of people together to remember one time they played is enough to send shivers down the spines of anyone who’s even a tiny bit critical of their playing ability. Although Phil Collins was more than happy to fill the shoes of Peter Gabriel when singing for Genesis, he admitted that it was a bit too much trying to go back to this surreal masterpiece.
Then again, Collins does get a lot of unnecessary flak for being the executioner of Genesis throughout his time with the band. While he did steer them into a poppier direction once songs like ‘That’s All’ started picking up steam, it’s not like everyone collectively forgot about the massive amount of chops that he had when playing through some of the complex pieces on Selling England by the Pound.
But in terms of lyrical fronts, Gabriel and Collins were about as far apart as one could get. There were many songs that Collins had that dealt with complex subjects, but there was no way the same person who made something as heartwrenching as ‘Against All Odds’ was going to suddenly make something as complicated as The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, especially when having to worry about keeping up with complicated time signatures.
At their peak in the 1970s, though, that’s what drew a lot of people into the Genesis style. Some people may have still come to see Gabriel dress in whatever ridiculous outfit that he had in the closet for the night, but listening to him talk about fanciful tales made him fit right in with King Crimson’s more complicated structures and the philosophical angle that Jon Anderson took on with Yes.
Part of the reason ‘Supper’s Ready’ became so important to Genesis fans was because it represented the band at their most ambitious and unrestrained. Stretching past 20 minutes, the track moved through multiple sections that ranged from delicate acoustic passages to thunderous climaxes, all tied together by Gabriel’s cryptic storytelling and the band’s intricate musicianship.
For progressive rock devotees, it was the kind of composition that proved rock music could be every bit as expansive and theatrical as classical music.
That ambition also created a strange divide within Genesis’ legacy once Collins became the frontman. Newer audiences discovered the group through concise pop songs and MTV-ready singles, while older fans remained attached to the sprawling conceptual pieces of the Gabriel years.
Collins often found himself caught in the middle of those two identities, fully aware that the band’s commercial success depended on moving forward even if certain listeners would forever prefer the surreal excesses of their earlier work.
But by prog standards, ‘Supper’s Ready’ is a bit of a headtrip. Even though Pink Floyd had tested the limits of a long song on ‘Echoes’, hearing this tale of science fiction is something that everyone needs to pay attention to or else the entire song falls apart. And by the time Genesis had graduated to the arenas, the novelty of playing sections in 9/8 had worn out for Collins.
When discussing his past, Collins mentioned not wanting to return to that style of song ever again, saying, “It was ‘suggested’ that I sang [‘Supper’s Ready’]. A lot of the early Genesis stuff was surreal sci-fi fantasy escapism, and I can’t listen to it. I’m not a big fan of our past. When I listen to an old Genesis record, nine times out of ten, I tend to be embarrassed by it. I mean, Tony Banks would sit here and say he’s not embarrassed by it.”
Collins might be a little too unfair to what ‘Supper’s Ready’ does over its runtime. Since some of their more experimental songs in the 1980s relied on setting up a groove like ‘Tonight Tonight Tonight’, hearing them go through these different movements is like watching a stage play in your mind before finally arriving home in the final seconds of the song.
And despite being a touch embarrassed by it, the song has endured a lot longer than some of the more poppier fare that Collins spat out in the latter half of his career. Sci-fi lyrics might not result in great songs, but there’s a good chance that the version of Genesis with Gabriel in the band would never have had the gall to make something like ‘Sussudio’.
