1.What were your VERY FIRST impressions on listening to the album, say from the first five minutes in?
All that great sweep picking on 'Dancing With The Moonlit Knight', coupled with Gabriel's strident delivery..well, it made a pretty good impression on me as a middle school student, that's for sure!
2. What did you think of the opening tracks?
Some of it was immediate, some of it not, especially on the instrumental side of things. 'Dancing...' is still my favorite from Side A, but it took me a couple run throughs to warm up to 'I Know What You Like...'. Not because it's a bad song, but simply because it seemed a little too twee. 'More Fool Me', though....always liked this one: very
CSN&Y-ish despite the fact this is Genesis and not an American westcoast band.
3. What did you think of the later tracks?
'The Battle of Epping Forest' has some cool synthwork through, but never really liked it that much as a song. 'The Cinema Show' and 'Aisle Of Plenty' are nice though: love Hackett's guitar work in particular.
4. Did you like the vocalist? Hate him/her? Any impressions?
I was fairly familiar with
Peter Gabriel even before
SEBTP and always liked his voice and creative delivery, so it wasn't hard to appreciate him here either.
5. Did the music (only) generally appeal to you, or not?
As expected of one of the great classic proggles, it did pretty much everything right as far as what I look for.
6. Did the album get better or worse as you listened to it (first time)?
Better I'd say. Even all the years later though, some cuts still haven't grown on me as much as I would have liked.
7. What did you think of the lyrical content?
One of those albums that you really have to study up on if you weren't living in the U.K. in the early 70's: I liked it, but I consider the lyrical content here to be one of the album's biggest weaknesses in a weird sense too.
8. Did you like the instrumental parts?
You betcha. This is a Mellotronner among Mellotrons, not to mention all the glorious interplay. I may not like every song here, but on the instrumental side of things this was definitely Genesis at their peak.
9. What did you think of the production?
Warm, concise and full of depth.
10. How well do you already know the band/artist?
My experiences with
Trespass and
Foxtrot initially brought me to SEBTP, but I was familiar with the later work too at the time I first heard it.
11. What sub-genre, if any, would you assign this music to?
Proto-Brit-pop?
12. On repeated listens, did you find you liked the album more, or less?
Neither. I like it for what it is, but my general impression neither improved nor disproved with repeated listens.
13. What would you class as your favourite track, if you have one?
'The Cinema Show'.
14. And the one you liked least?
A tie between 'The Battle Of Epping Forest' and 'I Know What I Like...'. xD
15. Did the fact that this album is a debut allow it, in your mind, any leeway, and if so, was question or put "n/a")
N/A.
16. Are you now looking forward to hearing other albums by the band/artist?
None left to hear at this point I'm afraid.
17. Did you get, thematically, the idea behind the album if there was one?
Isn't it all about Scotland? Or wait, maybe it's about Whimpy Burgers or what have you...I just can't decide! xD
18. Did the album end well?
A cacophony of voices, fading out....yeah, me likey'd back then!
19. Do you see any way the album could have been improved?
Not really. If it had been changed in any way, it wouldn't be
SEBTP: it'd be something else entirely.
20. Do you think the album hung together well, ie was a fully cohesive unit, or was it a bit hit-and-miss?
In the same way some people are puzzled over why
Close To The Edge by
Yes is a masterpiece, SEBTP is one of two Genesis albums (the other being
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway) that I've never been particularly enamored with beyond a few key tracks. That being said, a classic is a classic, and it is a status that this sucka certainly deserved upon release.
Overall Album Rating: 8.5 out of 10.