I guess the fact that I had to go six pages back to find this thread is a good sign: obviously people are either all listening to albums they like or don't hate anything enough to post it here.
Which brings me to...
The Genesis suite --- Tolga Kashif
When I saw the advertisement for this album I was really excited, being already a hopeless Genesis nut and having already heard "We know what we like: the music of Genesis" by the LSO, and I hunted it down for some time before I was able to buy a copy. Not full price, of course.
Then, like a lot of things I do, I left it and didn't bother about it. Was never in the right mood. Last night I was looking for something orchestral and relaxing to listen to as I nodded off and was reminded I still had this. That'll do, I thought and put it on.
Big mistake!
I read a review once where someone complained something along the lines of "Why doesn't he (Kashif) just play the damn songs? Why does he have to stretch everything out to infinity?" Now I know what that guy meant. Most of the songs here, though standard Genesis songs, no obscure stuff, I found very very hard to even recognise. I know every artiste wants to put his or her own slant on the music but holy crap! In another thread I spoke about David Garrett's interpretation of some rock classics, and though he jazzed them up I could recognise them ok. Same with the LSO. They did great versions of some Genesis tunes but you'd easily know what they were.
Kashif seems to have had the idea to expand and improvise on every Genesis song he undertakes here. Example: the first track is supposed to be "Land of confusion/Tonight, tonight, tonight". Now many people hate the "Invisible touch" era stuff, but that's not the point. LoC was a big hit single but I couldn't hear it anywhere in there! I got snatches of TTT but again if I hadn't seen the track listing I might have had a hard time sussing what the orchestra were playing. It goes on the same though every song: I only recognised "Ripples" about halfway through, then lost it again.
Also, he uses choirs. I don't like choirs. Well, I have nothing against them but if someone is interpreting the music of a band through the medium of the orchestra I really don't want to hear any singing. VSOP was the same with their "Orchestral Rock" or whatever it's called. If I want to hear singing I'll listen to the original thanks.
After hearing this album I can only use one word to describe it: unnecessary. Impossible as it may seem --- both to those who love them and those who hate them --- Kashif has managed to make Genesis sound even more overblown and pretentious through his frankly ridiculous interpretations of their music here. Self-indulgence taken to new heights. Terrible, just terrible.