Album title: Timeless
Artiste: The Watch
Nationality: Italian
Year: 1970, I mean 2011!
Subgenre: RPI, but more like Genesis clones
Player(s): Simone Rossetti (vocals, flute), Marco Fabbri (Drums), Giorgio Gabriel (No, I'm serious!) (Guitars), Valerio De Vittorio (Keyboards), Stefano Castrucci (Bass, Guitars)
Familiarity: Zero, didn't even know they existed outside of a Terry Pratchett novel!
Favourite track(s): “End of the road”
Why? I say favourite but I really mean least hated, and I only choose it because it at least has some sense of originality about it and doesn't sound like a bad Genesis rip-off.
Least favourite track(s): Title I think
Why? Because it's so much a rip off of Genesis's “In the wilderness”. Their audacity in then covering that song could make anyone not familiar with Genesis think that the opener is just an intro to a song they wrote, as in, “In the wilderness” and I think that's very disingenuous.
Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad? Reading about them it says they play Genesis like music, so I had expected to enjoy this. I was soon to be proven wrong.
Factoids you'd like to share?
End impression: Jesus wept! If I want to listen to Genesis I'll listen to Genesis., not some poor clone ripoff who can't even disguise this as tribute music!
Comments: Having selected this album from the list and never heard of the band I went in search of information. This is what Wiki says:
”Their music is inspired by classic progressive rock style of the 1970s and in particular by the music of Genesis “. Okay so that should be fine, yes? But the moment I hit play I heard Genesis. Not someone playing music LIKE Genesis, but a band playing Genesis. Even the singer emulates Gabriel to an embarrassing degree. Not to mention that this is
1969 Genesis we're talking about, with even a cover from the debut album. So then I thought “Ah! Timleless! It's either a tribute to Genesis or to classic prog rock songs!”
But no, that is not the case at all; it's supposed to be an original album. Fair enough then, but the opening track “The Watch” is nothing more than the main melody from “In the wilderness” (which they later cover, just to rub salt in) with a few embellishments, but they don't call it a cover. Oh no. It's
their song. The cover is decent enough and I actually like the version they do, plus they do an okay version of “Stagnation”, but come on: if I want Genesis I listen to Genesis. Big Big Train are Genesis influenced, as are Willowglass, but neither sound EXACTLY like Genesis!
When it gets down to it though, their own music I found well played but too deriviative. The only one that even made me sit up and take notice was “End of the road”, which showed a lot of promise and its own identity. “Exit” is just a reprise of the opener (itself a badly-disguised cover/ripoff/you decide) and the rest just sounded like stuff the Genesis of 1969 might have recorded but not decided to put on the debut album. As for the singer? Why try to sound EXACTLY like Peter Gabriel? Marillion, in their formative years, were always compared to Genesis and did not like it, Fish making his voice as unlike Gabriel's as could be. Nobody tries consciously to emulate the legend, especially if you're also playing exactly the same kind of music, even cover versions for god's sake! Oh yeah, and he plays the flute too. Can you say obvious?
Very very disappointed, and it only took me two listens to decide this album was not worth giving a further chance. These guys need to find their own voice. Maybe on later albums they did. But they've left me wanting to hear no more of their music, which is quite a surprise to me as I was expecting much better. Some of you will probably think I'm being overly harsh on The Watch here, and maybe I am, but the blatant mimicry here, presented as their own music, just makes my blood boil. You can love, admire, respect and try to emulate a band without copying them almost note for note.
Rating: Sorry, can only muster a
2.5 and that's only because the musicianship is good and the singer is competent, also they made we want to dig out my old copy of "From Genesis to Revelation", but the Genesis clone effect and their disingenuity in claiming songs as theirs which are plainly copied from Genesis ones loses them massive points.