Sonic Reality

magog · Post by **magog** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 5:02 am

Squids, both of those tracks are very cool. When I was younger, I spent a lot of time trying to pick apart Genesis albums and recreate the sounds, but I didn't have the equipment. There's only so far you can go with a DX7.

I think I got as far as discovering I wanted a Mellotron...

I haven't looked into Sonic Synth much, but a "prog edition" would be hard to resist!

Michael

Squids · Post by **Squids** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:02 am

Sonik Synth would be the ideal instrument for Prog. Well, the links in this thread are hopefully a good example of that!

But, I know what you mean about the old DX7. I had that problem too when I was young. If only the store salesman could tell me "dude you need an Arp ProSoloist"

Actually I DID want a Prophet 5 and CP70 at the time but that was $10,000!!!!!

pauloos · Post by **pauloos** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 1:07 am

Any Brand X fans here aswell? (not on topic but anyway.....)

olepro · Post by **olepro** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 7:10 am

Any Brand X fans here aswell? (not on topic but anyway.....)

Yes phill Collins is one great drummer !

Squids · Post by **Squids** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 8:56 am

pauloos wrote:Any Brand X fans here aswell? (not on topic but anyway.....)

I have met some people connected with Brand X. I hung out a bit with John Goodsall in LA years ago when he had the band Fire Merchants. Actually, Toss Panos who played with me in Kevin Gilbert's band before Nick D'Virgilio also played with Fire Merchants (as did Chester Thompson... and somehow Kevin Bacon is involved

).

Then, another Brand X thing is one of the engineers I used for orchestral sampling sessions is Dennis Mackay. He engineered most (if not all) of the Brand X records. Actually, Dennis has an amazing discography of work he's done! Crazy when you read it. Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Elton John Yellow Brick Road (holy crap), Supertramp Paris, Stanley Clarke, Al Di Meola, Chick Corea/Return To Forever, Brand X (and a ton of jazz and fusion records). He is a funny guy too. Very sarcastic in the studio. I should dig up the outtakes of the sessions. There are funny exchanges while I am conducting the string players and trying to keep them interested in playing scales and then Dennis would get on the talk back and say stuff only I could hear to try to mess me up.

Oh, there's a great Dennis story. One time he was doing a session with Alan Holdsworth and Alan was overdubbing a part and had a tough time. Then Dennis who didn't know the talkback mic was on said "well, he's a bit uptight isn't he?" to one of the other people in the control room. Then he says to Alan "Okay, let's do another take!" and then Alan pauses for a bit and then says "I don't know, I am feeling a bit... UPTIGHT!" ("maybe I am just a little bit OBTUSE"... name the movie). That was pretty funny because I've seen it happen a lot that the people in the control room didn't know the talkback mic was on.

Anyway, Brand X had some cool stuff. It must have been fun playing that music with Phil. Everyone has so much respect for Phil's drumming talent. Even Jerry Marotta who we just recorded a drum library with (aha! secrets come out

) has a lot of admiration for Phil's drumming. That was cool to hear, not to mention that he is a fan of early Genesis... and this is even after he joined PG's band (because he said he didn't even know Genesis music when he joined Pete's band originally). Boy, I have some good Jerry stories. All of these guys tell me some of the coolest stories. Some I can't repeat. But, others I can and some of them have to be heard... as long as you can stomache the name dropping (I've got sunshine in my stomache... name the movie that never was but should have existed

).

Ahhhhhh. I am just rambling and a little drunk. Gnight!

duncanparsons · Post by **duncanparsons** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 9:23 am

BrandX.. fab band

Really was Phils best playing, bar none. Every cut was a classic, tho' I must confess that Unorthodox Behaviour and Product are my favourites; tho' Masques has some pretty excellent stuff on it.

John Goodsall is just inspiring, as is Percy Jones - just incredible playing, and real imagination for the tunes and arrangements. I had the Jack Lancaster Marscapes LP which was essentially the session that brought Brand X together - that's pretty superb as well.

Dennis Mackay also produced Gong's excellent 'Gazeuse' LP. If you listen to Unorthodox behviour and Gazeuse side by side, you can tell instantly... Gazeuse is one of my favourite fusion LPs, and thankfully got Gong away from that stupid flying teapot stuff of Mr Allen. Pierre Moerlen (RIP) was another great of that era (even the disco version of Tubular Bells on Exposed sounds better for his playing!). Actually Gazeuse is probably the session that the UPTIGHT story comes from.

Anyone listen to Isotope at all? (I realise it completely unrelated to the thread, but since I've gone a bit fusion I figured I might get away with it!). Funny, at one time Gary Boyle was voted guitarist of the year, ahead of Jeff Beck who was mid Wired/ Blow by Blow... as they say - where is he now? I guess you've probably gigged with Boyle a few times, eh, Dave

!

DSP

pauloos · Post by **pauloos** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 10:16 am

olepro wrote:
Any Brand X fans here aswell? (not on topic but anyway.....)
Yes phill Collins is one great drummer !

Ooooooooooohhhhhhh yeah! Incredibly instinctive!!!! and musical!! Once Leland Sklar (dear man!) told me that Phil has great 'pocket' (whatever that means) But I'm guessing it's a good thing!

btw. Squids: Jerry's not a bad drummer himself!

My favourite Brand X albums: Morrocan roll, Unorthodox behaviour, Product & Missing period

Thanks for the great stories guys!! really enjoy that sort of thing.......

For the ones interested: there's a mpg file of Phil and Brand X on this site http://torrent.genesis-movement.org/index.php (register first and look under Phil Collins video)

Squids · Post by **Squids** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 8:49 pm

Don't know Gary Boyle. I actually DON'T know everyone.

But, in about 10 years living in LA I am surprised thinking back about a lot of interesting situations I've been lucky to be in, especially relating to childhood music loving and then meeting the people who made some of my favorite music under a cool circumstance such as in the studio or on a live gig or tour. Actually, I meet even more people under the circumstances of doing what SR does these days at least when it comes to trade shows and/or when bands come in to town (our office is right down the street from the main venue for tours). But, it is different. I mean, I remember going over to Goodsall's house and listening to him go on and on about who knows what now. I remember feeling bad that he was kind of struggling a bit at the time though. I bought some gear off of him (probably even how I met him).

Three people I haven't met before are Phil, Mike and Tony. As a kid I always wanted to, especially Tony because I am a keyboard player who decided I wanted to be surrounded by an orchestra of keyboards in a square partially because of him. Well, there is some hope. We sent Philharmonik, Sonik Synth 2 and some other IK & SR software over to the Farm last week. I actually missed a call the other day from Nick I think. It'd be weird to get a call from Tony or Mike. "Hello, Dave, this is Tony Banks. LOVE Sonik Synth 2. Can I ask you something?"

Funny thing is, my Dad used to tease me as a kid and call pretending to be Tony Banks (with a REALLY bad English accent). "Very funny Dad, what's up?"

But, it would be cool to get a real phone call from him FWIW.

I'll tell you what is cooler than that. Nick D'Virgilio actually getting to play with them. Hanging out a bit and then performing (although would have been even more fun if he was the touring drummer as well so he could play a variety). That's something that would never happen for a keyboard player since without Tony there is no Genesis and there's also no two keyboardists like Pink Floyd and even Yes have done. But it would be cool even just to talk to them or hang a bit. Well, perhaps it would be. I guess it all depends on if you can get past a superficial barrier. With Peter Gabriel I never did. He was too reserved. But, there are so many other musicians that perhaps I didn't listen to quite as much when I grew up that I've had a real great hang with. I guess it all depends. Curious though! (Curious feeling?)

Btw, I had that Marscape LP!

I had some rare records that got stolen. There was one that was totally awesome and weird. It was something "Scott" and it was done in 1971 and had Gabriel singing on it as well as Wakeman playing on it I think and a few others. Anyway, the WEIRD thing was that it said on the back "I'd rather have...London Gray then Paris... PINK!" and pink was written weird and the PICTURE on the back of the album was the same powerstation (or whatever that is) that is on Pink Floyd's Animals. Premonition?

Creepy and cool.

janka · Post by **janka** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 9:27 pm

I just watched the concert from Shepperton Studios, Oct 3rd 1973. I must have seen Gabriel´s costumes a thousand times without realizing exactly when and where he uses them. Supper´s Ready made me freak out totally. Wow....

waran · Post by **waran** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:01 pm

janka wrote:I just watched the concert from Shepperton Studios, Oct 3rd 1973. I must have seen Gabriel´s costumes a thousand times without realizing exactly when and where he uses them. Supper´s Ready made me freak out totally. Wow....

... and I just returned from a concert with The Musical Box where they performed the complete "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway".
Best thing I've ever seen (apart from the original) - they're absolutely amazing

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:13 pm

Brand X bore me silly - I saw them in concert once. Sanitised, anal retentive jazz-rock with all the jazz sucked out of it. imho off course.

I quite liked Gary Boyles Isotope though - have their first album on Vinyl but prefer the Mahavishnus and Lifetime if I had to choose something "jazz-rock".

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:15 pm

Anyway, now that I think of it, what happened to those Genesis presets Squids?

Squids · Post by **Squids** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:37 pm

You can play along with Jerry Marotta and Nick D'Virgilio doing Gabriel and Genesis rhythms.

I played some keys real quick to Jerry's rhythms on the Studio ProFile Special Edition (available on a group buy right now). Go to this page: http://www.esoundz.com/details/viewDeta ... uctID=1341 and click on "Jerry Marotta" in the Mp3 player on the left. What do you think? Anyone recognize one of the beats?

stephenpaulharper · Post by **stephenpaulharper** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 2:46 am

Hmmm. "Intruder"? "In the air tonight"? kinda similar. BTW, saw Jerry with Tim Finn, Levin and Rhodes here in ATL like 10 or so years ago. Amazing - he is indeed quite the drummer. Also, Percy Jones plays here like 3 times a year (must be some connection) and is just phenomenal. If you're in the SE, you should keep your eyes and ears open.

Stephen

Squids · Post by **Squids** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 3:17 pm

Intruder.

Didn't know about that Tim Finn gig. Sounds interesting. Tony Levin Band has Jerry Marotta and Larry Fast. Nice to see these guys working together even if PG doesn't have them all together anymore (was his best line up).

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