PLANET EARTH?

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Well, I know The Watch (and Night Watch) but Inever bother to write a review, not even for the so called ´classic´ Vaccum (which, by the way, I bought after reading the glowing reviews when I joined PA). It´s not that I don´t like them or similar minded outfits.The main problem with all the bands that try to emulate (or simply cloning) Gabriel era Genesis is the fact that they are all good to reproduce that group´s timbres, arrangements, voices and even manneirisms, but rarely their real soul that is their stunning songwriting skill. Worse, they tend to concentrade their interpretation on the more dense, obscure and complex side of Genesis (like most parts of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway) instead of their great melodic and creative approach of their best known numbers (Citizen Cane is a good exemple of how unfathomable and plain complex they can get by this route).

The Watch does not exactly fall in that trap. Their use of acoustic guitars, Banks sounding keyboards and Hackett-like electric guitar solos are very well done and reminds me of Genesis best in many ways. Unfortunatly they did not come up with a convincing bunch of songs to match their good intentions. Planet Earth? However shows an obvious improvemnt over their previous effords. Not only the production here is much superior to all they´ve had before but the first two tracks are probably the best I ever heard written by this italian outfit. It was almost like facing what would be if Peter Gabriel stayed on around the time of A Trick Of The Tail. The remaining songs are not so good and listenging to them soon made my initial enthusiasm fade. Each one a little weaker than the previous. Not bad, really, but a little let down after the electrifying start.

Obviously all the musicians involved are very skillful and all. Simone Rossetti sounds A LOT like Peter Gabriel. And I guess they are on the way to write better and more convincing tunes in near future. At least this is what I hope. They had developed and deserve consideration. So a 3 star rating seems just about right. Good, sometimes very good, but (still) non-essential.

With every new THE WATCH release it becomes more difficult to write something new; I mean for us both, for me as a reviewer and for them as a band ;) Simone and the guys have been floating in Gabriel's GENESIS waters almost for 15 years (beginning from THE NIGHT WATCH's debut), and it's simply unbelievable how they manage to create something new within such narrow borders of their self-proclaimed style. Some modern arrangements, some unexpected hints, some fresh vocal overtones thrown here and there, but to be fairly honest "Planet Earth?" is the first THE WATCH album that I didn't put on repeat after the first listen; I've returned to it few weeks later, and now I feel like it's really good and solid work. 3.5 stars rounded to 4!

I think this is the best thing they've done since "Vacuum". Now it's not as good as that particular album, but I do think it's worth 4 stars unlike their other two studio albums "Ghost" and "Primitive" both of which I gave 3 stars to respectively. The thing with "Vacuum" was the mellotron and the emotion that came with it.This new album doesn't have quite as much mellotron or emotion but enough to get me excited about this band again. And they use real mellotron unlike many modern bands.

"Welcome To Your Life" settles quickly with vocals then starts to pick up again after 1 1/2 minutes. I like the chorus.Mellotron before 5 1//2 minutes to end it. Nice. "Something Wrong" opens with acoustic guitar and reserved vocals. Electric guitar and a fuller sound before 2 minutes as these contrasts continue. Love when that electric guitar comes in. Flute after 4 minutes. This is a beautiful track. "Earth" has a powerful intro before vocals and an uptempo melody take over. Lots of keyboards and the tempo shifts often. Electric guitar after 4 minutes followed by mellotron.

"All The Lights In Town" opens with piano as pulsating organ, bass, drums and vocals take over. Guitar before 2 minutes then it calms right down. Not for long though. The mellotron, keys and vocals sound amazing 6 1/2 minutes in. "The World Inside" sounds so good with the vocals, keys and drums. It does get fuller as contrasts continue. Gorgeous track. "New Normal" is pastoral with flute. Reserved vocals join in. Mellotron too. "Tourist Trap" kicks in quickly with vocals. Nice bass too. It settles again as mellotron rolls in. The tempo continues to change. Lots of mellotron 5 1/2 minutes in.

My faith in this band has been rewarded. Sure this is GENESIS-101 but it's so good.

Is it a curse or blessing that one sounds like Peter Gabriel ? I don't mind it, I quite like this style, so this isn't a problem. I listened it album few weeks ago and after this listen, I was disappointed. So I concentrated on other work and left this album be while I returned recently to hear if I was wrong. Yeah, I was, I like it now.

For those who was disappointed that golden era of Genesis lasted just few albums (even regarded as masterpiece by Prog community), there is solution. There are bands that are considered by some as Gen-clone bands, that play (and sing) in "vein" of G. et cetera.

Why not I say, if it's influence, then it is OK. What is also important is to give "heart" to album making process, especially when it's Symphonic / Neo genre. I feel it here, it's present and it works. It's funny because when I was listening acoustic guitar solo in Something Wrong, I realized that I hear one part of "Supper's Ready", only polished, enhanced, upgraded. So I tried to find out if anyone feels the same way in previous reviews. Torodd's review shows that it's easy to guess which Gen album it may be. I wished it's Foxtrot and yeah, we are two. At least.

Earth on the other hand really reminds "Dance on a Volcano. We can continue like that for a long period of time, but it's not really that important.

As long as you don't mind it, you'll be OK. Because songs, tracks here, music in general is very good. With this strange feeling that you have heard it before. And you know even why.

4(-) should be balanced enough.

It's very difficult to say anything about The Watch that hasn't already been said in reviews of this album or previous ones for that matter. Understandably most people are going to immediately seize upon their uncanny resemblance to Genesis. This can't be denied and whether it's a good or bad thing is down to your own individual feelings about bands blatantly ripping off others to the point of being totally derivative. My own feelings on this is that we don't have Genesis anymore, never have in a prog sense for almost thirty years now and if we can't have them then this damn fine band will fill the spot nicely.

Whether The Watch sounded like Genesis or not there would be no getting away from the fact that vocalist Simone Rossetti is totally in the Peter Gabriel School of singers. Partly for this reason parallels are often drawn with the Gabriel Genesis era and quite rightly too. The instrumentation is very much of the early Genesis era too with Tony Banks styled piano, Mellotron and Hammond and guitars picked and strummed ala Steve Hackett and Mike Rutherford. Even the rhythm section borrows though in a more simplified form. Musically though I would stretch the influences as far as early Collins fronted Genesis with parts here and there, particularly on Something Wrong having a Trick Of The Tail vibe. Entangled and Ripples anyone?

How The Watch get away with all this is simple. They write great songs and have produced an album with subtle melodies that admittedly take a few plays to get under the skin, but when they do you're hooked. They produce a lovely sound, low on the bombastic front steering a largely mellower course, but that's fine with me. It's a very consistent album, not a weak moment in sight, the seven compositions full of interest with plenty of subtle changes and pleasing authentic seventies sounding instrumental moments.

Whether you like this album or not is going to depend on how much you like Genesis. If you don't then it's not for you but if you're a fan and don't mind something derivative then Planet Earth? Is well worth a listen.

I'm usually quite favourably disposed towards The Watch, because whilst they are an unabashed Genesis clone band they are at least able to present a skillful blend of the modern and the nostalgic, with their music resembling the classic Genesis sound with a sprinkling of more current touches. On Planet Earth, however, The Watch seem to have brushed those sprinkes aside in favour of more direct and (to my ears) unoriginal Genesis worship. It's all a pleasant enough listen, of course, but this time around the band seem to be low on inspiration - and that's never something I like to hear happening to a band I like, because who knows when they'll get it back?