MAMA

Maybe it was in September or in October of 1983 that one cousin commented to me that Genesis had a new song played on the radio. A few days later I listened to that song, "Mama", on the radio. I was very surprised (and I am still surprised!) that a song like that, full of "dark" and "sinister" lyrical and musical themes could be released as a single. I really did not like the song, and I still don`t like it. It still sounds to me like music for an horror movie with all those musical atmospheres created by the keyboards, the guitars and even the drum machine and the real drums. And the vocals of Phil Collins are really a very good reflection of the content of the song. The extended version has an extended final section in comparison to the album version. A one star rating for this song.

The "B" side has the extended version of "It`s Gonna Get Better", a much better song than "Mama", for my taste, and it really is another sad song in that mostly "dark" self-titled album from 1983. The difference with "Mama" is that this song, despite having lyrics about loneliness, still reflects some hope. The extended version has an additional last verse which was not included in the album version of this song. This extended version was played during the tour for that album in 1983-84, which also added a very good lead guitar part played by Daryl Stuermer at the end of the song. Maybe the live versions are better than this extended studio version, but this studio version is good. A three stars rating for this extended version of this song.

An indication of the lack of inspiration that GENESIS as a band had for their self-titled album was the lack of extra songs not included in the album and to be released as "B" sides of singles. Even the "Calling All Stations" album (which in my opinion is another candidate for their "worst album ever") had some extra songs which were released as "B" sides of singles.

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