SPOT THE PIGEON

I first heard this EP when I was in the car with my dad about 3 years ago. This was during my Genesis obsession phase, and I was a borderline fanboy for all of the Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett-era Genesis music. These were the days when I would listen to The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway on a once-a-day basis, the flute solo in Firth of Fifth lulled me to sleep, and Supper's Ready consumed every 23 spare minutes I had. I learned how to play The Knife on keyboards, and I would try all day to figure out that damn Apocalypse in 9/8 solo! All in all, Genesis has produced some of the best music I have ever heard and holds a special place in my heart.

So when I heard the EP in the car I only heard the closing track, which left a natural good impression. When I got home I listened to the EP in whole, and I was generally impressed. The first two songs, while I wasn't blown away, I thought they were generally very good. My tastes have changed a little bit since then, and I don't appreciate the first two songs as I used to. Songs like Firth of Fifth and Supper's Ready still continue to impress me, but much of this EP tires after multiple listens. Not to say that it's "bad", but I would stop at calling it above average.

THE MUSIC:

"Match of the Day"- The first song opens up with an upbeat and poppy guitar and keyboard riff. It evolves into a very poppy bassline with some nice acoustic guitar chords in background. This sounds like something that could have come off of And Then There Were Three. This song is not as high of quality of something from that album, even though this is catchy.

"Pigeons"- This song just isn't worth your time. The vocal performance from Phil Collins is irritating, and the melodies and chord progressions are mediocre at best. This is definitely a "catchy" song though, and I will give them that. However, this isn't the type of "catchy" song where I enjoy its presence in my head, and am comforted by its solid melodies and composition. This is the type of song that I want to manually remove from my head with a pair of pliers. Needless to say, this song is pretty boring and uninteresting.

"Inside and Out"- This is honestly the only song that makes this EP worth taking a look into. It sounds like something directly off of Wind and Wuthering. It starts with a pleasant acoustic guitar melodies and solid vocal lines from Phil Collins. A drum rhythm enters, and the same melodies continue. It evolves into a beautiful chorus with great mellotron sounds from Tony Banks. An instrumental section that reminds me of the Genesis glory-days soon enters. A proggy rhythm section with a solid keyboard solo opens the instrumental section. It is extremely well played, and Steve Hackett delivers a great guitar solo soon after. I wish more of the EP would be like this song. I would have easily rated it four stars if the other songs were of this quality.

Conclusion:

Spot The Pigeon is a passable EP from Genesis. This is the last Genesis piece of material with Steve Hackett present, and he didn't exactly leave on a high note with this EP. When rating this album, I am torn between giving this 2 or 3 stars. On one hand you have 2 songs that are passable at best, and on the other you have an excellent piece of prog rock. Since this really is only a collector's item, I'm going to be a little unfair and give this a 2. It is good, but you can easily get by without this EP. I still recommend this to any hardcore early Genesis fan such as myself.

2 stars.

Share this GENESIS review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to J-Man
• Report this review (#263055)
• Buy GENESIS music online with PA partners
• Show all GENESIS MP3/Stream
• Go to GENESIS page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Spot the Pigeon page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for GENESIS related discussions