NOT ABOUT US

Run out of time indeed

The third single extracted from the "Calling all stations" album, it was becoming increasingly apparent that this version of Genesis were finding it difficult to accept that perhaps the album did not in fact contain a hit.

"Not about us" finds the band reverting to full sloppy ballad mode, the sort Phil Collins had imposed upon them so unfortunately during that difficult period in his life. Indeed, this could well have been a Collins composition.

The interest in such a single stems only therefore from the other tracks on the CDs, which are otherwise unavailable. There are two versions of the CD release, one of which contains new studio recordings, the other live versions of Gabriel and Collins era songs, plus a live recording of "Not about us". The live tracks are of only passing interest, but they do place on record Ray Wilson's interpretations during his brief stay.

There are three otherwise available studio tracks, all are Banks/Rutherford compositions. "Anything now" is a rambling pop rock number, with a funky beat and trite lyrics. "Sign your life away" has a bit more appeal, but it's still solid "B" side material. The final track, "Run out of time" is a reflective ballad, with some atmospheric keyboards by Banks, and a distinguished vocal from Wilson. It's certainly the best of the four present.

The three B-side tracks here may be hard to find now, but with the possible exception of "Run out of time", they are entirely disposable.

The interesting thing is , Not about Us is not a bad song at all. Yes Genesis stripped themselves of virtually all fanbase with a new vocalist but musically, lyrically and vocally this is IMO the best single off Calling All Stations. To this day I am convinced CAS failed more than it should have as it was released on the day Princess Diana was killed. Some may scoff at this but many parts of the prog loving world , even USA came to a ' mourning' standstill during this time which did not assist in CD's shifting off the Tesco shelves! Enough said of that a great melancholic song. Ray Wilson delivers superb vocals and the back up of Banks and Rutherford endorse the musical integridity that much of this album received. Top single off CAS.

Anything now?

All three singles released from Calling All Stations (the sole Genesis album with Ray Wilson on vocals) featured non-album b-sides. But unlike the b-sides from the other two singles, the ones from the present single have since been made available elsewhere; namely, on the extra disc in the remasters box set holding the albums from the 80's and 90's. There are four tracks in total here; the a-side Not About Us taken from the album and three non-album b-sides in Anything Now, Sign Your Life Away and Run Out Of Time. While the album was quite good, the b-sides here are not particularly interesting and wholly Pop-oriented. Anything Now and Sign Your Life Away are more catchy and cheerful compared to the album material and Run Out Of Time is a slow ballad that reminds me slightly of U2 with Ray Wilson sounding a bit like Bono on it! Overall, these songs are far below the Calling All Stations material.

The actual a-side is a slightly edited version of the album track and though a decent song it is hardly the best song from Calling All Stations. The album version is preferable, anyway. Needless to add, this has nothing to do with Prog.

While not poor as such, this one is probably for completionists only

"Not About Us" is a good but sad ballad or love song, sung very well by Ray Wilson, with good guitars by Mike Rutherford and good keyboards arrangements by Tony Banks. The song was credited as being composed by Banks, Rutherford and Wilson. The single edit from this song which was included in this single is 35 seconds shorter than the album version, and it also sounds to me like this single edit has a different sound mixing in comparison to the album version. The band also made a promotional videoclip for this song, also "dark" and sad.

The "B-sides":

"Anything Now" is a good Pop Rock song with a good melody and good guitar riffs by Rutherford. This song really could have been very well included in the "...Calling All Stations..." album as I consider it as one of the best songs that this line-up of the band recorded. It really did not deserve to be relegated as the B-side of a single.

"Sign Your Life Away": a good and more heavy Pop Rock song which maybe also deserved to be included in the album instead than to be destined to be a B-side of a single.

"Run Out of Time": a song which starts with a keyboard solo which sounds like a sax solo from a Jazz song. It is a slow Pop Rock song which does not sound as being very related to the musical style of the band. But the keyboards arrangements are very good.

From all the three singles that this line-up of the band released, this is the best and most interesting, as all the songs which were included in it are good.

#43 Review

Ending my journey through the CAS singles, this is one of the rarest to get, after this i should update my original CAS review while also adding the non-bside song Nowhere Else To Turn.

1.- Not About Us (Radio Edit) 5/10 This is an ok song that deserved a single, i appreciated it even more after listening to the live accoustic version, but as i said in the original review, this is another ballad, more effective than Shipwrecked and that also doesn't realize its potential, when its about to change near the end, it doesn't, goes back and it just ends.

2.- Run Out of Time 6/10 That brass synth is really something... not pretty, but i really like the melody, reminds of [incert certain musical style wich name i forgot here], very interesting to blend that with rock, that's why progressive rock exists. The biggest down in this track is the production, certain sounds should've been changed and the drums are mostly doing nothing special, the only special things here are the melody and the chords. I think that with those changes this would've been perfect for the album and probably an 8/10, also, this song was dropped at the very last minute from this album.

3.- Sign Your Life Away 4/10 Nice introduction that slaps you in the face, then the rest of the song just goes, the only thing that does something for me here are the keyboards, the rest is too juvenile that it almost makes me cringe, i can see why it was a B-side, its nothing special pop (4/10) and at the same time it isn't (6/10). -1 for tiring.

4.- Anything Now 5/10 Right of the bat, while i think the melody sounds interesting, the drums and bass are static and i already feel like not hearing this. Even with that in mind, this song has many interesting changes through out, specially the "solo" part, it really did change the song for a good, after that the song kind of repits but with weird sounds that are just distracting and not important to the overall music. Also, the only song with a naked piano preset in the entire CAS sessions for some reason.

Overall this gets a 50/100 wich is 2 stars sadly, i think that Run Out of Time deserved an spot in the album, see you in my future update for my 2 year old CAS review, thank you and take care.