The Fox Lies Down: A Tribute to Genesis

by

Various Artists

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I like tribute albums better when the bands take a few chances, do some things differently. My least favorite song on here is probably "Visions of Angels," which pretty much replicates the original. I think the lesson to be learned here is not to try and copy a great band like Genesis, or you'll end up sounding pretty bad. "Your Own Special Way" is absolutely lugubrious. John Wetton, what are you doing?? You used to be in King Crimson and Asia, and now you're doing "" tribute albums! (Mr. Wetton also shows up on Steve Hackett's Genesis tribute and the ELP tribute album). Those two, for me, are the two low points. However, there's a lot to like here as well. Brand X do justice to "Can-utility and the Coastliners," always one of my favorite early Genesis songs. The version of Carpet Crawlers" is pretty cool, some catchy rhythem guitar over a drum machine beat...something different anyway. "In the Beginning" from Genesis' first album is very, very different from the original. It's made into a kind of techno-art rock song with strange vocals. Decent stuff...again, different yet kind of cool.

The best stuff is on the second half of the disc. "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight" is given a modern prog sound. The band incorporates the awesome "DwtMK" coda, which eventually turns into a spacey jam, and then ends by playing one of Tony's organ riffs from "Supper's Ready." Good stuff. There's a metal version of "Giant Hogweed" which is okay. There's a pretty good version of "Cinema Show" by the neo prog band 'Flower Kings,' but it fades out, as one reviewer noted, right before it seems like the band are about to really jam. My favorite two tracks are the last two. Controlled Bleeding do a great version of "Broadway Melody," making the musical section much longer than on the orginal off the Lamb Lies Down. Then, the band do justice to the vocal section, and eventually the song ends oddly enough with the acoustic riff from "Eleventh Earl of Mar," which is rather haunting and makes a great effect. Then, another great neo-prog band called Architectural Metaphor (who also made an appearance on the King Crimson tribute with a great version of Cirkus) does an awesome "Waiting Room." My favorite part of the song is the ending, when the band goes into an absolutely maniacal version of "Aisle of Plenty." Never listen to it with the lights off would be my advice.

All in all, this tribute is light years better than the other tribute that I know of called "Supper's Ready: Songs of Genesis." If you're debating which tribute to buy, definitely let this be the one.

As for tribute albums go,this one is so-so.Some of the decent tracks include Daevid Allen&Solid Sound Space's take on "Visions Of Angels",the dream-like Flower Kings covering "Cinema Show" and Darxtar's remake of "Dancing With The Moonlit Knight".There are,however two truly outstanding cuts,Mother Gong's version of "In The Beginning" and Architectural Metaphor delivering their powerful brilliance to the progressive gem "The Waiting Room".Check out some of the other tribute CD's that've been released by the Cleopatra label,like the King Crimson and Neu! ones.