{"id":1063,"date":"2022-06-22T05:39:55","date_gmt":"2022-06-22T05:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2026.ikon2023.eu\/index.php\/genesis-on-supper-s-ready\/"},"modified":"2022-06-22T05:39:55","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T05:39:55","slug":"genesis-on-supper-s-ready","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/2026.ikon2023.eu\/index.php\/genesis-on-supper-s-ready\/","title":{"rendered":"Genesis on Supper’s Ready"},"content":{"rendered":"

“This is where we started to become significant”<\/strong><\/span>
By Chris Roberts ( Prog )<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

published March 22, 2017<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Genesis’ Supper’s Ready has been voted your number one prog anthem of all time. Here, the band look back on the track<\/p>\n

Supper\u2019s Ready has been voted your favourite prog anthem of all time. To see the rest of the list, click here.<\/p>\n

\u2018The frog was a prince, the prince was a brick, the brick was an egg \u2013 and the egg was a bird. Hadn\u2019t you heard?<\/p>\n

Well, 45 years on from the creation of Supper\u2019s Ready, you probably have heard this invaluable information. You\u2019ve heard the 23 minutes and seven sections of the definitive Genesis track \u2013 indeed the definitive prog track, as voted for by you, our readers \u2013 and been transported by its breathtaking ambition. Its carefully cohesive meanderings lash together symphonic rock, heartbreaking melodies, surrealist lyrics and sky-high drama to build \u2018new Jerusalem\u2019.<\/p>\n

Those involved were trying to conjure up previously-unheard music, while taking detours to rifle through the book of Revelation and pay visits to Lover\u2019s Leap and Willow Farm. Oh, and to soundtrack an apocalypse\u2026in 9\u20448 time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to go further,\u201d says Tony Banks. \u201cWe\u2019d all been wanting to push away from the regular structures.\u201d With a very English, very Genesis reserve, he adds, \u201cIt turned out better than we\u2019d thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foxtrot, the fourth Genesis studio album and the second with the classic line-up of Peter Gabriel, Mike Rutherford, Phil Collins, Steve Hackett and Tony Banks, was where that ensemble fully coalesced and realised how far they could go.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was about creating a film for the ear rather than the eye,\u201d says Hackett. \u201cWe felt that we were underway,\u201d says Banks, \u201cthat we were heading somewhere different. Foxtrot was where we started, in my opinion, to become significant.\u201d As the song goes: \u2018We\u2019ve got everything; we\u2019re growing everything.\u2019<\/p>\n

While the album sounds like a meticulously confident execution of a master plan, it actually came to be in a loose, relatively rushed manner. The band\u2019s touring schedule was exhausting, and Hackett recalls that whereas with the band\u2019s previous record, Nursery Cryme, they\u2019d taken the summer to bond as a group, writing and recording together, for this one they were darting in and out of the studio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember flying back from Italy to be there a day or two ahead of the others, who were travelling by road, just to finish off my guitar parts over the end of Supper\u2019s Ready,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Various locations were used for rehearsals but the bulk of Supper\u2019s Ready was crafted \u2013 prior to the absent Gabriel adding the words later \u2013 in, of all places, the Una Billings School Of Dance in Shepherds Bush.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were below this dance studio, in a former refectory, with a counter and a gobstopper machine. There were girls upstairs learning their tap dance and what have you. The sound of those rhythms would come down through the ceiling,\u201d Hackett says. \u201cIt was all a bit strange, and the atmosphere influenced our subsequent efforts. You couldn\u2019t be too serious for long, because you\u2019d hear them with this: clumpety clump clump. We\u2019d break into smiles.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Foxtrot is more than just a series of apperitifs leading up to the main course \u2013 there\u2019s social comment and sci-fi along the way \u2013 it\u2019s indisputably the old Side Two which steals the show. Hackett\u2019s instrumental Horizons is, in his words, \u201can hors d\u2019oeuvre, an introduction\u201d, and then it begins. The ascent of Everest. Even the sometimes lukewarm Gabriel remains a loyal fan of the work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does feel like we captured some emotion there, particularly at the climax,\u201d he says. \u201cFor my part, it was influenced by John Bunyan\u2019s The Pilgrim\u2019s Progress, as, later, was The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. It was that idea of a journey. Also we were then trying, consciously, to break out of tradition. We were tossing together different ideas and influences to see if there was a fresh way of putting them all together. I still enjoy it now; I\u2019m still attracted to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed he counter-intuitively considered performing it live a few years ago, but admits, laughing, that it proved incredibly tough for his band to learn. \u201cWe didn\u2019t get far. There was some resistance \u2013 it\u2019s not easy!\u201d<\/p>\n

This uneasy listening embraces, within its scale and scope, short sweet pastoral songs, longer more savage cuts, trembling dreamscapes and jolting blasts of reality. Gabriel sings \u2013 though it\u2019s more than singing, it\u2019s also a delivery, an acting performance \u2013 of good versus evil, love, religion, Winston Churchill dressed in drag, firemen, farmers and \u2013 somehow \u2013 the link between walking across the room to turn the television off and the Antichrist. And then of course there\u2019s a flower. (A flower?)<\/p>\n

Genesis\u2019 only side-long song cycle isn\u2019t afraid to lull you into a cosy sense of security then jump out from behind the curtain. \u201cSupper\u2019s Ready,\u201d Mike Rutherford has mused, \u201cwas a great moment\u2026 of luck. Because, sometimes, you don\u2019t quite know what you are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what were they doing? \u201cWe were not one of those boring bands that went diddly-diddly-diddly on the guitar,\u201d Phil Collins says, suggesting \u2013 as the members of Genesis often do \u2013 that if they were prog they were not at the noodling, indulgent end of the spectrum.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did not do that!\u201d Rutherford says similarly. \u201cSome of the progressive bands were more about musicianship, but even though we did long numbers, they were very much song-driven. That\u2019s the key to longevity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banks also \u201cnever liked being lumped in with anybody. We felt a slightly different ethos. King Crimson, Yes and ELP were selling technical proficiency a little more than us. Technique got displayed in the early 70s, but it was never our motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hackett suggests astutely that one of their USPs was what he calls \u201clead chords\u201d. \u201cGenesis constructed melodies from chords. We\u2019d have that \u201cswirly-cloudy\u201d feel. That impressionistic feel characterises much of Foxtrot, where you\u2019re not entirely certain what you\u2019re listening to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banks recalls that they\u2019d debate the very \u201crules\u201d of music. \u201cWe\u2019d say: why have you got to go verse-chorus-verse-chorus, etc?\u201d They decided that was \u201cfine for some, but it\u2019s nice if you can go somewhere else. And you can tell more of a story that way, without the repetition\u201d.<\/p>\n

The band initially thought they were writing \u201ca kind of follow-up to The Musical Box, from Nursery Cryme\u201d. That was coming along well but, according to Banks, there was also \u201cthis \u2018pretty-pretty\u2019 song called Willow Farm, all on its own, and we thought: what if we suddenly went from there into this \u2018ugly\u2019, descending-chords sequence? Nobody would be expecting that. That then brought in all the louder, electric instruments, and once we got into that\u2026 well, we were there now, so let\u2019s carry on! With freedom. See where that leads us. When we put the whole thing together and heard it back for the first time, we went: \u2018Oh, this is actually pretty good.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s one man more prone to English restraint than Banks, it\u2019s Rutherford. \u201cThat end section happened effortlessly, as good music often does. The act of doing Supper\u2019s Ready seemed quite easy. If things take too long, it\u2019s a bad sign. When Pete put that \u2018666\u2019 vocal over that passage, that felt a bit special. The voice going over that strong instrumental wasn\u2019t how you\u2019d imagined it at all. The game got raised.\u201d<\/p>\n

Needless to say, quietly competitive school friends Gabriel and Banks took time to accept that they were on the same page in this brewing book of revelations. Banks had most of the Apocalypse In 9\u20448 section down as keyboard solos.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then Peter started singing over them, because his lyrics required more information to get out. Initially, I have to say, I was pissed off,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201c\u2018You\u2019re singing on my bit!\u2019 Then I realised it now had all the excitement we\u2019d been hoping to create. Especially the \u2018666\u2019 bit. There\u2019s a lot of drama in the chords themselves, but then what he did on top just took it to another level.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then he makes a very specific call, with which many long-term Genesis fans would agree: \u201cThat half-minute or so is probably our peak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gabriel\u2019s lyrics are a splendour of the fantastical and the intimate. He\u2019s described them as being both a \u201cpersonal journey walking through scenes in the book of Revelation\u201d and inspired by nightmares his wife had. (A line in the Bible reference mentions \u201cthe supper of the mighty one\u201d.) Gabriel was a fan of King Crimson lyricist Peter Sinfield, and perceived in his work an intriguing blend of British eccentricity and raging psychedelic visions. At the time of Foxtrot\u2019s release, the singer agreed that there was an element of escapism, but denied it was anything to do with drug culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think drug-induced states are valuable,\u201d he said, while allowing that he was no stranger to mental anguish. \u201cOne of the great troubles with the mind is that it\u2019s always lost between two extremes,\u201d he said back then. \u201cThat\u2019s partly what Willow Farm is about. Wherever you are and whatever you do, there\u2019s always a left and right, an up and down, a good and bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sombre as that sounds, and as gloriously melodramatic and occasionally macabre as much of Supper\u2019s Ready is, there is lots of leavening humour to keep the journey both palatable and unpredictable. The scene where Narcissus is turned into a flower (OK, you can do the response here if you like) takes its title How Dare I Be So Beautiful? from a catchphrase of the band\u2019s erstwhile, not then yet discredited mentor, Jonathan King. In Willow Farm, there are flavours of Monty Python and The Flowerpot Men, and Gabriel\u2019s onstage, in-character storytelling tendencies run riot throughout. You can of course take the young man\u2019s purple verbiage as seriously or as lightly as you wish, but as effective as those \u201clead chords\u201d are, his vocals are our indispensable guide, our narrator, our beacon to the far shore. \u2018We will rock you, rock you, little snake\/ We will keep you snug and warm.\u2019<\/p>\n

All these years on, Supper\u2019s Ready has survived the slings and arrows of fashion and stands as the matchless, majestic monolith of prog. Every progressive band worth their salt since, from Marillion to Big Big Train and many more inbetween, have used it as a touchstone. Hackett recalls that Genesis did in fact think of it as \u201cfuturistic\u201d in \u201972.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t remember whose idea it was, but we came to the conclusion that you could join any two bits of music together, no matter how disparate the styles, provided the bridge or atmospheric link was strong enough,\u201d he says, laying out one of the definitions of prog. \u201cIt creates for the listener an adventure, an odyssey. You\u2019ve got the stuff of concertos and symphonies, which nod to the past, but it was also futuristic at that point. Bands just weren\u2019t creating pieces of music like that. I think it was then the longest piece that any rock band had ever played live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phil Collins retains his enthusiasm for the song. \u201cSupper\u2019s Ready was great!\u201d he says. \u201cThe music and imagery worked so strongly together. And then on stage the visuals boosted it too.\u201d (So fond of it was Collins that you can hear him subtly quote the lyrics \u2013 \u2018There\u2019s an angel standing in the sun\u2019 \u2013 on the fade-out of Los Endos, the closing track on A Trick Of The Tail, his debut album as the band\u2019s vocalist after Gabriel\u2019s departure. He also sang Supper\u2019s Ready beautifully on live album Seconds Out.)<\/p>\n

Audiences at first were equal parts bewildered and exhilarated by Supper\u2019s Ready. \u201cWe\u2019d gone out on a limb,\u201d remembers Hackett. \u201cIt was labyrinthine. It was like when The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band and then they worried whether they\u2019d gone too far and might get the thumbs-down. Except we didn\u2019t have their number of fans!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the early 1970s we were lucky. The Beatles had started to go a bit further, then pulled themselves back. But they\u2019d opened a door,\u201d says Banks. \u201cWe \u2013 and Pink Floyd, King Crimson, and others \u2013 all thought: \u2018We can do what we like now!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

They knew what they liked. Evidently you do too, voting Supper\u2019s Ready as the consummate, nonpareil banquet of prog.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes,\u201d ponders Steve Hackett, \u201cyou get a great crystallisation. You may not fully recognise it at the time \u2013 as musicians you may still be searching. But the audience, the true owners, will see it as a Mona Lisa. They\u2019ll say: \u2018Look no further, we\u2019ve found it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Go Back<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“This is where we started to become significant”By Chris Roberts ( Prog ) published March 22, 2017 Genesis’ Supper’s Ready has been voted your number one prog anthem of all time. Here, the band look back on the track Supper\u2019s Ready has been voted your favourite prog anthem of all time. To see the rest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":191,"parent":0,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1063","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/2026.ikon2023.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/2026.ikon2023.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/2026.ikon2023.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2026.ikon2023.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2026.ikon2023.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/2026.ikon2023.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2026.ikon2023.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/2026.ikon2023.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}