Thursday 21 February 2013

Smallcreep's Day (Mike Rutherford, 1980)

This 24'38'' suite by Genesis bassist (with a little help from Ant Phillips) is worth some preliminary notes. Its seven movements are often presented as stand-alone songs as they certainly might be, but this is a suite for many reasons. Basically, each song depends on the previous and announces the next both in music and lyrics. That's not all: the story of Smallcreep, taken from an English novel, brings a special and cohesive mood to this work, inspiring a sense of wonder and surprise and melting down technology and sensibility to forge a pleasant but not commonplace listening.

Smallcreep discovering his factory on the album cover.

Beautiful melodies, instrumental passages and guitar solos enrich the suite, reminiscent of course of Genesis sound, but with a hint of the '80s new wave musical taste. This mixture will inspire many neo-prog bands. I'll never forget the infinite sweetness of "At The End of The Day". What about you?  

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