Albums of a Couple of Days

My hectic schedule (as well as a sick day yesterday) is conspiring to stifle my blogging. So here's a quick bit of Album of the Day info from today and last Friday.

Peter Gabriel (aka Melt), by Peter Gabriel (1980): For a long time I'd relegated Gabriel's studio albums to secondary status to the live stuff, as I felt they were overly produced and sterile. I still think that about Security, but this third eponymously named album actually works as an overly produced and somewhat sterile album. Maybe it's just because there are two tracks ("Games Without Frontiers" and "Lead a Normal Life") that I don't have in any live version that I really love. Or maybe it's something else - who knows?

Foxtrot, by Genesis (1972): Generally when I think of this period of Genesis, I'm partial to Selling England by the Pound (which I also listened to today), but Foxtrot really kicked my ass this afternoon. All of a sudden, the tunes that seemed liked dead spots to me ("Time Table" and parts of "Supper's Ready" - I prefer the live version) came alive. Combined with the dynamic opening of "Watcher of the Skies" and my personal favorite underrated Genesis tune, "Can-Utility and the Coastliners," and it's a really great 45+ minutes.