Genesis 'Invisible Touch (live)'

Chart Peak: 7
YouTube

'Invisible Touch' originally made No. 15 in 1986... This "live" version was a No. 7 hit in November '92 and haved the way for two successful "live" albums for Messrs. Banks, Collins and Rutherford.

Two consecutive live tracks here, which must be unusual in the Now series, although the effect is lessened somewhat on vinyl and cassette editions where they're on opposite sides. Though little-remembered now, this single is notable as the last Top 20 hit by Genesis, and their last Top 30 with Phil Collins - they did oddly go back to their previous album for the pointless Number 40 hit 'Tell Me Why' in 1993, and they scored a final hit with Ray Wilson on vocals in 1997 - as well as because it outcharted the original studio track in the UK. That probably tells you something about the state of pop in 1992, a year of historically low sales and a time (like now) of hefty pre-release promotion which favoured established acts with loyal fans willing to rush out in release week for the limited-edition numbered 7" and CD single. This version peaked higher but lasted only half as long on the chart.

A slightly shorter version of a performance from Hanover in Germany, this rendition is notable for being transposed to a lower key than the original to fit Collins' changing vocal range. He also replaces the lyric "mess up your life" with "fuck up your life", which is of course bleeped on my copy of Now 24, though I've heard rumours of some copies leaking out uncut; he compromised with "screw up your life" on TotP. As I mentioned when I wrote about the studio version a few years ago, 'Invisible Touch' is not a song I'm especially fond of, but at least this version seems to have a bit more energy than the original. Still a bit of a curio really, but an interesting enough way for Genesis to make their last (collective) appearance in the series.

Also appearing on: Now 1, 7, 8, 9, 21, 23
Available on: Live - The Way We Walk Volume One: 'The Shorts'

Genesis 'In Too Deep'

Chart Peak: 19
YouTube

Charted at No. 33 on 26th August, moved steadily to reach No. 19 by 30th September. 'In Too Deep' is featured in the film Mona Lisa.

I've never actually seen Mona Lisa, as I don't think it's especially child-friendly viewing and indeed I was barely aware of it until it got mentioned in tributes to the late Bob Hoskins. I do still vaguely remember the song, which was also released as the second single from the Invisible Touch album, though if you'd asked me even a few years ago I'd have struggled to remember whether it was actually a Genesis track or a solo Phil Collins recording. The song certainly sounds like it was written entirely by Collins and just became part of a Genesis album because that's what he was working on at the time he was offered the soundtrack job.

I was quite surprised a while back when I was listening to this and found myself enjoying it. Although I'm unashamed that I like some Collins-era Genesis like 'Mama', 'Land Of Confusion' etc, this is a rather syrupy song that sounds worse the more I listen to it. I guess there's just something in the melody that appeals to me even behind the dated production, the weak lyrics and some less than brilliant singing.

Although this is the end of Side One on the LP and cassette it somehow gets to be the last track of all on the Now 8 CD.

Also appearing on: Now 1, 7, 9, 21, 23, 24
Available on: The Platinum Collection

Mike + The Mechanics 'Over My Shoulder'

Chart Peak: 12
YouTube

Mike + the Mechanics are a hugely successful sometime group based around the musical talents of Genesis' Mike Rutherford and singers Paul Carrack (ex-Ace, Squeeze etc.) and Paul Young (ex Sad Cafe)... Over My Shoulder was a No.12 hit in March '95.

"Hugely" successful might be overstating the case a little, but it's true that they have lasted a long time for a side-project. Indeed they're still touring today, though with a different line-up as Young died and Carrack returned to solo activity. They only ever had one Top 10 single (with 'The Living Years', not a song I'm fond of) and this proved to be their next biggest hit. It's a song that gives me a strong sense of time and place, both from seeing the video in early 1995 (it was a big VH-1 favourite back then, as I recall) and from hearing it when I went on a work experience trip to France that summer. Fortunately, the memories are pretty positive and I actually rather like the song too.

Whilst it would probably be stretching a point to call Paul Carrack an overlooked musician, it does seem that he's a less well-known name than he probably should be given his talents as a singer; he has a great smoothness with just enough grit to stay the right side of bland, at least when he gets the right material. Though not commercially successful a songwriter as you might expect the man who penned a pop standard like 'How Long' to be, he certainly has skills in that department: he co-wrote 'Over My Shoulder' with Rutherford and in its modest way it ranks with the best of them both. It's very nearly a classic and then it seems to lose it right at the end, as if Carrack gets bored and leaves the backing singers to finish of as the song drifts into a slightly half-baked fade. As his only real appearance on a Now album though (the other Mechanics track has Young on lead vocal) it'll definitely do.

Bonus factoid: apparently Tom Fletcher, later to appear on several albums as a member of McFly, is an extra in the video.

Also appearing on: Now 33
Available on: The Singles: 1985 - 2014 + Rarities

Genesis 'Land Of Confusion'

Chart Peak: 14

YouTube

Charted at No. 28 on 18th November 1986, sold steadily for a number of weeks before peaking at No. 14 in January 1987. It was the group's third British Top 20 hit in a row since June last year.

The third and highest-charting of the five singles from the Invisible Touch LP, although it probably did gain somewhat from continued sales in the post-Christmas lull. It's still interesting to note that all five of the singles went Top 5 in the US, but 14 was the best any could do back home; I suspect this shows the importance of airplay to the Billboard listing.

One of the more angular tracks from this era of Genesis (and indeed Phil Collins) work, 'Land Of Confusion' aims at some sort of political comment, although it's never made entirely clear whether the setting is in the real world or some sort of dystopia. Apparently, "men of steel, men of power are losing control by the hour" and that's presumed to be a bad thing, so the real danger might be anarchy - and yet later in the song the protagonist promises "my generation's gonna put it right", which sounds a little like a kind of anarchy or vigilantism itself (and is slightly hard to take seriously from the mouth of Phil Collins anyway). Musically it seems slightly torn between the jaggedness of the irregular rhythms and the radio-friendly production which stops the dark stormy atmosphere they're aiming at from entirely coming through; that also means that the nostalgic middle-eight section doesn't contrast as much as it should. I suspect this may also have suffered from the fact that the track would mostly have been constructed from overdubs so they'd have been using click-tracks or programmed beats.

So the track doesn't totally live up to its intentions, but it does have something going for it at least in that it's much less bland than most of what Phil Collins was up to in the mid-80s (faint praise I know) and in the field of apocalyptic songs by bands featuring Mike Rutherford it beats 'Silent Running' by Mike + The Mechanics in my opinion. The immense if slightly naive-sounding chorus is another highlight, and at least we have the comparison of Alcazar's 'This Is The World We Live In' (which samples it) to show how much blander it could have been. The 12" single and its accompanying remix were worth my 99p anyway. Of course the song is also remembered for its video with the Spitting Image puppets of the band (as used on the cover's pastiche of Beatles For Sale) and Chris Barrie reprising the Ronald Reagan impersonation he also did on the 12" of 'Two Tribes'. Oddly, it doesn't appear on the VHS format of Now 9, though it is of course available on DVD these days.

Also appearing on: Now 1, 7, 8, 21, 23, 24
Available on: Invisible Touch

Mike and the Mechanics 'All I Need Is A Miracle 96'

Chart Peak: 27 [original version: 54 in 1986]

YouTube

Originally a chart record back in 1986, 'All I Need Is A Miracle made the Top 30 in remix form in early 1996... Ten years after they first got together, Mike And The Mechanics are surely the most popular part-time band in the world.

A pedant writes: just as 'Out Of The Sinking' was a remix and not just a re-issue, 'All I Need Is A Miracle' is an entirely re-recorded version of the original, and not just a remix. I'm not sure why this was felt necessary, as the finished track still sounds rather 1980s, but it did provide some sort of bait for potential buyers of the imaginatively-titled Hits compilation, for which this was the lead single. The original version had not been a major hit in the UK but went Top 5 in the US, I also recall hearing it (and 'Invisible Touch') when we were on holiday in Canada in 1986.

Many members of well-known bands have taken the opportunity of side-projects to record more experimental material, but Genesis are unusual in having seemed to do the opposite. Admittedly, I've never heard anything by Tony Banks or his unappealingly-named band Bankstatement, but whilst Phil Collins possibly had more edge in his early solo work than he's given credit for (not saying much) Mike Rutherford's second-longest-lasting project were headed straight for the coffee table. There's nothing wrong with making pop-oriented music, of course, and in posts elsewhere on this blog I've often been unfashionably positive about the moves Genesis made towards a more commercial sound. The trouble with the Mechanics was that by and large the material wasn't up to the job and whilst they mostly avoided the turgid showing-off that tends to ruin supergroups, a lot of their recordings sound neither spontaneous nor perfectly poppy but a bit stale. 'All I Need Is A Miracle' is according to Rutherford one of their more optimistic songs (I suppose because it at least acknowledges the possibility of a miracle), and it has a decent vocal from the late Paul Young, not to be confused with the Paul Young featured on other Now albums who's still with us, but it deserved to be no more of a hit than it was.

Also appearing on: Now 30
Available on: Mike + The Mechanics Hits

Genesis 'Invisible Touch'

Chart Peak: 15

YouTube

Their 8th Top 20 single, 'Invisible Touch' made No. 15 in June 1986.

Not the most fascinating sleeve note ever, but again notable for what it doesn't mention: though far from their biggest UK hit, this was their only Number One in the US, spending one week at the top in July 1986 before it was deposed by, of all things, 'Sledgehammer'. It kicked off a run of five US Top Five singles from the album of the same name, none of which made the Top Ten here, surprisingly. A pedant will note that this song finally went Top 10 in a live version in 1992, but that's another story which we'll tell if I ever do Now 24.

The song also went Top 5 in Canada, which I mention because it's the one song I associate most closely with our summer holiday over there that year. I'm not entirely sure why that is, as I must have heard the song back hom as well and it can't have been the only one I heard over there, but such is a child's memory. I also recall trying to work out what an "invisible toucher" was - only years later did I realise Phil Collins was actually singing "invisible touch-yeah". I think I did make the connection with his hit 'Easy Lover' of the previous year which covers similar lyrical ground; with hindsight I have to wonder whether Collins had a particular person in mind or whether he was just a lazy writer, didn't realise both songs were going to be singles or whatever.

Anyway, this is one track that tests even my preference for pop-oriented Genesis. The lyrics are OK, but the music and production are just too far into the direction of 80s American radio even for my taste. There's an especially cringeworthy moment from about 1:43 where Tony Banks - who'd been a professional keyboard player for a good twenty years by this point - suddenly turns into a twelve-year old who's been allowed to touch a synthesiser for the first time. Invisible Touch is the only Genesis album I've ever tried to listen to in full, but I started at track 2.

Also appearing on: Now 1, 8, 9, 21, 23, 24
Available on: Turn It On Again - The Hits

Genesis : "Jesus He Knows Me"

Chart Peak: 20

YouTube

This one I knew and rather liked when I was 14, as Collins and colleagues take aim at the (with hindsight rather soft) target of phoney televangelists. Now I'm no longer a teenager, it impresses me less as a piece of satire, especially with the heavy-handed middle-eight, but as I've hinted before I find pop Genesis more appealing than the prog end of their repertoire and I have to give Phil Collins credit for having the sense of humour to wear a comedy wig in the video. In fact the pastiches of low-budget God channels might be the best thing about this.

Also appearing on: Now 1, 7, 8, 9, 21, 24
Available on: We Can't Dance

Genesis 'That's All'

Chart Peak: 16

YouTube

You see, if it was me compiling this album I'd have saved this one up for the last track. Because it's called 'That's All' - geddit? Either way, this is sort of an interesting choice, since Genesis had their biggest single of the year (of their entire career, in fact) with 'Mama', but that was obviously considered a little bit too odd for this album. This is a far more conventional song, with Phil Collins singing over a piano riff about a relationship that seems to be going around in circles. Indeed, the tune seems to go around in circles too, making this one of their more effective songs.

Maybe it's just because I don't find Collins very likeable, but the rather crabby tone of this song is quite an advantage, that and the fact that it's not especially long. It's not quite as good as I thought I remembered it being, because there's a certain fussiness about it, both in the song itself, which seems to have one middle-eight too many, and in the performance, which does sound rather too much like the product of several weeks' repeated effort (apparently they were playing along to a drum machine, which probably accounts for the rather sterile air). And they finally snatch defeat with the hammy video where they try to dress up as tramps.

At the time, knowing little or nothing of their history, I couldn't understand why Phil Collins seemed to make Phil Collins records and Genesis records, which didn't sound all that different. Presumably he ultimately came to the same conclusion, which would explain why he left the band. But I have to admit that I greatly prefer this to his other appearance on Now 1.

Also appearing on: Now 7, 8, 9, 21, 23, 24
Available on: Platinum Collection