Random Music: "Supper's Ready" by Genesis

Genesis had three incarnations: The Peter Gabriel Era (a.k.a The Prog Years), The Phil Collins Era (a.k.a. We Are Everywhere), and The Ray Wilson Experiment. If you don't remember the final studio album with Ray Wilson, don't feel bad. Most people don't. It's not that it was a bad album because it wasn't. It was actually a fairly passable album. Trust me, I've heard, and owned, much worse.

But this post isn't supposed to be a history lesson on the Genesis library. No, we want to focus on one song. What I've chosen today is by far the longest song ever recorded by the band, clocking in at 22 minutes 58 seconds on the album version. We're listening to the live version, taken from their album Seconds Out, in which Phil Collins is at the vocal helm. I prefer this version more because the band is tighter and Collins' vocals are just a bit stronger and more sure than Gabriel's.

Supper's Ready is an epic song about the Apocalypse written in seven parts.

1. Lover's Leap
2. The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man
3. Ikhnaton And Itsacon And Their Band Of Merry Men
4. How Dare I Be So Beautiful?
5. Willow Farm
6. Apocalypse In 9/8 (Co-starring The Delicious Talents Of Gabble Ratchet)
7. As Sure As Eggs Is Eggs (Aching Men's Feet)

Each part is a chapter of the whole suite. What does it all mean? Hell if I know. This site has as good an explanation as any, I guess. They also provide the lyrics, after their interpretation, so you can read and decide on your own.

My only objective in this post, and every other Random Music post, is to expose you to something you may have never listened to before. Perhaps you'll enjoy it and discover other such music. Perhaps you won't enjoy it and wait for me to post something other than music and pirate jokes. (And I will.)

But this song deserves a chance. It's bold. It's complex. It's bloody good fun. And it might just open your eyes to other ways of looking at music. So pack a lunch, get all good and comfortable, and give this tune a go.