Good records revisited

I suddenly seem to be pulling out older albums and reminding myself why I liked them so much, while quietly chastising myself for not listening to them more often. It started a couple of weeks ago when I, somewhat randomly, grabbed Abacab from Genesis for a trip out to the suburbs. I had forgotten how powerful some of that music is, with the band at a crossroads between the complex arrangements of the Peter Gabriel era and what could be generously called the pop ambitions of the later albums. Here, they got the balance right. Then, it was Wired, from Jeff Beck. When I did my brief summer program at Berklee, one ensemble I was in would jam on "Led Boots," and good God, that's a great song. That, and "Dodo/Lurker" from Abacab have now entered my consciousness as the touchstones for some future band I'm going to put together, along with King Crimson's "Red." They all have a ferocity that's both emotional and intellectual, which appeals to me for obvious reasons.

I also actually dug up my vinyl copy of Marillion's Clutching at Straws, and was reminded of how good Fish's lyrics could be. When I first saw the band, they seemed a bit overdramatic, but over time, I've come to enjoy both the literative and alliterative elements at play. I still need to pick up the CD version of this one, as I plan to be paying a little more attention to this band as I work on my own writing efforts. News on that later.