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...And Then There Were Three...

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Allmusic[1]
Robert Christgau(D+)[2]
Rolling Stone(negative)[3]
Q[4]

...And Then There Were Three... is the ninth studio album by the British band Genesis and was released in 1978. It is the band's first album as a trio.

Background and recording

The title ...And Then There Were Three... is a reference to the recent departure of Steve Hackett, reducing Genesis to a trio (which would result in their longest unchanged line-up, which lasted until 1996). The song "Scenes From a Night's Dream" is based on the adventures of comic strip character Little Nemo, and is the first Genesis song whose lyrics were written entirely by Phil Collins. "Say It's Alright Joe" is a torch song about a drunk who goes into a drunken stupor.

The album reached No.3 in the UK Albums Chart, and remained in the charts for 32 weeks having been bolstered by the Top 5 success of "Follow You Follow Me", which also became Genesis' first hit US single. ...And Then There Were Three... reached No.14 on the US chart, becoming their first Gold (eventually Platinum) album there (see RIAA certification).

While many of the songs were still progressive in terms of instrumentation and lyrics, the arrangements went from the more classical, movement-style composition of previous albums to the more standard verse/chorus/bridge format of popular songwriting. This was the final Genesis album to use a Mellotron.

A digitally remastered version was released on CD in 1994 on Virgin in Europe and Atlantic in the US and Canada. The booklet on the remaster features the lyrics although, the gatefold picture is missing. A SACD / DVD double disc set (including new 5.1 and Stereo mixes) was released on 2 April 2007. It was released as a CD / DVD double disc set in the US and Canada.

Album cover

The LP sleeve cover was designed by Hipgnosis, the design studio founded by Storm Thorgerson (best known for his work with Pink Floyd). In an interview, Thorgerson called the design a "failure", and described the concept being conveyed:

We were trying to tell a story by the traces left by the light trails. It was a torch, a car, and a man with a cigarette. The band was losing members and there were only three of them left. The lyrics of the songs were about comings and goings and we tried to describe this in photographic terms by using time-lapse. So there's a car going off to one side and then the guy gets out of the car, walks over to the front of it, and lights a cigarette. But as he walks he uses a torch and the car he was in leaves. There's a trail left by the car, a trail left by him as he's walking and then he lights a cigarette, which on the cover is where there's a flash of his face.[5]

Track listing

Side one

  1. "Down and Out" (Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford)  – 5:26
  2. "Undertow" (Banks)  – 4:46
  3. "Ballad of Big" (Banks, Collins, Rutherford)  – 4:50
  4. "Snowbound" (Rutherford)  – 4:31
  5. "Burning Rope" (Banks)  – 7:10

Side two

  1. "Deep in the Motherlode" (Rutherford)  – 5:15
  2. "Many Too Many" (Banks)  – 3:31
  3. "Scenes from a Night's Dream" (Banks, Collins)  – 3:30
  4. "Say It's Alright Joe" (Rutherford)  – 4:21
  5. "The Lady Lies" (Banks)  – 6:08
  6. "Follow You Follow Me" (Banks, Collins, Rutherford)  – 4:02

B sides

  1. "The Day the Light Went Out" (Banks)  – 3:13
  2. "Vancouver" (Rutherford, Collins)  – 3:03

Both B-sides are from the single "Many Too Many".

Working titles for the album

Before ...and Then There Were Three... was released, many of the songs had working titles. Below is a list of the original song working titles and finalised song titles (in parentheses):

  • The Man With The Big Cigar ("Down And Out")
  • Ballad Of Big Jim ("Ballad Of Big")
  • Go West Young Man ("Deep in the Motherlode")

Remastered recording

  1. "Down and Out" 5:26
  2. "Undertow" 4:46
  3. "Ballad of Big" 4:50
  4. "Snowbound" 4:31
  5. "Burning Rope" 7:09
  6. "Deep in the Motherlode" 5:15
  7. "Many Too Many" 3:31
  8. "Scenes From a Night's Dream" 3:29
  9. "Say It's Alright Joe" 4:21
  10. "The Lady Lies" 6:07
  11. "Follow You Follow Me" 3:59

Production

  • Produced By Genesis & David Hentschel
  • Engineered & Mixed By David Hentschel & Steve Short

2007 SACD/CD/DVD release

A new version of ...And Then There Were Three... was released in the UK and Japan on 2 April 2007. It was released in the US and Canada as part of the Genesis 1976-1982 box set on 15 May 2007. This includes the entire album in remixed stereo, the entire album in surround sound, and related video tracks. The only exception is the track "Say It's Alright Joe", which was not remixed because the band was unable to locate the multitrack recordings.[6]

  • Disc 1, in the European and Japanese releases, is a hybrid SACD/CD. The stereo layer includes the remixed tracks, and the SACD layer is a multichannel surround sound remix.[7]
  • Disc 1, in the Canadian and U.S. releases, is a standard CD, containing the stereo remixes. No SACD layer is included.[8]
  • Disc 2, in all releases, is a DVD-Video disk containing both audio and video tracks. This DVD includes three audio mixes of the album: DTS 5.1-channel surround sound, Dolby Digital 5.1-channel surround sound, and Dolby Digital stereo.[9] The DTS surround sound is a slightly compressed version of the surround sound on the SACD,[8] and the Dolby surround sound is of slightly inferior quality to the DTS.[10]
  • Disk 2 also includes the following video tracks:
  1. Band interview about this album (2006).
  2. Promotional videos: "Many Too Many" and "Follow You Follow Me".
  3. "Three Dates With Genesis" (1978 BBC documentary).
  4. Japanese tour program, from 1978 tour (15 page gallery).
  5. Knebworth program, from 1978 festival (4 page gallery).
  6. German festival program, from 1978 festival (10 page gallery).

Personnel

Tour

Genesis toured in support of ...And Then There Were Three.. between March and November 1978. This tour marked the debut of Daryl Stuermer as their touring lead guitarist, who would also find himself playing bass guitar on the newer material (depicted with an asterisk* below).

Setlist

  1. Eleventh Earl of Mar
  2. In the Cage
  3. Burning Rope*
  4. Dancing With the Moonlit Knight/The Musical Box (closing section) (Performed for one show only, Chicago's Uptown Theatre on 13 October 1978. This show was taped and broadcast locally to promote the band, and has been released in bootleg in many different forms.)
  5. Ripples
  6. Ballad of Big* (only played on the European leg and the Northeast US leg of the tour)
  7. The Fountain of Salmacis (played sporadically in Europe, a live version performed at Knebworth 1978, often mistaken as the version that appears on the CD re-release of the live album Three Sides Live)
  8. Deep In the Motherlode*
  9. One For the Vine
  10. Squonk
  11. Say It's Alright Joe (was not performed at Knebworth in 1978)
  12. Down and Out* (performed early on in the tour before being dropped because of Phil's voice)
  13. The Lady Lies
  14. The Cinema Show
  15. ...In That Quiet Earth'
  16. Afterglow
  17. Follow You Follow Me*
  18. Dance On a Volcano
  19. Drum Duet
  20. Los Endos

Encore:

  1. I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) (Original Genesis vocalist, Peter Gabriel, made a surprise guest appearance with the band at New York's Madison Square Garden on 29 July 1978. He shared the vocal duty with Phil Collins on this one song only. An Audience recording of this is well documented on several well known bootleg releases.)
  2. Apocalypse in 9/8 + As Sure As Eggs is Eggs (Aching Man's Feet) (Only one known performance of this second encore is documented in a bootleg captured on 14 June 1978 at Westfallenhalle, Dortmund, Germany. These two tracks are the closing section of a greater 23 minute piece called, "Supper's Ready.")
  3. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (was played once on the European leg)

Personnel

  • Phil Collins – Lead Vocals, Drums, Percussion
  • Tony Banks – Keyboards, Vocals, 12-String Guitar
  • Mike Rutherford – Electric six and Twelve String Guitars, Bass guitar, bass pedals, vocals

with

Footnotes

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen T . (2011 [last update]). "And Then There Were Three – Genesis | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 25 July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  2. ^ Christgau, R. (10). "Robert Christgau: Album: Genesis: . . . And Then There Were Three . . ". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 25 July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year=, |date=, and |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  3. ^ Bloom, Michael (10 August 1978). "Genesis: And Then There Were Three : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". web.archive.org. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
  4. ^ Andy Fyfe Q, May 2007, Issue 250.
  5. ^ Cerio, Steven (1998), "Storm Thorgerson", Seconds Magazine (46): 46
  6. ^ Explained at http://www.genesis-news.com/genesis/reviews/sacds/1976-1982.htm
  7. ^ Formats described at http://www.genesis-news.com/genesis/reviews/sacds/1976-1982.htm
  8. ^ a b Explained in interview with producer and remixer Nick Davis, at http://www.genesis-news.com/genesis/reviews/sacds/interview-with-nick-davis.htm
  9. ^ The DVD interface has two audio choices: Dolby 5.1 and DTS 5.1. If the Dolby 5.1 option is chosen on a system that does not support surround sound, the Dolby stereo mix is played.
  10. ^ Comparison from Sound and Vision magazine article online at http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/musicreviews/2285/genesis-in-surround.html
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