The Buzz On: Lori Lieberman

The Band: Lori Lieberman

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Genre: Pop, Folk

About Lori Lieberman:

Best known for the inspiration behind the hit song, “Killing Me Softly”, Lori Lieberman has just released her newest CD, “Gun Metal Sky” which marks her thirteenth recording.

You see it in the distance
It was always in your mind
And it beckons like a beacon
Through the bitter taste of night
And you want to travel to it
But the madness keeps you blind
He says he needs you…

Lori Lieberman has remained in the spotlight since the early seventies, quietly gleaning the respect of an industry and a devoted base of fans. As the one responsible for such hits as “Killing Me Softly With His Song” she consistently recorded album after album for Capitol Records, RCA, EMI, Pope Music, and currently, Drive On Records.

Throughout the years of ever-changing styles and fads, one thing has remained constant in Lieberman’s music– her honest and heartfelt lyrics, coupled with her haunting, and beautiful melodies, always cutting right through to the heart of the listener.
Born in California, but raised in Switzerland, Lieberman felt the isolation and loneliness of growing up a foreigner early on, and as a young girl, turned to her writing as a form of connection, expressing her feelings in journals and in songs. One of three sisters, and the daughter of a chemical engineer and a homemaker, Lori Lieberman’s earliest influences came through her older sister, Susan, who, from her college in Maine, sent Lieberman her greatest and most life-changing gift of all, then current music from the states: Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Leonard Cohen, Jefferson Airplane and Tom Rush. Their music and sensibilities inspired her writing even more.

Landing her first record deal with Capitol Records, amongst the collection of songs was a simple folk song, detailing Lieberman’s experience of sitting in the back of a nightclub, transfixed by the musician onstage who seemed to sing right through her. The album, simply titled, “Lori Lieberman”, garnered both critical and audience appeal, and as it crept up the charts, it was Roberta Flack who heard Lieberman’s version featured on an American Airlines music channel, immediately contacted her producer, Joel Dorn, and recorded the now classic, Grammy award winning song,”Killing Me Softly”.

Lori Lieberman went on to record four more albums (”Becoming”, “A Piece Of Time”, “Straw Colored Girl”, and “The Best Of Lori Lieberman”), touring extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe. It was, however, a little known New York based record label, Millennium,where Lieberman was most encouraged to step away from the mainstream. Under Jimmy Ienner’s guidance, she wrote one of her most candid collections of songs, entitled, “Letting Go”.

As the styles of the music industry changed from James Taylor to disco, Lieberman retreated from the spotlight, becoming the mother of three children, and living a settled country existence in the hills of California. For many years, her music took a back seat to her busy day to day life, and it wasn’t to come forward again, until producer Joseph Cali coaxed a reluctant Lieberman out of the shadows, and got her singing again. In the time spent away from the music business, Cali was surprised to see that she had continued writing, consistently putting her thoughts and music hidden in her treasure trove. Together they released her first of three CDs on the Pope Music label.

“A Thousand Dreams”, marked Lieberman’s return to the music industry. A two mic live recording, engineered by Mark Levinson of Red Rose Music, captured her performance which was nominated for The Golden Note Award for the best original recording of the year. The featured performances by Amanda McBroom, Paulinho da Costa, Chuck Delmonico, The Gay Men’s Chorus Of Los Angeles, and Dean Parks, to name a few, further enhanced an intricate musical experience. Followed by two more CDs on the Pope Music Label, (”Home Of Whispers”, and “Gone Is The Girl”), Lieberman established herself amongst a devoted following in the Audiofile community, and re-united herself with her large fan base once again.

Lieberman returned to performing, playing to sold out crowds with “An Evening With Lori Lieberman”, at Pepperdine’s Smothers Theatre, playing to sold out crowds. She was the featured artist on WFMT’s Midnight Special with Rich Warren in Chicago, a staple of John Platt’s WFUV playlist, and a favorite of recording artist Christine Lavin, who rated Lieberman’s two CDs, “A Thousand Dreams” and “Home Of Whispers” among her top ten recommended favorites.

“Monterey”, her first release for Drive On Records,holds particular importance for Lieberman, the artist, whose compositions and arrangements embrace Lieberman’s signature subtle, beautiful vocals. With co-producer Joseph Cali, and featuring the talents of such superior musicians as Greg Liesz, John Leftwich, Stefanie Fife and Timothy Drury, “Monterey” is another exquisite work from one of our most enduring talents.

Lori Lieberman’s latest release, “Gun Metal Sky”, is the definitive Lori Lieberman recording. Four years in the making, this CD reflects Lieberman’s growth as a vocalist, writer, producer and arranger. With eight songs penned by Lieberman, it also includes four songs by some of our most beloved songwriters and interpreted by her unique sensitivity and style.

Comparisons: Tori Amos, Joni Mitchell

Influences: Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, Shawn Colvin, Sheryl Crow

Website: http://www.lorilieberman.com

MP3′S

Lori Lieberman - Killing Me Softly -Lori Lieberman - Killing Me Softly

Lori Lieberman - He Needs You (Speaks to the events around Chris Brown and Rihanna) -Lori Lieberman - He Needs You

Lori Lieberman - New York Mining Disaster -Lori Lieberman - New York Mining Disaster

Lori Lieberman - Gun Metal Sky -Lori Lieberman - Gun Metal Sky

Lori Lieberman - Bus Stop -Lori Lieberman - Bus Stop

Quotes:

“Lori Lieberman possesses one of the most attractive and unusual voices in music” New York Times

“In a world of burlap, Lieberman is pure silk” Rich Warren, Midnight Special, WFMT Radio, Sing Out Magazine

“Chilling. Pure sound wrapped around pure music” Hi Fi News

Lieberman’s songs are miniatures — portraits of love gained and lost. But if they’re drawn from her life, they don’t seem autobiographical. They’re less about what’s seen than what’s felt. They shine a little light on lives that never make the headlines. And about ideas that are very familiar and rarely celebrated… Jesse Kornbluth, of Headbutler.com

…a CD that sounds in part like a Joni Mitchell or Laura Nyro masterpiece…. Jesse Kornbluth, of Headbutler.com

According to the Gospel of the Internet, a CD like this just might get Lori Lieberman …discovered for the simplest of reasons: authenticity Jesse Kornbluth, of Headbutler.com

“Album Of The Month” - While her own works are achingly beautiful, the title track alone being a breathy Nyro-esque treasure worth the price of admission, it’s a brace of British covers that makes this set so dazzling. Hi Fi News

Videos:

Another Galaxy (Live) - Lori Lieberman

New York Mining Disaster (Live) - Lori Lieberman

Album - Lori Lieberman - Love Changes Thing

Method Man

Method Man was the first — and biggest — solo star to emerge from the groundbreaking Wu-Tang Clan. His mush-mouthed, sandpaper-rough bellow (at times recalling EPMD’s Erick Sermon) and imaginative rhymes easily made him one of the most recognizable, unpredictable MCs in the group, yet his flow was more deliberate and laid-back than the Wu’s resident loose cannon, Ol’ Dirty Bastard. On his solo records, Method Man developed a persona that swung from offhand, understated menace to raucous stoner humor. Toward the end of the ’90s, his frequent team-ups with Redman produced not only a terrific musical chemistry, but an eventual big-screen comedy team as well.

Method Man was born Clifford Smith on April 1, 1971, in Hempsted, Long Island; he split his childhood between his father’s Long Island residence and his mother’s Staten Island home. It was the latter locale where he met his future Wu-Tang cohorts RZA, Genius/GZA, and Ol’ Dirty Bastard; when they set about forming a hip-hop collective in the early ’90s, Method Man was one of the first to sign on. Meth was heavily featured on the group’s classic late-1993 debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), even getting his own showcase track with “Method Man,” which certainly put him out front in terms of name recognition. Thanks to the Wu’s innovative contract — which allowed individual members to sign solo deals with whatever label they chose — Method Man inked a contract with Def Jam, and in 1994, approximately one year after Enter the Wu-Tang’s release, he became the first Wu member to release a solo album, Tical. Highly anticipated, the album entered the charts at number four and quickly went platinum, while singles like “Bring the Pain” (which just missed the pop Top 40) and “Release Yo’ Delf” made him an even bigger name in the hip-hop community. He began making numerous guest appearances on other artists’ records, and in the summer of 1995, his one-off single with Mary J. Blige, “I’ll Be There for You/You’re All I Need to Get By,” soared into the pop Top Five, giving Meth his first major mainstream exposure. Shortly thereafter, another duet — this time with Def Jam labelmate Redman — on the compilation track “How High,” climbed into the pop Top 20.

Wu-Tang Clan reconvened in 1997 for the double album Wu-Tang Forever, and about a year later, another round of solo projects commenced. Method Man issued his sophomore effort, Tical 2000: Judgement Day (ironically), in late 1998 and took a more expansive approach this time out, filling the album with between-song skits and a variety of guest rappers and producers. Tical 2000 was another hit, entering the charts at number two. Meanwhile, in addition to recording the album, Meth had spent much of 1998 getting his acting career off the ground; after landing a few bit parts, he made his first prominent big-screen appearance in Hype Williams’ Belly. In 1999, Meth partnered up with Redman to form a duo act that hit the road with Jay-Z’s Hard Knock Life tour; they also entered the studio together to record the collaborative album Blackout!, which entered the charts at number three that fall and received highly complimentary reviews.

The Wu returned in late 2000 with the lower-profile The W. After completing the record, Meth refocused on his acting career; in early 2001, he put in a month’s worth of appearances portraying a young gangster on HBO’s gritty prison drama Oz and teamed up with Redman for the Cheech & Chong-styled stoner comedy How High, which hit theaters toward the end of the year, around the same time as the fourth Wu-Tang album, Iron Flag. After numerous delays, the MC released his third solo album, Tical 0: The Prequel, in 2004. He allegedly finished off 20 tracks with RZA as the producer, but Def Jam opted to release a version that featured only one of those cuts. In 2006, Meth issued 4:21… The Day After, which featured appearances from many Wu-Tang members, including a posthumous verse from ODB. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

Dr. Dre

More than any other rapper, Dr. Dre was responsible for moving away from the avant-noise and political stance of Public Enemy and Boogie Down Productions as well as the party vibes of old-school rap. Instead, Dre pioneered gangsta rap and his own variation of the sound, G-funk. BDP’s early albums were hardcore but cautionary tales of the criminal mind, but Dre’s records with N.W.A. celebrated the hedonistic, amoralistic side of gang life. Dre was never much of a rapper — his rhymes were simple and his delivery was slow and clumsy — but as a producer, he was extraordinary. With N.W.A. he melded the noise collages of the Bomb Squad with funky rhythms. On his own, he reworked George Clinton’s elastic funk into the self-styled G-funk, a slow-rolling variation that relied more on sound than content. When he left N.W.A. in 1992, he founded Death Row Records with Suge Knight, and the label quickly became the dominant force in mid-’90s hip-hop thanks to his debut, The Chronic. Soon, most rap records imitated its sound, and his productions for Snoop Doggy Dogg and Blackstreet were massive hits. For nearly four years, G-funk dominated hip-hop, and Dre had enough sense to abandon it and Death Row just before the whole empire collapsed in late 1996. Dre retaliated by forming a new company, Aftermath, and while it was initially slow getting started, his bold moves forward earned critical respect.

Dre (born Andre Young, February 18, 1965) became involved in hip-hop during the early ’80s, performing at house parties and clubs with the World Class Wreckin’ Cru around South Central Los Angeles and making a handful of recordings along the way. In 1986, he met Ice Cube, and the two rappers began writing songs for Ruthless Records, a label started by former drug pusher Eazy-E. Eazy tried to give one of the duo’s songs, “Boyz-n-the Hood,” to HBO, a group signed to Ruthless. When the group refused, Eazy formed N.W.A. — an acronym for Niggaz With Attitude — with Dre and Cube, releasing their first album in 1987. A year later, N.W.A. delivered Straight Outta Compton, a vicious hardcore record that became an underground hit with virtually no support from radio, the press, or MTV. N.W.A. became notorious for their hardcore lyrics, especially those of “Fuck tha Police,” which resulted in the FBI sending a warning letter to Ruthless and its parent company, Priority, suggesting that the group should watch their step.

Most of the group’s political threat left with Cube when he departed in late 1989 amid many financial disagreements. While Eazy appeared to be the undisputed leader following Cube’s departure — and he was certainly responsible for the group approaching near-parodic levels with their final pair of records — the music was in Dre’s hands. On both the 1990 EP 100 Miles and Runnin’ and the 1991 album Efil4zaggin (”Niggaz4life” spelled backward), he created dense, funky sonic landscapes that were as responsible for keeping N.W.A. at the top of the charts as Eazy’s comic-book lyrics. While the group was at the peak of their popularity in 1991, Dre began to make efforts to leave the crew, especially after he was charged with assaulting the host of a televised rap show in 1991. The following year, Dre left the group to form Death Row Records with Suge Knight. According to legend, Knight held N.W.A.’s manager at gunpoint and threatened to kill him if he refused to let Dre out of his contract.

Dre released his first solo single, “Deep Cover,” in the spring of 1992. Not only was the record the debut of his elastic G-funk sound, it also was the beginning of his collaboration with rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg. Dre discovered Snoop through his stepbrother Warren G, and he immediately began working with the rapper — Snoop was on Dre’s 1992 debut, The Chronic, as much as Dre himself. Thanks to the singles “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang,” “Dre Day,” and “Let Me Ride,” The Chronic was a multi-platinum, Top Ten smash, and the entire world of hip-hop changed with it. For the next four years, it was virtually impossible to hear mainstream hip-hop that wasn’t effected in some way by Dre and his patented G-funk. Not only did he produce Snoop’s 1993 debut, Doggystyle, but he orchestrated several soundtracks, including Above the Rim and Murder Was the Case (both 1994), which functioned as samplers for his new artists and production techniques, and he helmed hit records such as Blackstreet’s “No Diggity,” among others, including a hit reunion with Ice Cube, “Natural Born Killaz.” During this entire time, Dre released no new records, but he didn’t need to — all of Death Row was under his control, and most of his peers mimicked his techniques.

The Death Row dynasty held strong until the spring of 1996, when Dre grew frustrated with Knight’s strong-arm techniques. At the time, Death Row was devoting itself to 2Pac’s label debut, All Eyez on Me (which featured Dre on the breakthrough hit, “California Love”), and Snoop was busy recovering from his draining murder trial. Dre left the label in the summer of 1996 to form Aftermath, declaring gangsta rap dead. While he was subjected to endless taunts from his former Death Row colleagues, their sales slipped by 1997 and Knight was imprisoned on racketeering charges by the end of the year. Dre’s first album for Aftermath, the various-artists collection Dr. Dre Presents…The Aftermath received considerable media attention, but the record didn’t become a hit, despite the presence of his hit single, “Been There Done That.” Even though the album wasn’t a success, the implosion of Death Row in 1997 proved that Dre’s inclinations were correct at the time. Both 2001 and its companion instrumental version followed in 1999. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

DJ Funk

While Detroit artists like DJ Assault and DJ Godfather specialized in what is often referred to as ghetto tech, Chicago-based icon DJ Funk specialized in ghetto house. He first rose to prominence in the late ’90s with a series of EP releases for the prolific Dancemania label. At the same time, he circled the Midwest as a DJ, spinning primarily pitched-up, pornographic-themed dance music. He became known for his mixing as much as for his track selection — he would rarely let his tracks play out for longer than two or three minutes. A multitude of DJ Funk mix tapes spread across the Midwest, as well as a few independently released mix CDs. However, DJ Funk’s reputation was primarily confined to the Detroit/Chicago axis and the Midwest rave scene. Unlike the Detroit booty artists, DJ Funk didn’t really have a scene to call home and was somewhat of an anomaly. As a result, many saw him as a novelty artist. Nonetheless, he continued DJing and producing, starting the Funk Records label and moving on to higher profile, nationally distributed mix albums like Booty House Anthems (1999).

Kottonmouth Kings

Self-described “psychedelic hip-hop punk rock” outfit the Kottonmouth Kings emerged from Orange County, CA, in 1994. Comprising former Humble Gods frontman Brad Daddy X, rappers Saint Vicious and D-Loc, DJ Bobby B, and “visual assassin” Pakelika, the group first attracted attention with the track “Suburban Life,” which appeared on the soundtrack to the film Scream 2 and became a modern rock radio hit. After issuing an EP, Stoners Reeking Havoc, on their own Suburban Noize label in early 1998, the Kottonmouth Kings released the full-length Royal Highness on Capitol that summer. Hidden Stash followed a year later, and their third album, High Society, pushed them into the mainstream. Gigs with D12 and Bionic Jive followed in fall 2001, just prior to the release of Hidden Stash, Vol. 2 : Kream of the Krop. A fifth studio album, Rollin’ Stoned, which was produced by Brad X, appeared in October 2002. The self-explanatory Classic Hits Live hit the streets in 2003 while the band continued their expansion of the Suburban Noize empire, putting out DVDs and CDs by rappers and punk bands. Their 2004 release, Fire It Up, came out on the stoner’s holiday, 4/20. The Kings returned in 2005 with their seventh album, a self-titled effort that featured guest shots from like-minded pals like Cypress Hill and Tech Nine. Unfortunately, the combo was forced to postpone their summer tour when D-Loc sustained a foot injury. Koast II Koast became the band’s eighth studio full-length in June of 2006. The compilation Hidden Stash III appeared at the end of the year with a new album, Cloud Nine, arriving in 2007.

Rich Boy

Based in Mobile, AL, rapper Rich Boy (born Maurice Richards) didn’t enter the music industry until after he enrolled as a mechanical engineering major at Tuskegee University. Before then, he did music in his spare time, but eventually dropped out of school and released some independent material that caught fire locally. Producer Polow (Ludacris, Jamie Foxx, Fergie) was impressed enough to have the MC flown into his base in Atlanta, where the two worked on furthering the progress. Rich Boy landed a contract with Interscope and began working on his first album. In the meantime, he appeared on one of Ludacris’ Disturbing tha Peace compilations and dropped in on a handful of mixtapes — including DJ Ideal and Jermaine Dupri’s Da Bottom, Vol. 5. With DJ Drama, he released the Bring It to the Block mixtape in late 2006. His official, self-titled debut was released during March 2007.

The Offspring

The Offspring’s metal-inflected punk became a popular sensation in 1994, selling over four million albums on an independent record label. While the group’s credentials and approach follow the indie rock tradition of the ’80s, sonically the Offspring sound more like an edgy, hard-driving heavy metal band, with their precise, pulsing power chords and Dexter Holland’s flat vocals. Featuring Holland, guitarist Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman, bassist Greg Kriesel, and drummer Ron Welty, the Offspring released their self-titled debut album in 1989. Four years later, their second album, Ignition, became an underground hit, setting the stage for the across-the-board success of 1994’s Smash. The Nirvana sound-alike “Come Out and Play,” the first single from the album, became an MTV hit in the summer of 1994, which paved the way to radio success.

The Offspring were played on both alternative and album rock stations, confirming their broad-based appeal. “Self Esteem,” the second single, followed the same soft verse/loud chorus formula and stayed on the charts nearly twice as long as “Come Out and Play.” The group got offers from major labels, yet chose to stay with Epitaph. While they were able to play arenas in the U.S., their success didn’t translate in foreign countries. Nevertheless, the band’s popularity continued to grow in America, as “Gotta Get Away” became another radio/MTV hit in the beginning of 1995. The Offspring recorded a version of the Damned’s “Smash It Up” for the Batman Forever soundtrack in the summer of that year; it kept the group on the charts as the bandmembers worked on their third album.

Following a prolonged bidding war and much soul-searching, the Offspring decided to leave Epitaph Records in 1996 for Columbia Records. The move was particularly controversial within the punk community, and many artists on the Epitaph roster, including Pennywise and owner Brett Gurewitz, criticized the band. After much delay, the Offspring finally released their Columbia debut, Ixnay on the Hombre, in February of 1997. Expectations for the record were high and it did receive good reviews, but Ixnay on the Hombre failed to become a crossover hit on the level of Smash, and the group also lost a significant portion of its hardcore punk audience due to the album’s major-label status. Americana followed in 1998, scoring the hit “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy).” In mid-2000, the Offspring made controversial headlines with their decision to offer Conspiracy of One free of charge via the Internet prior to the initial November release date. Sony Music did not adhere to such a move and threatened a lawsuit; therefore, the band nixed plans to release the album in such a manner. Individual singles, however, were made available on the band’s official website and other music-related sites such as MTV Online.

The Offspring returned in 2003 with Splinter. The album was released through Columbia, proving the band’s flouting of the record biz hadn’t soured the major labels. It also featured the single “Hit That,” which returned to the smarmy, pop-referential feel of “Pretty Fly.” The Offspring toured the world in support of Splinter, and in the process they hit nearly every continent at least once. They returned in June 2005 with a greatest-hits set; in addition to their major hits, it included the new track “Can’t Repeat.” In 2008, after several delays, the band returned with its first studio release in four and a half years, releasing the highly anticipated Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace.

Supertramp

Once upon a time in 1969, a young Dutch millionaire by the name of Stanley August Miesegaes gave his acquaintance, vocalist and keyboardist Rick Davies, a “genuine opportunity” to form his own band; he could form the band of his dreams and Miesegaes would pay for it. After placing an ad in Melody Maker, Davies assembled Supertramp alongside co-founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, piano, guitar, cello), Richard Palmer (vocals, guitar, balalaika), and former stage actor Robert Millar (percussion, harmonica). Supertramp released two long-winded progressive rock albums before Miesegaes withdrew his support, and by early 1972, Davies and Hodgson were the only founding members remaining. The pair began an extensive search for replacements and soon pieced together the lineup that would be responsible for Supertramp’s definitive sound, comprising new members Doug Thomson (bass), Bob Siebenberg (percussion), and John Helliwell (woodwinds, saxophone, keyboards).

With no money or fan base to speak of, the expanded Supertramp was forced to redesign their sound. Coming up with a more pop-oriented form of progressive rock, the band had a hit with their third album, Crime of the Century. Throughout the decade, Supertramp had a number of best-selling albums, culminating in their 1979 masterpiece Breakfast in America. Breakfast in America marked their first album that tipped the scale completely in the favor of pop songs; on the strength of the hit singles “Goodbye Stranger,” “Logical Song,” and “Take the Long Way Home,” it sold over 18 million copies worldwide. After that album, Supertramp continued to develop a more R&B-flavored style; the change in direction was successful on 1982’s Famous Last Words, but the band soon ran out of hits. Hodgson left in 1983 to mount a solo career, and Supertramp continued to sporadically record and tour into the 21st century.

Genesis

One of the most successful rock acts of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Genesis enjoyed a longevity exceeded only by the likes of the Rolling Stones and the Kinks, and matched in progressive rock circles only by Yes (who, in fairness, have had their periods of inactivity). In the process, they provided a launching pad for the superstardom of members Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins, and viable star-level careers for members Tony Banks, Michael Rutherford, and Steve Hackett, each in his own right. The group had its roots in the Garden Wall, a band founded by 15-year-olds Peter Gabriel and Tony Banks in 1965 at Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey, where fellow students Michael Rutherford and Anthony Phillips were members of another group called Anon. The two groups initially merged out of expediency as the older members of each graduated; Gabriel, Banks, Rutherford, Phillips, and drummer Chris Stewart soon joined together as the New Anon, and recorded a six-song demo featuring songs primarily written by Rutherford and Phillips.

The Charterhouse connection worked in their favor when alumnus, recording artist, and producer Jonathan King heard the tape and arranged for the group to continue working in the studio, developing their sound. It was also King who renamed the band Genesis. In December of 1967 the group had its first formal recording sessions. Their debut single, “The Silent Sun” — a very deliberate Bee Gees-style pastiche — was released in February of 1968 without attracting much notice from the public. A second single, “A Winter’s Tale,” followed just about the time that Chris Stewart quit — his replacement, John Silver, joined just in time to participate in the group’s first LP sessions that summer. At this time, their music was a form of lyrical folk-based progressive pop, built on lush melodies primarily carried on acoustic guitar and piano, with lyrics that tended toward the florid and trippy, in keeping with the tastes of the time — psychedelia was in vogue, and Genesis (who signed their collective name to the writing credits of their early songs) showed an exceptional facility with poetic content as well as gorgeous melodies. To the uninitiated, those early sides sounded a lot like the work of the Bee Gees, the Beatles, or the Moody Blues of the same era — though with more of a freewheeling approach to tempos and arrangements than the latter. King later added orchestral accompaniment to the band’s tracks, in order to make them sound even more like the Moody Blues, and the resulting album, entitled From Genesis to Revelation, was released in March of 1969. That title, incidentally, was the only indication of the group’s name — as it turned out, there was an American group of the same name working at the time, and in order to skirt the issue of a name change, King merely incorporated their name into the LP title. In any event, it passed without too much notice from the music press and even less from the public — the general perception at the time was that their music was neither fish nor fowl, too pop-oriented in its melodies, spirit, and approach to fit in with the heavy psychedelia of the period; but also too complex to appeal to those listeners enamored of the Bee Gees and other pop/rock acts; and not nearly hard-rocking enough to appeal to the fans of the likes of Cream, Jimi Hendrix, et al.

With an album and three singles behind them and little to show for it except the music, Genesis seemed to be shaping up as a brief digression in the lives of the members — their contracts with King and with Decca Records ended in June of 1969, and as neither manager nor label, nor the members seemed interested in pursuing any more work with each other, everyone went their separate ways. Phillips and Gabriel were about to graduate from Charterhouse, and planning to attend college, while Rutherford was already at Farnborough Technical College and Banks was studying physics, no less, at Essex University. Despite these plans, the group members felt strongly enough about their work, that they decided to try it as a professional band; it was around this time that Silver exited, replaced by John Mayhew. They got their first paying gig in September of 1969, and spent the next several months working out new material. Genesis soon became one of the first groups signed to the fledgling Charisma label, founded by Tony Stratton-Smith, and they recorded their second album, Trespass, that spring. Released in October of 1970, this record showed the first signs of the band that Genesis would become — it was still more folk-based than most progressive rock of the period, and some of the songs couldn’t quite carry their length; and they had some way to go in terms of vocal and instrumental finesse. But it had reach if not grasp — most of the album was comprised of extended pieces, sung with dramatic, almost operatic intensity and highly involved arrangements and complex parts for all of the instruments. One number in particular, an extended conceptual piece called “The Knife,” stood out, and an excerpt from it was issued as a single. Neither that record nor the LP charted at the time, but Trespass was a necessary first step in laying the foundation of the group’s sound.

The album also marked the end of the first phase of the group’s history, as Genesis lost two members soon after its completion. The band wasn’t entirely happy with Mayhew’s playing and he left, to be replaced by Phil Collins, a former child actor turned drummer and an ex-member of Hickory and Flaming Youth. More unsettling was the departure of guitarist Anthony Phillips, who had developed crippling stage fright and was advised that the best solution was to give up performing in public. His decision to leave reportedly left Rutherford and Banks in doubt about the group’s future, and replacing him wasn’t easy — indeed, for some time afterward, Genesis worked as a four-piece with the guitar parts on their songs covered by Banks’ keyboards. Finally, just prior to the band’s beginning work on their next album, their lineup was completed with the addition of guitarist Steve Hackett, a former member of Quiet World. Their next album, Nursery Cryme, was started so close to his arrival that, as later revealed, Hackett hardly played on it at all — most of the guitar parts were written and played by Michael Rutherford. And, indeed, though no fans were aware of it at the time, the centerpiece of the new album, “The Musical Box,” had its origin during Phillips’ tenure with the group and used material that Phillips had composed, presumably salvaged by Rutherford.

Regardless of its origins, there was hardly a weak moment on the record, and the music was far more exciting than most of the progressive rock of the period. Moreover, it had a daring edge — the heart of the record was “The Musical Box,” a song telling a Victorian-era story of children, murder, and ghostly apparitions. And while it might not have become a pop culture phenomenon, the album and the song did find an audience among collegiate listeners, principally from the more cerebral members of the public who were lofting Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s and Yes’ albums high up the charts. Nursery Cryme didn’t chart at the time, though it did reach number 39 in England three years later, as a wave of newer fans belatedly discovered the album — it did sell well enough and get good enough reviews, however, to keep the band going in this new lineup. Additionally, as part of the new lineup, a new lead voice was added to their sound on one song, courtesy of Phil Collins.

The theatrical attributes of Gabriel’s singing fit in well with the group’s live performances during this period as he began to make ever more extensive use of masks, makeup, and props in concert, telling the framing stories in order to set up their increasingly complicated songs. When presented amid the group’s very strong playing, this aspect of Gabriel’s work turned Genesis’ performances into multimedia events, with “The Musical Box” one of the highlights. And word soon began to spread about Genesis being an act that was worth hearing and, even more so, worth seeing in concert.

Foxtrot, issued in the fall of 1972, was the flash point in Genesis’ history, and not just on commercial terms. The writing, especially on “Supper’s Ready” — another conceptual piece, this time taking up an entire side of the LP — was as sophisticated as anything in progressive rock, and the lyrics were complex, serious, and clever, a far cry from the usual overblown words attached to most prog rock. One important reason for their popularity was that as ambitious as the group’s music ever got, it was never boring, or even less-than-bracing. Genesis albums were best heard in their entirety but no one seemed to mind the time or attention they demanded, even on repeated listenings — the album also became their first to chart in England, reaching number 12.

Genesis’ live performances by now were practically legend, and in response to the demand, in August of 1973 Charisma released Genesis Live, an album assembled from shows in Leicester and Manchester originally taped for an American radio broadcast. Songs such as “The Knife,” “The Musical Box,” and “Watcher of the Skies” (a song initially conceived by Banks and derived from renowned science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke’s writing) were presented in their most recent and dramatic incarnations. The sole flaw in that album was that it was only a single LP, without room for the performance of “Supper’s Ready” that had been recorded at those same shows.

The group’s next release, Selling England by the Pound (1973), featured Gabriel’s strongest vocal performance and transcendent work by the rest of the band, especially Tony Banks’ keyboards, which took on a light yet fiercely lyrical profile. It was also their biggest seller to date, reaching number three in England and number 70 in America. They were still a cult band in the United States — the single “I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)” had scarcely registered in the United States — but thanks to a lot more FM radio play their music was getting heard beyond the ranks of the cultists, and finding new listeners, by the thousands if not the millions, especially on college campuses.

The release in late 1974 of the ambitious double LP The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway also marked the culmination of the group’s early history. A concept album with a very involved story and a large cast of characters, its composition had been difficult, involving a story outlined and written (along with most of the lyrics) exclusively by Gabriel. The singer had worked separately from the rest of the group for most of the composition, and a creative split developed between him and the others, which was exacerbated by personal problems that Gabriel was going through at the time, involving his marriage. The division grew worse during the tour that followed, when the other members began to feel that his performance — and the costumes and costume changes that he required — began to seriously detract from the music.

In May of 1975, Gabriel announced that he was leaving Genesis. This could have marked the end of the group, and for many longtime fans that’s precisely what his exit represented. Yet The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway had been a breakthrough as well, played heavily on progressive FM stations and selling in far greater numbers than anyone expected of a double LP by this group — it just missed the Top 40 in the United States by one chart number, while in England it got to number ten. Their concert attendance had grown substantially as well.

The group tried auditioning potential replacements, but it became clear that the remaining members all preferred that Phil Collins — who had provided some vocals on a very limited basis on the group’s three prior albums — take over the role of lead singer. The band returned to the studio as an official quartet in October of 1975 to begin work on their new album: the resulting Trick of the Tail was not a huge departure from their earlier work — there were still musically challenging progressive songs on the album, but they were reined in a bit compared with the last three albums, and there was some effort to make the album and the music as accessible as possible. And it worked, the album reaching number three in England and number 31 in America, the best chart showing up to that time for a Genesis album. Its success completely confounded critics and fans who’d been unable to conceive of Genesis without Peter Gabriel.

The group seemed to be on its way to bigger success than it ever had during Gabriel’s tenure, with 1977’s Wind & Wuthering. Like its predecessor, the album fit into a progressive rock mode, but even the extended pieces such as “One for the Vine” had a lighter texture and tone to much of its length and was typical of most art rock of the time, and Wind & Wuthering also contained a genuinely appealing pop song, “Your Own Special Way,” which reached number 43 in England and number 62 in America; its true success, however, may have been in selling the album, which got to number three in the U.K. and number 26 — another high for the group — in the United States. It looked as though they had ridden out the crisis of Gabriel’s exit, and, in fact, were soon playing their biggest international tour to date. And then Hackett announced that he, too, was leaving. His decision became public on the eve of the release of a new double live album, Seconds Out, recorded along that successful tour. This time there was a permanent alteration in the group’s way of making music — he was replaced on subsequent concert tours by Daryl Stuermer, but there was no permanent replacement in the studio; instead, Rutherford, who had subbed for Phillips on the latter’s exit in 1970, played all of the guitar parts on their subsequent recordings in addition to his bass work. In 1978, Genesis released the appropriately titled And Then There Were Three, which abandoned any efforts at progressive rock in favor of a softer pop sound.

Up to this point, Genesis’ recording success in the U.S. had been focused entirely on their albums — though they’d been releasing singles steadily since 1968, none had ever been successful on the American side of the Atlantic. That all changed with “Follow You, Follow Me,” their first AM radio chart hit in the United States, which helped And Then There Were Three earn the group’s first RIAA-certified gold record award. The subsequent tour was their biggest yet, and kept them busy for much of the second half of 1978. They were inactive for most of 1979, having been working steadily for close to a decade, and when they returned to work on the album Duke (1980), it was with a very different musical agenda — gone were all of the progressive rock elements that had been present in their music since 1970, and in their place was a slickly commercial pop/rock sound. The public responded in kind by lofting it to the number one spot in England, a first for the band, while it reached number 11 in America. They followed it up with Abacab (1981), a totally unexpected, stripped-down pop/rock album that even had the three core members interacting musically with the Earth, Wind & Fire horn section. Like its predecessor, it topped the charts in England and easily made the Top Ten in the United States.

It was followed by another concert album, Three Sides Live — which, rather confusingly, appeared in two different versions, with three live LP sides and a handful of singles on the fourth for the United States, while in Europe the fourth side was filled out with concert recordings from prior tours. During this period, a flurry of solo projects involving current and former members of the band began flooding the marketplace — Gabriel had been doing them, with great success, across the late ’70s, soon joined by Phillips and Hackett; Banks had started writing soundtrack music in 1978, and he and Rutherford took the time off in 1979 to do solo projects, while Collins’ first solo album, Face Value, emerged in 1981, after a couple of years’ gestation. By mid-decade, he was singing (and acting) full-time, separate from the group, while Rutherford, as the leader of Mike + the Mechanics (fronted by Paul Carrack), was enjoying pop success.

In 1981, the band regrouped for the self-titled Genesis, which furthered the group’s record of British chart-toppers and American Top Ten hits, becoming their second million-selling U.S. album while also yielding their first American Top Ten single, “That’s All,” while “Mama” was another hit off the same album. Two years later, the group outdid themselves with the release of their most commercially successful album to date, Invisible Touch, which — driven by a quintet of Top Ten U.S. singles, including a number one chart placement for the title song — went platinum several times over in America. Its release coincided with the biggest tour in their history, a string of sold-out arena shows that cast the group in the same league as concert stalwarts like the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead.

It was seven years before the band released their next album, We Can’t Dance — their first CD original, as it happened, the digital format having swept over the music marketplace in the interim — which debuted at number one in England and got to number four in America. During that time off, each of the member had done extensive solo work, and Collins had already become a superstar in his own right. We Can’t Dance was Collins’ last album with the group, and with him the group also lost Chester Thompson and Daryl Stuermer, longtime members of the live version of the band. Their new vocalist was Ray Wilson, formerly of the group Stiltskin, while the drumming was shared by Nir Zidkayhu and Nick d’Virgilio. The reconstituted Genesis resurfaced in 1997 with Calling All Stations, which recalled their art rock roots in some respects. Neither the critics nor the fans warmed to the album — it sold relatively poorly, missing the Top 50 in the United States, and the single “Congo” only got to number 29 in England. The accompanying tour was equally unsuccessful, and many dates were canceled. Wilson left the group at the conclusion of the tour, and Banks and Rutherford put Genesis on hiatus as a working or recording band. In the wake of that disappointment, the long-awaited box set retrospective Genesis Archives, Vol. 1: 1967-1975 was even more welcome. Containing nothing but unreleased material and rarities, the four-disc set was released to surprisingly strong reviews in the summer of 1998. A second volume, containing unreleased material from the Phil Collins era, Genesis Archives, Vol. 2: 1976-1992, followed in 2000. Both sets were put together with the participation and advice of the bandmembers, present and former, and between their release, Banks, Rutherford, Hackett, Collins, and Gabriel regrouped for a one-off re-recording of “The Carpet Crawlers” for inclusion of the hits compilation Turn It on Again: The Hits. The late ’90s also saw the first wave of upgraded CD reissues of the group’s work. The Genesis CDs originally released on Atlantic Records in America were very disappointing in sound quality, and even the U.K. CDs from Virgin Records — which had acquired the Charisma label — were uneven in quality, though better than their U.S. counterparts. The new round of remasterings solved that problem and their success showed that the group still had a huge following in all of its different incarnations.

Genesis was hardly heard from except in an archival capacity for most of the first decade of the 21st century. In 2006, Banks, Rutherford, and Collins regrouped once more in preparation for a tour to take place the following year, which also brought back Thompson and Stuermer, though plans to get Hackett and Gabriel back for a performance of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway fell through. The reunion tour coincided with the first wave of upgraded, expanded double-disc (CD and DVD) reissues of the group’s catalog, to encompass their complete output from 1970 through 1997.

Killer Mike

Outkast associate Killer Mike earned his own hit in 2003 with “A.D.I.D.A.S.” He debuted two years earlier on “The Whole World,” from the greatest-hits Big Boi and Dre Present…Outkast. After signing to Columbia, his first single “A.D.I.D.A.S.,” hit the pop charts in March 2003, and the subsequent album, Monster, debuted in the Top Ten.

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