Genesis (Peter Gabriel) – Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
Mar 9, 2011 Rock Bands
Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Phil Collins (lead vocals and drums), Mike Rutherford (guitar and bass guitar), and Tony Banks (keyboards). Peter Gabriel, Anthony Phillips and Steve Hackett also played major roles in the band in its early years. Genesis are among the top 30 highest-selling recording artists of all time with approximately 150 million albums sold worldwide. Genesis began as a 1960s pop band. During the 1970s, they evolved into a progressive rock band, incorporating complex song structures and elaborate instrumentation, while their concerts became theatrical experiences with innovative stage design, pyrotechnics, elaborate costumes and on-stage stories. This second phase was characterised by lengthy performances such as the 23 minute “Supper’s Ready” and the 1974 concept album, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. In the 1980s, the band produced accessible pop music based on melodic hooks; this change of direction gave them their first number one album in the United Kingdom, Duke, and their only number one single in the United States, “Invisible Touch”. Genesis has changed personnel several times. Stage fright forced founding member Anthony Phillips to leave the band in 1970. In 1975, Collins, then the band’s drummer, replaced Peter Gabriel as lead singer after a lengthy search for a replacement. To facilitate Collins’s move to lead vocals during concerts, Bill Bruford, and later …
Abba – Dancing Queen
Apr 20, 2010 Classic Rock
Recording of Dancing Queen started in August 1975. It was inspired by George McCrae’s 1974 disco classic Rock Your Baby. It was released in August 1976, and was instantly a huge wordwide hit. It was no. 1 for 14 weeks in Sweden, and 6 weeks in UK. Stig recalls “One day I found a note in my office with a telephone number on it. I gave it to Gorel and said ‘Can you call them’. She replied ‘It’s not a telephone number, it’s the latest sales figures for Dancing Queen in Britain’”. Frida recalls “I loved the song from the very beginning. Coming back from the studio, Benny played the backing track to me. It was so beautiful that I started to cry. I mean, even without lyrics or voices on it, it was outstanding.” Dancing Queen is Abba’s best known song, and continues to fill dance floors the world over to this day. This performance is from the November 1978 Japan tv show “Abba Special”. From Arrival album. Lyrics: You can dance, you can sing Having the time of your life, See that girl, watch that scene Dig in the Dancing Queen, Friday night and the lights are low, Looking out for the place to go, Where they play the right music, getting in the swing You come in to look for a king, Anybody could be that guy, Night is young and the music’s high, With a bit of rock music, everything is fine You’re in the mood for a dance, And when you get the chance, You are the Dancing Queen, Young and sweet, only seventeen Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine You can dance, you can …
Come Dancing – The Kinks
Mar 24, 2010 Classic Rock
Groovy! Come Dancing is a 1982 song performed by British Rock group The Kinks, released as a single in that year in the UK and 1983 in the US and included on their album State of Confusion. The song is a nostalgic look back at childhood memories of writer Ray Davies, remembering his older sister going on dates to the local Palais dance hall where big bands would play. The lyrics tell how the Palais has been demolished and his sister now has her own daughters who are going on dates. The song was something of a comeback for The Kinks, being their first UK top 20 hit in over ten years (reaching number 11) and its number 6 peak on the US chart was their highest there since “Tired of Waiting for You” made the same position in 1965. It also made the top 10 in Canada (#6) and the top 20 in Sweden and Belgium. Such success was most likely spurred on in the US by the accompanying MTV Music Video, which was continually pushed and broadcast (in the style of early MTV). The song has, over the years, become one of the most popular songs on Classic Rock Radio, and remains so today.