Brian in Documentary about Mellotron

[Cam Mott]

Sorry Heywood.

Mike has said that he sued when he did because his testifying for Brian in Brian's suit against Almo led to him finding out that he could still press for his long ignored rights too. Before that he claims Brian kept blowing him off when he would bring it up to Brian and Brian sort of dodged it by blaming it on Murry. I think Brian gets off easy in this because he knew Mike deserved credit and he signed the publishing forms that did not show Mike as a co-author.

Mike has said Brian wanted to settle but it was Brian's conservator that was responsible for not taking Mike's extremely generous and low ball settlement offer. If it was Brian who was sued by Mike or was it Almo or both?

[Andrew G. Doe]

Cam, remind me who Brian's conservator was in the mid-90s again... 

[Wirestone]

Actually, wasn't it Jerome Billet? I didn't think Ms. Ledbetter got conservatorship until she became Mrs. Wilson.

According to a Mojo article from 2004 (http://brianwilsonfans.com/a_ml.php)

Mike, in the article: "Well, ironically, my cousin Brian wanted to settle the issue but he was unable to because he was in a consevatorship due to his mental state. The conservator was a lawyer who said that the statute of limitations had expired. That's what Brian was told, so that's the course he had to follow. "

And the ever-popular firsthand account of the trial: http://cabinessence.net/essays/lovevwilson1.html

[Big Bri]

Stegibo and gsmile:
   Check these out:
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXBJdF9npgA&feature=related   "Dancing With The Moonlit Knight"

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix73z5Eg_oM&feature=related    "Watcher........"

What a great instrument! 

 Bri

[slothrop]

"Watcher of the Skies" is rocking and all, but King Crimson always gets short changed in a genre they basically kicked off. They're like the Beach Boys--influential and yet they have many albums that were not commercially popular at all. The best use of the mellotron, in my opinion, comes from their first album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KovJ7WLh2Qc

Listen to that!

[Big Bri]

Nice!  And why not just combine King Crimson with Genesis and come up w/this Classic line-up!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNYI_M9C0tw

 John Wetton, Steve Hackett, Chester Thompson.

 Bri

[Wirestone]

Also, see this issue of Billboard from 95.

http://books.google.com/books?id=Ag4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&dq=%22Jerome+Billet%22+%22Brian+Wilson%22&source=bl&ots=2YHjVmWkQ-&sig=9ntMsTIKeUoO0nnBAKzQSj_KXl0&hl=en&ei=blX9S4OEMYS0lQe87-ibCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CAoQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Jerome%20Billet%22%20%22Brian%20Wilson%22&f=false

BW and Melinda sued Billet over the lawsuit fiasco that year, basically claiming that the entire thing was an attempt to bilk Brian. (According to the article, Billet was officially conservator from March 9, 1992 to June 22, 1995.)

[Mike's Beard]

I know I'm a little late to the party on this one but want to add after only getting into them a couple of months ago Genesis have rapidly became my favourite band second only to The Beach Boys. I just got "...and Then There Were 3" in the post today and am really enjoying it. Each post Gabriel album I buy I expect to suck but they still had it at this point. Is it worth checking anything out from Duke era onwards? In other words can someone tell me when exactly did Genesis turn into crap Phil Collins solo territory?

[Jason]

Here's my take on Genesis. From about 1968 until roughly 1977 or so, Genesis were 100% progressive rock. Yes, even on the first two post-Gabriel albums. Of course, with ...And Then There Were Three, the band's going in more of a pop direction but there's still a lot of musical invention going on. Abacab from 1981 is a great one. Even Invisible Touch has its moments. The problem is that after 1983 or so, Genesis and Phil Collins' solo music seem almost inseparable; indeed, I'm hard-pressed to find much of a difference between the two from that period until 1991. I personally find We Can't Dance unlistenable. Calling All Stations was good for what it was, of course, back in 1997 even the hardcore Genesis fans couldn't get into it. Time's been kinder to it in recent memory.

Genesis, in the 1980s anyway, went heavily into an 80s pop direction, and that didn't seem to mesh too well with their image. It worked well when the Moody Blues went for the MTV Generation jugular because even their classic material had a pop sensibility to it.

[Mike's Beard]

My first impression when I heard Wind and Wuthering was how closely Phil Collins followed Gabriel's style of singing. The phrasing and such is near identical. If it wasn't for that one power ballad stinkfest that made it onto the finished record this would probably be my favourite Genesis album. For it's follow up I thought they'd be doomed without Hackett but they combated this by pushing Tony Banks amazing keyboard work even futher to the forefront and the results are mostly excellent. Maybe I'll give Duke and Abacab a try after all...

[Alex]

Ugh...prog rock...    Thank goodness for the Ramones!!!

[Smilin Ed H]

I think Genesis are pretentiously, c*ck-suckingly awful, whatever the period.  There Must Be Some Unserstanding was inspired by Sail on Sailor, however...

[Mike's Beard]

Ugh...prog rock...   Thank goodness for the Ramones!!!

Ah yes the Ramones. Any self respecting music fan knows DeeDee Ramone played the sort of basslines Mike Rutherford can only dream about, whilst each and every night Phill Collins cries himself to sleep wishing he could master 4/4 time like Tommy could....    

[Exapno Mapcase]

Good, enjoyable rock music doesn't have to be about sophistication.

[Alex]

Ugh...prog rock...   Thank goodness for the Ramones!!!

Ah yes the Ramones. Any self respecting music fan knows DeeDee Ramone played the sort of basslines Mike Rutherford can only dream about, whilst each and every night Phill Collins cries himself to sleep wishing he could master 4/4 time like Tommy could....    

I get 100 times more pumped up over a simple 3-4 chord Ramones song than I do a 20 minute suite about middle earth.

[LostArt]

Good, enjoyable rock music doesn't have to be about sophistication.

Very true.  But it also does not have to be about a lack of sophistication.

[Mike's Beard]

Ugh...prog rock...   Thank goodness for the Ramones!!!

Ah yes the Ramones. Any self respecting music fan knows DeeDee Ramone played the sort of basslines Mike Rutherford can only dream about, whilst each and every night Phill Collins cries himself to sleep wishing he could master 4/4 time like Tommy could....    

I get 100 times more pumped up over a simple 3-4 chord Ramones song than I do a 20 minute suite about middle earth.

Nice comeback!!