I came across a fairly scarce live recording of Peter Gabriel with Genesis performing the epic, swirling 'Suppers Ready'. The album from which it is taken, 'Foxtrot', was originally released in 1972 and was well received by both critics and the then record buying public although regarded as a tad theatrical. I've included a link below and if you can spare 24 minutes it's well worth a look.
The video and audio quality is very poor but good enough to convey the fantastically pompous themes that seemed to inspire the Progressive ('Prog') Rock era. You'll see a stick thin Peter Gabriel and a rather serious looking drummer by the name of Phil Collins trying to mimic his ostentatious Public School educated fellow band members by studiously tilting his head to one side when singing support vocals on the quieter moments.
Despite the fairly hollow sound attributable to the production techniques in vogue at the time, it remains a resilient piece typical of the genre and in stark conflict to much of today's output where lyricists seem more concerned with the testosterone fueled notions of 'smashing a bitch up' and scoring revenge for being 'dissed'. The niaive lyrics for the piece, based on some vague mythical Armageddon vision punctuated with a few self indulgent twee interludes, is very representative of the post 1960's psychedelic theme when most aspiring bands would have spent their formative years regarding Tolkien as essential reading. The concert footage is also notable for the sadly 'groovy' stellar light show which, by comparison with the bands later efforts, seems woefully primitive.
Gabriel's haircut which was also deliberately provocative is almost as daft as his overtly theatrical make up but the whole thing just about holds together and is a preposterously memorable evocation of a less complex age.
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