Genesis' "Turn it on again" with a real bass player

[Blazer]

I admit "Duke" is one of my all time favorite albums and "Turn it on again" with that strange 13/8 time signature is one of the reasons why.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OIkw9kJ0u4

Now "Turn it on again" doesn't have a normal bassline, it's a Moog Taurus bass pedal thing with the notes pulsating, which makes for a very rigid unforgiving beat even with that crazy 13/8 time signature. Even when they played it live it usually had Daryl Steurmer operate the Taurus pedals on that track (you can tell by him sitting down and not moving around)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnMyr5_nmaQ
"Turn it on again" live at the 1980 "Duke" tour.

Now I often wondered how this song would have sounded if they had an actual bass player playing along rather than the droning Taurus. And then I found THIS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLVbogL3NLw
Genesis and Phil Collins' solo band playing "Turn it on again" together, with Leland Sklar on bass.

And as I suspected, the song gets a completely different groove, being far less droning and much funkier.

[weary hobo]

Originally Posted by Blazer

And as I suspected, the song gets a completely different groove, being far less droning and much funkier.

Another huge fan of Genesis here--at least up until the early 80s. Duke is a favorite of mine, too.

I'd agree that the version of "Turn it On Again" with Sklar on bass grooves much deeper than the any version that involves Stuermer playing the Moog pedals.

That being said, the first clip is from the Duke Tour, and it seems to me that a major reason that it sounds so stilted and stiff is the the band is still trying to get a feel for the song. You need only compare this version with, say the version on Three Sides Live (or any of the other live clips on YouTube) to see how much more comfortable they were with it on subsequent tours.

And, at the risk of sounding pedantic, I'll add that the song is in 13/4 (or, more properly, alternating measures of 6/4 and 7/4), not 13/8.

[CamiloDíaz]

+1 on the measure

and huge +1 on that live version from 1990 with Sklar. Gotta love the Medley, of course.

[Lazylion]

Originally Posted by CamiloDíaz

Gotta love the Medley, of course.

Phil just became my favorite rapper.