Athena

[rimbro@EARTHLINK.NET (Richard Imbro)]

I posted once but it never showed up so I shut up. But recent derogatory
remarks about the song Athena (among other things) triggered an argument
reflex I thought had been long lost so here goes. I always liked Athena. I
wouldn't defend it loudly in a crowded room as a work of art but against a
claim that it's one of their worst songs ever I know I'd just shake my head and
turn away. On that album alone there's way too much stuff beneath it to call
it anything worse than MOR radio material. I mean, erase the vocal on Cooks
County and listen to what's left. THAT may be their worst song ever and I
like it anyway. More or less.

Now if you want to talk about the worst WHO songs you hear on the RADIO,
the ones that make you cringe when you're stuck in a room with a Zeppelin
vs WHO argument raging, or with a date who can't understand why you'd spend
more money for a scalped seat than you would for a weekend with her in the
country, in other words with people who don't understand what the fuss is
all about, I'll give you The Who's all-time worst radio hit, a record that
could only have been rescued with a heavy dose of power chords and the
resurrection of a beloved lunatic: You Better You Bet.
It sucks.
Again, great lyric, great vocal. All that's missing is a rock band.

Athena, however, is the compleat TOP TEN AM Gold Hit Single circa 1971.
Great melody, great vocal, ambiguous meaning but you can make a case for
intelligent and you can even dance to it. Had the lead singer calmed down
and taken a back seat to the melody instead of injecting passion into every
syllable (as always) it may have sold millions even in '82 (to the
bubble-gum set, anyway). It would have made a perfect bland, typical, not
entirely unpleasant Genesis song.

Except of course that's not really Genesis, is it, without its founder/lead
singer/composer Peter Gabriel. But that's another argument.


-- Richard Imbro




** still lurking about ***