Thomas David & Gunn Ronnie - The Giant Dance 1996 UK

When Peter Gabriel and I first decided to live in London, he told me that a friend of his had a flat we might share. Obvisiously we all had to get on, but as I am not normally one to charm on first meeting. I went to see this friend with some trepidation: Fortunately un David Thomas I found someone who could be almost as opinionated and abrasive as myself. We ended up sharing for four and a half years and we have been friends ever since: We are both mellower now.During the making of the first Genesis LP"From Genesis To Revelation" we had twenty people staying in our flat, all of whom came to the studio. Their contribution mainly survives in the handclaps on the song " In Limbo ". David himself,however,features strongly amongst the backing voices,andespecially as the harmony to the lead voice on " In The Wilderness". During the summers of 1968 and '69, David's parents jet us their house for rehearsal.Whilst still at school David sang in a band, "The Spoken Word",that played in the holidays. This group featured ,amongst others,early Genesis members Anthony Phillips on guitar and Peter Gabriel on drums and a school friend of David's,Ronnie Gunn,on piano.They had disbanded by the time we were living in London,but David and Ronnie continued to play togheter. The hope was for other people to record their songs,but as we found,this can be very hard,particulary with slightly more complex material;so it is great that now it is possible for people to hear this music at last. The earliest demos on this CD date from 1973 and were recorded at Anthony Phillips parents house in Surrey and at our old flat. Later recordings were done at David's house in Putney,where David also recorder Peter Gabriel's first demos of his post Genesis solo career.In those days Ronnie's stomping foot was legendary for always being in a totallt defferent time signature from his hands on the piano. Still,it did non spoll the effectiveness of the result,Especially when accompanying his own voive. Not having heard any of these songs for twenty years or so,it is amazing how well I remember some of them. Favourites include" Give My Love To The Future" ,"Walk To The Water"and"I Know She Danced". 1) Great Western - 1975 2) I Get The Feeling - 1975 3) Somewere Upon TheWay - 1977 4) A Minor Epic - 1978 5) I Know She Danced - 1977 6) (Give My) Love To The Future - 1977 7) Coolly I Love You - 1969/74 8) Walk To The Water - 1973 9) Bring Back The Old Money - 1974 10) Falcon Rise - 1973 11) Hillside - 1971/73 12) Memoriam - 1978 13) Hey Lady - 1976 14) Go Get The Girl - 1976 15) To My Suprise - 1972/74 16) Fate Is A Dancer - 1973 17) Black Rat Sleepy Tune - 1976 18) The Giant Dance - 1979