The Curate's Egg is Out of Fashion!

I'm sure some readers will remember the quaint English tale of a young curate invited to tea with the vicar and his good lady wife. Given a boiled egg for tea he cracked open the top only to discover that the egg inside it had gone bad. Nevertheless, it being his prime duty that teatime to impress the vicar's wife and come over as the epitome of good manners, he somehow managed to eat the offending ovum and, when asked, "How was your tea?" he drew upon all the resources of grace God had given him by smiling and replying politely, "It was good...in parts!"

'Good in parts' is an opinion rarely experienced in the musical world today. I have found that most people are fiercely loyal to their musical favourites...with the possible exception of Genesis fans! Genesis fans fall into three very distinct groupings: the Gabriel-era fans, the Phil Collins-era fans...and the Gabriel-era fans who are brave enough to claim that the first three or four albums after he left are still worthy of the band's name! I think I fall into the latter group (probably the least inhabited group of the three I have found!) While I love the early pure-prog of 'Foxtrot', 'Selling England' and 'The Lamb...' I am persuaded to admit that 'A Trick of the Tail', 'Wind & Wuthering' and ''Duke' contain, at least some of, my favourite Genesis music.

However, 'Abacab' and 'Genesis' (ugh...'Mama') have not been heard in their entirety by me for at least two decades! That, as a Gabriel-era sympathiser, I am somewhat compelled to add!

And I digress again...Genesis not being the intended subject for tonight's outpourings! If I am honest there is something from almost all my musical heroes that leaves me a bit cold: For 'Yes' it would include 'Relayer', 'Talk', and 'Open Your Eyes', for Rachmaninov it's the 3rd Piano Concerto...love the 2nd more than almost any other single piece, enjoy the first...I KNOW some perfectly sound opinion rates the 3rd as the best of all...but it just won't do it for me!

I love the Mahler symphonies...but the 7th leaves me, for the main part, cold - and it's not just the Castrol GTX association! John Wetton = Jack Knife. Beethoven = Fidelio. Mozart = La Clemenza Di Tito. Pink Floyd = Animals. I could go on all night...all my personal opinion, of course!

Yet, when I enter a conversation with some people it seems I am defied to argue against opinions like, "Eminem has never made a bad song," or "I adore every note James Blunt has ever sung" or even "Wagner never had an off-day - it is all sublime!"

These are the music fans who have never tasted "The Curate's Egg". Of course, it may be that our eponymous curate is, in himself, a thing of the past...gone are the days when his whole perception of acceptance into a local community might depend on a spotless reference from the vicar's wife!!! For crying out loud, in half the parishes up and down the country the vicar himself is probably as gay as rainbow socks and, from my experience of twenty years working with vicars associated with a C of E school, it would probably more the case today that, should he be given a 'bad egg' to eat at teatime, a modern curate would stand up, put on his coat and exhort the vicar to come out for a pint, a smoke and a take-away!

It is 'the curate's egg' that allows us to clearly differentiate between the good and the mundane. I am a massive fan of Rick Wakeman - and in recent years have been privileged enough to even be able to count him a friend...but even I could never try to convince anyone that all Rick's output is wonderful...maybe I'd struggle even to say it's all good...in fact I hope even Rick could admit now that some of the stuff he has released (amongst the 100+ albums released in his name) are pretty darned awful!

So...a challenge for you all! In the comments box below I want you to show your good taste and balanced opinion by 'outing' a song or album by one of your own favourites that leaves you less in awe of their genius that most of the rest of their oeuvre! I look forward to seeing your choices and, maybe, I will even disagree...oooh, debate!