Top five lists

"Lamb" was all Pete, all the time. It was a big reason why he left the band. Much of it was he was the first to have a child, wife's pregnancy complications, difficult childbirth and such that the rest of the band didn't understand. But Pete wrote the Lamb solo, came up with all his costumes and such. Some regard it as the band's finest moment. Others - including his good friend Tony Banks - didn't. Neither do I.

The "Lamb" wasn't awful by any means, but it's not as good as the two albums preceding and following it IMO. "Hairless Heart," "The Carpet Crawlers," "The Chamber of 32 Doors," and "In The Rapids" were quite good, but not Earth-shattering IMO.

 

Top 5 Voices, modern era

Elvis Presley
Freddy Mercury
Jim Morrison
George Michael
Sarah McLaughlin

(I don't like the music of most of them)

 

Top Five Pink Floyd tracks:
1) "Time"
2) "Run Like Hell"
3) "Wish You Were Here"
4) "Have A Cigar"
5) "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"

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Top Five Stevie Wonder Tracks (This should throw PCLL for a loop):
1) "Ribbon In The Sky"
2) "Visions"
3) "Creepin'"
4) "Superstition"
5) "Lately"

Five More Stevie Tracks - Just Because:
1) "My Cherie Amour"
2) "Go Home"
3) "Another Star"
4) "As"
5) "Living For The City"

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Top Five Peter Gabriel Tracks (for Sic Semper Tyrannis):
1) "Solsbury Hill"
2) "Games Without Frontiers"
3) "Here Comes The Flood"
4) "Burn You Up, Burn You Down"
5) "Family Snapshot"

 

Knew I was forgetting something.

 

Top five Squeeze tracks (I've been listening to them a lot lately)

1. Up The Junction
2. Another Nail In My Heart
3. In Quintessence
4. Vicky Verky
5. Labelled With Love

 

Top 5 Squeeze songs:

1. Up The Junction
2. Tempted
3. Separate Beds
4. Some Fantastic Place
5. Black Coffee in Bed


Top 5 Stevie Wonder songs:

1. Higher Ground
2. Master Blaster
3. Overjoyed
4. Living for the City
5. Signed, Sealed, Delivered

 

I'll jump on the Pink Floyd bandwagon:

1. Wish You Were Here (the guitar solo would be the one reason I would want to take lessons)
2. Comfortably Numb
3. Money
4. In the Flesh (second song)
5. Time

Top 5 great movie soundtrack pieces:
1. Raiders March (Indiana Jones)
2. Star Wars intro
3. The Entertainer (The Sting)
4. The Chase (Midnight Express)
5. Halloween theme (interesting tidbit - before the music was added, producers were not impressed with the movie. After music was added, producers were scared shitless).

 

From this corner:

1. That's Entertainment (version from Dig The New Breed)
2. Absolute Beginners
3. Beat Surrender
4. Going Underground
5. The Eton Rifles

Top five Stones songs that haven't been beaten to death by classic rock radio:

1. Sway
2. Jigsaw Puzzle
3. Rip This Joint
4. Dandelion
5. Salt Of The Earth

 

Not bad.
As for the Lamb, though, I don't disagree it was mostly Pete, but there was a lot of Hackett on it too, and coming on the heels of the Banks-dominated Selling England, can see where he didn't feel it was his biggest contribution.
But tunes like Back in NYC, Colony of Slippermen, and Lilywhite Lilith showed that Gabriel could also write some heavier tunes that were less pretentious than earlier stuff like The Knife etc.
I think, likely based on age, my Genesis catalogue ends where yours mostly picks up. No right or wrong.

 

Leaving Grapes (or any Steinbeck) off is fine. A matter of taste, I suppose.

Leaving Catch-22 off is indefensible, however. Especially for the Scarlett Letter.

 

I know I'm in the dominant minority, but I hated Catch-22. One of the few books I've ever put down in the middle.

 

I don't know that I would put Catch-22 in the top five, but it would definitely be ahead of the Scarlet Letter. That's easily my least favorite well-respected novel. I'm not at all a fan of Hawthorne's writing style.