Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Watch, The
Label: Pick Up Records
Release: 2014
Runtime: 37:35
Rating: 3/5
The Watch have unintentionally become one of the most controversial modern Italian symphonic prog rock bands, since most people agree that their music is a straight-up copy (and continuation) of what Peter Gabriel-era Genesis once did, and this goes well beyond simply drawing inspiration from their musical idols, as is the case with contemporary prog revivalists. The theatrical, charismatic vocals of singer and Watch frontman Simone Rossetti are a spitting image of young Peter Gabriel, keyboardist Valerio de Vittorio, with his obsession with the Mellotron and organs, is a perfect disciple of Tony Banks, Giorgio Gabriel’s guitar technique recalls Steve Hackett, bassist Mattia Rossetti follows the rhythmic legacy of Mike Rutherford, and Marco Fabbri tries to imitate the drumming tricks of Phil Collins. It’s completely baffling why a band with such musical and songwriting talent remains so limited and boxed into the narrow confines of its own obsession with the figure and work of classic Genesis.
Even certain 80s neo-prog rock bands, which some people once accused, mostly unfairly, of being too similar to Genesis, thoroughly changed their sound in later years, and today almost none of them, apart from IQ now and then, still sounds like their great symphonic prog role models. On their latest effort, »Tracks From The Alps«, The Watch don’t shake off this almost perverse sonic kinship with classic Genesis, and every single track, however brilliantly played and arranged, suffers from a lack of artistic individuality, as they try by every means to create the identical sonic collage and atmosphere as their great idols, who probably wouldn’t be too thrilled with what their Italian ‘clones’ are up to.
Listening to »Tracks From The Alps«, you catch an arrangement at every turn that recalls something from Genesis’ distant past. The opener »A.T.L.A.S.« has a pastoral-tinged intro that could have fit right onto the Genesis album »Trespass« (1970), while later on The Watch sail somewhere between »Nursery Cryme« (1971) and »Foxtrot« (1972) when shaping individual arrangements. It’s no different with »Devil’s Bridge«, which could easily be some forgotten Genesis creation from the early seventies, and Rossetti’s vocal resemblance to Gabriel is at times downright eerie. The melodic chorus is one of the few moments on »Tracks From The Alps« that leaves a lasting emotional mark, because The Watch chronically suffer from a lack of a soul of their own. The members of The Watch would probably answer the accusations that they sound like a carbon copy of Genesis with something like ‘somebody’s got to play this kind of music since Genesis don’t anymore’, which is flat-out absurd, if not grotesque.
»The Cheating Mountain« even has a title similar to the »Trespass« classic »White Mountain«, while its structure resembles a mishmash of various Genesis tracks from 1970 to 1973, with subtle keyboard-and-guitar harmonies and epic Mellotron curtains always up front, and the occasional flute from Rossetti. Genesis fans hardly need reminding that Peter Gabriel himself liked to pick up the flute now and then in his younger years. »On Your Own« and »Once In a Lifetime«, with their dark ambient nature and stylistic approach, could have ended up on Genesis’ conceptual masterpiece »The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway« (1974). For the big finale, The Watch serve up the epic »The Last Mile«, which is more than obviously structured and arranged along the lines of certain »Selling England By The Pound« (1973) classics, while Giorgio Gabriel once again morphs into a perfect Steve Hackett imitator in the solos too.
The Watch’s obsession with their British prog idols goes beyond all sane limits with the next track, »Going Out To Get You«, which is nothing other than a cover of the Genesis demo of the same name from 1969. This lesser-known song was transitional in nature, written in the period between the first and second Genesis albums. Maybe The Watch figured the rest of the Genesis fans had simply forgotten this obscure but fun creation that never came out on any studio album so far, but all they did was prove once more that the gap between them and a Genesis tribute band is tiny. It really raises the question of what the point is of bands like The Watch, who want to be the closest possible sonic approximation of their great musical idols, so that their compositions, despite the instrumental and arranging talent of the whole band, have no soul of their own.
Every track on »Tracks From The Alps« is played and arranged to perfection, and maybe Genesis would be making something similar if they were forty years younger again and picking up right where they left off in 1974, which might be the biggest compliment you can pay Rossetti’s crew. But why would anyone waste time on these vehement Italian imitators when they can put on the Genesis masterpieces from the Gabriel era at any moment, each of which has at least five times more soul than The Watch’s entire discography so far?
Lineup
Simone Rossetti – vocals, Mellotron, synthesizer, flute
Giorgio Gabriel – guitar, bass guitar
Valerio de Vittorio – keyboards
Marco Fabbri – drums and percussion
Mattia Rossetti – bass guitar and bass pedals
Production
Simone Rossetti and Giorgio Gabriel
Tracklist
1. A.T.L.A.S. (7:06)
2. Devil’s Bridge (6:12)
3. The Cheating Mountain (5:07)
4. On Your Own (3:42)
5. Going Out To Get You (3:36)
6. Once In A Lifetime (4:19)
7. The Last Mile (7:30)
