"Many Too Many" is a

love song A love song is a song about romantic love, falling in love, heartbreak after a breakup, and the feelings that these experiences bring. A comprehensive list of even the best known performers and composers of love songs would be a large order. ...

recorded by English rock band

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

.Jon Young. "The Genesis Autodiscography". ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

''. March 1982 issue

Background

It was released as a single from the album '' ...And Then There Were Three...'' in 1978 and written by the band's keyboardist, Tony Banks, who described it as "a simple love lyric". The single reached No. 43 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, following the band's successful breakthrough into the Top Ten with "

Follow You Follow Me "Follow You Follow Me" is a love song written and recorded by English rock band Genesis. It was released in March 1978 as the first single from their ninth studio album, '' ...And Then There Were Three...'' (1978). The music was composed by the ...

".Genesis UK chart history
The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 May 2012. Its B-side had two non-album songs, "Vancouver" and "The Day the Light Went Out", both released on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

on the '' Genesis Archive 2: 1976–1992'' box set. A music video was filmed for the song. Filming was done on-stage during the soundcheck prior to Genesis' appearance at the

Knebworth Festival The Knebworth Festival is a recurring open-air rock and pop concert held on the grounds of the Knebworth House in Knebworth, England. The festival first occurred in July 1974 when The Allman Brothers Band, The Doobie Brothers and other artists ...

, on 24 June 1978. The audio was a replay of the studio version of the track, rather than being recorded live. The band have never performed the song live, though it was reported that, prior to the Coronavirus lock-down in 2020, the band had been rehearsing the song in preparation for the Last Domino? tour of the UK and Ireland at the end of 2020. The song includes the last use of a

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

on any Genesis studio recording, though Tony Banks did use one sparingly on his 1979 solo album ''

A Curious Feeling ''A Curious Feeling'' is the debut solo album from English keyboardist Tony Banks. It was recorded at ABBA's Polar Music Studios during a brief hiatus for Banks's main group Genesis and released in 1979 on Charisma Records. It is one of only tw ...

''.

B Sides

Personnel

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Tony Banks –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Roland RS-202 The Roland RS-202 was a polyphonic string synthesizer, introduced by Roland in 1976. It was the successor to the Roland RS-101, released in 1975. The synthesizer operated using sawtooth wave oscillators, which used a frequency divider in a similar ...

Mike Rutherford Michael John Cloete Crawford Rutherford (born 2 October 1950) is an English guitarist, bassist and songwriter, co-founder of the rock band Genesis. Rutherford and keyboardist Tony Banks are the group's two continuous members. Initially servin ...

–

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Live

Although it was rehearsed for the '' …And Then There Were Three… Tour'', the song was never performed by the band live. Tony Banks suggested it to be played on 2007's '' Turn It On Again: The Tour'', but that did not happen. Despite their not performing the song, Genesis mimed it on a near empty field in

Knebworth Knebworth is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the north of Hertfordshire, England, immediately south of Stevenage. The civil parish covers an area between the villages of Datchworth, Woolmer Green, Codicote, Kimpton, Hert ...

in June 1978 (2 days before their show there) for the '' Nationwide'' documentary "Three Dates With Genesis".

Chart performance

References

1978 singles Genesis (band) songs Songs written by Tony Banks (musician) 1978 songs Charisma Records singles {{1970s-single-stub