Album Reviews |

Genesis

Trespass 7 ( 1970 )
Looking For Someone / White Mountain / Visions Of Angels / Stagnation / Dusk / The Knife

Damn it if I don't like this record. But, you know. Its ok. Phil Collins wasn't on it! I'm kidding, I’m kidding :) Yes, here we have the beginning of Genesis in a sense. Only their second album but the first to really define who they were. Peter Gabriel provides the vocals of course as he would do for a series of albums for them throughout the early and mid-seventies before leaving to pursue a solo career. Musically this record may not be astonishing or challenging but Peter Gabriel was undoubtedly a wonderful singer. This is displayed especially well on the opening song. The drums are competent, the organ adds to the spiritual sense of occasion when Gabriel opens his mouth. The guitar is quite bluesy actually but the best thing about the song remains Peter Gabriel’s voice. It truly is wonderful. When the music reaches upwards around the one minute ten mark he reaches upwards to match. Faint backing harmonies can be heard in places that only add to the overall atmosphere. This is a great track! Its followed by 'White Mountain' which opens well with tinkling keyboards and shuffling percussion. Gabriel just continues and sounds almost as great here as he does on the opening track. This is a much more up-tempo number however and seems slightly clumsy from a musical point of view. It stops and starts throughout rather abrasively but I do like the little medieval parts. They couldn't have been anything other than English :) 'Visions Of Angels' wraps up the first half with some nice Piano to open and some decent musical parts in-between but the song seems to lack any easy flow. It sounds like they were trying too hard to impress to be honest with you, and lacks the unassuming grace of the opening song.

The second half of the record opens with pretty guitar patterns amid the nearly nine minute long 'Stagnation'. This is nice! Its no masterpiece work of art but it's very relaxing and yes, pretty. Who would have thought Genesis could be pretty based on their eighties and nineties material? The song does rather drift and lose focus through its second half but it works ok overall. 'Dusk' again features delicate and pretty musical patterns and the subtle harmonies are re-introduced. Again, there is nothing to really get excited about throughout the song, nothing to really reach you but it does possess a strange relaxing state of calm and beauty. We have 'Knife' to close. More than any of the songs placed in the middle of the record this reaches out ambitiously from a musical point of view. Pounding keyboards, a furious fast paced Gabriel vocal that sounds like its been well captured and recorded. The whole track sounds very natural and the progressions between the various parts flow easily. This is the hardest hitting track here by some distance and also features some of the best playing, from everyone. Good guitar, good bass and the organ holds the rhythm together. Crashing symbols and a rock n roll ending rather spoil things a little and the silence that follows is deafening. You wanted more? So did I! Just as it was getting interesting the record ends! As an album it displays more than enough character however to deserve a decent enough grade of seven and shows the promise of things to come.

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Readers Comments Simon Brigham slb23@shaw.ca 100,000 billion times better than their ACTUAL first album, From Genesis To Revelation. One of the first FULLY "progressive" rock albums. Favourites: all of them, but especially Stagnation". nic6 nicadair6@aol.com Trespass is a master piece, the whole album is excellent even though it sounds like it was recorded in a snake pit with cushions being held in front of the microphones, and I first heard Horizons & Suppers Ready 26 years ago, I have never listened to the other tracks on the Foxtrot album. Suppers ready is a product of a deranged mind, bizarre but brilliant. Mulroz mulroz123@cs.com Their first album is a bit underrated. If one forgets what comes next it's not too bad, and a lot better than their 80's output. And Phil's not on this one either :-) John King JohnKing67@aol.com Listening to the 12 string guitars on this album makes me wish Anthony Phillips had stayed in the band longer then he did. Ant (and Mike's) playing is the highlight of the album for me.

Enter Phil Collins and Steve Hackett and you have the first recorded effort by the classic quintet of Gabriel, Banks, Rutherford, Hackett and Collins. Phil was a more solidly professional drummer than previous incumbents and could do the required fancy fills and drum rolls with ease. The guitar of Steve Hackett sounds more interesting and accomplished than anything from 'Trespass' - a few exciting solos here and there. The new line up sound instantly together and full of confidence. 'The Musical Box' combines all the best elements of different songs from 'Trespass' and combines them together, in a sense. Thus we have a beautiful Gabriel vocal, pretty and delicate musical effects, backing vocals, nice guitar - a wonderful sounding introduction that around the four minute mark explodes with impressively pounding drums and an electrifying solo courtesy of Mr Hackett. More quiet and loud sections to close and an impassioned Gabriel shouting 'now, now, now' at the end. It's a remarkable track, all in all, and seems to have been included and worked on with the intention of proving to the Progressive Rock world at the time that Genesis had as much musical skill as the best of them. 'For Absent Friends' is a quiet and brief tender vocal highlight only lasting a minute, forty seven seconds. The strangely titled 'Return Of The Giant Hogweed' is the second lengthy piece here, topping eight minutes. There is a mixture of sounds however and an especially swinging and groovy rhythm section performance. Gabriels vocals are less alluring here than the opening track - he does his job though - and did write a fine set of mysterious and surpremely silly lyrics! 'Seven Stones' seems to be all Gabriel to me. His vocal and lyrical contribution to this song keep you listening even if the music is slightly dreary and plodding in places.

Moving onto the second section of songs, we find ourselves picked up by the very daft indeed 'Harold The Barrel'. Fantastic organ work through this song. And, arriving after 'Seven Stones' it picks up the pace of the record. It's easily the bounciest thing here and the nearest this album comes to containing a pop song. 'Harlequin' opens with harmony vocals and pretty guitar combining to create something of an etheral atmosphere. It doesn't actually seem to amount to anything though. I'm going to whisper a dreaded word now - but there seems to be little cohesive 'concept' behind this album. 'Fountain Of Salmacis' does close the record fairy well however. Again, the keyboard work is impressive - in fact, the whole group sound really together through this track. The drums are especially noteworthy, all shuffling rhythms and complicated patterns. The swathes of Mellotron add to the funky bass lines, and are just enjoyable to listen to. Steve Hackett gets his chance to shine during the middle of the song and the bass also stretches out before the song swings back to how it began with a closing vocal section. 'The Fountain Of Salmacis' isn't exactly cohesive or easy in the flow between different sections but it does sound impressive. It's typical of this album as a whole, actually. The groups added instrumental power is showcased to good effect although the writing, particularly as far as the melodies are concerned, hasn't progressed a great deal bar the opening 'Musical Box'. The rest of the album is somewhat spotty although always enjoyable to hear for the playing contained within.

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Readers Comments Simon Brigham slb23@shaw.ca I fully agree with you 110%. The cover is very Victorian, and the music and lyrics seem like they're from another century. Very mysterious, and like you said, it has an 'etheral atmosphere'. My Uncle lent this and Foxtrot to me three years ago, and it got me hooked. Although The Musical Box and especially The Return of The Giant Hogweed is alot better on Genesis Live. Good work guys! 0010903@tay.ac.uk Okay, this is definitely my favourite Genesis album. It isn't the most consistent (that prize goes to A Trick Of The Tail), but Nursery Cryme contains the three best song Genesis EVER DID!! The three long ones on here epitomize, for me, the best prog sound there ever was - dig that feedback-drenched guitar intro Steve gives us on "The Return Of The Giant Hogweed", or his equally wonderful break in the middle of "The Fountain Of Salmacis". As for "The Musical Box" - whoah! greatest Genesis song of all time alert Nothing compares. This is the best Genesis album. Patrick Lalley PLalley@cityu.edu It will always be hard now to put this album in context of the time it was released. The evolution from Trespass was startling - the band was much tighter, and the ironic playfulness that colored their lyrics appears here for the first time ("Trespass" was much more earnest). I must have worn out three vinyl copies just playing "Musical Box". The unmatched ability to go from sweet melodic balladry to ferocious mind-blowing instrumental fury in a split-second is what defined Gabriel/Hackett-era Genesis. That mixture of aural dynamics is their legacy, and that is why thousands of neo-prog bands took this and the next three albums as their blueprint. Chelo tomstrong80@hotmail.com mmmm...only 7?!"Nursery Crime" is, along Foxtrot, one of the finest works that Genesis has done."Fountains Of Salmacis" is pure and absolutely beuty.The whole album has that victorian thing going on.The only low point is "For Absent Friends"...

Mr Gabriel's personality was starting to really dominate the focus of the group by this stage. For the 'Foxtrot' tour he of course dressed up in a giant Fox costume! His lyrics were getting more characteristic and strange with every passing year. A few things came together for this record. Not least the new confident and eye-catching stage personna and assured vocals of Peter. The lyrics, the ever confident and increased playing ability of the group also deserve mentioning. So, I just have done! 'Watcher Of The Skies' certainly deserves at least a passing mention :) Ominous sounding organ opens the piece and occupies the first couple of minutes or so. The bass and drums come in and the rhythm created is something of a fanfare, a sense of occasion - a shuffling, quick marching rhythm. The next thing you notice are the vocals. Peter Gabriel sounds fantastic throughout this songs seven minute or so length. Some nice instrumental breaks, the organ re-appears in places and the whole piece has an easy flow. It occupies its seven minute length effortlessly. The fairly straightforward 'Time Table' follows and works with nice, classical sounding Piano as the main backing for a commercial vocal melody and a strong chorus hook from Peter. Genesis would go on to have the first of many hit singles as part of the following years 'Selling England By The Pound' record. 'Time Table' wasn't a hit but proved Genesis could work equally well doing nine minute prog epics or shorter, more tightly melodic rock songs. Speaking of nine minute prog epics, 'Get 'Em Out By Friday' is full of musical prowess, twists and turns. Whereas 'Watcher Of The Skies' had an easy flow however, this seems slightly clumsy in terms of composition and even the vocal work sounds strained. There are some nice musical moments along the way of course and it does showcase the groups continuing development as musicians. 'Can Utility And The Coastliners' isn't a highlight but it follows on from 'Time Table' in being a more concise piece of music. That doesn't mean they've neglected the instrumental breaks - a particularly great one appears led by keyboards and guitar mid way through the song.

This albums centrepiece is of course the twenty two minute 'Suppers Ready'. The two minute long guitar instrumental 'Horizon's' appears before that however and it works very nicely placed before the epic to come, the epic to close the album and become central to Genesis's reputation through the early seventies. 'Suppers Ready' is indeed over twenty two minutes long, multi-section, strange lyrically - but well. The opening vocal section of the song is heartbreaking. Peter Gabriel is just.....wow! Nice delicate guitar work backs this opening section of the track. An instrumental break around the three minute mark complete with beautiful flute work continues the tracks momentum. Chances are you are still captivated at this point following the beautiful vocal work. A second section kicks in titled in the lyric sheet as 'The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man'. Whatever the daft titles or lyrics Peter Gabriel just continues on and on sounding absolutely superb, the music is tight, often beautiful, always accomplished without ever being over tricky, overly complicated. This is Genesis music as beauty. Genesis vocals as soul and love and transcendant of its musical label and genre. Some fantastic drum work appears in one instrumental break, the organ and keyboards are wonderful - the vocals always wonderful. Some particularly daft lyrics later in the song - playful lyrics and music bordering on theatre. The 'dad diddley office' section of vocals and lyrical work always makes me smile though. Some great harmony vocals mixed in here as well. More musical sections follow, different styles and tempos - something of a journey and when the track just appears to be losing its focus the whole thing swings back to a repetition of the opening lyrical section atop some blistering guitar soloing from Steve Hackett.

This 'Suppers Ready' isn't something you can put on before going out to the pub on a friday night! Its not pop music, its not exactly simply rock music either. It pretty much cemented their position as a leading practioneer of Prog in the early seventies but then, much of 'Suppers Ready' is simply transcendant of all styles once you give it a few listens, really listen and become immersed into it. 'Suppers Ready' deserves all the acclaim it receives and its one of the few prog rock pieces that still retains it's acclaim and credibility today, some thirty years later. The rest of this album isn't especially startling - 'Watcher Of The Skies' is a highlight but really it's all 'Suppers Ready'. That one song turns a good album into a great one and creates an essential Genesis album you can safely reccomend to all of your friends.

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Readers Comments Adrian Wilson adrianwilson@adsl-1.uk.clara.net I heard this album for the first time in must be nearly 30 years just the other day - and it does stand the test of time. 'Get 'em out by Friday' is a bit mawkish but everything else is absolutely superb - especially Supper's Ready. As you say it's breathtakingly superb (well if you didn't, you should have done!). Manuel Neira mneiral@terra.es today´s music critics hate, for some reason, prog rock, and its pomposity, the egocentrism of the players and, above all, their trying of turn rock into a serious art. I agree with them that the rock music must have sense of humour, it cant be taken as serously as classic music, and that´s why you enjoy so much Bat Like hell or A Night at the opera: they sound grandiose, but they do it with a wonderful sense of humour ( almost kicht)....oh, come on! what im trying to say is that supper´s ready is the best song ever written, its absolute epic, gabriel sings so well, the last part, wow, i almost cry when i listen to it, and i know i´ll cry if i saw genesis play it live back in 1973...and the best of all: its 22 minuters long, but its as entertaining as a 3 minutes pop single. bassplayeredd eddie123zeppelin@hotmail.com well i'm now over a year into my prog jounrey and suprisingly to most i'm only just starting to listen to Genesis. Well what a great album, perhaps not as musicaly advanced or complex as Yes but more melodic. "Watcher of the skies" has an almost apocalyptic intro before launching into gabriels glorious vocals. "Time-table" is the weakest track but still holds its own, i love the fade out with the high piano (i thnk)even if it does sound a bit cheesy 80s. "Get em out by Friday" is great, a highlight for me is the driving bass. "Can utility..." is a highlight of the shoter songs if you ask me and i feel you have overlooked it, the instrumental section is definatly the highlight of the first 4 songs. "Horizons" is a beautiful piece on a par with "mood for a day". "Suppers ready" i remember listening to it for the first time you get so involved with a section you don't want it to end but then the next section comes in and your happy it did, certainly one of the! greatest prog epics. all in all 9.5/10, i don't know why i'm not giving it 10 but it just doesn't feel like a 10. sorry to ramble Eduardo Vazquez Celis neuroqx1@yahoo.com.mx I am a Fan of Genesis since 1974 when I was 12 years old and in that time, in my Country (Mexico), was very difficult to have any record from outside, so we had to looking for in the USA, and when I knew this excellent album I realized that the music of Genesis even now is one of the best music of the world and particularilly Supper's Ready, which could be an excelent Opera Rock, I hope that Genesis know what we love their music and create this Opera Rock with two more The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and Selling England By Th Pound, even more I think that they must join again and make a World Tour, if that occurs certainly I will go to the end of the world for that concerts probably all the World Tour...Sure... dzpenner@hotmail.com easy 10 for me. one of my two or three favorite albums of all time. not a bad moment. also as great as supper's ready is (the best!!!), get em out by friday is easily #2 here, wow it just blows me away every time, the ridiculous lyrics, cheesy (but fitting) synths, gabriels great expression.. wow Michael Quebec SUPPER'S READY ... Breakfast On The Grass (1862) Édouard Manet (see wiki) or in french, Le déjeuner sur l'herbe. A new technology came up in the 1960's, a "black light". With this black light a person and his friends could "see" hidden images within Impressionist paintings such as Édouard Manet's "Breakfast on The Grass". They could see what normal lighting prevented them from seeing. Faces within faces, scenes within scenes, people within people and a combination of just about everything. A certain Peter Gabriel had the ability to write and play musical instruments. With the aid of this "black light", John and his friends embarked on a long and complex project; To put into text their findings and coming up with this; Walking across the sitting-room, (walk-sit creates an "opposite", supper becomes breakfast,) I turn the television off. (turns back time to 1862.) Sitting beside you, I look into your eyes. (to sit, Eugène! Manet on right side.) As the sound of motor cars fades in the night time, (falls appear on the right,) I swear I saw your face change, it didn't seem quite right. ("Biblis Changée En Source" is about to change.) ...And it's hello babe with your guardian eyes so blue (biblis, babe, baby ... all the same) Hey my baby don't you know our love is true. Coming closer with our eyes, a distance falls around our bodies. (use a black light to "see".) Out in the garden, the moon seems very bright, (an "opposite", the sun is bright,) Six saintly shrouded men move across the lawn slowly. (Morisot, Cassatt, Caillebotte, Manet, Monet, Degas choose your painter, they moved slowly, oops they're gone.) The seventh walks in front with a cross held high in hand. (naked woman being Victorine Meurent, with a cross held high in her hand) ...And it's hello babe your supper's waiting for you. (an "opposite", breakfast is ! ready) Hey my baby, don't you know our love is true. ! I've been so far from here, Far from your warm arms. It's good to feel you again, It's been a long long time. Hasn't it? (use a black light for the above.) The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man (for this song, Édouard Manet) I know a farmer who looks after the farm. (the field behind the river) With water clear, he cares for all his harvest. (the river) I know a fireman who looks after the fire. (the smoke above the boat) Can't you see he's fooled you all. (Édouard Manet fooled us) Yes, he's here again, can't you see he's fooled you all. Share his peace, Sign the lease. He's a supersonic scientist, He's the guaranteed eternal sanctuary man. Look, look into my mouth he cries, And all the children lost down many paths, I bet my life you'll walk inside Hand in hand, gland in gland With a spoonful of miracle, He's the guaranteed eternal sanctuary. We will rock you, ro! ck you little snake, We will keep you sad and warm. Ikhnaton And Itsacon And Their Band Of Merry Men (impressionists in Paris) Wearing feelings on our faces while our faces took a rest, (painters paint,) We walked across the fields to see the children of the West, (the new world, the new way, the west,) But we saw a host of dark skinned warriors (naturalist painters) standing still below the ground, Waiting for battle. The fight's begun, they've been released. Killing foe for peace...bang, bang, bang. Bang, bang, bang... (in the 70's Gabriel's bang is cut) And they're giving me a wonderful potion, 'Cos I cannot contain my emotion. And even though I'm feeling good, Something tells me I'd better activate my prayer capsule. (it's Easter Sunday in Le Déjeuner ... ... ...) Today's a day to celebrate, the foe have met their fate. The order for rejoicing and dancing has come from our warl! ord. (Napoléon opens "Le Salon Des Refusers") A young ! figure s its still by a pool, (Biblis Changée En Source, in the water,) He's been stamped "Human Bacon" by some butchery tool. (Her creature, Ferdinand Lennhoff, a sculpturer, a butcher.) (He is you) Social Security took care of this lad. (Lennhoff didn't have a good reputation.) We watch in reverence, as Narcissus is turned to a flower. A flower? Willow Farm If you go down to Willow Farm, to look for butterflies, flutterbyes, gutterflies Open your eyes, it's full of surprise, everyone lies, like the fox on the rocks, and the musical box. (Edouard Manet paints many secret on this work of art) Yes, there's Mum & Dad, and good and bad, and everyone's happy to be here. The frog was a prince, the prince was a brick, the brick was an egg, the egg was a bird. (bottom left: frog, Eugène Manet: prince, Ferdinand Leenhoff: brick, both women: egg and top center: bird.) (Fly away you sweet little thing! , they're hard on your tail) Hadn't you heard? They're going to change you into a human being! Yahoo, we're happy as fish and gorgeous as geese, and wonderfully clean in the morning. We've got everything, we're growing everything, We've got some in We've got some out We've got some wild things floating about Everyone, we're changing everyone, you name them all, We've had them here, And the real stars are still to appear. ALL CHANGE! The transformation of Byblis Changée En Source. All of the above is a fictive story. May never have happened. The Frenchmen gave us Impressionist Paintings, the Englishmen gave us Impressionist Songs. The first in the 1860's, the latter in the 1960's. Peter Gabriel might have given us both of them. Reference : genesis-news.com Paul Vancouver The way this album starts with watcher of the skies and ends with supper's ready might be the best 1-2 punch in genesis' whole catalogue. While I still prefer Selling England by the Pound out of the Gabriel albums this one is growing on me. I might switch the ratings between the two and give this 81/2 and Pound 9.

The Phil Collins sung 'More Fool Me' threatens to break into being a good song, but ultimately fails to do so. The opening 'Dancing With The Moonlit Knight' however is completely the right way to follow up something as stunning and epic as 'Suppers Ready'. Folky, in keeping with the albums concept. Showcasing a fair amount of 'chops' musically. Vocally superlative, and putting poor old Phil into the shade with his early vocal effort that is 'More Fool Me'. Fantastic guitar all throughout 'Dancing With The Moonlit Knight' as well, by the way. Steve Hackett had become central to Genesis desire to be seen alongside the best of the genre that was Progessive Rock. Peter Gabriel dominates though. And, when the mellotron comes in....you've got to wonder where god sent his angels. Indeed! Pretentious comments, i've got em! Just check out that guitar solo though. Two mins fifty seconds, watch out for it. The lyrics to the charting single 'I Know What I Like ( In Your Wardrobe )' to give it its full title, were inspired by the album cover art. Great cover art, but Gabriel being Gabriel ( isn't that the name of an angel? ) saw fit to include a role for everything in the painting, even the lawnmower! I can understand why this was a hit. It's a wonderful song.

The opening to the strangely titled 'Firth Of Fifth' consists of wonderfully played Piano. It moves into a regular Genesis of this era, rock song. The Phil Collins led 'More Fool Me' follows, which although could conceivably be called sweet in places, ultimately lacks melody. 'The Battle Of Epping Forest' is something of an epic. Over eleven minutes long. Both strange and full of musical 'chops' at the same time. Very strange. Blame Mr Peter Gabriel, if you don't like it. 'After The Ordeal' is very necessary to the album as whole. Medieval Piano and guitars open. And, carry on! An instrumental to flow into 'The Cinema Show' which is a fairly mellow, relaxed moment just prior to this records close. The very final 'Aisle Of Plenty' is almost hymn like, in execution. Peter Gabriel sounds lovely throughout. Not the best album in the world, ever. Not exactly. The presence of 'Suppers Ready' on 'Foxtrot' elevates that particular album above this, for me. The rest of this album showcased Genesis continued evolution, and Peter Gabriels continued growing confidence.

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Readers Comments Simon Brigham slb23@shaw.ca Well, when i bought this (about 3 or 4 years ago) i thought it was good, but not great. Since then it has steadily grown on me. "Dancing With the Moonlit Knight" is great, just superb. Damn fine vocals by Peter. Good mellotron. Good guitar. Overall great song. I've not really considered "I know what I like" a 'classic' Genesis song, though everything about it is good. Not great, but good. It just doesn't grab me. Oh well. "Firth of Fifth" is magical and has a great piano intro. Great harmonies by Gabriel and Collins, and wonderful guitar solo by Hackett. Powerful mellotron by Banks. "More Fool Me" should've been left off. Really. I just don't like it one bit. Phil's voice is annoying, the lyrics aren't great, and it disrupts the mood of the album. "The Battle of Epping Forest" is one of my favourite songs on here. Great lyrical puns and plays on words and rhymes and such by Peter. I always thought he was the best lyricist of the bunch from 1970-1974. Everything gels. "After the Ordeal" is possibly, IMHO, the best instrumental they did. Most of this is clearly the work of Steve Hackett. It just sounds Hackett-esque. "The Cinema Show" is one of my favourite songs here. Great vocals, great instrumental part (the last half of it is instrumental), though it goes on just a bit too long. Maybe if they shortened it down by a minute. oh well. it's still great anyway! "Aisle of Plenty" is a great way to close the album. It's melody is the same melody as the begining of "Dancing With the Moonlit Knight". I guess it's sort of like a cycle. This seems to have become rather long, so I'll just end it here. If you are just venturing into the 1970-1974 Peter Gabriel Genesis, I think this is the best album to get first. sebastian sebastian.mastropiero@gmail.com After The Ordeal. First, I wouldn't talk about a medieval song, I'd rather say that is a straight but complex song that developes a reflexion melody, and I certainly believe that you need a lot of ability and knowledge to do something like that, I think is one of the greatest songs with others like firth of fifth, or dancing with the moonlit knight, fountain of salmacis, the knife, the musical box, the Lamia, Anyway, Watcher of the skies... etc lukas hirsch lukashirsch@gmail.com Well I am not from the 70's but I like a lot the genesis music. I think that Firth of fifth actually raises this album with no doubt over Foxtrot, even so Supper's ready is a great song, but I give more importance to songs like Dancing with the Moonlit knight, Cinema show and Firth of fifth. I think too of Phill collins as a great drummer, and specially in live shows. markus melcher markusmala@tele2.fr One of my old favourite, I didn't knew Genesis before it was in early 80' but at the time I had this lost tape, with a bit of "Firth of fifth" - I was learning the piano, had stopped with lessons, but had this wonderful intro, I just heaten this tape to crash to try to play this correctly enough - not to bad at the end, but I can assure everybody, it was hard. I discovered the rest of the album later, and I just realized how much I missed. My preferences goes like this - Firth of fifth, after the ordeal (Lovely Medieval - Very hackett style), cinema show (with this tremendous keyboard solo) and Dancing with a moonlit knight (Very various and English I think - but i'm definitely not) battle of epping forest was more strange and to much for me - but now after the time i must admit that it's looking like a real musical battle beetween Gabriel's voices and the rest of the band, but I must confess this Idea I could have read it somewhere. I like all in all this feeling a! nd balance - the rythmical part variations are so complex as the lot of tonality changes - the best in Selling england by the pound is this mix beetween accoustic and electric sounds - that stays very soft and subtle in the gains, and always this strangeitudes everywhere that when i listen brings your minds somewhere in the sureality. I was just not so found of songs like "I know what i like" the official hit of the album, or "more fool me" where we can guess the bright future of phil collins like a pop-star, but this all makes this master album various and historically unavoidable. Sean Umphlet sean.umphlet@gmail.com A 10. Maybe a 9 1/2 if you want to really complain about the small amount of boredom of the second half. Which I don't find... really, they eliminated alot of the boredom we found on Trespass, Nursery Cryme, and Foxtrot. I love everything from "Dancing With The Moonlit Night" to "The Battle of Epping Forest". After that, it's not bad, but "Cinema Show" and the other two short songs have their dull spots. "Dancing" and "I Know What I Like" are my two favorite Genesis songs ever though. "Firth of Fifth" has that awesome guitar solo (which I don't even see in mentioned in your review!), and I can't help but love "More Fool Me". It's quiet, simple, has a nice melody. Best acoustic guitar work Genesis did, IMO. Phil did a great job with it. Probably the best prog rock album ever in my opinion... second would probably be Yes' Fragile or King Crimson's first record. Peace. Killing Time retro_tull@yahoo.com I love the way this music transports me to those magical medieval places. I think the album is brilliantly focused. Maybe there are two or three moments that seem to be out of place, but I can forgive that and give this a 10.

Peter Gabriel actually already had very nearly left Genesis, with the idea of being a scriptwriter, but was persuaded to rejoin to continue work with the band when his initial plans didn't work out. 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' did end up being his final venture for the group anyway, with Peter leaving after completing the touring cycle in support of the album, a concept album, no less! The concept? Well, it's a story of sorts, although not a story that's easy to grasp or make a good deal of sense of. The story tells us of the life of Rael, a Puerto Rican youth who lives somewhere on the streets of New York City. As the album and story progresses, various emotional and often surreal things appear to happen to, and around, him. That's the gist of it anyway, and this was Gabriel's original concept, his idea and story. The song-writing sessions for this album saw Peter take a greater role. He wrote all of the lyrical content and appears to have been the dominate creative force, although, all of the musical parts were co-written by the rest of the group, primarily Banks and Rutherford. 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' may well be a double concept album, but it's by no means a typical progressive rock album, either in sound, length of songs, or even a typical album of the era ( early to mid seventies ) for Genesis themselves. The progressive rock Genesis is said by many to have peaked either with 'Suppers Ready' or with the entire 'Selling England By The Pound' record. These earlier Genesis records had plenty of impressive and noticeable guitar parts. Come 'The Lamb Lies Down...' not only do the guitars play a far less prominent role, but during an album that has over twenty individual tracks and songs, only a couple top six minutes in length. The sound here is very modern and the production clever and astute, with Brian Eno receiving thanks for "Enossification" along the way. Several of the songs here just have such a great deal of atmosphere, a relaxed kind of flow to them - but not a sleepy kind of boring flow, rather a good deal of extra subtle detail. The gorgeous 'Carpet Crawlers' for one has such a nice bass sound amid the gently tinkling keyboards that the whole thing is just as captivating or attention grabbing as any super-complex or particularly fast impressive playing.

There appears to be no central song here. Other Genesis albums ( bar 'Selling England' perhaps? ) were tales of highs and lows, highlights such as 'Suppers Ready' and 'Watcher Of The Skies' and then, a bunch of 'other' songs. Of course, there's filler here, but the good material is in such plentiful supply that it doesn't really matter. There are definitely highlights here but the album, helped by the concept actually, whether you understand it or not - demands to be listened to from start to finish. It's a long album but it does work best as 'an album' rather than a bunch of songs you may happen to 'dip into' from time to time. So, highlights! Well, the opening title song which introduces 'Rael' gets things started most attractively. No major departure here from past Genesis - the song has an energy to it and great Gabriel 'acting' vocal parts, all sorts of vocal voices. Great lyrics are a feature of 'Fly On The Windshield', 'Broadway Melody of 1974' is a very un-prog 33 seconds long and then we hit 'Cuckoo Cocoon'. An absolutely beautiful quiet song with top-notch Gabriel word-play. Maybe i've not mentioned it before, but Peter Gabriel has such a natural way with rhymes. His rhymes are worth listening to in themselves, from a poetic viewpoint. His use of language generally is very poetic. He's often very surreal of course, especially across this albums length - but that helps in his case. It's not like he tells 'jokes' or anything, but there's lots of playful humour or grin inducing use of rhymes and language. Peter Gabriel as a lyricist is at the top of his game for this album. You may very well not know what it means and you may very well have a hard time making any kind of linear or literal sense of the story, but that's to take it all a bit too seriously. This isn't 'Tales From Topographical Oceans' by Yes, whereby Jon Anderson as good as went around claiming they'd written some kind of musical version of the bible!

'Counting Out Time' rocks, sounds a little more usual progressive with its use of guitar and keyboards, but this is very good. 'The Carpet Crawlers' is stone cold gorgeous - play it to somebody who isn't familiar with either this album, or Gabriel period Genesis in general, and ask them to guess who they think the artist is. Very few will guess Genesis. Oh, god, 'Carpet Crawlers' is so very special, I adore the harmonies, adore the chorus with it's 'You've got to get, to get out' hook, so beautifully sang. 'The Carpet Crawlers' sounds very modern, production wise. If Radiohead released such a song tomorrow, nobody would think it was dated, let's put it that way. 'The Chamber Of 32 Doors' is a great way to close the first disc ( if listening on CD ) or the second side ( if listening on vinyl ) with plenty to admire, great washes of keyboard sounds, deliberate drums - then Gabriel and a bouncy atmosphere, then a different atmosphere - a song in sections without being ten minutes long. It manages to display and evoke many moods and feels within five minutes and forty seconds, very impressive indeed. 'Lilywhite Lilith' could have been a hit single for my money, if 'I Know What I Like' from 'Selling England' managed such a feat. The second half of this album actually isn't quite as good as the first, a few more experimental pieces enter the equation such as the strange tinkling, noises and beeping of 'The Waiting Room'. Still, overall 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' manages to contain these songs very well. They play a part - although you wouldn't be likely to stick the album on, programme a few songs only - and choose 'The Waiting Room' as one of them! 'The Supernatural Anaesthetist' gave Hackett something to do with his decently enjoyable solo that runs right through the centre of the song, 'The Lamia' is piano led and quite beautiful too. The three part 'Colony Of Slippermen' sounds like music from a cheap BBC sci-fi series intially. Still, Gabriel enters with great, glorious lyrics and 'Colony Of Slippermen' not only gave Gabriel the chance to wear a truly gruesome costume during concert performances, but also manages to contain many neat Genesis musical parts along the way.

The closing 'It' is decent, with speedy yet simple playing, still managing to be accomplished playing - but not especially sounding like Genesis did in the years prior to this album. The likes of 'Colony Of Slippermen' sounds like more usual Genesis fare, as do a few other songs here, but it's all been mixed in with other material that displays definite signs of new musical directions. Thing is, Gabriel's departing the band ended this direction. Genesis carried on minus Gabriel, intially via two steps back, one step forwards - but forget that for a moment. 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' is an album that's more than the sum of its individual parts. It's an album that's arguably Peter Gabriels' finest hour - and most likely Genesis finest hour, too. It stands on it's own. It links with both past and ( then ) future Genesis, but doesn't really come across as being like anything else they've ever done. It's a captivating creature, an album that's very human, even with much surreal lyrical imagery. I didn't quite know how to rate this in terms of a 1-10, were it not for the fact I now find myself reaching for this more than any other Genesis album. 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' really has something. I can't define what that something is, but it definitely has something, that everybody should listen to. <

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Simon Brigham slb23@shaw.ca Hey. Great to see this album up. I bought it . . . oh, it be 2 or 3 years ago now. I find I listen to it less than I did when I first got it, though. IMHO, this is one of the VERY few double albums that has no filler on it. Some people may say that the instrumentals like "Hairless Heart" could've been cut, but I think it all makes the tapestry that is The Lamb Lays Down on Broadway. (or a piece in the puzzle, or a square in the quilt, whatever floats your boat). IMHO along with the end of "Supper's Ready" (on Foxtrot), this has got the most emotional ending of all Genesis records ("In the Rapids" and "It"). Favourite songs: "The Lamb Lays Down on Broadway", "Fly on the Windshield", "In The Cage", "Back in N.Y.C.", "Counting out Time", "Carpet Crawlers", "Anyway", "Here Comes the Supernatural Anaesthetist", "The Lamia", "The Colony of Slippermen", "In the Rapids", "It". Dan Kazimierow paulkazi@hotmail.com This album is just incredible! I saw your review on the monday, bought the album in a sale on the Tuesday and was still listening to it a month later. The scope of this album is breathtaking; it really is a magical, musical journey which should be listened to in the dark in order for the listener to fully immerse themselves in the music. Peter Gabriel is in fine form both vocally and lyrically, whilst the pastoral, sometimes twee acoustic elements of Steve Hackett's guitar work are replaced by a rawer sound, fitting the darker tone of this album. The various instrumentals add to albums dynamics as a whole, whilst highlights such as 'Lilywhite Lilith', 'Counting Out Time' and the title track proves that Genesis can do more concise 'pop' songs without sacrificing any of their artistic integrity. Surely, 9 and a half is too stingy! Michael Zeigermann michael.z@dial.pipex.com Like most of your reviews, this is one I totally agree with. Lamb Lies Down is one of the most underrated albums in history. Lars Messing paverka@telia.com For those who have not yet dicovered one of the true masterpieces in music history one can only feel sorry. Got the classic album some 27 years ago and still find new fantastic stuff in that epic musical world that always has been – and always will be – quite unique. As sure as eggs are eggs. markus melcher markusmala@tele2.fr Maybe I heard it somewhere but I agreed, this one is maybe one of the largest piece of Prog-rock in the Seventies - 1974 exactly (23 titles and not really so short ones - apart of some transitions). If you dared to listen at it all, you will understand. It was a time with not so much medias like video, pc games, clips and visual entertainement but anyway this album somehow brought a bit of it without these new tools or toys. And still without these eye and mind dimension, the tremendous big psychic story, brought mainly by peter Gabriel - you have to sit a while and listen carefully like to another great classical concerto or opéra, not to miss the subtle and the richness of it all. I must confess I don't like everything, like some songs as "Broadway melody..., the grand Parade..., Back in N.Y.C" or "the Waiting room" this last one sounds to much as some sort of avant-garde improvisation even if there is something funny in that. But nearby you ! have true Gems musically like "in the Cage, Carpet Crawler (the hauting melody), The chamber of 32 doors (my best dramatic song to make and End to a tape mix at these times), Lily white lilith (Syncopated rythms und nice mellotron underlay with some real punch)" and some truly piano inspired song (from Tony Banks?) like "Anyway" and "the Lamia" (I love these arpeggio motion turning around containing always some mysterious harmonies). And then comes the super fast epic synth solo's in "the colony of Slippermen" and "riding the Scree" without forgetting "in the Cage" using this old ARP soloist gear, and guess what ? this exactly same kind of sound and the same tool showed up very later (I mean these years) in the first Album from Keane in 2003 - not using the same virtuosity than Tony banks though - it's like the guy have had listen carefully to the lamb somewhere or was it just Chance (to say radically that Keane is a "Genesis influenced band" there is one more step, bec! ause of the presence of the piano everywhere maybe... but Gene! sis cont ains somewhere a lot of Hammond organ too)- but funny enough I hope to be mentionned. With "It" it's more in the text that peter plays with these to letters who fills everyword in the lyrics, but this is not so easy to notice without a closer hear. At last and not least my all time little favourite was - a transition instrumental called "Hairless Heart", this one is typically the kind of Genesis-Banks&Hackett instrumentals with a strong baroque, medieval mood and here a big level contrast that always suprised me, as this melody line that haunted me so long at this time. Maybe it was one of these who decided me to begin some serious music lessons, and it happened. But Sadly you can feel more than ever here and there the gap growing beetween peter and the band, it was too much creation and work in a bad time of the century, thanks anyway that it stays - it's just an kind of fiction vision of a society in time, that you have made a shoot still. I! wanted just to make a last thanks to Genesis here, who helped me by these album's to improve somewhere my (Bad?) english at that time, becaus'it's really not my mother language, so it helped me a lot and I would advise some teacher to use these kind of extraordinary lyrics for using in their programs, these one really can blow the minds. So if you have the chance to have this Album under your fingers, try to listen to it again in the whole if you dare, and maybe you will discover a lot of hidden fine treasures. "The Lamb" is a work who deserved to end like "the Wall" from Pink Floyd, but perhaps it was to early. Sorry I wrote and wrote, so I will now to let some space and time for the other visitors. So all the best for everyone. Lateraliner23 For me personally, this album is the epitome of progressive rock. Actually, "Relayer" by Yes gets the same honor, but nothing comes close to perfection like "The Lamb..." does. The instrumentals (notably 'Hairless Heart' and 'Riding the Scree') are intoxicating and the overall ambient-like atmosphere of the album is perfect foil for Peter Gabriel's cryptic lyrics. Oh and Steve Hackett's solo on 'The Supernatural Anestheist' kicks ass. It could take me years to figure out the story behind this album, but then again thats what makes "The Lamb..." such a great album right? a 15/10 for me (if it were possible to rate over the limit).

The groups first post Peter Gabriel album was written by the remaining members of the group with little idea as to who would actually sing these new songs. They did hold auditions - the auditions led by one Phil Collins, interestingly, but the whole band eventually agreed. Phil could sing better than any of the guys who had auditioned, so why not? Well, a singing drummer isn't exactly fashionable, but since when were Genesis ever fashionable anyway? A fine set of songs this, though. Tony Banks seems to have had a large hand in the song-writing, collaborating with all the other guys in various combinations. Phil only actually has two writing credits on this record - his influence in that department would increase in subsequent years however. Who cares who wrote what anyway when something as fine as 'Dance On A Volcano' opens the record? Classic, prime Genesis and superbly played. Phil's vocals sound very Peter Gabriel here although not quite as prominent in the mix as i'm sure Peter Gabriels would have been. It works though and pushes the focus onto the music, which is as i've said, superbly played and very intoxicating. 'Entangled' is quite sweet! Well, its six minutes long but yeah, it's still quite sweet. It didn't exactly need to be such a length, but there you go. The way 'Squonk' opens almost moves you forward in time to Genesis 1981 'Abacab' record. Real drums here though - Phil sounds impossibly impenetrable, a weak vocal I suspect, although he does try. This really is a musical album though. Again, this is fabulous music - melodic and always interesting. The vocals may be weak, well, weak compared to Gabriel but the music is so good the vocals really don't detract at all. 'Squonk'. A fine song.

'Mad Man Moon' has some nice mellow parts to it and a string section as well. It's drifting music, dreamy music to sleep to. I mean that as a compliment by the way. It can be so nice to put on something relaxing every once in a while. This 'A Trick Of The Tail' record is very easy to listen to in that way but still contains twists, turns and impeccably played music. 'Robbery, Assault And Battery' isn't so hot. It almost tries to be funky, the lyrics are terrible. The music is still well played, lots of twiddly keyboard parts in the middle section especially! 'Ripples' is a little too sleepy until suddenly Mr Collins turns in a wonderful vocal section to end the song. 'Ripples' is worth its place here for the ending alone. The title song is happy and so fine melodically. Not exactly a pop song - no more so than certain Genesis songs of the past anyway. Well, the shorter songs! It's a highlight here and it makes me smile. The closing song hits a little harder musically, well, by that I mean it's louder! Might wake you up if you were happily drifiting off with a smile on your face. It's not exactly a focused song however, nothing much of a composition at all and seems very jam based in nature. The playing is good though. Well, but of course!

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Readers Comments Simon Brigham slb23@shaw.ca This is hands down the best Phil Collins Genesis album I own. I fully agree with you - once again :) markus melcher markusmala@tele2.fr I once used to fall in love with genesis, and this album helps me to do so, it happened by the time of Abacab..., but i was looking of something more subtle at that time so it was my first Genesis Vinyl record, very nice sleeve as the music full of fairy tales. I used to play the piano and keyboards, so I first enjoyed a lot songs like "Mad man moon" like a little classical-folk prog mood, or the little funny jumps in "A trick of the tail" and some spacy weird sounds. Strange clav-pianet sounds on "robbery, assault and Battery" still love this kind of simple humour, but nice keyboard solos. Like the wonderful middle part of "Ripples", I'd always loved this cross classic-rock approach. Some more moving titles like "Dance on the Volcano" or "Los Endos" have typically something classical in progressiv and furious and bizarre in the same time. So much in the rythmic signature or changes than in the sound choices. All in all this album contains always very nice accous! tic ballads (wonderful 12 strings Guitars - Entangled, ripples) like we could notice in all old Genesis material from Trespass so something was still enduring from their great past. d-cat slb23@shaw.ca Ripples is much more than dreamy. Did you bother with the lyrics? This intensely beautiful and sad song is one of my favorites of all G songs. PG was and is a master of the Genesis genre. It just seems that alot of Genesis fans have a difficult time being objective about the incredible music created after his departure. Give Trick another listen. Gensis moved on. Maybe Genesis fans should too.

Genesis are still very much in progressive rock mode here, although with changes, or evolution, when compared to their previous material. The genre demanded, you aren't meant to sit or stand still churning out the same old same old for years and years and years. The evolution in the group becomes apparent when the keyboard sound of Tony Banks appears to be absolutely everywhere, clearly the dominant instrumentation. 'Wind And Wuthering' is a strange beast actually, full of interesting things through the opening 'Eleventh Earl Of Mar' especially. Leading upto the three minute mark, a thumping rhythm section combine with the synths of Tony Banks and 80's Genesis find themselves slap bang in the middle of a 70's Genesis progressive rock song. 'Eleventh Earl Of Mar' doesn't appear to have any clear purpose, although its various sections combine well enough and it does manage to provide an impressive, classic enough, Genesis opener. A nine minute plus song follows a seven minute plus song, that's your opening two songs. Genesis still clearly locked into the progressive rock movement even with changes in sound. 'One For The Vine' does sport rather attractive actually Collins vocals amongst the washes of synths and the increasingly noticeable drums that Genesis records were displaying around about this time in history. Still, 'One For The Vine' is clearly silly, preposterous and daft - especially when the mellow nature of the tune turns all funky disco around the five minute mark. Prog-rock disco, here we go!

Ah, the album gets, quite frankly, boring. And, by the way. With all these mentions of synths, keyboards and Phil Collins, you may be wondering what Steve Hackett, the guitar player - was doing in the group around about this time. Well, not much, by the sounds of this album, hence his departure from the group shortly afterwards. 'Wot Gorilla?' follows the overblown and dreary balladeering of 'Your Own Special Way' and opens with a drum showcase. Well, it would do, wouldn't it? The synths come in, the energy is there, we're still speaking 70's Genesis here. I dunno, the synths get more and more overwhelming as the album progresses. They get on your nerves, quite frankly, being as they are, the dominant instrument through every single song. Every single one. 'All In A Mouse's Night' is enjoyable however, I can imagine Peter Gabriel being happy to sing this. I wish he was singing it, Phils vocals are kind of weak here, although he does try - he tries. But, he's in surrogate Gabriel mode, yet to find his own voice. His own voice would arrive later. As for the rest of this album, the second to last song is pretty good, very twisty and turning and exciting - good group interplay.

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Readers Comments Simon Brigham slb23@shaw.ca Definetly not as good as TRICK OF THE TAIL, but still good. Best songs: "Eleventh Earl of Mar", "Blood On the Rooftops", "Unquiet Slumber for the sleepers . . . in that quiet earth", "Afterglow". 6 out of 10. TIm timjackson05@gmail.com Great album! Yes it is much like earlier Genesis but whats wrong with that? The production is better, Hackett's guitar is in there but you have to listen for it. I'm biased I'm a keyboards player, but I love this album! Phil pisspot@hotmail.com this is the second best genesis album, second to selling england. i've agreed with you so far up until this album. it is compositionally supreme, and even though the keyboards are annoyingly prominent, hackett has a much bigger role and compositional input into this album than he does in a trick of the tail. he's there loud and clear on every song. on trick of the tail there's at least two songs he does next to nothing on. Sean Umphlet sean.umphlet@gmail.com A 4 from me. This album is crawling with disgusting Banksynths, and barely a Hackett guitar in sight. "One For The Vine" is atrocious. Pretentious, meaningless lyrics, and a riduculous melody... although I admit the energetic part in the middle is decent. The instrumentals are deadly stupid and go-nowhere boring. The only three songs I like on here are "Blood On The Rooftops", "Eleventh Earl", and "Your Own Special Way." With "Special Way" being my favorite. What can I say? The lyrics are touching, and the chorus is nice and unforgettable. Joe UK I disagree completely. To suggest that 'We Can't Dance' is a better album than W&W is shocking. One For The Vine is a masterpiece, an epic. Eleventh Earl Of Mar and All In A Mouse's Night are also very cleverly written. And afterglw is just...la creme de la creme de la creme! Although this is a great album, however, my personal favourite is Selling England By The Pound. Cinema Show is my all time favourite song. After Wind and Wuthering Genesis no longer were anything special. Just another one of those 80s pop bands. I am 15 and when I mention Genesis to my mates they disown me, thinking that I am referring to the 80s pop band. In fact, up to and including Wind and Wuthering, Genesis were an awesome band. PaulVancouver I have just gave this one a serious listen for the first time. Curious because I do like both sides of Genesis from the progressive Peter Gabriel era to the pop Phil Collins led trio. Generally poor to lukewarm reviews, not just from this site led me to passing it over. So what do I find in here? Interesting enough, it's a pretty good record. It stays pretty much in the prog mode of A Trick of the Tail which isn't a bad thing. Keyboards do rule the day, but it makes for a nice mellow offering. It is something more to put on at bedtime I guess. When Hackett does go off, he is great, perhaps the most under-rated guitarist ever. Highlights include Eleventh Earl of Mar, One for the Vine, and Blood on the Rooftops. Even Your Own Special Way, when put into the concept of the album is not bad (It's definitely not my fav though). Afterglow is great too and it's legacy in place as one of the few songs from that era that Genesis still performs to this day. Overa! ll an enjoyable listen. Not perfect, but worth a little more than 6&1/2. I'd give it a 7&1/2 at least.

Onwards, and ever onwards we go. Steve Hackett had left now, not that you'd notice any real difference in the sound of this album and the previous one in guitar terms, so light on guitars was 'Wind And Wuthering' anyway. Still, 'Down And Out' opens and we're still prog Genesis. Phil sounds more confident though, maybe. He was continuing to grow into his new role within the group. The departure of one more member, leaving just Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks and Phil himself, was obviously going to place more focus on Phil's contributions to the group. Not that he was leading the artistic direction as of yet, although with a song like 'Follow You, Follow Me' arriving to close the album - and sounding like it's been performed by a different band altogether - Phil was clearing starting to exert himself. Interestingly, 'Follow You, Follow Me' is a song that sounds more Peter Gabriel solo than it does the classic sound of Genesis. Phil was paying attention to what Peter was upto in the studio and on record and brought his observations back into Genesis. Anyway, 'Down And Out' is okay, 'Follow You Follow Me' is okay, a good pop song. The rest of this album is awfully difficult to listen to. Strained vocals, harsh, overbearing synth sounds. Genesis don't quite seem to know what the hell they are doing, post gabriel and now post Hackett.

'And Then There Were Three' lacks any kind of unifying direction, some songs display the 'to come' 80's Genesis, some are locked into progressive mode - but neither direction convinces, both are poor and/or tentative. 'Snowband' is an easy listening ballad before exploding into overly loud synths and Phil's voice sounding very thin as he raises his vocals trying to keep up with it all. Ah, I can't even think of anything real to say about this record, except that it's clear it hardly qualifies as amongst Genesis best work. This album is notable for 'Follow You, Follow Me' only - the sound of Genesis to come, a nice pop song and far more pleasing than the rest of this confused mess.

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Readers Comments Simon Brigham slb23@shaw.ca This is IMHO the worst Phil Collins-era album. Cool cover, though. markus melcher markusmala@tele2.fr this was one of my favourite becaus I just had it before some other great album, so if you look back it's maybe one of the best - but it's only like - I don't now exactly why , but i like it.... I liked all this keyboard sounds, who sounded rich and interesting at that time and a little further on - a lot of composition here are from tony Banks and I think they were at best very well played by the best players that he could get - Genesis alias phil collins and Mike Rutherford trying himself on more solo guitar parts. I like some special compos like "Burning rope","Lady lies" and "Many too many" the middle part of "down in the motherload" that contains a lot of chromatic and nice harmonies as well as very nice synth solos (for people who like this kind of mood and sounds) - or "Say it's alright joe" with a more jazzy feeling, everywhere you can still notice some brutal changes of speed, mood, contrast they alway had before - but this time sadly without the presence ! of Steve Hackett. On this album I can feel something like it was easy to make even for complexity, as the very high musicianship from these guys (A very long path of hard work and hundreds of concerts everywhere). All the songs are shortened to make a step to more popular areas - this is evident and "follow me follow you" have reach this task afterall. Something problematic in the sound production happened they let something like - to much overlaps and kind of bad reverberations - to let these tracks rings as they should - this would have given to this album a lot of more credits to everyone. Garry Wright garryfwright@blueyonder.co.uk I love this album. I Still listen to it today. I have listened to Genesis since the late 70`s. I hated this work at first. But now I find it very addictive. A brilliant album. Full of irony .. just like jazz. For the true connesieur. Garf gbrisk@bloomberg.net Stick this album on your iPod. Delete the awful "Balad of Big" and "Scenes From A Night's Dream" and the remaining album takes on a much better feel. Rob Henman This album for me is the best Genesis album. It was a positive move away from the sometimes brilliant but often confusing music of prog rock genesis. I bought this album in 1983 after I heard the Knebworth 78 concert on the radio. I loved Phil Collins voice on this and Banks keyboard.For me Genesis were getting better. RIP Gabriel

I'll start off by being honest with you all. I do not own a single Genesis album. ( see reviews above! I’ve bought some now! ) I'm reviewing this because I’ve suddenly gained access to somebody else's record collection. I have all week, every week ( apart from weekends ) to run albums past myself I wouldn't have thought of buying otherwise. I remember the 80's stadium rock hits of Genesis. The is the first ever Genesis album I’ve sat down and listened to from beginning to end. I've never heard any of their seventies, more progressive rock material. The opening song here 'Behind The Lines' which flows into 'Duchess' is pretty entertaining though. Great washes of keyboards, tight playing. Nothing offensive at all here. Really rather pleasant. 'Guide Vocal' is short, a much softer moment and adds variety. It is needed because we launch into 'Man Of Our Times'. The drums and keyboards are everywhere again. You can tell they've come from a progressive rock background but the 80's hits making years also beckon. I'm not sure it's a song I’d sit down and listen to again and again. I think it's quite funny actually. Phil Collins vocal on this seems buried beneath the mix as the drums whack away and the keyboards do all sorts of things melodically. It drags on though. 'Misunderstanding' and of course 'Turn It On Again' fully display the pop Genesis to come. 'Misunderstanding' works well and sounds nothing like the four songs preceding it on the record. You can still hear the drums and keyboards of course. Are there any other instruments on this album?? Ah yes! There goes a bass guitar! 'Turn It On Again' I’ve always liked actually. A group composition and good vocals too. It works well. Its a pop song and I’m glad that it is. It sounds very eighties of course but then, The Beatles sound very sixties. And, nobody complains too much about that. Ok, ok! Many people do prefer the Sixties era to the early Eighties era with perhaps some justification. Myself included. Doesn't mean somebody should be shot though. You know, it was the eighties! What is it meant to sound like exactly? Dub reggae?

'Alone Tonight' annoys the hell out of me. A Rutherford composition. A slow song, a soaring ballad that simply sounds too mawkish. 'Cul-De-Sac' and 'Please Don't Ask' are more mid-tempo pleasant but hardly too affecting pop rock songs. There is nothing to hold onto, really. Nothing to get offended by either but simply not cutting enough. Very middle of the road, actually. 'Dukes Travels' builds up quietly, the drums kick in. It goes on for many minutes. A prog instrumental though the singing does come in later on. It tries the patience to be honest with you, and as this really isn't much of a 'prog' album overall just seems rather out of place. It gives the album it's title of course and seems the centrepiece of the whole thing. There was certainly a split at this point. A transitional album. And it's ok. And that is all.

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Readers Comments John Nicholson Bedford OK album. Heathaze is far and away my favourite post-Peter Gabriel Genesis song. Worth it for this song alone.

'Duke' had become Genesis first UK chart topper. 'Abacab' followed it to the top spot and also hit the top ten in the lucrative US market. Chart info out of the way - let's talk about the title track! An utterly contemporary ( for the time ) pounding electro beat, great bass, melodic and thrilling keyboards. From the off, the whole thing just pounds! And, in a rather strange occurrence, Phil Collins turns in a superlative vocal performance! Really life-affirming, a thrilling song to open and I’ve not even mentioned the extended instrumental passage. So, with high hopes and a breathless grin, you wait for 'No Reply At All' to begin. Now, this sounds very dated in a way the title song overcomes by sheer virtue of its inventiveness. 'No Reply At All' is best characterised as pleasantly melodic. Mr Collins returns to his usual level of competence vocally and all is reasonably unremarkable - save a nice Piano break during the latter part of the song. 'Me And Sarah Jane' is hardly enjoyable vocally, Phil sounds strained here in places. The overall song though is pretty good! Weird rhythms bordering on reggae in places and keyboard that do all sorts of interesting things. Musically, this is great! And then? 'Keep It Dark' reprises the electro sound of the title song though its a lot more lightweight in terms of hooks and thrills and rather tails off, sadly so. 'Dodo' once again sounds a lot stranger than you imagine an eighties Genesis song to sound. Weird bass rhythms bordering on funk in places! Good interplay between the keyboards and bass here.

This is actually a very playful album all round. Much experimentation with the new eighties technology and sounds. 'Lurker' which segues from 'Dodo' is forgettable though and 'Who Dunnit?' I don't understand at all. A lot of messing around with effects on everything and it almost sounds like electronic pioneers Art Of Noise! Its very throwaway ultimately, and hardly a highpoint. 'Man In The Corner' is a lot more straightforward - a mid paced ballad, rather tragic but for the interesting synth lines and stupidly plastic sounding drums. Great washes of keyboards open 'Like It Or Not' and the tempo drops ever further. Any hopes of another 'Abacab' are sinking fast at this stage. 'Like It Or Not' develops into the overblown Mid-Eighties Genesis we all know only too well. A sign of things to come, it lacks subtly. The closing 'Another Record' has jerky rhythms, sounds slightly clumsy initially. But ultimately proves strangely durable. A breakthrough of sorts, this album. It's pretty entertaining in places but too inconsistent to be considered a great piece of work on the whole. Still, it really does have some fun moments so deserves a listen and at least some of your attention.

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There are a couple of theories doing the rounds. One, that post Gabriel Genesis weren't any good. Now, that's certainly not wholly true. Check out 'Trick Of The Tail' or even 'Abacab' for evidence. The second theory involves Phil Collins himself. That Phil Collins, is in fact, Satan. Now, there are many millions throughout this world who can't stand Phil Collins despite his fairly respectable position within the music industry. There are many millions who feel that Phil Collins is Satan, that he is evil and should be hung at dawn, preferably with them in attendance. Just because he released 'But Seriously'? Or helped write 'We Can't Dance'? That's a preposterous notion. Phil is by all accounts a nice guy and besides, he helped post Gabriel Genesis create several fine albums, so he really can't be all bad. BUT! There is evidence for the Satan theorists here! During the opening song, 'Mama' which includes a drum loop and much experimentation ( inspired by work Collins did on a Peter Gabriel session ) there is a point where Mr Collins lets out a purely demonic satanic laugh. A-ha! Well, there you are. It is scary. Well, it scares me, anyway. Good song though. It's stood the test of time and has a haunting keyboard sound running through it and good use of dynamics. Phil turns in a fine vocal performance too. This was a huge selling album, by the way. Massive, Genesis were now truly in their commercial pomp and even more so a few years later when the ridiculously massive 'Invisible Touch' album was released. It's not wholly clear why except that this is a fine, accomplished record containing lots of decent melodies. Take 'That's All'. Nothing offensive there. It's quite cheery and jaunty. 'Home By The Sea' sounds more dated that either of the first two songs down to the keyboard and drum sound. That eighties sound, sleek synth lines and electronic sounding drums. It's still a decent song though, and once more, Phil turns in a fine vocal performance. He's in great vocal form throughout this record, actually.

'Second Home By The Sea' may have been a nod to their Prog past in terms of structure. It sounds like a theme to a TV show but it's so Eighties it hurts. 'Illegal Alien' is another commercial moment, thankfully more straightforward after the strange and unsuccesfull 'Second Home By The Sea'. 'Taking It All Too Hard' is a little too smooth, bordering on bland. 'Just A Job To Do' has ridiculous little funk bass parts that due to the eighties production sounds almost unlistenable today. A decent pace to the song though. Very up-tempo and full of energy so maybe its not too bad actually if i'm going to try to be fair. 'Silver Rainbow' is quite nice! Pretty sweet and Phil sounds okay here too. 'It's Gonna Get Better' is a fairly dull ending although very accomplished within what it's trying to acheive. It's hardly an ambitious song - just something that's best described as pleasant but unremarkable. So, what does all 'Genesis' album amount to? Some good songs? Yeah. Some forgettable filler? Yes. It's probably on a par with 'Abacab' for me overall. The good songs are good enough to earn your respect. The lesser material isn't offensive although it's borderline in places. It's certainly a listenable album and if you enjoyed 'Abacab' or 'Duke' you'll enjoy this as well.

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Readers Comments Oleg Sobolev dima@aspol.ru I don't understand why people hate Phil Collins. C'mon! He's a funny little fat fella writing good (yeah, good, but that's seems just me who likes Phil's music) pop songs! He's not Satan at all. Satan satan666@beelzebub.hell I resent the implication that I am a rotund founder of adult contemporary with only a modicum of talent to speak of. Please withdraw your libelous allegations or I'll be forced to send my elite cadre of lawyers after you. Franck Bizouard franckb692000@yahoo.fr Let's be honest, I'm Genesis and Phil's big fan, but I don't like all their stuff, but if there are millions that approve Satan's theory, there are so many more millions who love Phil, and appreciate that he's a fantastic musician, drummer, composer, singer and most of all good and nice guy, so why do those many millions find him satanic...it's pure jealousy....let's face it.

Do you like Phil Collins? I've been a big Genesis fan ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke. Before that, I really didn't understand any of their work. Too artsy, too intellectual. It was on Duke where Phil Collins' presence became more apparent. I think "Invisible Touch" was the group's undisputed masterpiece. It's an epic meditation on intangibility. At the same time, it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding three albums. Christy, take off your robe. Listen to the brilliant ensemble playing of Banks, Collins and Rutherford. You can practically hear every nuance of every instrument. Sabrina, remove your dress. In terms of lyrical craftsmanship, the sheer songwriting, this album hits a new peak of professionalism. Sabrina, why don't you dance a little. Take the lyrics to "Land of Confusion." In this song, Phil Collins addresses the problems of abusive political authority. "In Too Deep" is the most moving pop song of the 1980s, about monogamy and commitment. The song is extremely uplifting. Their lyrics are as positive and affirmative as anything I've heard in rock. Christy, get down on your knees so Sabrina can see your ass. Phil Collins' solo career seems to be more commercial and therefore more satisfying, in a narrower way. Especially songs like "In the Air Tonight" and "Against All Odds." Sabrina, don't just stare at it, eat it. But I also think Phil Collins works best within the confines of the group, than as a solo artist, and I stress the word artist. This is "Sussudio," a great, great song, a personal favorite.

Genesis massive mid-eighties hit making years made them an easy target within the hipper rock circles than the circles Genesis were now appealing to. Old time Genesis prog-fans became increasingly dismayed by the groups move towards pure pop, as enjoyed by radio and mtv programmers everywhere. The impetus for 'Invisible Touch' appeared to be the massive solo success enjoyed by Phil Collins in particular. The final singles Genesis released in 1983 struggled to match the transatlantic chart topping feats of Phil solo. 'Invisible Touch' came at a time where Collins commercial stoke was at its peak. Genesis were swept along in phils wake, so to speak. The boundaries between solo Phil and group phil became blurred. Still, it wasn't just Phil that was doing noteworthy musical things. Mike Rutherford had launched Mike And The Mechanics and enjoyed chart action, Peter Gabriel had his biggest solo hit with 'Sledgehammer'. The stage was set for Genesis year, 1986. The title song was everywhere that year, a three minute pop single that had hit written all over it. Other hit songs here include 'Land Of Confusion' and the very Phil Collins sounding ballad, 'In Too Deep'. I have absolutely no problems with any of these songs. 'In Too Deep' has an accomplished and almost genuinely touching Phil vocal. 'Land Of Confusion' sounds more like Genesis as a group, the sound of 'Abacab' and the 'Genesis' album continued.

'Throwing It Away', 'The Brazilian' and 'Anything She Does' are three/four minute long songs sharing the commercial pop sound of the hit songs. 'The Brazilian' is the most impressive of these songs, the programmed drum intro leading into the synth waves most appealingly. 'Tonight Tonight Tonight' is trying at nearly nine minutes in length, a late night 80s disco, slow dance lovemaking kind of song. Well, presuming you can get the image of Phil Collins face out of your mind long enough to actually feel romantic and horny, I suppose! The ten minute plus 'Domino' is devoid of interesting ideas to carry it across those ten minutes and still hold your attention. It's clear enough that 'Domino' was aimed squarely at the Genesis prog fans, a sop to them, if you will. Despite the fact it has the self-same contemporary 80s synth and drum sounds as the hit songs. And, that's the main fault with the 'Invisible Touch' album. There isn't enough sonic variety. We've a good amount of padding with 'Tonight Tonight Tonight' and 'Domino', but overall 'Invisible Touch' proves a hard album to actively dislike for any good reason. It's catchy, you know? There is a craft to the music and the vocals. I don't like it as much as Patrick Bateman, but then, i'm quite glad about that, all in all.

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Readers Comments KC tori_live@yahoo.com Undisputed masterpiece? Invisible Touch? Invisible Touch is an album of typical 80's pop. It's an album that is often impossible to tell apart from a Phil Collins album. By definition, that is a bad Genesis album. That's not a dig at Phil. Genesis music shouldn't Phil's solo material. That's what Phil's solo albums were for. It's not all bad. Anything She Does is good enough, and Throwing It All Away is a nice enough ballad. But the only songs that wouldn't seemlessly fit on a mid 80's Phil album are Domino, Brazilian and arguably Tonight Tonight Tonight. Although often praised by old Genesis fans, Brazilian goes down as the least interesting Genesis instrumental. For my money, only Domino stood out. Not because it's a terribly Progressive song, but it was a Genesis song and the second half was a hard driving rock song. In the end, Invisible Touch is an ordinary, forgettable album. Eduardo Gutiérrez Botello egutierrez@intmon.com Í am sending you this message because those first lines from that movie "American psyco" (Please excuse my english) came up to me as something very familiar. And yes I then remembered where I heard it. I put close attention to it when I saw the movie. It was a very good idea of yours writing it down. And also, your page is great. I´m impresed at the amount of music you´ve reviewed. I´m writing a rock reviews myself. It´s in spanish though. arbitrariedad2005, I´d be pleased if you all checked it someday. I´ve writen a lot of texts although the amount of artists is not very large yet Jeff Whitcher, Jeffwhitcher@comcast.net Phil Collins' pact with the Devil at the crossroads of the Mississippi Delta (under the watchful eye of Robert Johnson)in which he exchanged his soul for the gift of Top-40 pop sensibilities paid tremendous dividends for Genesis on "Invisible Touch". True, the Devil made a down payment on Phil's soul with a gold album for "No Jacket Required" but he fulfilled his side of the agreement with the sugar candy offerings "In Too Deep", "Invisible Touch" and "Land of Confusion". It's no wonder Mike Rutherford was soon peddling his soul to Satan in exchange for a little chart action with Mike and the Mechanics. Again, "Tonight Tonight Tonight" and the Domino suite are somewhat of a conciliatory nod to Genesis' progressive roots (just barely) yet the rest of the album falls flat in my opinion. Alex Jacks alex_jac1980@yahoo.com Well there is a chapter titled Genesis where Patrick Batemen goes into depth about all the 80s Phil Collins era albums over 4 pages!! Still like you I don't like it as much as Patrick Bateman, but it is good. All of the hit singles (the first 4 tracks and Throwing It All Away) are all fine pop songs (well obviously Tonight, Tonight, Tonight was shortened in its single version, and I have played God and replaced the longer version on my Ipod). So I think 7.5 or 8/10 will suffice. I am still waiting with baited breath on your Phil Collins reviews, or can't you bear to listen to But Seriously? Stephen Stephendfall@yahoo.co.uk There was an interesting radio programme on about Genesis last night. What became clear is that the longer they went on, the worse their records sounded. I don't mean the songs necessarily, but the production. The late-80s hits just sound absolutely horrible. The production is so vile that it's impossible to hear the songs as songs: they just sound like studio gloop. An hour of this was more than enough. I could never sit through an album such as Invisible Touch. I'd far rather enjoy silence.

Did I want 71 minutes of Genesis music in 1991/1992? Not really, i'd already suffered Phil Collins releasing his odious 'But Seriously' album. But seriously what? That you're actually not pompous and full of your own rectum at all? I'm not sure how anybody actually IS full of their own rectum, but we won't dwell on that. Why? Well, because 'We Can't Dance' has a couple of things going for it and a couple of good Phil Collins performances. 'Driving The Last Spike' which lasts for ten minutes and was surely a sop at the groups former prog fans, isn't one of them. I can imagine the song sung by Peter Gabriel. Even then, it still would have ended up a dog of a terribly uninteresting song. The other such moment is 'Fading Lights', another unwanted ten minute epic. Starts out like a standard Phil ballad, then the group decide to pad unmercilessly until the whole thing drives you into an early grave. Still, the pop Genesis fans were served by filler album tracks such as 'Hold On My Heart', you know, a love song for the middle-aged. Much better of course is the undeniably good, even if you're a huge fan of The Clash and Babyshambles, 'No Son Of Mine'. 'No Son Of Mine' was very likely the best Genesis song since the title track of 'Abacab'. It's not as funky as 'Abacab'. God, did I just imply that Genesis ever were funky? Sorry, it's late, forgive me. Still, where was I? Ah yes! Once Phil really gets going, eg, the songs chorus, everything is good. It's a good song, no question. The hordes of Mark E Smith fans are deserting the site as I speak......

But then, on the other hand, we have the albums title track. A huge hit, and i'm not quite sure why. Well, of course, i'm not stupid and can appreciate it's little thing it has going on with it's little attempt at a groove. The lyrics destroy the song, ultimately. "I can't dance, I can't sing"? A certain section of Genesis fans had been saying that to Phil ever since Peter gave up his vocal duties and embarked upon a solo career? And since when did Phil ever dance, anyway? In the video to that solo single he did, the motown cover? Ah, I do have access to all the Phil solo albums, so be very scared indeed. I'll have a great time writing the reviews of those, I can tell you! Anyhoo, 'We Can't Dance'? Ah, correction. Refer to the previously mentioned as the 'near' title track. I hope Rutherford and the other fellow were involved in the albums title. "Phil, you can't dance, but don't tar us two funky fellows with the same!". Probably never happened like that, did it? Towards the end of the song Phil says "He can't walk". Promises, promises. Ah, but I am joking, of course. I hope everybody knows that. I realise I haven't spoken of an awful lot of this albums content. Shall I say I really like 'Jesus He Knows Me'? Yes, I shall. It has an energy that belies the groups then combined age of four hundred and six.

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Readers Comments john, county kildare john.j.doyle@nuim.ie to be perfectly frank, i dont know too much about genesis, apart from the obvious hit singles, [some are sensational, others not so sensational.....] but i do have to give the guys credit for "fading lights". it's a beautiful song, regardless of what my overall opinion of the band might be. Sean Umphlet sean.umphlet@gmail.com I agree with the most part on this album. Phil would have done much better if he based more of his music on humor and anger ("In The Air Tonight" anyone?) instead of sappy half-assed love ballads like "Hold On My Heart" that any loofah with a drum kit and a synthesizer can barf out. I do disagree on a couple things. "Fading Lights" is not really that bad, I guess, maybe as interesting background music. It would have been better if it was JUST the instrumental break (the best part of the song), because it seemed to over-shadow the part where that guy sings... what's his name again? Paul? Perry? Whatever... anyway, the second disagreement is about "I Can't Dance", I actually really like the song, and think it is the best on the album (which isn't saying much)... that gruff guitar is the definition of "pop rock" (Hey, Mike Rutherford IS still in this band!) And I suppose the lyrics are rather humorous in their parody. Steve steroblo@gmail.com How could you give this album a higher rating than W&W? Are you kidding me? Eric Mills Scarborough Oh dear! I suppose for the wasteland that was late-80's music( barring perhaps the bizarre musings of The Fall) this album was par for the (ever so boring) course. But to give it 6 and a half!!! Thats what you gave Wind & wuthering!!! Just Steve Hacketts beautiful, and technically accomplished, guitar intro to 'Blood on the rooftops' has more ideas in a minute than this whole album comes up with in over an hour.

And then there was two. So, Mr Phil Collins departs, not only taking away his vocals but also his songwriting and drumming abilities, of course. The remaining two guys, Rutherford and Banks recruit a couple of American guys to fulfil the drumming and percussive duties. The vocals here are handled by one Ray Wilson, recruited apparently for his ability to sound vaguely similar to Peter Gabriel. I remember seeing footage of this new line prior to the release of the album. They did 'Suppers Ready' and Ray did a good job there. I thought then it was a strange move after the Collins era though, and still do now. Not only did the album arrive five years after 'We Can't Dance', not only did it fail to produce a genuine hit single but it also fails to live upto the 'return to prog' promises that were bandied about at the time. Which given good live shows and what i'd seen of the group performing 'Suppers Ready' with Ray Wilson, was certainly a mistake. 'Congo' is a vaguely bouncy and funky radio number but all it manages to evoke in a listeners mind is that you're listening to a weak Peter Gabriel album cut. Yes, Genesis could have included more elements from their past, but then again. It was a long time since Genesis had made a progressive rock album. It's not so much that lack of returning to their classic sound that irritates, rather their lack of returning with anything interesting at all. It's irritating for example that 'There Must Be Some Other Way' brings to mind all the worst aspects of the groups 80s era. You know, the one extended piece any album contained as a sop to the groups prog fans. To be fair, there are a couple of cool keyboard parts here and the drums certainly sound big enough to fill a stadium. But, ah, there we go. The crux of the matter, the root of the problem. The new Genesis fell into a hole because they were neither one thing or the other. The new songs, many of which were over five minutes long, bored the pop fans that had grown up with Phil Collins. The Gabriel fans saw a lack of any real invention and thought Wilson a weak Gabriel clone, which is exactly how he comes across throughout 'Calling All Stations'.

The wind was blowing but the trees didn't make a sound. Just another alien afternoon. So runs 'Alien Afternoon. It's a number that has about three minutes worth of ideas in it, so why did they see fit to pad it out to nearly eight minutes? To please fans of 'Foxtrot'? Banks sounds dated through many of the albums cuts, Rutherford only really lets fly on the actually reasonably impressive title track. A key lyric arrives early on I've lost my sense of direction. Too true. The album suffers from a lack of strong writing and a lack of interesting arrangements or playing. Given that Phil only left the group the year before, perhaps it would have been wiser to have had a longer bedding in period for the new vocalist? Well, much like the Career of Genesis, it's now all in the past.

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Readers Comments J. S. Heine heine1983@hotmail.com I agree on your review. I like Genesis and saw them in 1992, but I thought Calling All Stations was utter crap. A sad end to a great band. Keep cool S. Thompson United States Having listened to most of the band's body of work, I can't say Calling All Stations is as atrocious as it's made out to be. About half the songs are stinkers, but the other half show good potential. I don't think the new Genesis delivered, but I definitely don't think it was as terrible as people think.. IntelliMoo USA I beg to differ about Calling All Stations! I find it much easier to listen too as a whole than We Can't Dance. While WCD has several excellent songs, it also has some true stinkers I always have to skip over (Hold On My Heart, Tell Me Why, Way of the World). With CAS, even the sappier songs are actually listenable (Shipwrecked, Not About Us, If That's What You Need). So overall I like this album. But sure, the drums are that harsher style "fake" sound, and of course the songwriting is not up to par with past greatness, but the album packs a punch and grows on ya! Standouts for me are Congo, and There Must Be Some Other Way (yes, because of the solo). haha