Genesis

Duke

A Masterpiece

Review Score:

(10/10)
The term "masterpiece" isn't thrown around lightly by me. So when I term Genesis 1980 effort "Duke" a masterpiece, it really doesn't get much better than this. Many look upon "Duke" as the last hurrah in terms of Genesis being a full-fledged Progressive Rock band (I think the next effort "Abacab" still showed some Progressive Rock life left in the band). Some will also look at "Duke" as showing some of the early signs of Genesis turning the corner into becoming a mainstream/pop band (which to some extent is fair). Whatever the case, "Duke" scores big.

When I look at Genesis as band, I see four distinct phases the band has gone through. Phase 1 is the Peter Gabriel Era. This spans from 1969 ("From Genesis to Revelation") to 1974 ("The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway"). It was during Phase 1 that Peter Gabriel was the lead vocalist and Genesis could easily be categorized as a progressive Rock band. Phase 2 is the Early Phil Collins Era spanning from 1976 ("A Trick of the Tail") to 1982 ("Three Sides Live"). In this era, Phil Collins took over as lead singer. The band was still very much a progressive rock band, but as the progressive rock landscape would change - so would Genesis. This might indirectly have led to Phase 3 which is the Late Phil Collins Era from 1983 ("Genesis") to 1993 ("The Way We Walk Volume 2: The Longs"). This is the commercial/pop era that I referred to earlier. At this point, there would be a lot less progressive rock flavor to Genesis' music. The fourth phase, Phase 4 is the Ray Wilson Era. This was when Ray Wilson took over as lead vocalist for Phil Collins. There would only be one album in this era - 1997's "Calling All Stations" and it seemed like Genesis tried to recapture some of their progressive rock roots - but 90s style. "Duke" was basically done toward the end of Phase 2.

In terms of being a Progressive Rock album, "Duke" clearly falls into this category. The nice thing about "Duke" is that while it does stick to the Progressive Rock roots, it has the type of sound that will appeal to the mainstream fan. Throw in three songs that would be classified mainstream ("Please Don't Ask", "Misunderstanding" and "Turn It On Again") and it solidifies this broad appeal. In keeping with the times (1980), it seems as though Genesis strives to wrap this up into a "Concept" type album. The "Concept" isn't quite tangible, but many of the songs seem to have an interwoven thread. Using my imagination, I take the album to be a musical journey by someone named "Duke".

Another interesting thing is that 5 songs are credited as being written by the combination of Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, and Phil Collins. However the remaining seven songs are credited as being written individually by Tony Banks (who has 3), Mike Rutherford (who has 2), and Phil Collins (who has 2). You can see that Phil has the most "Pop" influence with the songs "Misunderstanding" and the ballad "Please Don't Ask". I think Tony has the most Progressive Rock sounding songs ("Guide Vocal", "Heathaze", and "Cul De Sac"). Mike straddles between the fence of Progressive ("Man Of Our Times") and quasi-Pop ("Alone Tonight").

The collection starts off with a four song "suite". These are basically four songs that segue one into another. The suite starts off with "Behind the Lines". This is a song that Phil Collins would also cover on his "Face Value" solo album. This is a jointly written song by the trio and really kicks off the "musical journey". I think Collins' drums are incredible on this song. The song then eases into what is the suite and the collection's most powerful track - "Duchess". The music slows down and then builds back up over 2 minutes into some powerful and emotional music. You can hear the raw emotion in Phil's voice and Tony's keyboard playing. "Duchess", which seems to be the story of a female performer named "Duchess" was another track written by the trio. "Duchess" progresses nicely into the third song of the suite which is Tony's (written) "Guide Vocal". This is a short and soft song 1:30+ minute song which is the perfect interlude to Mike's (written) "Man of All Seasons". On this track the trio has their "A" game with Phil's percussion, Tony's keyboards and Mike's guitars. This is a nice wrap up to almost 20 minutes of non-stop music.

When I first got "Duke", I got it on LP. I always considered the second side of "Duke" (last 6 songs on the CD) one of the greatest album sides of all time. Sure "Turn It On Again" is a classic, but all the songs contributed. One very powerful song is Tony's (written) "Cul De Sac". This is a classic Progressive Rock tune. The set wraps up with another segue of "Duke's Travels" and "Duke's End". "Duke's Travels is almost a full instrumental. No lyrics are listed for this song in the liner notes, but about 6+ minutes into the song, Phil will sing. "Duke's End" is a perfect wrap-up as it incorparates sounds from "Behind the Lines" and "Turn It On Again". "Alone Tonight" was a song that sat perfectly between "Turn It On Again" and "Cul De Sac" while "Please Don't Ask" is the perfect song between "Cul De Sac" and "Duke's Travels".

The CD has illustrations that kind of remind you like a children's storybook. This illustrations carry over into the liner notes and there is a different illustration on each page. The font of the lyrics also is kind of like storybook font. All of the lyrics (with the exception of "Duke's Travels") are included along with the appropriate songwriting credits. This is a great album and will appeal to old and new Genesis fans. I highly recommend this "masterpiece" to add your collection.

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