What can I say? Extraordinary album!

Review Score: (10/10)
When you listen to 1980's 'Duke' by Genesis, you realize that there was quite a lot of musical life left in the band even years after the departure of Gabriel in 75 and Hackett in 77. Collins' vocals and drumming were powerful, Banks' keyboards were solid, and Rutherford's composition was as good as ever. Samples of all this can be found from the opening track, well into "Guide Vocal", "Man Of Our Times", the 8+ min-long epic "Duke's Travels" and even in the more commercial collective-composition-turned-classic "Turn It On Again" and the standard Collins ballad "Please Don't Ask".

So, in 1980 the band still shows signs of life (all was still alive and well in Planet Genesis), but it also showed clear signs of becoming a more commercial gig, which made out of "Misunderstanding" far more than a simple confusion. This would indeed become the standard, rather than the norm: a band that was all about great compositions, musicianship and genius in the seventies turned into a commercial song production machine. At least that came to happen in later productions (1981's 'Abacab', 1983's 'Genesis' and 1986's 'Invisible Touch'). Until this album, the majority of the songs were quite solid and it's safe to say that you're bound to enjoy most of their pre-Duke work (and 'Duke' itself, of course) if you are into Progressive Rock. If you are into Pop Rock Genesis, look for later works: don't look back.

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