Genesis

Duke

Duke marked

Review Score:

(4/10)
I'm as fond of the B-3 and Mellotron as any good progger, but looking back on Duke, and listening to how updated technology influenced the band's sound, I still consider this one of the band's great albums. I do miss the Yamaha CP-70 of yesteryear!

Turn It On remains one of my all time favorite Genesis Hits, because while it is pop, it remains prog. Many pop tunes sound like at least a handful of other songs, especially in today's world, but Turn it On keeps its uniqueness, and never grows stale.

You must listen to the entire album to appreciate its strength. I can't agree with those who say this album is a sellout at all. There are too many wonderful, unique songs that sound like nothing else the band, nor other proggers have ever done.

This is the essence of Progressive Rock in my opinion.

OK - I admit it - Misunderstanding gives a musical nod to two earlier pop songs - "Hot Sun in the Summertime", (artist not known to me), and "Sail on Sailor" by the Beach Boys, but the band never denied this, and while I didn't care for the tune when it first hit the charts, I wish today's best songs sounded as "bad" as this one.

Other gems on the album: Duchess, Man of Our Times, and the incredible Duke's Travels/Duke's End - some of the best licks Phil Collins and Tony Banks ever laid down on vinyl. I haven't commented at all on Rutherford, and his presence is not felt on this one like other works, and musically he is no Hackett, but does a hell of a job keeping up with his bandmates with the guitars. He probably deserves more credit than I give him here.

The slower tunes, Heathaze, Alone Tonight, Please Don't Ask, and Guide Vocal are very introspective, somewhat sad looks into what was going on with the band's personal lives and get better with age.

Cul-De-Sac is not a bad song either, but it sounds to me like it belongs on their prior album,TWWT.

I don't know how true Genesis fans can say Duke is a sellout, and have anything good to say about Invisible Touch and We Cant Dance. Honestly.

Let's face it, the band had grown weary of their old sound, even if us real fans never do, and needed a little fresh air. Then We Were Three is a foreshadowing of this, and Duke took this direction to new heights. Indeed, maybe Duke could be considered a transition album for the band, and one detects the continuation of this 'era' in some of Abacab.

I still live in a fantasy world that the band will get back together someday as have some of their contemporaries (Yes, Kansas, ELP, Crimson). Fat chance of this ever really happening.

This great band's demise and lack of desire and/or initiative to rejoin forces continues to perplex and dissapoint me. I won't be buying any Phil Collins Disney soundtracks, or solo albums, nor Tony's classical albums any time soon.

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