Genesis

Another Genesis Masterpiece

Review Score:

(10/10)
The term "masterpiece" isn't thrown around lightly by me. However when it comes to Genesis albums, it seems as though that many of their albums fall into this category. Genesis' 1983 self-titled effort "Genesis" is as good as it gets. On this album, Genesis "turned the corner" and basically transformed from a Progressive Rock Band into a Mainstream/Pop Band. We had seen signs of this coming on the "Duke" and "Abacab" releases. Just because this transformation happened doesn't dilute the music that was produced. In fact, this collection is as good as it gets - there isn't a weak track on this album. Despite this move toward Mainstream/Pop, you will still hear some of the Progressive Rock elements that are true to the roots of where Genesis came from.

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. "Genesis" was the first album of Phase 3 and would become the first monster album for the group that would pave the way to superstardom.

The back of the CD cover gives a good perspective to why this was such a great album. Genesis had brought in producer Hugh Padgham to help them produce this effort. Padgham had been riding a great wave of success as the producer of The Police's monster album "Synchroncity". Genesis had been on about a 2 year layoff and reunited with a bunch of fresh ideas. It's worth noting Phil Collins' solo career was taking off and allowed him to explore some of his personal directions he wanted to take with the music. The notes on the back cover also mention how Genesis made use of the recording studio (this was recorded at their studio "The Farm" in Surrey, UK) as an "instrument" - this is very evident in the music as it shows a great level of sophistication resulting in a terrific product.

It's worth looking at this - track by track:

"Mama": This is as unique a track as you get. You can hear the sophistication in the music from Phil's drums to Tony's keyboards. Phil also delivers some true "haunting vocals" - including what has become his world famous haunting laugh.

"That's All": This is a clear mainstream/pop track. Mike and Tony's instrumentation are flawless in this song. Phil's drums "fold in" perfectly about 1 minute into the song.

"Home By the Sea"/"Second Home By the Sea": These songs are a true Genesis segue. I never listen to one part without the other. Combine these songs and you get 10+ minutes of some amazing music. These tracks probably have the most progressive qualities as they feature a long instrumental segment. Like "Mama" this song also has a haunting quality.

"Illegal Alien": Perhaps as a result of Phil Collins' influence, Genesis began to show a "fun" side to the group. This song is as good as it gets when it comes to "fun". The song is hilarious spoof on the immigration progress as Phil "plays" the role as immigrant.

"Taking It All Too Hard": Like "That's All", this is a mainstream/pop track. It does remind me of a Phil solo song (this is the time when Phil did a lot of singing about relationships). This song has some powerful lyrics that paint the picture of what is going on in the relationship.

"Just a Job To Do": When an artist gets his song selected as a TV Theme song, the artist has hit it big. Many might not know this but this song was selected as the theme song for a short-lived ABC police show called "The Insiders". This is a terrific song that deals with a police and criminal cat and mouse chase. It might be pop sounding, but it is awesome.

"Silver Rainbow": Perhaps the strongest track on the collection. This is another fine example on how there is terrific sophistication in the recording. Phil's drums "fold in" again - this time 30 seconds into the song. I do think the trio is very strong on all of the instruments they play on this track. Combine this with strong lyrics and you have a winner.

"It's Gonna Get Better": I think there are some elements in this song that are a throwback to Genesis' progressive rock days. This is another terrific track - perhaps the second best on the album. Tony's keyboard shines again.

The liner notes do have all of the lyrics. The production credits are a little light. The short write-up on the back cover makes things interesting. There are some interesting photos included as well. This is just a great album by Genesis. There just aren't any weak spots on this collection. Yes it might be pop/mainstream, but its still worth getting.

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