Hackett's goodbye to Genesis

Review Score: (10/10)
Genesis' ninth album Wind and Wuthering was released in January of 1977 in the US. The album is arguably musically more developed and fleshed out than was on its predecessor, 1976's Top 40 charting album A Trick of The Tail, you can sense the band(and drummer/vocalist Phil Collins in particular) gaining more confidence in their songwriting and performing abilities. The seven minute plus Eleventh Earl of Mar starts the album off with a bang and is one of my all time favorite Genesis songs. The next track is the majestic ten minute epic One for the Vine, arguably keyboardist Tony Banks' best song for the band. The live version from the reissued Three Sides Live rivals the studio version IMHO. Next was bassist Mike Rutherford's Your Own Special Way, which was an unexpected modest hit( and would pave the way for the road to superstardom starting with 1978's Top 20 charting And Then There Were Three). The Collins/guitarist Steve Hackett instrumental Wot Gorilla concludes the first half with a bang. The whimsical All In a Mouse's Night kicks off the second half with a bang. Then, Steve's fingers are all over Blood On the Rooftop, with beautiful Spanish guitar solos and superb mellotron sounds. The instrumentals Unquiet Slumbers and In That Quiet Earth are great and the closing Afterglow is still a favorite song of mine from the band. Sadly, this album marked the end of prog-rock Genesis. Although the band would certainly continue to record prog-rock songs here and there, no album would ever be able to recall the heights of the albums from Trespass to Wind and Wuthering. Strangely, this Genesis album would prove to be the band's second album to crack the US Top 40 peaking at #26 in early 1977. I first got this album as a Christmas present from my older brother in 1997 when he bought me the remastered CD and loved it immediately. Highly recommended!

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