Genesis

Wind and Wuthering

For their last full-blown progressive album, they end on top

Review Score:

(8/10)
To about most of Genesis' fanbase, when Peter Gabriel jumped ship in 1975, the glory days were gone. As soon as Phil Collins stepped up to the mike, any traces of their progressive rock past would fade away. Peter's departure coincided with the beginning of the end of progressive rock's heyday, so if a band like Genesis wanted to stay afloat, they would have to try something different & even more commercial. Strange as it may seem, they were very much progressive after Peter bade farewell, but the theatricality was simply on a smaller level. To really say when Genesis started turning their backs on prog for good, 1977's WIND & WUTHERING is a pretty safe bet & what a way to end that stage of their career.

Peter's departure from Genesis was indeed a tumultuous one, causing a rift that would take years to heal. It was that unpleasant goodbye that may have temporarily robbed the band of a certain degree of greatness. WIND & WUTHERING is by no means a terrible album, but seeing as it comes from a transitional stage in Genesis' career, it's very much that in the way of music: still progressive-based, but the commercial philosophy was starting to become more present.

Nothing on here equals the panoramic glory of the Gabriel era work, so even the most progressive-sounding songs are a tad scaled down. "Eleventh Earl Of Mar" & "One For The Vine" are very much rooted in progressive traditions (war, the Middle Ages, etc.). But the vocabulary that graced Peter's work with Genesis is exchanged for a less hallucinogenic style by keyboardist Tony Banks, guitarist Steve Hackett (on his last album with the group) & bassist (soon-to-be-guitarist) Mike Rutherford. They're great songwriters in their own way & thankfully, don't try to mimic Peter.

Rutherford's "Your Own Special Way" was Genesis' first American chart single & in a small way points toward the polished top 40 material that was in their future. However, don't expect it to be totally sapped of any identity or feeling like your typical AM radio fare. For an early try at creating a song geared for the top 40 format, Genesis succeeds admirably & it's a shame that "Your Own Special Way" has gone the way of most of the WIND & WUTHERING songs (i.e. little concert exposure & thus near-obscurity)

As you can see, while Phil may be the new lead singer, he's not the main songwriter yet. He's only credited on three songs, yet he shows that vocally, he was the best one to take Peter's place (Phil still sounds like him in places) & can indeed do the progressive stuff very well. "Blood On The Rooftops" & "Wot Gorilla?" were two of the three tracks Phil had a hand in writing & they couldn't be more different. The former is a somber ballad about the news media that hints at the pop-songs-with-progressive-undertones style that would mark ...AND THEN THERE WERE THREE (1978); the latter is a short, spacy excursion into synthesizer heaven that is really nothing to write home about & is simply a pleasant intermission in the action of the album.

"All In A Mouse's Night" is the band's attempt at creating a FOXTROT-inspired epic, but it's certainly won't make you forget that classic. Coming from Tony Banks you can always count on a musically-excellent affair, but his lyrics are nothing like on the closing "Afterglow", which are just some of the best he's ever penned for Genesis. Phil's voice helps give the words a poignant air that is positively inspiring.

To show that Genesis still knew how to stick together as a musical unit, there's the medley of "Unquiet Slumbers For The Sleepers..." & "...In That Quiet Earth". The first part is very slow & dreamy as its title appropriately states, but the second part is far more percussive (this was the other song Phil contributed to). I'm sure this would have made a good epic jam on stage & it's a shame that this probably didn't get the proper performance it deserved.

WIND & WUTHERING was indeed the end of another era in Genesis' history. Steve Hackett's departure after the tour for this album was the sign that progressive rock's time as a bankable genre was up & Genesis was in need of a fresh approach to stay in the game. They would find it on their next album, but WIND & WUTHERING was still a fond farewell to both Steve & the style that made them famous. Musically, it is definitely among the band's best (as Tony Banks has been keen to say) & while it may not be an epic masterpiece like FOXTROT (1972) or THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY (1974), it's an album that has been kept on the quiet for too long. Someday, when Genesis returns to the road, maybe they'll give these long-neglected songs the airings they deserve.

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