The Official Genesis Thread

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Foxtrot, following up on my choice for Meddle in the Pink Floyd thread (Good set of songs on the first side, defining moment on the second), although I do have to say that while it could have been all about "Supper's Ready," - the first section being very beautiful and the last part very effective with complete cleverness in between - Peter's Fox in a Dress costume for the tour is clearly the perfect topping of the era.

Selling England by the Pound comes in for a very close Second...or even a tie.
Nursery Crime is Third while The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is forth.

But enough about Peter...for now.

Time for a little respect for the Collins era even beyond A Trick of the Tail and Wind and Wuthering which were fine albums, but in a way lacking in something special even if there was great playing through it all. As I state, just a little, but that goes quite a long way thanks to the quality of the early 80's music that had it's own style and innovation. I'm certainly no fan of ...And Then There Were Three and it's crap overplayed hit, though, but his Drumming is killer and there were certainly some good moments with a few Early 80's albums which certainly did not kill Prog (It had a small group of bands reviving it by then...one band called Marillion) and proved that there was a band finally finding it's own voice again, and while it went Pop, it was for a while very good Pop.

Favorite Collins era album - Abacab. Damn, with Face Value, the best ever Collins solo album, '81/2 were his best post-Gabriel years (and yes I can add in his production for Frida too as the Drum Stomp on 1983's "Something's Going On" still kicks). "No Reply At All" is a crowning Pop moment for the Early 80's Genesis (thanks especially to Earth Wind and Fire's solid Horn Section), "Dodo/Lurker" was it's Epic work with Tony contributing some excellent Keyboard work, the title track being sharp, and "Keep It Dark" winding up Side One on a fine note. After Dodo, things went South ("Who Dunnit?" anyone?), but everything up to and including Side Two's opener seriously deserves another hearing.

"Mama" is also another solid moment. After that...well...let's just say that I would like to say the records after 1983 are not worth mentioning, but "Mama" and it's killer Demonic laugh are a worthy way to end the better part of their Pop years. Thankfully the Post-Phil Calling All Stations is almost forgotten enough for me to skip it, but Invisible Touch still is certainly the pain giver with it's MOR Standards, and although "Land of Confusion" has a nice video, the song remains one of those annoying tracks that make you scream "We get the point already!" at the radio. Still there's fine 80-83 tracks like "Paperlate," "Turn It On Again" and Phil's "Thru These Walls" to forget about the crap and whatever Phil Collins did after his second solo which went into over-played MOR Territory.

OK, back to the wonders of the Gabriel years!

I'm also a big fan of Steve Hackett's playing. I still have to get some of his solo work, but no matter what, he is a great Guitarist.