Album Review by EDF
It’s amazing how artists can sell out concerts as big as Knebworth and then disappear without a trace. Unfortunately, as much as we would like it to be, this is not a look into Robbie Williams’s future. However, this is about one of the biggest English groups of all time, Genesis, who managed to maintain their success for a period spanning the early 1970’s to the early 1990’s. Always referred to as an art-rock band, Genesis was founded by Jonathan King who was the Simon Cowell of his day. By the time the group released 1974’s concept album SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND, the band were hit by mixed fortunes. POUND was by far the group’s biggest album at that point and this was followed by the departure of their front man, Peter Gabriel. After auditioning for replacement singers, Phil Collins came out from behind his drum kit to take over lead vocals.
The theatrical elements that Gabriel brought to their live concerts were quickly replaced by lasers as their audience and venues grew from arenas to stadiums. Around 1981 saw the release of the ABACAB album and Collins embarked on a solo career that ran along side Genesis. That did not stop guitarist Mike Rutherford from forming Mike And The Mechanics in 1985 and they would eventually find themselves an audience in Europe. 1991’s WE CAN’T DANCE album would be the last Genesis album featuring the trio of Banks, Collins and Rutherford. Collins left in 1996 to be replaced by ex-Stiltskin vocalist Ray Wilson and at that point the group had lost most of their audience.
This PLATINUM COLLECTION features all of their hits from the serious NO SON OF MINE, to the enjoyably silly ILLEGAL ALIEN and darker tunes like MAMA and TONIGHT TONIGHT TONIGHT, of which both tunes are really the same song. Marvel to how a brass section brings a song like PAPERLATE to life. CALLING ALL STATIONS, the one song featuring Wilson on vocals sounds well out of place with the rest of the collection. Compare this to “ABACAB” and you can see that the last incarnation of Genesis had truly lost their spark.
This collection is compiled in a very strange way; it is chronologically backwards. The later tracks are on disc one and two, featuring recognisable tunes such as TURN IT ON AGAIN, MISUNDERSTANDING and FOLLOW YOU FOLLOW ME. The final CD features Peter Gabriel’s more theatrical like output such as THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY and CARPET CRAWLERS. At that time, the lyrics were just so far out there that it came as no surprise when Gabriel would appear on stage dressed as a flower. You cannot take it away from this group that their initial sound was quintessentially English and most people would have written them off after Gabriel left but they managed to persevere. Few English groups have had a varied and successful history like Genesis.
