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Cul-De-Sac Review:

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 10 May 2007 06:33 (A review of Duke)

"Cul-De-Sac" is a song by British band Genesis, appearing as the ninth track off their 1980 album, Duke. Lyrics were written by Tony Banks.

The lyrics describe a military regiment, who sense their deaths are near as they march, but continue anyway, blindly following orders.

According to the All Music Guide, the song was for the most part "album filler", and was quickly forgotten by the band, who never played it live.


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Turn It On Again Review:

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 10 May 2007 06:31 (A review of Duke)

"Turn It On Again" is a single from Genesis, from their 1980 album Duke.

The lyrics deal with a man who does nothing more than watch his television, so much that he becomes obsessed with the people he watches on it, believing them to be his friends.

"Turn It On Again", one of the band's most recognizable tunes, has been a favorite in Genesis's live shows. Consequently, the group's 1999 compilation album Turn It On Again: The Hits was named after it, as was the band's 2007 Turn It On Again: The Tour reunion project.


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Duchess Review:

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 10 May 2007 06:30 (A review of Duke)

"Duchess" is a song by the British band Genesis, appearing as the second track on their 1980 album, Duke.

Part of the album's "hidden suite" which also included "Behind the Lines," "Guide Vocal," "Turn It On Again," "Duke's Travels" and "Duke's End," the lyrics tell the story of a rise and fall of a diva from the beginning of her career, to her superstardom, to her decline in public opinion. At 6:26, it is the second longest song on the album, and is also notable for being the first Genesis song to use a drum machine.

The band made a video for the song, of which an edited version was released as a single in the UK. It showed Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford playing at various points in an empty auditorium. The drum machine used in the song is shown at the beginning of the video.



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Behind The Lines Review:

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 10 May 2007 06:28 (A review of Duke)

"Behind the Lines" is a pop/rock song made by Genesis on their album Duke released in March 1980. The group's drummer and vocalist Phil Collins released a re-recorded version on his album of Face Value during February 1981.

The Genesis version of the track was more of an art-rock piece which began the Duke album and was about the character of Duke pleading with having his girl back, when it makes the person depressed with the break-up.

Phil then revealed on the Classic Albums documentary on Face Value that his solo remake came about after "recording Behind the Lines, we ran the tape back at double speed and suddenly this other song appeared". Phil then set out to re-record the song on Face Value as a Michael Jackson Off the Wall era disco track featuring the Earth, Wind and Fire horn section.

The lyrics to both tracks had some bits changed between the two versions.

Named after the song, Behind the Lines is also a radio show on internet radio station The Dividing Line Broadcast Network. Originally, the show focused mainly on Genesis and Genesis related music, but has since expanded its scope. The Dividing Line itself is also named after a Genesis song, off Calling All Stations.


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Duke Review:

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 10 May 2007 06:26 (A review of Duke)

Duke is the tenth studio album by British band Genesis and was released in 1980.

Duke became the trio's first UK # 1 album, while broadening their US audience even further, reaching #11 there and going Gold immediately and eventually Platinum.

"Duke" may be regarded as a transitional album, incorporating both elements of dense and elaborate instrumentation associated with the band's 1970s era material and glimpses of their future 1980s pop melodies and hooks, and therefore became regarded as the album where many Genesis fans would draw the line between the "old" and "new" Genesis. This was a somewhat tricky drawing line - as Duke was a mixture of extremes, containing both short radio-friendly pop tunes (i.e. 'Misunderstanding') as well as lengthy progressive rock suites (i.e. 'Duke's Travels'). Hence, Duke enjoys the anomaly of being simultaneously regarded as either the band's last progressive outing or first pop-oriented release.

Duke came on the heels of solo albums by Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford. Phil Collins had departed to Vancouver with his first wife to try to salvage their failing marriage. With the group's future uncertain, Rutherford recorded Smallcreep's Day while Banks issued A Curious Feeling. When Collins' marriage finally ended, he rejoined the group, bringing a batch of introspective new songs. Most of these made up his solo Face Value album when released in early 1981, but two of them—"Misunderstanding" and "Please Don't Ask"—were donated to Duke.

Once Duke was released, the song "Turn it on Again" became the band's second UK Top 10 hit, while "Misunderstanding" made considerable strides in the US, reaching the Top 20, and providing growing songwriter Phil Collins with his first self-written hit. "Turn it on Again" (On Genesis - The Way We Walk DVD 1992) musically was written by Mike Rutherford, while Phil Collins contributed to the lyrics) was revealed on the US radio show In the Studio with Redbeard (which spotlighted the albums Duke and Abacab in one episode) to have an unconventional time signature of 13/8.

A digitally remastered version was released on CD in 1994 on Virgin in Europe and Atlantic in the US and Canada. The remastered CD's booklet features all of the original album's artwork and complete lyrics.

A SACD / DVD double disc set (including new 5.1 and Stereo mixes) was released on April 2, 2007 (although it will be a CD / DVD double disc set for the US and Canada).

Duke is considered to be a turning point in Genesis's career. While continuing to move away from progressive rock, a medium that often found Collins, Banks and Rutherford working in tandem to create some of their most acclaimed themes, the trio found that the group-written compositions on Duke were what lit the fire beneath the album. While Duke had its share of successful solo songs, it marked the point where the group would conspire to increasingly compose songs together.

Duke is often cited by aficionados as a key Genesis album. While clearly different from the somewhat disjointed album which preceded it, Duke employs repetitions of key themes throughout the album as a way of unifying songs which could be listened to either as separate entities or as parts of a larger whole, and many fades and segues between songs add to this sense that the album is an elaboration on a unified musical idea. As a song cycle, Duke starts and ends with the exact same musical strains, and closes, like many classic Genesis albums, with an extended instrumental ("Duke's Travels/Duke's End"). While dealing more with personal issues and less with existential, philosophical, or mythical themes, this shift in direction seemed to fill the creative void which many felt had dominated the previous album. While many have claimed that the turn towards relationship oriented themes presaged Collins' later pop influence on the band, the musical complexity remains, even while the overall palette of instruments changed to fit the album's more introspective mood. Collins's interest in the new sonic possibilities offered by drum machines, Banks's use of the highly expressive Yamaha CP-80 electric grand piano, Rutherford's use of non-distorted guitar parts, and an overall more "open," less reverb-inflected production produces a sound which seems stripped down and less orchestral than previous recordings, but also gives the band a more direct sound.

Also pertinent is Collins's increased role in the band's songwriting, leading to a lyrical focus on personal emotions, as well as the occasional musical influence of classic soul (see, for example, the main section of "Behind the Lines" or the popular "Misunderstanding"). That said, Banks continues to provide highly orchestrated songs of lyrical darkness and compositional complexity ("Heathaze," "Cul de Sac"), which provide much of the back story for Collins's more direct dramatizations of emotional turmoil ("Man of Our Times"). Some of the opening songs, such as "Duchess" and "Behind the Lines," which became concert favorites for years, were a synthesis of the writing styles of all three members, and presaged the more collaborative writing efforts which were to dominate the band in the future.

Interestingly, there is a suite of songs hidden in this album—"Behind the Lines", "Duchess", "Guide Vocal", "Turn it on Again", "Duke's Travels" and "Duke's End"—which were reportedly intended to appear on a single side of the album until fear of comparisons to Foxtrot's epic "Supper's Ready" made the group decide to separate them. Notably, the group performed the suite in that configuration on the tour for this album. "Misunderstanding" was added to the setlist for the US leg of the tour.

Additionally, the Duke tour found the Genesis set list in transition, as many classics once played in full would be phased out in favor of medleys of older material.

More than any other Genesis album, Duke's song-cycle provides the moment of delineation between Genesis' art-rock past and Top 40 future, straddling each arena in equal measure.







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Follow You, Follow Me Review:

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 10 May 2007 06:15 (A review of ...And Then There Were Three...)

"Follow You, Follow Me" is a 1978 single by Genesis. Originally released as the last track from their 1978 album ...And Then There Were Three..., the single was Genesis's first American Top 40 and UK Top 10 hit. The song was also a harbinger of the more radio friendly direction Genesis would take over the next decade.

Genesis continued to release progressive rock albums up until and including 1978's ...And Then There Were Three.... The slower, love-themed "Follow You, Follow Me" was a departure. Although previous albums contained love ballads, such as Wind & Wuthering's "Your Own Special Way", "Follow You, Follow Me" was the first worldwide pop success by the group and gained the band play on adult contemporary and pop music stations.

The music was written by Tony Banks, Phil Collins, and Mike Rutherford, with lyrics by Rutherford.



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...And Then There Were Three... Review:

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 10 May 2007 06:13 (A review of ...And Then There Were Three...)

...And Then There Were Three... is the ninth studio album by the British band Genesis and was released in 1978.

A pivotal release in the band's history, the title ...And Then There Were Three... is a wry reference to the recent departure of guitarist Steve Hackett, reducing Genesis to a trio (which would result in their longest unchanged line-up until 1996). As a result, the roles of the remaining members of Genesis became more sharply defined. Tony Banks handled all keyboards, Mike Rutherford all guitars and basses, and Phil Collins vocals and all drums and percussion. Additionally, ...And Then There Were Three... heralded a move towards shorter radio-friendly songs and marked the band's strategic move away from progressive rock at the height of punk rock, and included a song based on the fantastic adventures of comic strip character Little Nemo, ("Scenes From a Night's Dream"). As a more direct and accessible release, Genesis' fanbase increased considerably, with the album reaching #3 on the UK Albums Chart — having been bolstered by the Top 5 success of "Follow You, Follow Me", which also became Genesis' first hit US single. As a result, ...And Then There Were Three... reached #14 on the US chart, becoming their first Gold (eventually Platinum) album there.

For many fans of the band's earlier work, this album indicated a crisis in the musical direction in the band, and rumors abounded of Genesis' potential demise. While many of the shorter songs were still clearly avant-garde in terms of instrumentation and lyrical material, few were longer than five minutes in length, and the arrangements went from the more classical, movement-style composition of previous albums to the more standard verse/chorus/bridge/chorus format of popular songwriting.

Some of the songs hearken to earlier days - "Burning Rope" sounds like many of the more complex numbers of A Trick of the Tail, "Snowbound" is as pristine a ballad as anything on Wind & Wuthering, and the opening track "Down and Out" (with its 5/4 time signature) is as musically difficult and dramatic as "Dance on a Volcano".

A digitally remastered version was released on CD in 1994 on Virgin in Europe and Atlantic in the US and Canada. The booklet on the remaster features the lyrics although the gatefold picture was missing.

A SACD / DVD double disc set (including new 5.1 and Stereo mixes) was released on April 2, 2007 (although it is a CD / DVD double disc set for the US and Canada).

The LP sleeve cover was designed by Hipgnosis, the design studio founded by Storm Thorgerson (best known for his work with Pink Floyd). In an interview, Thorgerson called the design a "failure", and described the concept being conveyed:

“ We were trying to tell a story by the traces left by the light trails. It was a torch, a car, and a man with a cigarette. The band was losing members and there were only three of them left. The lyrics of the songs were about comings and goings and we tried to describe this in photographic terms by using time-lapse. So there's a car going off to one side and then the guy gets out of the car, walks over to the front of it, and lights a cigarette. But as he walks he uses a torch and the car he was in leaves. There's a trail left by the car, a trail left by him as he's walking and then he lights a cigarette, which on the cover is where there's a flash of his face.




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Seconds Out Review:

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 10 May 2007 06:06 (A review of Seconds Out)

Seconds Out is a live double album by Genesis recorded in Paris during 1976 and 1977 in support of A Trick of the Tail and Wind & Wuthering and was released in October 1977.

Seconds Out is the band's second live album following Genesis Live in 1973. While the earlier live set had been released by the band's label to mark time while they recorded Selling England by the Pound, Seconds Out was planned as a major release, an authoritative document of Genesis' sound with Phil Collins as frontman and lead vocalist. The recording includes former Weather Report drummer Chester Thompson at the start of his long tenure as concert drummer for the band. Former Yes and King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford, the first drummer to take over for Collins on the stage after Gabriel's departure, is featured on "The Cinema Show". It is also the last Genesis album to include guitarist Steve Hackett, who left the band during mid-1977 as Seconds Out was being mixed. A critical and commercial success, the album hit #4 in the UK and #47 in the US, where their popularity was still gaining steam.

Seconds Out is commonly regarded as the end of Genesis' progressive rock era, as they would begin exploring shorter and more direct song formats beginning with their next studio release, ...And Then There Were Three..., which would prove to be their American breakthrough album. To many fans, this live set is notable for its combination of classic Gabriel-era songs redone by the musical virtuosity of the later Genesis, mixed with favorites from the first two post-Gabriel releases.

Until Genesis Archive 1967-75 (1998), Seconds Out contained the only live recording of Genesis concert staple "Supper's Ready", a 23 minute long opus which many have considered the band's signature piece. As the band would slowly phase out this intricate quasi-orchestral piece, and lose Hackett while this album was being mixed, this album marks the end of the 'classic' Genesis lineup. Perhaps ironically, this album also prominently features Steve Hackett's live guitar work in a manner that overshadows his recorded solos (see for example, the live version of "Firth of Fifth").

A digitally remastered version was released on CD in 1994 on Virgin in Europe and on Atlantic in the US and Canada.

Miscellanea:

This album's version of "I Know What I Like" includes an extended instrumental section which makes more or less subtle references to "Stagnation" and "Visions Of Angels" (Trespass), "Dancing With The Moonlit Knight" (Selling England by the Pound) and "Blood On The Rooftops" (Wind & Wuthering).

Like many of the band's studio albums, this live album also features a "book-end" effect where musical themes and ideas used in the beginning reappear at the end of the album (such as on "Selling England By The Pound", "A Trick Of The Tail", "Wind & Wuthering" and "Duke" for example). The ending of "Los Endos" features themes from the live album's opening track "Squonk".

On the Genesis – A History video (1990), Banks dryly jokes that, after Hackett announced his departure from the band, "we just mixed him out of the rest of the album and carried on!" Thanks to this quip, it has been rumored among Genesis fans that Hackett was, in fact, "mixed out" of Seconds Out, although, by listening to the album it is possible to hear Hackett’s guitar along with the other instruments. Hackett later said that Banks' remark was simply "British humor". As Banks' joke was made in the context of a longer, more serious discussion about Hackett's departure, that would seem to be the case. However, Hackett has been quoted as saying he wasn’t happy with the sound on the album, but, having already decided to quit the band, didn’t want to fight to have input during the mixing sessions.




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Afterglow Review:

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 10 May 2007 06:00 (A review of Wind & Wuthering)

"Afterglow" is the closing track from the 1977 Genesis album Wind & Wuthering.

The song was composed by Tony Banks, who described it as a "spontaneous" piece that was written in about the same amount of time as it takes to play it.

Arguably the best-known song from Wind & Wuthering, "Afterglow" became a staple on Genesis tours for over 10 years, from the 1977 Wind & Wuthering Tour until the 1986/1987 Invisible Touch Tour

A bass pedal is used to create a drone effect on which much of the song is structured. Live versions of the song appear on the live albums Seconds Out and Three Sides Live


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Wind & Wuthering Review:

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 10 May 2007 05:59 (A review of Wind & Wuthering)

Wind & Wuthering is a studio album by British progressive rock band Genesis, originally released in 1977.

Wind & Wuthering was released within a year of A Trick of the Tail. Its recording sessions brought to a head tensions resulting from guitarist Steve Hackett's frustrations that his writing contributions weren't being accepted fully by the band. Following the tour for this album, Hackett quit Genesis for a solo career in mid-1977.

Wind & Wuthering reached #7 in the UK and #26 in the US. In the US, "Your Own Special Way" gained FM airplay.

The album's title derives itself from two pieces: The "Wind" comes from "The House of the Four Winds", the title given by Hackett to a piece that later became the quiet bridge for "Eleventh Earl of Mar"; the "Wuthering" alludes to the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. The titles of tracks 7 and 8 are derived from the novel's closing sentence: "I lingered round them, under that benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth."



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