Phil Collins Genesis

[sdhonda]

A Trick of the Tail and Wind and Wuthering I still consider among their "Prog era" albums... It was really after Steve Hackett left the band that Genesis started trending towards the shorter pop-heavy albums.

 

I agree. I don't understand why TotT and W&W are lumped together with everything else that came after them. Except for the fact that Phil sang on them, they have more in common with The Lamb and Selling England than they do with the deep 80s stuff (parts of Trick were written for the Lamb and even Foxtrot).

 

A better schema would be:

 

PG: Trespass, Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England, The Lamb

4 Piece/Transitional: Trick of the Tail, W&W

PC: Duke, ABACAB, Genesis, Invisible Touch, I Can't Dance

[Rick N. Backer]

 

 

If you were never unsure if Genesis sold out with Duke and everything after, ask yourself this - could you see Peter Gabriel singing those songs and being the frontman of the band on those albums?

 

No goddam way.

I'm not sure I'd call ceasing to churn out self-indulgent prog that virtually no one wants to hear anymore "selling out". I'd call it a natural evolution for a band that wanted to keep making new music that they found interesting.

 

I know it's heresy here, but I only enjoy the Collins era. I don't love that either, but I prefer it to the Gabriel stuff.

[bathory]

If you were never unsure if Genesis sold out with Duke and everything after, ask yourself this - could you see Peter Gabriel singing those songs and being the frontman of the band on those albums?

 

No goddam way.

I'm not sure I'd call ceasing to churn out self-indulgent prog that virtually no one wants to hear anymore "selling out". I'd call it a natural evolution for a band that wanted to keep making new music that they found interesting.

 

what exactly makes their prog era "self-indulgent"? the fact that the songs are long? and if no one wanted to hear it, how come bands like marillion came along and got very big followings with an obvious gabriel-era genesis influence?

[yaoi_myantidrug]

Musically I enjoy TOtT, but lyrically I just can't get into it.

[lerxt1990]

If you were never unsure if Genesis sold out with Duke and everything after, ask yourself this - could you see Peter Gabriel singing those songs and being the frontman of the band on those albums?

 

No goddam way.

I'm not sure I'd call ceasing to churn out self-indulgent prog that virtually no one wants to hear anymore "selling out". I'd call it a natural evolution for a band that wanted to keep making new music that they found interesting.

 

what exactly makes their prog era "self-indulgent"? the fact that the songs are long? and if no one wanted to hear it, how come bands like marillion came along and got very big followings with an obvious gabriel-era genesis influence?

 

I think Genesis wanted to and intended to make more accessible music that went towards straight forward rock rather than prog. Why on earth would they simply turn out the same music they always did? As they made more popular music, they enjoyed it, and yes, it being more popular made them more coin, but I wouldnt call it "selling out" because I believe they wanted to make music that was different and more straight forward.

 

 

If you were never unsure if Genesis sold out with Duke and everything after, ask yourself this - could you see Peter Gabriel singing those songs and being the frontman of the band on those albums?

 

No goddam way.

I'm not sure I'd call ceasing to churn out self-indulgent prog that virtually no one wants to hear anymore "selling out". I'd call it a natural evolution for a band that wanted to keep making new music that they found interesting.

 

I know it's heresy here, but I only enjoy the Collins era. I don't love that either, but I prefer it to the Gabriel stuff.

 

I like both, but the earlier stuff more. They are really two completely different bands.

Edited March 12, 2013 by lerxt1990

[bathory]

If you were never unsure if Genesis sold out with Duke and everything after, ask yourself this - could you see Peter Gabriel singing those songs and being the frontman of the band on those albums?

 

No goddam way.

I'm not sure I'd call ceasing to churn out self-indulgent prog that virtually no one wants to hear anymore "selling out". I'd call it a natural evolution for a band that wanted to keep making new music that they found interesting.

 

what exactly makes their prog era "self-indulgent"? the fact that the songs are long? and if no one wanted to hear it, how come bands like marillion came along and got very big followings with an obvious gabriel-era genesis influence?

 

I think Genesis wanted to and intended to make more accessible music that went towards straight forward rock rather than prog. Why on earth would they simply turn out the same music they always did? As they made more popular music, they enjoyed it, and yes, it being more popular made them more coin, but I wouldnt call it "selling out" because I believe they wanted to make music that was different and more straight forward.

 

 

If you were never unsure if Genesis sold out with Duke and everything after, ask yourself this - could you see Peter Gabriel singing those songs and being the frontman of the band on those albums?

 

No goddam way.

I'm not sure I'd call ceasing to churn out self-indulgent prog that virtually no one wants to hear anymore "selling out". I'd call it a natural evolution for a band that wanted to keep making new music that they found interesting.

 

I know it's heresy here, but I only enjoy the Collins era. I don't love that either, but I prefer it to the Gabriel stuff.

 

I like both, but the earlier stuff more. They are really two completely different bands.

 

oh yeah I wasn't in any way insinuating that genesis "sold out." I do believe they wanted to move towards a poppier sound, and more power to them - I'm just not a fan of a lot of it. I was responding to goose's comment that no one wanted to hear "self-indulgent" prog anymore that was like 70s genesis - bands like IQ and marillion proved that statement wrong I think

[rushgoober]

If you were never unsure if Genesis sold out with Duke and everything after, ask yourself this - could you see Peter Gabriel singing those songs and being the frontman of the band on those albums?

 

No goddam way.

I'm not sure I'd call ceasing to churn out self-indulgent prog that virtually no one wants to hear anymore "selling out". I'd call it a natural evolution for a band that wanted to keep making new music that they found interesting.

 

what exactly makes their prog era "self-indulgent"? the fact that the songs are long? and if no one wanted to hear it, how come bands like marillion came along and got very big followings with an obvious gabriel-era genesis influence?

 

I think Genesis wanted to and intended to make more accessible music that went towards straight forward rock rather than prog. Why on earth would they simply turn out the same music they always did? As they made more popular music, they enjoyed it, and yes, it being more popular made them more coin, but I wouldnt call it "selling out" because I believe they wanted to make music that was different and more straight forward.

 

 

If you were never unsure if Genesis sold out with Duke and everything after, ask yourself this - could you see Peter Gabriel singing those songs and being the frontman of the band on those albums?

 

No goddam way.

I'm not sure I'd call ceasing to churn out self-indulgent prog that virtually no one wants to hear anymore "selling out". I'd call it a natural evolution for a band that wanted to keep making new music that they found interesting.

 

I know it's heresy here, but I only enjoy the Collins era. I don't love that either, but I prefer it to the Gabriel stuff.

 

I like both, but the earlier stuff more. They are really two completely different bands.

 

oh yeah I wasn't in any way insinuating that genesis "sold out." I do believe they wanted to move towards a poppier sound, and more power to them - I'm just not a fan of a lot of it. I was responding to goose's comment that no one wanted to hear "self-indulgent" prog anymore that was like 70s genesis - bands like IQ and marillion proved that statement wrong I think

 

you guys are so funny. they so OBVIOUSLY sold out. it's fine, they produced a lot of great music over the years, although admittedly with exponentially diminishing returns as time went on, but you don't go from where they were to where they ended up without selling out. there's no way they just naturally decided they wanted to go completely into the realm of pop music. they might have been sincere in their approach to it, but it was definitely motivated by money. not that there's anything really wrong with that, but let's call it what it is.

[GrandDesigner]

I absolutely love AToTT and W&W, probably more than anything from the PG era. Those two albums have a dark, romanticism about them that I just adore. One For The Vine and Ripples are also two of my favorite Genesis songs, along with Fading Lights.

 

I never hated the progression from prog to pop, in fact, it was always interesting to go through the albums chronologically and hear them gradually strip away just a tiny bit more with each successive album. I've even grown to love IT. The only real PC era thing I'm not a fan of is the overall adult-contemporary vibe they had on WCD, it'd be better if it was more ambient/progressive as opposed to sappy.

[bathory]

there's no proof that the band's decision was motivated by money

 

and it's not like genesis were exactly poor...they'd been playing arenas since the lamb tour

[rushgoober]

there's no proof that the band's decision was motivated by money

 

and it's not like genesis were exactly poor...they'd been playing arenas since the lamb tour

 

the proof is in the pudding. ;)

[bathory]

:dweez:

[goose]

 

 

you guys are so funny. they so OBVIOUSLY sold out. it's fine, they produced a lot of great music over the years, although admittedly with exponentially diminishing returns as time went on, but you don't go from where they were to where they ended up without selling out. there's no way they just naturally decided they wanted to go completely into the realm of pop music. they might have been sincere in their approach to it, but it was definitely motivated by money. not that there's anything really wrong with that, but let's call it what it is.

You don't think peoples' musical tastes change, or that they get disinterested in a particular structure within their work?

 

People can evolve without selling out. Drastically even. Do you consider Phil's ventures into big band music "selling out"?

[rushgoober]

you guys are so funny. they so OBVIOUSLY sold out. it's fine, they produced a lot of great music over the years, although admittedly with exponentially diminishing returns as time went on, but you don't go from where they were to where they ended up without selling out. there's no way they just naturally decided they wanted to go completely into the realm of pop music. they might have been sincere in their approach to it, but it was definitely motivated by money. not that there's anything really wrong with that, but let's call it what it is.

You don't think peoples' musical tastes change, or that they get disinterested in a particular structure within their work?

 

People can evolve without selling out. Drastically even. Do you consider Phil's ventures into big band music "selling out"?

 

all i can say is if someone's musical taste changes from beautiful complexity to short, boring, middle of the road, poppy, ultra-commercial and conventional, it's kind of sad IMHO.

[Lost In Xanadu]

If you were never unsure if Genesis sold out with Duke and everything after, ask yourself this - could you see Peter Gabriel singing those songs and being the frontman of the band on those albums?

 

No goddam way.

I'm not sure I'd call ceasing to churn out self-indulgent prog that virtually no one wants to hear anymore "selling out". I'd call it a natural evolution for a band that wanted to keep making new music that they found interesting.

 

I know it's heresy here, but I only enjoy the Collins era. I don't love that either, but I prefer it to the Gabriel stuff.

 

Collins is what got me listening. It was on the radio when I was growing up, I loved Invisible Touch and his solo work. As I got older I started listening to older stuff and enjoy it all now. I like both versions of Genesis, PC solo, PG solo. Solsbury Hill is one of my all time favorite songs by anyone.

[goose]

you guys are so funny. they so OBVIOUSLY sold out. it's fine, they produced a lot of great music over the years, although admittedly with exponentially diminishing returns as time went on, but you don't go from where they were to where they ended up without selling out. there's no way they just naturally decided they wanted to go completely into the realm of pop music. they might have been sincere in their approach to it, but it was definitely motivated by money. not that there's anything really wrong with that, but let's call it what it is.

You don't think peoples' musical tastes change, or that they get disinterested in a particular structure within their work?

 

People can evolve without selling out. Drastically even. Do you consider Phil's ventures into big band music "selling out"?

 

all i can say is if someone's musical taste changes from beautiful complexity to short, boring, middle of the road, poppy, ultra-commercial and conventional, it's kind of sad IMHO.

Fir enough. I think as many people age - many musicians - the youthful energy & curiosity that is expressed through prog and other genres (like punk) wanes. For them, yet another effort of the same style is boring and cliche, whereas for them crafting a simple, melody-oriented song is more of a challenge.

 

Honestly, I wouldn't mind if RUSH focused a bit more on memorable, singable melody once in a while.

[Chicken hawk]

Anything Phil Collins does is ok with me. Im a huge fan. saw them In Boston a few times.

[Hatchetaxe&saw]

F*ckin' love the Phil era stuff. Bar some of the later ballads, which are pure cock.

 

Trick of The Tail has always been my favourite album, and Duke is pretty flawless too. The shapes album & Invisible Touch are clever little albums, let down by the odd stinker. Illegal Alien & In Too Deep are maggoty.

[rushgoober]

you guys are so funny. they so OBVIOUSLY sold out. it's fine, they produced a lot of great music over the years, although admittedly with exponentially diminishing returns as time went on, but you don't go from where they were to where they ended up without selling out. there's no way they just naturally decided they wanted to go completely into the realm of pop music. they might have been sincere in their approach to it, but it was definitely motivated by money. not that there's anything really wrong with that, but let's call it what it is.

You don't think peoples' musical tastes change, or that they get disinterested in a particular structure within their work?

 

People can evolve without selling out. Drastically even. Do you consider Phil's ventures into big band music "selling out"?

 

all i can say is if someone's musical taste changes from beautiful complexity to short, boring, middle of the road, poppy, ultra-commercial and conventional, it's kind of sad IMHO.

Fir enough. I think as many people age - many musicians - the youthful energy & curiosity that is expressed through prog and other genres (like punk) wanes. For them, yet another effort of the same style is boring and cliche, whereas for them crafting a simple, melody-oriented song is more of a challenge.

 

Honestly, I wouldn't mind if RUSH focused a bit more on memorable, singable melody once in a while.

 

I think Rush HAS done that. Tom Sawyer, Limelight, Closer to the Heart, Subdivisions, Dreamline, Far Cry, Lakeside Park, etc. They've had some GREAT melodies, but they kept their intelligence and musical complexity even in the shorter, more melodic tunes. Rush have had TONS of melodic songs over the years that are very singable.

[ILSnwdog]

I love trick of the tail

This.

 

Duke isn't bad. I enjoy much of Abacab. Mama is a great song. Anything after the album that Mama was on pretty much sucked in my book.

[Rick N. Backer]

May I add that Land of Confusion is an absolutely great song. And video.

[rushfanforever!]

May I add that Land of Confusion is an absolutely great song. And video.

 

So good, it won a Grammy! Mike's lyrics were spot on! Personally, I like Tony's songs the best...extended Domino, Home by the Sea, etc.

[goose]

you guys are so funny. they so OBVIOUSLY sold out. it's fine, they produced a lot of great music over the years, although admittedly with exponentially diminishing returns as time went on, but you don't go from where they were to where they ended up without selling out. there's no way they just naturally decided they wanted to go completely into the realm of pop music. they might have been sincere in their approach to it, but it was definitely motivated by money. not that there's anything really wrong with that, but let's call it what it is.

You don't think peoples' musical tastes change, or that they get disinterested in a particular structure within their work?

 

People can evolve without selling out. Drastically even. Do you consider Phil's ventures into big band music "selling out"?

 

all i can say is if someone's musical taste changes from beautiful complexity to short, boring, middle of the road, poppy, ultra-commercial and conventional, it's kind of sad IMHO.

Fir enough. I think as many people age - many musicians - the youthful energy & curiosity that is expressed through prog and other genres (like punk) wanes. For them, yet another effort of the same style is boring and cliche, whereas for them crafting a simple, melody-oriented song is more of a challenge.

 

Honestly, I wouldn't mind if RUSH focused a bit more on memorable, singable melody once in a while.

 

I think Rush HAS done that. Tom Sawyer, Limelight, Closer to the Heart, Subdivisions, Dreamline, Far Cry, Lakeside Park, etc. They've had some GREAT melodies, but they kept their intelligence and musical complexity even in the shorter, more melodic tunes. Rush have had TONS of melodic songs over the years that are very singable.

I meant in recent years. There are good songs, but few are singable like the ones you mentioned. :)

 

Earthshine is perhaps the closest to a melodic chorus is a long time. (Couldn't resist :poke: )

[drbirdsong]

 

from AMERICAN PSYCHO by Bret Easton Ellis - 1991

 

Genesis

I’ve been a big Genesis fan ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke. Before that I didn’t really understand any of their work, though on their last album of the 1970s, the concept-laden And Then There Were Three (a reference to band member Peter Gabriel, who left the group to start a lame solo career), I did enjoy the lovely “Follow You, Follow Me.” Otherwise all the albums before Duke seemed too artsy, too intelleotual. It was Duke (Atlantic; 1980), where Phil Collins’ presence became more apparent, and the music got more modern, the drum machine became more prevalent and the lyrics started getting less mystical and more specific (maybe because of Peter Gabriel’s departure), and complex, ambiguous studies of loss became, instead, smashing first-rate pop songs that I gratefully embraced. The songs themselves seemed arranged more around Collins’ drumming than Mike Rutherford’s bass lines or Tony Banks’ keyboard riffs. A classic example of this is “Misunderstanding,” which not only was the group’s first big hit of the eighties but also seemed to set the tone for the rest of theiralbums as the decade progressed. The other standout on Duke is “Turn It On Again,” which is about the negative effects of television. On the other hand, “Heathaze” is a song I just don’t understand, while “Please Don’t Ask” is a touching love song written to a separated wife who regains custody of the couple’s child. Has the negative aspect of divorce ever been rendered in more intimate terms by a rock ‘n’ roll group? I don’t think so. “Duke Travels” and “Dukes End” might mean something but since the lyrics aren’t printed it’s hard to tell what Collins is singing about, though there is complex, gorgeous piano work by Tony Banks on the latter track. The only bummer about Duke is “Alone Tonight,” which is way too reminiscent of “Tonight Tonight Tonight” from the group’s later masterpiece Invisible Touch and the only example, really, of where Collins has plagiarized himself.

Abacab (Atlantic; 1981) was released almost immediately after Duke and it benefits from a new producer, Hugh Padgham, who gives the band a more eighties sound and though the songs seem fairly generic, there are still great bits throughout: the extended jam in the middle of the title track and the horns by some group called Earth, Wind and Fire on “No Reply at All” are just two examples. Again the songs reflect dark emotions and are about people who feel lost or who are in conflict, but the production and sound are gleaming and upbeat (even if the titles aren’t: “No Reply at All,” “Keep It Dark,” “Who Dunnit?” “Like It or Not”). Mike Rutherford’s bass is obscured somewhat in the mix but otherwise the band sounds tight and is once again propelled by Collins’ truly amazing drumming. Even at its most despairing (like the song “Dodo,” about extinction), Abacab musically is poppy and lighthearted.

My favorite track is “Man on the Corner,” which is the only song credited solely to Collins, a moving ballad with a pretty synthesized melody plus a riveting drum machine in the background. Though it could easily come off any of Phil’s solo albums, because the themes of loneliness, paranoia and alienation are overly familiar to Genesis it evokes the band’s hopeful humanism. “Man on the Corner” profoundly equates a relationship with a solitary figure (a bum, perhaps a poor homeless person?), “that lonely man on the corner” who just stands around. “Who Dunnit?” profoundly expresses the theme of confusion against a funky groove, and what makes this song so exciting is that it ends with its narrator never finding anything out at all.

Hugh Padgham produced next an even less conceptual effort, simply called Genesis (Atlantic; 1983), and though it’s a fine album a lot of it now seems too derivative for my tastes. ‘That’s All” sounds like “Misunderstanding,” “Taking It All Too Hard” reminds me of “Throwing It All Away.” It also seems less jazzy than its predecessors and more of an eighties pop album, more rock ‘n’ roll. Padgham does a brilliant job of producing, but the material is weaker than usual and you can sense the strain. It opens with the autobiographical “Mama,” that’s both strange and touching, though I couldn’t tell if the singer was talking about his actual mother or to a girl he likes to call “Mama.” ‘That’s All” is a lover’s lament about being ignored and beaten down by an unreceptive partner; despite the despairing tone it’s got a bright sing-along melody that makes the song less depressing than it probably needed to be. “That’s All” is the best tune on the album, but Phil’s voice is strongest on “House by the Sea,” whose lyrics are, however, too stream-of-consciousness to make much sense. It might be about growing up and accepting adulthood but it’s unclear; at any rate, its second instrumental part puts the song more in focus for me and Mike Banks gets to show off his virtuosic guitar skills while Tom Rutherford washes the tracks over with dreamy synthesizers, and when Phil repeats the song’s third verse at the end it can give you chills.

“Illegal Alien” is the most explicitly political song the group has yet recorded and their funniest. The subject is supposed to be sad—a wetback trying to get across the border into the United States—but the details are highly comical: the bottle of tequila the Mexican holds, the new pair of shoes he’s wearing (probably stolen); and it all seems totally accurate. Phil sings it in a brash, whiny pseudo-Mexican voice that makes it even funnier, and the rhyme of “fun ” with “illegal alien ” is inspired. “Just a Job to Do” is the album’s funkiest song, with a killer bass line by Banks, and though it seems to be about a detective chasing a criminal, I think it could also be about a jealous lover tracking someone down. “Silver Rainbow” is the album’s most lyrical song. The words are intense, complex and gorgeous. The album ends on a positive, upbeat note with “It’s Gonna Get Better.” Even if the lyrics seem a tiny bit generic to some, Phil’s voice is so confident (heavily influenced by Peter Gabriel, who never made an album this polished and heartfelt himself) that he makes us believe in glorious possibilities.

Invisible Touch (Atlantic; 1986) is the group’s undisputed masterpiece. It’s an epic meditation on intangibility, at the same time it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding three albums. It has a resonance that keeps coming back at the listener, and the music is so beautiful that it’s almost impossible to shake off because every song makes some connection about the unknown or the spaces between people (“Invisible Touch”), questioning authoritative control whether by domineering lovers or by government (“Land of Confusion”) or by meaningless repetition (“Tonight Tonight Tonight’. All in all it ranks with the finest rock ‘n’ roll achievements of the decade and the mastermind behind this album, along of course with the brilliant ensemble playing of Banks, Collins and Rutherford, is Hugh Padgham, who has never found as clear and crisp and modern a sound as this. You can practically hear every nuance of every instrument.

In terms of lyrical craftsmanship and sheer songwriting skills this album hits a new peak of professionalism. Take the lyrics to “Land of Confusion,” in which a singer addresses the problem of abusive political authority. This is laid down with a groove funkier and blacker than anything Prince or Michael Jackson—or any other black artist of recent years, for that matter—has come up with. Yet as danceable as the album is, it also has a stripped-down urgency that not even the overrated Bruce Springsteen can equal. As an observer of love’s failings Collins beats out the Boss again and again, reaching new heights of emotional honesty on “In Too Deep”; yet it also showcases Collins’ clowny, prankish, unpredictable side. It’s the most moving pop song of the 1980s about monogamy and commitment. “Anything She Does” (which echoes the J. Geils Band’s “Centerfold” but is more spirited and energetic) starts off side two and after that the album reaches its peak with “Domino,” a two-part song. Part one, “In the Heat of the Night,” is full of sharp, finely drawn images of despair and it’s paired with “The Last Domino,” which fights it with an expression of hope. This song is extremely uplifting. The lyrics are as positive and affirmative as anything I’ve heard in rock.

Phil Collins’ solo efforts seem to be more commercial and therefore more satisfying in a narrower way, especially No Jacket Required and songs like “In the Air Tonight” and “Against All Odds” (though that song was overshadowed by the masterful movie from which it came) and “Take Me Home” and “Sussudio” (great, great song; a personal favorite) and his remake of “You Can’t Hurry Love,” which I’m not alone in thinking is better than the Supremes’ original. But I also think that Phil Collins works better within the confines of the group than as a solo artist—and I stress the word artist. In fact it applies to all three of the guys, because Genesis is still the best, most exciting band to come out of England in the 1980s.

[goose]

 

Phil’s voice is strongest on “House by the Sea,”

I quit reading here.

[bathory]

 

from AMERICAN PSYCHO by Bret Easton Ellis - 1991

 

Genesis

 

I’ve been a big Genesis fan ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke. Before that I didn’t really understand any of their work, though on their last album of the 1970s, the concept-laden And Then There Were Three (a reference to band member Peter Gabriel, who left the group to start a lame solo career), I did enjoy the lovely “Follow You, Follow Me.” Otherwise all the albums before Duke seemed too artsy, too intelleotual. It was Duke (Atlantic; 1980), where Phil Collins’ presence became more apparent, and the music got more modern, the drum machine became more prevalent and the lyrics started getting less mystical and more specific (maybe because of Peter Gabriel’s departure), and complex, ambiguous studies of loss became, instead, smashing first-rate pop songs that I gratefully embraced. The songs themselves seemed arranged more around Collins’ drumming than Mike Rutherford’s bass lines or Tony Banks’ keyboard riffs. A classic example of this is “Misunderstanding,” which not only was the group’s first big hit of the eighties but also seemed to set the tone for the rest of theiralbums as the decade progressed. The other standout on Duke is “Turn It On Again,” which is about the negative effects of television. On the other hand, “Heathaze” is a song I just don’t understand, while “Please Don’t Ask” is a touching love song written to a separated wife who regains custody of the couple’s child. Has the negative aspect of divorce ever been rendered in more intimate terms by a rock ‘n’ roll group? I don’t think so. “Duke Travels” and “Dukes End” might mean something but since the lyrics aren’t printed it’s hard to tell what Collins is singing about, though there is complex, gorgeous piano work by Tony Banks on the latter track. The only bummer about Duke is “Alone Tonight,” which is way too reminiscent of “Tonight Tonight Tonight” from the group’s later masterpiece Invisible Touch and the only example, really, of where Collins has plagiarized himself.

 

Abacab (Atlantic; 1981) was released almost immediately after Duke and it benefits from a new producer, Hugh Padgham, who gives the band a more eighties sound and though the songs seem fairly generic, there are still great bits throughout: the extended jam in the middle of the title track and the horns by some group called Earth, Wind and Fire on “No Reply at All” are just two examples. Again the songs reflect dark emotions and are about people who feel lost or who are in conflict, but the production and sound are gleaming and upbeat (even if the titles aren’t: “No Reply at All,” “Keep It Dark,” “Who Dunnit?” “Like It or Not”). Mike Rutherford’s bass is obscured somewhat in the mix but otherwise the band sounds tight and is once again propelled by Collins’ truly amazing drumming. Even at its most despairing (like the song “Dodo,” about extinction), Abacab musically is poppy and lighthearted.

 

My favorite track is “Man on the Corner,” which is the only song credited solely to Collins, a moving ballad with a pretty synthesized melody plus a riveting drum machine in the background. Though it could easily come off any of Phil’s solo albums, because the themes of loneliness, paranoia and alienation are overly familiar to Genesis it evokes the band’s hopeful humanism. “Man on the Corner” profoundly equates a relationship with a solitary figure (a bum, perhaps a poor homeless person?), “that lonely man on the corner” who just stands around. “Who Dunnit?” profoundly expresses the theme of confusion against a funky groove, and what makes this song so exciting is that it ends with its narrator never finding anything out at all.

 

Hugh Padgham produced next an even less conceptual effort, simply called Genesis (Atlantic; 1983), and though it’s a fine album a lot of it now seems too derivative for my tastes. ‘That’s All” sounds like “Misunderstanding,” “Taking It All Too Hard” reminds me of “Throwing It All Away.” It also seems less jazzy than its predecessors and more of an eighties pop album, more rock ‘n’ roll. Padgham does a brilliant job of producing, but the material is weaker than usual and you can sense the strain. It opens with the autobiographical “Mama,” that’s both strange and touching, though I couldn’t tell if the singer was talking about his actual mother or to a girl he likes to call “Mama.” ‘That’s All” is a lover’s lament about being ignored and beaten down by an unreceptive partner; despite the despairing tone it’s got a bright sing-along melody that makes the song less depressing than it probably needed to be. “That’s All” is the best tune on the album, but Phil’s voice is strongest on “House by the Sea,” whose lyrics are, however, too stream-of-consciousness to make much sense. It might be about growing up and accepting adulthood but it’s unclear; at any rate, its second instrumental part puts the song more in focus for me and Mike Banks gets to show off his virtuosic guitar skills while Tom Rutherford washes the tracks over with dreamy synthesizers, and when Phil repeats the song’s third verse at the end it can give you chills.

 

“Illegal Alien” is the most explicitly political song the group has yet recorded and their funniest. The subject is supposed to be sad—a wetback trying to get across the border into the United States—but the details are highly comical: the bottle of tequila the Mexican holds, the new pair of shoes he’s wearing (probably stolen); and it all seems totally accurate. Phil sings it in a brash, whiny pseudo-Mexican voice that makes it even funnier, and the rhyme of “fun ” with “illegal alien ” is inspired. “Just a Job to Do” is the album’s funkiest song, with a killer bass line by Banks, and though it seems to be about a detective chasing a criminal, I think it could also be about a jealous lover tracking someone down. “Silver Rainbow” is the album’s most lyrical song. The words are intense, complex and gorgeous. The album ends on a positive, upbeat note with “It’s Gonna Get Better.” Even if the lyrics seem a tiny bit generic to some, Phil’s voice is so confident (heavily influenced by Peter Gabriel, who never made an album this polished and heartfelt himself) that he makes us believe in glorious possibilities.

 

Invisible Touch (Atlantic; 1986) is the group’s undisputed masterpiece. It’s an epic meditation on intangibility, at the same time it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding three albums. It has a resonance that keeps coming back at the listener, and the music is so beautiful that it’s almost impossible to shake off because every song makes some connection about the unknown or the spaces between people (“Invisible Touch”), questioning authoritative control whether by domineering lovers or by government (“Land of Confusion”) or by meaningless repetition (“Tonight Tonight Tonight’. All in all it ranks with the finest rock ‘n’ roll achievements of the decade and the mastermind behind this album, along of course with the brilliant ensemble playing of Banks, Collins and Rutherford, is Hugh Padgham, who has never found as clear and crisp and modern a sound as this. You can practically hear every nuance of every instrument.

 

In terms of lyrical craftsmanship and sheer songwriting skills this album hits a new peak of professionalism. Take the lyrics to “Land of Confusion,” in which a singer addresses the problem of abusive political authority. This is laid down with a groove funkier and blacker than anything Prince or Michael Jackson—or any other black artist of recent years, for that matter—has come up with. Yet as danceable as the album is, it also has a stripped-down urgency that not even the overrated Bruce Springsteen can equal. As an observer of love’s failings Collins beats out the Boss again and again, reaching new heights of emotional honesty on “In Too Deep”; yet it also showcases Collins’ clowny, prankish, unpredictable side. It’s the most moving pop song of the 1980s about monogamy and commitment. “Anything She Does” (which echoes the J. Geils Band’s “Centerfold” but is more spirited and energetic) starts off side two and after that the album reaches its peak with “Domino,” a two-part song. Part one, “In the Heat of the Night,” is full of sharp, finely drawn images of despair and it’s paired with “The Last Domino,” which fights it with an expression of hope. This song is extremely uplifting. The lyrics are as positive and affirmative as anything I’ve heard in rock.

 

Phil Collins’ solo efforts seem to be more commercial and therefore more satisfying in a narrower way, especially No Jacket Required and songs like “In the Air Tonight” and “Against All Odds” (though that song was overshadowed by the masterful movie from which it came) and “Take Me Home” and “Sussudio” (great, great song; a personal favorite) and his remake of “You Can’t Hurry Love,” which I’m not alone in thinking is better than the Supremes’ original. But I also think that Phil Collins works better within the confines of the group than as a solo artist—and I stress the word artist. In fact it applies to all three of the guys, because Genesis is still the best, most exciting band to come out of England in the 1980s.

 

just don't post the rat/tube/vagina/cheese scene