Genesis

Maybe Phil Collins, Tony Banks, and Mike Rutherford thought they were making a "career-defining" record when they chose to title their fourth studio album as a trio, and 12th overall, Genesis. On the other hand, maybe they just knew they had produced their simplest, most accessible album to date, and it deserved a simple title, one that signified a new beginning for a band whose name was literally synonymous with beginnings.

Whatever the motivation behind the title, Genesis is indeed a pleasant, pop-oriented album, the most cohesive and satisfying work the band ever produced during its days as a three-piece. The singles "That's All" and "Taking It All Too Hard" gleam with the shiny, crystalline surfaces of all the best '80s pop, and even more expansive numbers like the two-part "Home by the Sea" stay firmly rooted in catchy melodies and major-key chords. Only the sparse, creepy "Mama" and the album's rather baroque closing tracks, "Silver Rainbow" and "It's Gonna Get Better," give any hint that this was the same band that did Abacab, much less Selling England by the Pound.

Still, only a band with a prog-rock background could make a radio-friendly single as quirky as "That's All," or a rock radio hit charged with as much corny melodrama as "Just a Job to Do," which casts Collins in the unlikely role of hired assassin. "Illegal Alien," the album's only misstep, is even unlikelier, with Collins adopting an embarrassing, vaguely racist Mexican accent. But what makes Genesis such a durable album is that tug-of-war between the band's proggy pretensions and the unpretentious pop that would eventually come to define them—so much so that, by 1991's We Can't Dance, they could no longer do prog-rock, even when they tried.

--Andy Hermann
03.15.07

Moments of Genesis are as spooky and arty as those on Abacab -- in particular, there's the tortured howl of "Mama," uncannily reminiscent of Phil Collins' Face Value, and the two-part "Second Home by the Sea" -- but this eponymous 1983 album is indeed a rebirth, as so many self-titled albums delivered in the thick of a band's career often are. Here the art rock functions as coloring to the pop songs, unlike on Abacab and Duke, where the reverse is true. Some of this may be covering their bets -- to ensure that the longtime fans didn't jump ship, they gave them a bit of art -- some of it may be that the band just couldn't leave prog behind, but the end result is the same: as of this record, Genesis was now primarily a pop band. Anybody who paid attention to "Misunderstanding" and "No Reply at All" could tell that this was a good pop band, primarily thanks to the rapidly escalating confidence of Phil Collins, but Genesis illustrates just how good they could be, by balancing such sleek, pulsating pop tunes as "That's All" with a newfound touch for aching ballads, as on "Taking It All Too Hard." They still rocked -- "Just a Job to Do" has an almost nasty edge to its propulsion -- and they could still get too silly as on "Illegal Alien," where Phil's Speedy Gonzalez accident is an outright embarrassment (although in some ways it's not all that far removed from his Artful Dodger accent on the previous album's "Who Dunnit?"), and that's why the album doesn't quite gel. It has a little bit too much of everything -- too much pop, too much art, too much silliness -- so it doesn't pull together, but if taken individually, most of these moments are very strong, testaments to the increasing confidence and pop power of the trio, even if it's not quite what longtime fans might care to hear. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi