Album not listened to in years: Genesis (1983)

[Troy]

Great Idea FA.

I loved it on first release. I kinda like it today.

Yeah, the memories come flooding back as I sat in my office last night listening to it with headphones. I was 23. Remember that green Duster I had with the four 6x9s in the rear deck, 150 watts running to each? Nah, probably not . . . but I sure do. Wow, this was great played really loud while bombing through the hills. I recall playing the hell out of this back in 83/84.

"Mama" is so minimal and haunting. Quite the crescendo in this. Always was a show stopper live.

"Homes by the Sea" were classic, if too brittle and harsh the way so much 80s music was in general. It's impossible to call a band releasing pieces of music like this in 1983 as complete and total sell-outs. Epic prog.

You can keep the cheesy ballads "That's all" and "Taking it all too hard." Bleaugh. I never dubbed them to the cassettes I made for the car, so I was able to avoid them. Radio overplay? Don't listen to the radio! what's the MATTER with you?

"Illegal Alien" is hilarious today for it's mind-numbingly un-PC lyrics. Listening to this today, right now, it's probably the most entertaining track on the disc. Oh man, what a time capsule for me! Truly, a pleasure to hear this goofy song again after MANY years of avoiding it like the plague. Pure pop. 80s bubblegum. One of those songs that paints pictures in your minds eye, reminding you of people and places forgotten for over 20 years.

"Just a Job" was a favorite back then. Wasn't this featured prominantly on a TV show in the early 80s? Didn't watch much TV back then . . . Playing it last night, it's an interesting and playful melody. I could see a modern band covering this one and deleting all the 80s style hand-claps, freeze-dried snare and disco synths that were trowled on. There's a good song lurking in there.

"Silver Rainbow" certainly is the best "sounding" song on here and is the closest to a 70s Genesis arrangement and general feel. While Homes by the Sea may be the most obviously proggy moment on here, I think time has been better to this track than any of the others. I like this song a lot, always have.

"Gonna get better" is one of the rare post-1980 ballads that was pallatable for me. Really pleasing melancholy melody. I could never take a steady diet of this one though.

I haven't heard this in forever. Last time I played the whole album? At LEAST 10 years, maybe more. At the time, it never occured to me that it was so crappy sounding, I thought it was a terriffic album. The drum sound is awful! The synths are so thin and shrill. It's future potential to be SO dated sounding never crossed my mind back then. My god, it's aged so badly! Ahhhh, to be 23 and innocent again.

A fun spin to reminisce to. Thanks for the idea to play it.

[ForeverAutumn]

I'm glad that you had fun relistening to that disk Troy. That's what this idea was all about...having some fun! And maybe rediscovering a gem or two.

[Mr MidFi]

Hey! I did a Genesis album for my weekend listen, too! Instead of posting a separate thread, I'll just piggyback mine to yours. Hope you don't mind.

Back in the 70s and early 80s, Wind and Wuthering was one of my all-time favorite albums. It was pure old-school prog from a time when that was the coolest thing happening. I hadn't listened to it in at least a couple of years, but I gave it my undivided attention on the "good" stereo yesterday.

The first track, "11th Earl of Mar", starts out with the words:
The sun had been up for a couple of hours
Covered the ground with a layer of gold
Spirits were high, and the raining had stopped...

...and that perfectly summed up the conditions in the lovely Fox Valley during my listen! This song focuses on a few episodes of Scottish history that I know little about, but it evoked a lot of the emotions from my trip there last year. It's a powerful song, but lapses into prog preciousness a little now and then.

The next track, "One for the Vine," is an epic of fantasy story-telling, parallel dimensions and war & peace. Again, it gets a bit "twee" at times, but there are moments in this song that are the equal of anything these guys have ever done. Especially the glorious ending.

"Your Own Special Way" is the wimpiest pop song I've ever heard. I farking hate it, and always have.

"Wot Gorilla" is one of the wackiest instrumentals I've heard. It hasn't aged well, but that's the whole idea. It sounds like the opening theme music to a kitschy 70s outer-space TV show from Europe. I love it.

"All In a Mouse's Night" is another solid attempt at story-telling, this time exploring the narrative from four distinct points of view. In the end, the mouse bests the cat, Tony Banks gets to show off his classical sensibilities some more, and Steve Hackett gets to flash some otherworldly guitar wailing.

"Blood On the Rooftops" is an ill-advised attempt at sounding topical, but the classical guitar intro from Hackett is one of his top moments with the band. Not a bad song, not great either.

And now...the massive medley that closes the album: "Unquiet slumbers for the sleepers/In that quiet earth/Afterglow". The opening instrumental portion is some of the spookiest, creepiest, yet hauntingly beautiful music ever created. The rest of the instrumental is a full-fledged prog jam workout, with Hackett and Banks taking turns blowing each others' minds. Finally, it settles down into the stately ballad "Afterglow," a beautiful if somewhat sappy love ode written from the point of view of a ghost.

Overall, the album sounds pretty dated and more than a little effete in parts, but there are a bonanza of great musical ideas all over this disc. It's not quite as good as its predecessor, Trick of the Tail, but it's well worth listening to.

[Troy]

Wind and Wuthering, eh?

So nice to have one of my favorite albums be considered "twee" and "effete." LOL

Love this album, maybe my favorite Genesis record. I always considered it an album best played on a snowy day. It just says "WINTER" to me.

[GMichael]

Thanks for the walk down memory lane. I was also 23 in 1983 and had 6x9's on the back deck. But my green Duster was a blue Nova.

[Dave_G]

The Genesis album Troy reviewed is "twee" and "effete" bigger than Dallas. But I still play it on occasion and enjoy it.

However, Wind and Wuthering, for me, is a knockout. I frikking LOVE that album.

Dave

[Mr MidFi]

Hey, it's a great listen! But a tad soft & poofy in spots, that's all I'm saying. And I still believe TotT is a better album. But that's why they sell chicken in parts...

As for the "wintery" thing, the cover art defintely adds to that effect. But try it out on a misty-but-sun-dappled spring morning sometime!