Customer Reviews

Genesis

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Just when we were about to write Genesis off as a relic from the prog rock dinosaur age, came this dazzling 1983 album which secures the band's progressive rock sound, their later penchant for Top 10 hit singles, and adds a signature reminder, without bowing to the new wave and post punk of the day, that they are just a damn good rock band, capable of writing music outside the box regardless of classification. The mix of great songs, (Mama, Home By The Sea, Taking It All Too Hard, Illegal Alien), and worthwhile filler material, (Second Home By The Sea, Just A Job To Do, Silver Rainbow), defines Genesis as an odd geometric shape, like the album cover picture. You accept and love the lesser material as a testement to Genesis's time and place in 1983, it sounds today like a 'before it's time' enhanced CD with bonus tracks. What secures this album as a pop masterpiece, as good as the compositions are, is Phil Collins fiery, growling, soft and complicated vocal tracks.

At the start of the MTV generation in the early 1980s, most veteran bands faced a dicey proposition. Now that visual image was becoming even more of a factor in a musician's success than it was in the past, did that mean being older and having been around the business longer mean things would work against you now? In a few cases, some musicians and bands saw their stock rise now that something like MTV would help increase their audiences by millions. One band was Genesis.

By 1983, Genesis had been a trio for 5 years, and saw their success slowly increase as the years went by. If that wasn't enough, their drummer-turned-leader Phil Collins was pursuing a solo career that would almost eclipse his band's in terms of popularity and records sold. Their days as a progressive rock collective were long gone, and even though they retained some aspects from that era, pop music was now their bread & butter, and with albums like their 1983 self-titled, fans who stuck around need not have worried if too much success would cloud the band's judgement.

It's amazing that after Phil Collins released 2 best-selling solo albums, he was willing to get back together with his full-time band to create an album that further broke Genesis through to the mainstream, perhaps helped by Phil's success on his own. Unlike previous albums, where individual members might contribute their own songs, all 9 songs on GENESIS were composed by the group together, proving that no amount of solo success could tear them apart.

Genesis had been no stranger to the top 40 by early 1984, but they finally reached the top 10 with "That's All" peaking at #6. A relentlessly upbeat piano pop song, perhaps some fans wondered about Genesis' motivation towards abandoning their progressive past once they heard this song. Yet a little melody goes a long way, and certainly if it was Genesis' most poppy song to date, it was still miles above the typical pop product of the time. Of course, the fact MTV gave the video for "That's All" frequent rotation was some bearing on it.

Interestingly, that song was the highest charting single from the album, while the three others didn't even see top 40 action. Nevertheless, they're all just as good as (and maybe better than) "That's All". The creepy (where did Tony Banks come up with those keyboard lines?) first single "Mama" only managed #73, belying its parent album's eventual big success. Perhaps the fact that this was one of the songs that could easily have been at home on progressive-era Genesis albums (particularly music-wise) didn't win over those fans who had been hooked by the band's more accessible material. However, "Mama" does feature one of Phil Collins' finest vocal performances & Lord can you feel his anguish!

"Illegal Alien" has long been the song off of GENESIS that I could play over & over again, and never get tired of it. Just missing the top 40 (reaching #44), to me this is simply a fun, catchy number that also has some political subtext to it. Yet I'm surprised to see that some people have thought "Illegal Alien" to be offensive and even xenophobic (when in fact, it's quite the opposite). Hopefully, there are some thicker-skinned listeners out there, who may also want to check out the video for it if they get the chance (I didn't see it until later in life, but it's a load of fun just like the song itself).

"Taking It All Too Hard" was not a bad song, if really just a lightweight ballad-type tune that Genesis maybe could have written in their sleep. The fact that this song stopped at #50 after being released nearly a year since GENESIS was released is maybe evidence that the band's label was milking the album's success for every last drop. I could see "Taking It All Too Hard" on one of Phil's albums, just not Genesis'.

The remaining album tracks are no slouches in their own right, and just because they never saw as much airplay as their more successful cousins doesn't mean they're not worth a mention. "Home By The Sea" & its partly-instrumental counterpart "Second Home By The Sea" is another way Genesis reminds listeners of their earlier days as FM radio darlings with a 2-part progressive-inspired extravaganza that would be repeated & refined on INVISIBLE TOUCH's "Domino". "Just A Job To Do" is a funk-driven number that sounds a little close to ABACAB's "No Reply At All" in sound (only without the horns), but is a fine rocker that I'm sure would have fit the tone of that ABC series THE INSIDERS well (I was maybe too young to remember it). "Silver Rainbow" is another Genesis pseudo-love song like "Taking It All Too Hard", but Genesis seems to inhabit this song better than its predecessor. "It's Gonna Get Better" closes the album out with a song that apparently points out the ruthlessness of the big city, where backstabbers outnumber the good Samaritans. However, there's always the hope that goodness still survives and, somehow, you will get through it.

When GENESIS became Genesis's largest-selling album to date, it naturally came with a double edge. On the one hand, the band now had a larger audience than ever before in their history. But on the other, those fans who had stuck with Genesis ever since the beginning saw reason to complain that they were no longer the same band they had loved in the first place; their music was now more polished and normal than anything off of FOXTROT or THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY. Perhaps the ones complaining the least were Genesis themselves, who were now suddenly household names & saw no reason not to continue in the same direction for the next decade or so. If 1978's ...AND THEN THERE WERE THREE was Genesis' official entry into the mainstream, GENESIS was their introduction to the front ranks of it.

This was the first Genesis album I ever owned. I saw the video for "Mama" on MTV when it was new, and I just had to have the album. I hoped that the rest of the songs were as good as "Mama", and I was NOT disappointed!! "Mama" is a very dark, almost scary song (and their best video, bar none!!). It's almost deliberately unclear as to whether the song is about a man who loves a prostitute (the official story), or whether it is anti-abortion. The lyrics can be interpreted either way. This was the first time that the drums carried the melody over the guitar and keyboards. Only a drummer of the skill of Phil Collins could take simple drums and work the magic that he does. There's never been a song like it before or since.

While "Mama" is worth the purchase price alone, the other songs don't fail to deliver, either. "That's All" follows "Mama" with a big musical shift. It's a quiet, peppy song that rises above all the other broken-heart songs out there. "Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea" - anyone who says that Genesis abandoned prog music has never heard this song. It's about a cat burglar who breaks into a semmingly empty house on the beach, only to find it inhabited by a club of ghosts, and he is the newest member. Tony Banks does an excellent job of imparting an otherworldly, eerie feel to this song. "Illegal Alien" - the most lighthearted song on the album, a tongue-in-cheek look at the world of, well, illegal aliens. A lot of people over the years have denigrated this song, but I really enjoy it. It also spawned a hilarious MTV video with the band dressed up as Mexican officials. The CD liner notes include a few stills from the video - nice toupee Phil! The remaining songs on the album are all good, if not quite as great as the ones listed above. "Taking it All too Hard" was a minor hit for Genesis, and yet has been (for some reason) ignored on their future live sets, box sets, and greatest hits compilations.

Finally, I must say a word about the cover. I don't know who had the idea of a dark, blurry photo of the ten shapes from the Tupperware child's shape sorter globe, but whoever it is deserves an award. The cover does an excellent job of capturing the spirit of the album - Fairly dark and vague in overall tone, but with a large touch of whimsy.

This album is one of the classics from the early 80s, and it is something that no Genesis fan should be without! I just hope that someday Genesis releases the videos to "Mama" and "Illegal Alien" on DVD!!

"Invisible Touch" is their biggest selling album, but their "Genesis" album (AKA "Shapes") is arguably their best. The album kicks off with "Mama", a dark, brooding song with lyrics that Sigmund Freud would find....interresting. This is followed by the lightweight "That's All", a catchy, radio friendly, pop song about a troubled relationship. "Home By The Sea/Second Home By The Sea", a ten-minute nod back to their epic, grandiose roots, is as good as anything they've ever released. "Illegal Alien" is a catchy, but fluffy, song about immigrants. "Taking It All Too Hard" sounds quite similar to their 1986 hits "In Too Deep" and "Throwing It All Away", although the latter two are much better. The uptempo "Just A Job To Do" is the weakest song on the album, but it's still very listenable. "Silver Rainbow" is the high point of the album, ironically it's also the least radio-friendly song on "Genesis". "It's Gonna Get Better" is another high point and is a good closer to a great album. 80's music doesn't get much better than this.

Only recently have I come to appreciate this album. Being an "old" fan, I was in shock through much of what Genesis put out in the 80s. But, you know, this album is actually pretty good. Phil, Mike and Tony really did some nice experimentation here and a lot of people who are rock fans, if not necessarily Genesis fans, consider this album to be a classic Rock album. To Genesis fans like me, that's kind of hard to understand. The Lamb, sure. Trick, defintely, Wind & Wuthering, you bet. But Genesis? Well, not initially, but now I'm rethinking that.

Unlike pretty much the rest of the world, Mama was not a song I particularly cared for. That's still true. It's different and quirky and contains some trademark Genesis sounds, but it just didn't do it for me. Silver Rainbow, which most people don't care for, was the high point of the album for me when it first came out.

But I have since changed my thinking. Home By The Sea and Second Home By The Sea (a 10-minute, two part suite with an instrumental-based part two) is a mind-blowingly amazing composition that ranks with the best of anything Genesis has ever done. Any old fan who doesn't think so is just being elitist for no reason. Why is this song(s) so good? It's classic Genesis story telling backed up by some really strong and inventive music. It's a ghost story. And Tony's keyboard work in part 2, oh man, that's what I live for.

The rest of the album is not bad either. Not their best and for a long time (several years in fact), I never listened to it. Now, belatedly, it's part of my regular rotation. I recommend it.

If you're a rock/pop music fan and you were only allowed to buy one Genesis album, this would have to be it. Besides Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors", this is the only album I can listen to straight through without skipping over songs. "Mama" is still intriguing, 16 years later. "That's All" is probably my least favorite on the album, but still bearable. "Home By the Sea" is a classic (I'm shocked it's not on the recent Turn It On Again CD) "Illegal Alien" and "Just A Job To Do" are both catchy and fun, "Taking It All Too Hard" is the ballad of the album but not too sappy, "Silver Rainbow" is great through headphones and "It's Gonna Get Better" is probably the best "album ending song" of all time. It leaves you wanting more. Unfortunately, "Invisible Touch" was the follow up, their worst album ever. "Genesis" is the best, and one can't go wrong with the purchase.

Not bad, guys. "Mama" is an indisputable dark classic, "That's All" is a world-class lesson in how to write a pop song, and the "Home by the Seas" kept those of us who grew up on the more progressive Genesis from getting too weirded out by the sudden AOR turn. "Illegal Alien" is terribly dumb, and there's not much escaping that. But "Taking It All Too Hard" is a solid ballad, "Just a Job To Do" is a solid rocker, and those last two at least manage not to be embarrassing.

Genesis' self-titles album isn't necessarily the band at their best, but it still offers some great songs. Unusual to Genesis formula, this album didn't work well as an album as a whole. The band did not seem to connect with a good overlying theme to their 1983 effort, as the last three tracks, in significance, seem to wander off the record, making me wonder if this album should have been an EP. If anything, get it for Mama, a classic Genesis song and my favourite music video of all time.

The Genesis album signaled yet another stage in Genesis's evolution as a band. Though this album came out just two years after Abacab it sounds very different. It also generated quite a number of popular hits.

The best parts of this album are Mama and Home By the Sea. Mama is a very artistic, menacing type of song that relies more on the spooky keabords and vocals than on complex musical passages. Home By the Sea is one of the most catching songs that they have ever written. Once that electronic drum beat gets into your head, don't think it will come out easily!

In my opinnion, That's All, Just a Job to Do, and Taking It All too Hard are decent pop songs, but nothing special. Other than That's All I tend to skip these songs when I'm listening. There is also "Illsegal Alien", which is too vauge and strange to be a concise political statement. The album picks itself back up at the end with the two good tracks "Silver Rainbow" and "It's Gonna Get Better".

In all, definitely a good album, though not one of the best. And watch out for that drumbeat (boom BAdaboom boom BA)

1983 - Collins now has his own solo career, session drumming career (plant/martyn), & production career (solo/martyn/frida). Collins gaining confidence & momentum in the writing & arranging department since his 1st solo album face value has been accepted by banks/rutherford by combining porgressive rock & pop sounds. Old genesis fans fading away saying that wondering what happened to the old stuff??? What happened is the guys changed with the times. Starting with abacab they simplified their sound but retained their complex tempos & ability to capture their listeners. Genesis always changed. This was the 2nd album in their own studio (the farm) & they had the time & the money to experiment & improvise. Hugh pagham is back to give the album a crisp edge as usual. Some say that this album sounds like abacab but I disagree. It's fairly straight-forward & poppy but it's more synth driven, has less instrumental space than its predecesor, & is more produced. Again, it's still genesis though... The dramatic chords, heavy & complex drum patterns, & great vocal ranges. Besides abacab (1981) genesis had 1-2 epics in each of their 80s-early 90s albums keeping true to their progressive roots. this album was no different with the 10+ minute home by the sea. Although mostly in 4/4 time, it is a story of a haunted house & then an epic electronic drum driven instrumental sequence... Totally genesis... This is also the 1st album where phil uses electric drums along with his gretcsh acoustic drums. Banks is in usual form using his yamaha electric piano & moogs (nothing too new). Rutherford is using more synth bass & his guitar solos are becoming more complex & interesting. his rhythm guitar patterns were always good to great. The great thing about genesis is that they rarely overplayed but somehow they still sounded so genius & innovative. This album also introduced gave genesis to MTV. Notable songs are that's all, home by the sea, taking it all too hard, silver rainbow, & a job to do (great vocals). Again, a great album that has been criticized by old fans of selling out. No... They changed... The epics are still here...