Genesis and the self-titled album ‘Genesis’

I was eight years old in 1983 when the band Genesis, then a British band consisting of Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford, released the bands twelfth studio album with the self-titled Genesis. It wasn’t until later that my appreciation of the band grew to recognize the music including those three without Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett from their more progressive rock form. This album review looks into the latter vestiges of the progressive rock period of Genesis, picking up a nine-song set of songs linked, with the transformation to pop in evidence for your listening pleasure.

(The album cover for the 1983 self-titled album Genesis by Genesis).

Mama opened the album Genesis as a much more successful song in the United Kingdom than the United States, per Songfacts. The song itself, per Songfacts, This song gets into a young mans unrequited, non-mutual obsession with a prostitute called Mama who shares not the man’s interest. The book The Moon’s a Balloon by David Niven inspired the song’s lyrics for Phil Collins.

(From left, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, and Phil Collins of Genesis).

That’s All follows for Genesis on the band’s self-titled album. Well received in both the United States and the United Kingdom, this song gets into a refrain for failed relationships. Thematically similar to the song Mama regarding efforts for a bond that fails, the pursued relationship of That’s All keeps ending with the shame of the same failure of effort for the singer.

Home by the Sea lyrically offers an odd mixture of new residents and house burglars getting confronted by ghosts that haunt a home by the sea. The ghosts are trapped in the past, tell the new folks of their experiences in the home, and there’s nothing any of the relevant characters can do about it.

Second Home by the Sea revisits precisely the lyrical experience of Home by the Sea with slower pacing and instrumentation that maintains the progressive feel of the past for Genesis. The listening experience of the two brings the album oriented quality of what bands were in 1983 and before into focus that helps me appreciate the sound and musicality of what has come.

(From left, Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, and Phil Collins of Genesis).

Illegal Alien opens the second side of the Genesis album for Genesis. With problematic yet satirical lyrics about immigration from Mexico to the United States, per Songfacts, the song itself is sufficiently playful to have not seriously impacted the reputation of the band.

Taking It All Too Hard delves into relationship difficulties that recur for a couple. Both parties see the same feelings of regret, loss, and longing for companionship with the original love. The singer blames his relationship partner for feeling deeply and introspectively while neither can bring themselves to move on. The song ends with the couple feeling the sting of a prospective breakup with neither feeling the courage to move along.

Just a Job to Do gets into what feels like a hitman hired to pursue and kill another hitman. Whether the heartbreak of the pursued is romantically or survival inspired isn’t clear from the narrative of the song, at least to my interpretation. The point beyond this is that the second hitman feels nothing morally about the justice of his line of work in this particular situation.

(From left, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, and Tony Banks of Genesis).

Silver Rainbow as a metaphor in this song feels like a clear reference to a zipper on a pair of trousers. An emotionally awkward young man approaching a first physical encounter with a woman provides the guidance for what is about to come for the young man and the young lady.

It’s Gonna Get Better closes the self-titled album Genesis with a clear message that patience in the face of hurt feelings are the right call. The offering is to put yourself forward in the face of your pain as others, too, feel the pain and will answer your invitation affirmatively. Indeed, things are going to get better. It’s Gonna Get Better offers a beautiful close to a beautiful album.

Matt – Saturday, November 7, 2020

Genesis and the album ‘Selling England by the Pound’

Being that I was born in 1975, I grew up a product of the music that played in the 1980s. For many, this means that I grew up on the second major movement of albums produced by the band Genesis, when the band included Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford. It wasn’t until later that my appreciation of the band grew to recognize the music including those three plus Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett in their progressive rock form. This album review looks into the progressive rock period of Genesis, with each song of the eight-song Selling England by the Pound linked for your listening pleasure.

(The album cover for Selling England by the Pound by Genesis).

Dancing with the Moonlit Knight opens Selling England by the Pound as a deliberate effort to appeal to an English (read not American) musical audience. In this linked Something Else Reviews review, Steve Hackett said “That tune started off with the influence of a Scottish song, then it moved into something that I think of in a more elegiac way — something nostalgic and wistful, and common to a lot of Genesis tunes. Then it bursts forth, it fights off its shackles, really takes off like a rocket, into another section, which seems to borrow from something that sounds more Russian in a way. It’s European, but then at times, it turns into the jazz that I liked originally — but big band, with the accents.”

I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) was the first song gaining modest commercial success for Genesis, in the United Kingdom if not the United States. The song tells the story of a young man claiming to be completely happy pushing a lawnmower while broadcasting an intention not to grow up. The anti-hero perspective is strong with this song.

(The artwork for the single I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) by Genesis).

Per this Rolling Stone article from 2014, Twilight Alehouse was recorded during the sessions for the Foxtrot album yet cut from that album. Landing as a b-side for the single I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) that made it onto Selling England by the Pound, we offer the listen here.

The third song on the album Selling England by the Pound is Firth of Fifth. The rambling flow of melodic instrumentation, odd timing, and interesting segues between piano, guitar and organ. The title of the song itself is a reference to the estuary of the River Forth in Scotland.

More Fool Me features Phil Collins on lead vocals in a romantic ballad. The song closes out the first side of the album with the blow of lost love combined with the effort of self-consolation.

The Battle of Epping Forest opens the second side of Selling England by the Pound. Playing with the sensibility of a march coupled with the lyrical comedy of battle whose particulars are unknown, the feel of the song is play. The percussion ties the odd timing of this nearly 12-minute song work together.

(From left to right are Genesis band members Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Steve Hackett in 1974. Dennis Stone of Express Getty Images took this photograph).

The instrumental After the Ordeal follows The Battle of Epping Forest. There was debate among the band over including this with the completed album, with Steve Heckett‘s vehemence of inclusion reportedly winning the day.

The Cinema Show musically is so many things, including lyrically inspired by the third section of the poem The Waste Land of T.S. Eliot. Taking a long, hard, careful listen offers wide-ranging movements of instruments, oboe, flute and keyboard solos, harmonies, and music for aspiring progressive rock fan.

Aisle of Plenty closes Selling England by the Pound as a segue from the end of The Cinema Show. Aisle of Plenty also serves as a bookend with the opening song Dancing with the Moonlit Knight, offering a performance reminiscent of where the album began, looking for the consolation of place, feeling and belonging.

Those becoming familiar with the music of Genesis in the way I did might want to take a listen to this album. Many hardcore Genesis fans swear by this album. Many listening to the later era of Genesis are open for an education.

Matt – Saturday, February 22, 2020