When you get down to zero, go back to the main Genesis page. And Those Three Made a Most Boring Album Overall Album Score: 6.8 out of 10 Boy ... I thought this album was going to be a major improvement over Wind and Wuthering, but I ended up finding that And Then There Were Three is easily the most boring Genesis album that I have ever intentionally sat through so far in their discography! Boy, were they BORING. Steve Hackett leaves the band here, and then there were three! (Hence the album title!) Like they didn't bother replacing Peter Gabriel (what's the point?), they didn't bother replacing Steve Hackett (He wasn't really appreciated so well in that band, was he? Naah)! The departure of Peter Gabriel meant that the band no longer had its wonderful mystical soul that so defined Genesis' early-Prog days. Who would have known that the departure of Steve Hackett would mean something, too? ... Although, it's conceivable to assume that a change this band underwent would have happened anyway. For the first time in a Genesis album, I feel that there is little, overall, to enjoy about it! The band's previous album, Wind and Wuthering, I felt that there was little to *hate* about it! ... It's inverted! At least on Wind and Wuthering, I was able to become engaged by some of it! ... And when the band's tastes takes a turn-for-the-worse, I was able to scratch my head and say: "Hmm... that wasn't very good." On And Then There Were Three I listen to it, and whenever the album takes a turn-for-the-better, I scratch my head and say: "Hey! This is pretty good!" With the exception of "Deep in the Motherlode," "Follow You, Follow Me," and especially "Snowbound," everything on here has absolutely no spirit whatsoever! (Check out the track reviews, where I realized this aspect of the album as if it were sort of a religious experience.) Without Peter Gabriel at their core (and Steve Hackett, too, apparently), Genesis lost everything that used to be Genesis! I refuse to call this Genesis anymore. These are robotic drones. Although, there are no total stinkers on here, which is the principle reason why the song-score average ended up rating higher here than it did on Wind and Wuthering. Overall Album Score: 6.8 out of 10 (There are a few nice and beautiful songs in here ... but Genesis REALLY slips up with this one.) Average Song Score: 7.4 (Boy ... all of these songs were technically well-done, but they're really lacking, overall. This overall song score is erroneously more than what Wind and Wuthering scored because the songs that dragged that album down were very short.) Album Tilt: 6.5 (This is the first time that I was ever universally bored throughout a Genesis album. However, there are enough good moments in here to make this one somewhat worthwhile.) Artist Rating: 6.5 (The blow of the leaving-talents of Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett were just too much. The remaining three guys are just HOLLOW. No wonder they would start doing pop!) Track Reviews Down and Out 6.5/10 ... Oh, man! This song is really missing a lot! The tune doesn't have nearly enough hooks ... the instrumentation is rather muddled (and not particularly entertaining) ... It's not repulsive or anything ... I just don't think that it's very good. I'm sorry! What an awful way to begin an album! Undertow 7.5/10 *Whew* ... while this track is much like the previous one as far as style goes (it's fairly muddled in instrumentation), this one seems to work a little bit better. The beginning and the end of the songs have some very nice hooks to it. (Although, you can *really* tell here that the band wanted to turn into a pop-rock band ... doesn't this one sound adult contemporary? If it wasn't for Tony Banks's strange synths going off all over the place, it might have been utterly unmistakable as one!) My only real complaint about this song is that rather feeble midsection! It gets a really boring there. Ballad of Big 5/10 Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. That typographical utterance means that CRAP! I can't stand this song! Arggggh! It has nothing! NOTHING! I CANNOT STAAAAAAND IT! ... Oh! What's wrong with me??? I'm just going to go to the next track ... yeah. That's what I'll do. I seem to like the beginning of this one, but as it closes, I'm just SICK of it. Snowbound 10/10 10! 10! 10! 10! 10! 10! 10! 10! 10! 10! Cool! After that "Ballad of Big" (which I can't seem to specifically point out *exactly* what I hate about it) comes "Snowbound" ... exquisite in its own utter beauty! Phil Collins siiiiiingggssssssss! The lyrics are stupid, but I can ignore them! (Heck! That's what I do anyway.) The sound is flooded and muddled, but it works very well here. NICE! This is a Mike Rutherford song! Now that Genesis is a trio, he's the shining star! Burning Rope 7.5/10 Holy cow ... what's wrong with this album? You know ... this song really seems like it ought to be fine. It has a workable-enough of a melody. Tony Banks isn't utterly awful here ... I know what's wrong! It just seems so utterly EMPTY! EUREKA! THAT'S WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE ALBUM! Although "Snowbound" seems to have captured some type of mystical spirit, that was the only one instance of it. "Burning Rope," is perfectly listenable ... skillfully done and all that BS ... But there's no SPIRIT! You know what that means, doncha? It's time to get drunk! (Although, Mike Rutherford was on a nice high somewhere between the 4-5 minute mark with a gorgeous guitar solo! Now there's the spirit I was talking about! And, Genesis needs more of it on here ... so this song only half-succeeds.) Deep in the Motherlode 8.5/10 Well, this song is a little bit better. ... this album isn't really spiritless. But that's what's wrong with a lot of this album. This one is pretty entertaining, actually. There's spirit ... some spirit. There are no real mentionable differences between the songs, though. (That's why I'm not particularly keen on describing the song ... because I basically did that in the introduction ... so far, the only actual song that stands out above all of this was "Snowbound.") But I do enjoy this part. (And it's also a Michael Rutherford song! Heeeeheeee! Many too Many 7/10 Hey! This song starts off slooooooow and then it picks up in dynaaaamics! (I can describe the songs if I want to!) It's not bad ... it doesn't make me go "Woowoo!" or anything. A tad bit boring. It's a good thing that it's only three-and-a-half minutes. Scenes From a Night's Dream 6.5/10 Zzzzzzzz... Oh! Have we gone onto another track? Wake me up when we get to something interesting. Say It's Alright Joe 7.5/10 Hey! This isn't interesting ENOUGH! It's more interesting than that last track, though, but ... argh! ... Oh, I miss Selling England By the Pound. Can you tell me where my country lies? ... Heck! It's not here! (It's not alright, Joe! It's not!) The Lady Lies 6.5/10 Genesis are but PALE shadows of their former selves! It's a good thing they metamorphosed into a pop-rock band! They would have died otherwise! This song has a fairly decent melody to it ... but why bother? I'm bored! This song is over six minutes, too, which is just too long. Follow You, Follow Me 9/10 Oh! It's not that these songs are that bad ... it's just the old memories of Genesis, which makes listening to And Then There Were Three an awful experience ... Oh wait. Um. Hey! I actually like this song! Whattayaknow! It's not nearly as good as "Snowbound," but ... crap! Tony Banks has some excellently chosen synths on this one! (Well ... I think they were chosen by Tony Banks.) Those electric jug-noises were really cool, too. The melody leaves only a little bit to be desired, but overall, this song is a pleasant relief! Veri nice! If you have three left of something, then why don't you discuss them via site comments here.

All reviews are copyrighted by Michael Lawrence. Like Genesis, his cat has three lives left.