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Wuther with the wind back to the main Genesis page now! I Have Wind, But It Doesn't Wuther
Overall Album Score: 7.4 out of 10 I read George Starostin's review of this album, who trashed the living daylights out of the album, and I'm asking to myself in italicized lettering: what is so bloody awful about it? He seems to really hate the synthesizer instrumentals on these songs. While I fully acknowledge that they aren't as good as they used to be and some of the synth passages really do stink, I do not find them to be dismally awful. In fact, I think they're mostly entertaining ... certainly not nauseating. I'm not really a Genesis fan, but I do think that this is a decent album; as it stands, it's more than I possibly could have expected out of Post-Gabriel Genesis! Though, it's not as good as A Trick of the Tail, but that's because that album was much more lighthearted and it didn't take itself too seriously. On this album, Phil Collins (and/or Tony Banks) is seemingly trying to steer the band on a more serious route. (Without Peter Gabriel, however, this seriousness dabbles into serious over-pretentiousness!) Also, there is sufficient evidence all around that the band is evolving into a pop band (Ohhh! Did you hear that Disco-beat in the middle of "One For the Vine" and the near-adult contemporary on "Your Own Special Way?") Compared to their previous album, the only major difference here is that it has a more overbearing and moody atmosphere attached to it. Yep. This is Genesis moving even further away from their old Peter Gabriel roots. Although, we've said farewell to Peter Gabriel long before this, so I'm not too disconcerted. It was tough to say goodbye to him, though! Relatively speaking, this album sounds like the old Genesis trying to operate with its head cut off! But the rest of the body had a few really talented members in it. Although, I do agree that Tony Banks' choice of instrumentals, again, are questionable. I really wonder how the guy could have so little taste that he would choose a freaking MOOG SYNTH over something at is more appropriate! I mean! A MOOG SYNTH?? He did that on A Trick of the Tail as well. Heck! He's a better keyboard player than I am, definitely, but crap! The guy doesn't have a whole lot of artistic taste. I agree that Tony Banks sucks. But only find about 20 percent of his stuff boring on here. The rest is perfectly fine. The best two songs on here, in my opinion, are the first two: "The Eleventh Earl of Mar" is just very entertaining and eloquent ... it's also my favorite of this entire album! I also enjoy the sprawling epic 10-minute "One For the Vine," although I admit that I could care less about the lyrics! "One For the Vine" is a wanderer and most of the time I enjoy the places that it goes (except for that part in the middle ... but that doesn't last for too long). Overall Album Score: 7.4 out of 10 (The album is still good! It still passes! There a few poor tracks in here, however. I don't find it excruciatingly boring most of the time.) Average Song Score: 7.1 (Yeah ... there are too many awful tracks on here! But there are some good ones.) Album Tilt: 7.5 (You know ... when I reminisce about this album, the question of "Wot Gorilla?" and "Unquiet Slumber for the Sleepers..." usually doesn't cross my mind. If these tracks were removed, the album score would have been much higher ... so I'll be nice and give a higher rating in this category than what might otherwise have been deserved.) Artist Rating: 7.5 (In spite of some poor choices of synthesizers, this is still an artistic album. All right ... so what if it's not as impressive as early Genesis? It's not like they scraped this out of the bottom of their barrels or anything.) Track Reviews Eleventh Earl of Mar 10/10 Well you can say one thing about post-Gabriel Genesis. They haven't forgotten how to make a decent Prog-rock song! Yeah ... this is a pretty darn good Prog-rock ditty. It's exciting, it has electricity, it's beautiful, even ... everything here was chosen perfectly. Even Tony Banks' synths! They were appropriate and make this 7+ minute song gleam and glisten. Yet, during the whole time, I wonder what the heck is the Eleventh Earl of Mar? Heckifiknow! I enjoy this song entirely. It's my favorite of the album. One For the Vine 8/10 I agree that the middle section of this song isn't that good. The instrumentals weren't chosen well and it goes a little bit overboard. (The lyrics, I'm ignoring ... I have to sit down and read them to understand what they're saying anyway.) Other than that, I see absolutely nothing wrong or hideous about this song! I find it to be utterly intriguing! In spite of its 10-minute length, I'm able to sit through the whole thing an not groan once ... except for that part in the middle (if it wasn't for that part, I probably would have given this song a 10 as well). The beginning of this track is so quiet and lovely ... you can't complain about any Banks synths here, because he plays the good old piano! In fact, I'm of the opinion that Tony Banks' keyboard playing helped make the song shine with the lack of any meaningful hooks! After that, the song really slows down for a while ... it's not bad. And THEN five minutes into the song, we hear a bunch of clanks and then a disco beat. This is precisely the moment in the song I've been complaining about. I don't think it was done well at all. But this only lasts a bit over a minute. When Phil starts singing again, it gets a tiny bit better, although perhaps the chosen synths were still a little bit misguided. From 7:30 minutes until the end, it's as beautiful as the first five minutes. For me, this song is mostly entertaining. It's just that middle section that's awful! (Again, I'm barring consideration of the lyrics. I can like a good song that has bad lyrics ... but these are fairly trite.) Your Own Special Way 7.5/10 I don't really find a whole heck of a lot to enjoy about this track, even though I admit that it does have a fine melody ... for me, this is the first indication that Genesis was about to become a pop band! Doesn't this sound utterly adult contemporary to anybody else? I would have sworn that Phil Collins was responsible for this one, but according to the All-Music Guide, this one was written by Mike Rutherford. Oh well! It's the poppiest song Genesis had ever done to this point. I find it enjoyable ... but this song more than anything makes me long for the old days of Genesis. Wot Gorilla? 5/10 Yeah ... this song is really screwed up. It makes me think: What were they thinkin'? It's merely 3:20 minutes long, but whenever I listen to this album, it makes me exclaim naughty words ... in my head. They could have just extended "Your Own Special Way" to make up for the lost time ... or they could have just forgotten about it. It's not like this 50-minute album wasn't long enough. All in a Mouse's Night 6.5/10 This song is also messed up. I don't know what it is about it ... it just doesn't work at all for me. Heck! I'd rather complain here about the Banksynths than in "One For the Vine." They prove to be a hindrance here! The other aspects of the song, however, still have enough good points about it to make it somewhat enjoyable. (The last half of the song is pretty good ... the synths aren't great, but at least they're not stupid ... and they're loud!) Blood on the Rooftops 9/10 HEY WAIT!!!!!!! I didn't know that Genesis had a guitar player!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nawww... that's got to be Tony Banks on a guitar-like synthesizer! I'm a bit surprised ... this being a definite Phil Collins composed song (with Steve Hackett) and it doesn't suck! Indeed, I like it! This really isn't a far cry away from achieving beauty, which means that Genesis hadn't forgotten how to do that. Every bit of this song is pretty good, actually! But I especially like the Hackett acoustic guitar stuff at the beginning ... we don't normally hear this guy so well. Unquiet Slumber for the Sleepers... 4/10 TONY BANKS IS A MOOG SYNTH WHORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On the bright side, this embarrassingly melodiless song is only two and a half minutes. So don't worry. It'll be over soon. In That Quiet Earth 7/10 Hey! That's an electric guitar I am hearing prominently! Cool! Although, that does sound almost eerily like the Moog Synth I heard in the previous track. ... and then the Moog Synth makes a return. Oh well. At least this song is more enjoyable and has somewhat of a tangible melody. Eh... me no complaino no more-oh. Me doth likes this song for the most part. 'Tis quite entertaining. However, it does test my patience from time to time. Afterglow 7/10 And it gracefully glides into this beautiful closer! Yeah ... for Genesis, it is simple. But simplicity sometimes is all you need to make a song more accessible and more beautiful! That said, this track is far from being truly breathtaking or uplifting. It's entertaining ... but that's a different thing. This track is a prime example at how the headless Genesis couldn't function nearly as magically as it used to be able to ... not that I should criticize it for that. If you would like to talk about your wind's wuthering, please leave your comments here. hola_el_pola@hotmail.com (Ezequiel) receieved Dec. 22, 2003 You make me sick..."One for the Vine" is probably the best song int the album (all the way---ok, the middle part has those synths...but did you hear "It?" that's a sick synth...that song is probably the cruelest way to end an awesome album which is The lamb....it sounds like a game show song. Peter Gabriel was probably trying to make fun of us with it. -----On top of this, the intro on "Blood on the rooftops" is a Spanish Guitar, not acoustic (he took it from J.S. Bach)--and "Unquiet slumbers"...its like a thousand times better than "afterglow"...you have to understand it as part of the album...it plays a key function....perfectly....it's underrated by you, just like silent sorrow in "empty boats," "ravine," and "After the Ordeal"... Don Ignacio Responds: I do like "One For the Vine" and I agree that it is one of the best songs from this album. I was just being nit-picky about the synths. ...And I just assumed that a Spanish Guitar is an acoustic guitar. Acoustic meaning "not electric." I also relistened to "Unquiet Slumbers For the Sleepers..." and, boy, I apparently can't figure out what you see in it. There's really no melody to speak of ... and the synths are just disgusting thus distinguishing any real possibility it had to enchant me with its atmoshpere. "Afterglow" on the other hand, does have a melody to speak of. Although, I did end up lowering the track's score by a point upon relistening to it. An 8 was a bit too high for it. slb23@shaw.ca (Simon B.) received August 1, 2004 Hmmm...Genesis went into a bit of valley in terms of quality
for this one...When it's good it's very good ("Blood on the Rooftops"),
but when it's bad, it's very bad ("All in a Mouse's Night"). It sounds
like Tony Banks had a slightly bigger influence on the writing and
sound of the album (sounds like there's more than usual amount of keyboard
sections). It's definitely not as great as TRICK OF THE TAIL, but it
isn't as awful as ...AND THEN THERE WERE THREE either.
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All reviews are copyrighted by Michael Lawrence. He's a Master Kung Fu Wutherer.
