TRESPASS

GENESIS, still trying to find uniqueness in their music, morphed a lot after their debut album. In here, they're shaped similarly to what's known of them. Every feature that makes them majestic are found in TRESPASS, albeit less matured. Maybe the album name has something to do with their departure from safe formulas to a new, uncharted territory of musical exploration and innovativeness? Highly eclectic, TRESPASS features several moods: it's sometimes soothing and pastoral and other times energetic and even mildly aggressive.

Peter Gabriel's vocals are terrific, passionate, and heavily accented, as usual. His musicianship is top notch, which really begs the question on how can this man sing so professionally since his very first releases... also, there's an interesting use of vocal distortion (kinda like 70's autotune) on many tracks. And several - and boy, I mean it! - flute solos. Tony Banks, the man with angel fingers, delivers too a superb contribution on his Mellotron. SURPRISINGLY, Phil Collins is not here: instead, it's John Mayhew is on the drums with quality drumming, but similar to Collins' style - rhythmically fluid, with some baroque details of cymbals and ornamental beats.

Looking for Someone starts rather romantically slow, but there are several injections of instrumental parts and keyboard solos that take it far away from boring. White Mountain is perhaps the best track of the record. With a pastoral ambiance, it tells a poetic tale of a wolf's adventure. Soothingly acoustic, the big thing here, along Gabriel's vocal performance, is the spectacularly catchy and climaxing Mellotron chorus "riff". Vision of Angels, although not particularly morose, is not much interesting. Stagnation follows the path of Looking for Someone, as it has a calmer pace yet featuring some potent flute and keyboard solos around the three-minute mark. THE KNIFE is also an absolute highlight, as it depicts an uncommonly hyperactive GENESIS, almost hard rock-esque. The lyrics have many to do with civil revolution and rebellion, as Gabriel wrote this under influence of Ghandhi's work, which sort of explains the insurrectionary musical stylistic, atypical to the band. When I think about it, it's the least "progressive" object here, featuring a clear verse-chorus structure. Well, I ain't complaining.

So, in general, TRESPASS is firm, interesting and thoroughly creative. It was released in 1970, on the beginnings of the progressive rock, and I can assume it's one of the influencing factors that shaped the genre's directions and sonority, and undoubtfully, of GENESIS' style. A must for fans, and a "you really should" for anyone else.

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