TRESPASS

I've alway been surprised by negative comments Trespass had received in the mainstream media since it's easily 1970's best album release for me. It's true that prog fans have been a bit nicer to album, after all it's Genesis we're talking about here, still there are only few who dare to proclaim it a complete masterpiece and instead spare their 5-star ratings until they get to Nursery Cryme or Foxtrot. That just seems unfair to me considering that those two albums and Trespass have just as much connection as all these albums have with say The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway!

Yes, the Symphonic Prog elements are a tad underdeveloped here but that doesn't really bother me a bit since this album isn't meant to be symphonic, it's meant to be hypnotic! Trespass is a Prog Folk album if I've ever heard one. The majestic album opener Looking For Someone and concluding The Knife do feature a few strong classic passages that Genesis would work on in the future, but the remaining four compositions are almost entirely an acoustic affair, and a steamy one at that!

Everything from the amazing album opening, where Gabriel wastes no time and starts the album with lyrics "Looking for someone/I guess I'm doing that/Trying to find a memory in a dark room/Dirty man, you're looking like Buddha I know you well - yeah!". What follows are two equally impressive performances, White Mountain and Visions Of Angels, both demonstrating that Genesis had come a long way since their debut, merely a year earlier.

Stagnation and Dusk is where the album gets into a completely acoustic territory and the band actually take a stab at their first concept composition with the former. Finally we also have The Knife, a composition that deserves a whole review on its own merits! A concept performance that can almost be considered a mini play staged in three acts. Musically it's a complete masterpiece, with Tony Banks completely stealing the show for me with his upbeat arrangement. Still it's the great band effort that makes this particular composition stand out more than anything that Genesis had done up to that point. The final act of this 9 minute composition might seem to be a tad imprecise in its conclusion, which is something that Peter Gabriel will use to his advantage many times again, and I usually see it as a very tragic ending, even though someone shouts "We have won"!

I highly recommend this album to everyone who is even merely interested in Genesis. It might not be the best debut album of all time, actually it's not even a debut album to begin with. Still it's definitely my favorite so called transitional album of all time! I'm have always been completely amazed by the change in the Genesis sound here and more changes were soon to come!

***** star songs: Looking For Someone (7:07) White Mountain (6:45) The Knife (8:57)

**** star songs: Visions Of Angels (6:51) Stagnation (8:51) Dusk (4:13)

Share this GENESIS review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Rune2000
• Report this review (#345160)
• Buy GENESIS music online with PA partners
• Show all GENESIS MP3/Stream
• Go to GENESIS page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Trespass page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for GENESIS related discussions