Genesis - Duke

^ And give the Mama album a relisten

Chris S wrote: ^ And give the Mama album a relisten

Why indeed !!  This, too, is a very good album.  I have been inspecting my LP of this but I'm just very impressed with DUKE for now.

Unfortunately the second side has some of the absolute worst dross the trio Genesis ever laid down in the studio!

Tom Ozric wrote: Does anyone hear similarities between some parts of 'Alone Tonight' with 'Snowbound' (from ATTWT) ??

Yes, I think there are some. Similar tempo and structure; soft verses that bridge into a 'big' spacious chorus with a 'big' Collins drum fill etc.. It was part of a Genesis ballad formula at the time. You can hear it in 'Say it's alright Joe' and 'Many too many' and 'Undertow' All good songs imo, but the ballads on the albums after ATTWT leave me a little cold. There was something, shall we say 'warmer' about the soft songs on ATTWT.

Yes, Doctor, the first side is so strong!! The dark vile `Mama', the upbeat but enjoyable `That's All' (I've actually sung this at karaoke many years ago, and totally got everyone clapping along lol! ) and the proggy `Home By The Sea'.

Side two....man that `Alien' song is unbearable, and the accent bits make it even worse....the Detective song (forget the name, the one that goes `I got a name, I got a number, I'm coming down hard on you' etc ) is rubbish too. I forget the more ballady tracks, so I think I might dig it out for a fresh spin, haven't listen to it in quite a while! Wish me luck! :)

The last two songs have a bit of redeeming value:  Silver Rainbow's music isn't all that bad, but the lyrics are rubbish, Tony's worst IMO.  Dude, you're in your early 30's, did you really just write a song about losing your virginity?    The last song is ok, but that's about it.  It's ok. 

Doctor, I seem to recall I've got a bootleg somewhere where the band played `It's Gonna Get Better' live with an extended ambient synth intro that was really rather good. Tom Ozric on here could confirm this or not, as I think we heard it together many years ago?

Snow, I promise I'll go in with no preconceived hang-ups about the self-titled album and listen with open ears! I remember I used to dread `Abacab', nowadays I find it a hugely inventive, original and varied album I have a lot of love for!

Yes! You know, I picked up a cheap copy of the remastered `Abacab' CD in a local music shop and gave it to a prog friend of mine who has a few scattered Genesis albums. When he asked what did it sound like, I essentially had to say it was something like `experimental, new wave, funk, reggae prog/pop'! :)

Even a more obvious `single' track like `No Reply At All' has terrific (and mixed LOUD) bass playing.

Plenty of great stuff on that album! What a band! :)

Chris S wrote: Really pleasing to be in a thread appreciating their Duke++++ albums. Also on the whole the enjoyment of their 'popoular' period. Abacab, Mama, Duke all great albums. Some of us grew with the band as it evolved and love almost every minute of it , others left around ATTWT and never came back save to diss their modern stuff on forums like PA

Duke, to me, is my favorite album from this period.  ATTWT was a weird album by a band that could'nt decide if they could make the transition from prog to mainstream pop, or if they decided, it was not assumed.  On Duke, not only was the change assumed, it was successful.  Abacab has a few great songs and a few clunkers, Genesis is a classic, Invisible Touch has a lot of amazing pop songs on it, We Can't Dance contains THE BEST Genesis songs ever since Hackett left (Fading Lights and Driving the Last Spike) and great pop numbers (No Son of Mine, I Can't Dance, etc...)