CALLING ALL STATIONS

Seventeen years of hard times for the old Genesis fan since they produced "Duke" which was their last good effort (IMO). I saw the supporting live tour for it (1999) and I must reckon that it brought me back sometimes to "my" Genesis. They even played an accoustic set sitting on the edge of the stage (like Led Zep) and interpreting bits of "Supper's", "Moonlit" amongst others, just to give you the shiver ... but let's go back to this album. A major change in the line-up of course since Phil left some time ago to continue/ start his (very successful) solo career. Ray Wilson replaces him in the lead vocals and does a pretty good job. He is not a very well known singer though. He used to be the leader of the British band Stiltskin which produced a CD in 1994 ("The Mind's Eye). After his Genesis adventure, he will re-from the band and they will issue another CD in 2006 "She". As he said during the tour while he was introducing the acoustic medley : he was on "old" Genesis fan (although he was born in 1968) being only five while they produced "Supper's Ready" ! He will contribute to three songs : "Not About Us", "Small Talk" and "There Must Be Some Other World". On the drums, Genesis will enroll two drummers : Nir Zidkyahu who is an Israeli session drummer. He will be playing on several songs and will join them for the supporting tour. The other drummer is Nick Di Virgilio from Spock's Beard. Surprisingly enough, he will have the same itinerary as Phil. After the departure of their leader (composer, singer and keyboard player) Neal Morse, he replaced him in the lead vocal together while staying on the drums !

The title track of the album is a good song : very few since 1978 have reached this level even if it is quite FM oriented (like "Congo"). "Shipwrecked" is a nice and melodious ballad : could have been released on some of their earlier efforts ("And Then there Three" sounds the best reference for it). "Alien Afternoon" start quite like a poppy tune but turns out in one of their very few prog song of the last sixteen years. Very nice. "Not About Us" is another wonderful song (a bit similar to "Shipwrecked") : great melody, full of emotion "Uncertain Weather" is of the same vein. It goes on with "If That's What You Need", which again is a great emotional ballad. PG is not far away... Ray will also tell during the live set : "I was a kid when I was listening to Genesis. I had never dreamed to be the singer of this band". And he achieved it! "The Dividing Line" has its weaks (the intro), but still it is better than their previous average stuff. The finale is just great though : good keys and drumming (hey man, I must be dreaming) ! Of course, there are no epics, nor memorable songs for the future to come on this album; but there are almost no poor tracks either : only "Small Talk" and "There Must Be Some Other World". It will reach number two in the UK charts which is not too bad (in the US though the album only reached Nr. 54). I really belive that this album deserves three stars.