WE CAN'T DANCE

It was clear from the first listen that this album was the end of the road for Genesis. They went out of their way to record several long songs for this one--the type of song that originally brought the old die-hard fans to the band, before they became a pop group. But...the long, "Genesis-style" songs on this album all sound tired and hackneyed, while the pop songs are inspired! The catchiest pieces here are the televangelist satire "Jesus He Knows Me" and "Tell Me Why", about the persistence of world hunger, with Mike Rutherford playing electric 12-string like Roger McGuinn on the latter. If you liked the pop-oriented Genesis of the '80s, you will probably like this album, because there are several good pop songs here. But there is also evidence of a band in decline, and even among the pop songs, there are clunkers: the formulaic "Hold on My Heart" and the maudlin "Since I Lost You", inspired by the death of Eric Clapton's (a friend of Collins) young son. Collins left Genesis after this album, and Banks and Rutherford went on to make the mediocre "Calling All Stations" album before shutting the band down.