TRESPASS

After the hesitant and pleasant orchestrated pop of their debut album, Genesis suddenly emerge fully formed but not quite fully mature. Seemingly out of nowhere, this album is filled Gabriel's dark storytelling set to beautifully pastoral 12-string guitar duets and solid walls of Bank's keyboards, a sound that would carry the band for the next five years. Gabriel's lyrics do not yet explore the surreal intracacies nor display the tongue in cheek humor they would in the following albums, but his soulfully raspy vocals are in fine form. John Mayhew in his only recorded performance with Genesis makes a fine but somewhat misplaced showing. He puts his heart in every Keith Moon-esque drumfill as if he had been bored out of his mind for the last three minutes of interlocking acoustics, resulting in a performance that does not quite gel with the rest of the band. Anthony Phillips' guitar lacks the innovation that Hackett would bring to the band, but when given the opportunity to shine, he does not dissapoint. His guitar playing in "The Knife" brings the song a loose and edgy menace that would be lost in favor of the sinewy playing his succesor would give it in future live performances. "Looking for Someone" begins with a naked vocal by Peter Gabriel before being joined by the full band for a 7 minute jaunt that remains unsatisfying. Another mediocre track follows, the half baked fantasy of "White Mountain." Both lyrically and musically, these songs lack the special combination of majestic melody and imaginitive arrangement that possesses Genesis' best work. Luckily the album improves from here on out. "Visions of Angels" is a showcase for Anthony Phillips' writing, a lonely and apocalyptic piece with fine mellotron work. "Stagnation" is relegated as a footnote in the Genesis canon, but is my favorite track here, building up from a bed of 12-string guitars to a cinematic climax of organ and flute. "Dusk" is a somber acoustic piece shorn of the haunting harmonies gracing it on the demo found on Genesis Archives v. 1. The album ends with the Genesis standard "The Knife" an uncharacterically aggressive rabble rouser in which allegory is dropped in favor of Gabriel's exhortation, "some of you are going to die/martyrs of course to the freedom/I will provide." The track is 9 minutes of intensity from the opening organ and guitar duel to Gabriel's final shout. If there ever was an album that reeked of potential it was this one, but for a band who would climb higher in songwriting, playing, and production, this is a lesser work.