DUKE

The first Genesis album I heard was ...And Then There Were Three... which I still love to this day. I started collecting all the albums released after that album - including Duke - but was always slightly disappointed that none of them matched the power (keyboard "wall of sound") of the 1978 release. Later on I started collecting the albums released before ...And Then There Were Three... and discovered the majestic suite of albums starting with Trespass and ending with Seconds Out. But that's a different story for another day. So back to Duke. My favourite tracks are the sublime Heathaze, the long (almost) instrumental Duke's Travels and perhaps surprisingly, the big hit single in the UK, Turn It On Again. Well, its time signature is 13/8 I'm lead to believe which makes it stand out. Phil Collins' two contributions - Misunderstanding and Please Don't Ask - should've been on Face Value. The rest of the album consists of some good tracks but to my ears nothing particularly special. Behind The Lines has a good instrumental intro. but as soon as the R&B influenced vocals start, it loses me. Duchess, Guide Vocal, Man Of Our Times, Alone Tonight, Cul-de-sac and Duke's End - a reprise of Behind The Lines - are all fair enough but none of them stir my soul. Duke is a good album but I don't regard it as essential, so it gets a solid three stars.