WIND & WUTHERING

Let this be a warning for every prog band - replayed and rearranged old ideas are the worst what prog musicians could possibly offer.

It seems during the jamming process Hackett either injured his hand or damaged his guitar beyond repair. Either way - he is barely audible on half of the tracks and simply absent on the rest. No wonder he left the band shortly after releasing Wind & Wuthering. Banks tries to make up for the lack of guitar with disastrous amounts of mellotron "oooohs" and classical piano melodies. The band gets even closer to pop rock, losing nearly all of its originality (how long can one listen to the pseudo-epic synthesizers?). The band tries to fill the void (or bungle the mood) with three jam tracks and lots of keyboard passages (some of them are nearly accurate, most - too lengthy). Instrumental marathons is really not the type of prog Genesis were good at (check out "The Waiting Room" for further evidence). The chaotic Crimson-like jazz improvisations prove to be nothing but emotionless noises (curiously though the percussions prevails there most of the time, maybe because drums are loud by default), mainly due to the fact that Genesis had no jazz roots whatsoever. As for the arranged (let's say.) instrumental parts, they try to get close to Camel, but get nowhere near the gems like Rhyader; they rather take after Preparation or Epitaph (Camel's unfortunately not KC's). Oh. and by God, the drum roll at the end of Unquiet Slumber. sounds almost like a visit to the circus - no. NOT 'Cirkus', although even the King Crimson classical music experiment would be a smaller disaster, than the irritating ambitions of Collins - I'm talking about the drummer alter-ego now ;-) ; I have no huge objections to Phil's singing, however I still consider him to Bee Gee-like, and not as raucous or ominous as Gabriel. And he is still not as audible as he should be (check out my "A Trick of the Tail" review for more on that).

What's left if we cut the unfortunate jams and evenly unfortunate flat synthesizers? At least 35 minutes of good ol' Genesis with a couple (Thank God! At last!) of new ideas. If I were to categorize the mood of the album I'd call it Brit Synth Prog. Some of the songs have even more British-feel than on Selling England. if you thought it was impossible - you were obviously wrong. For the needs of creating the appropriate atmosphere Phil even tries to impersonate Gabriel's voice on Eleventh Earl of Mar (which is by far the second best song on the album, having much in common with "Watcher of the Skies" - especially the intro), and gets close. two times during the whole song. The fan favourite One for the Vine DOESN'T really impress me. I consider it too whining - just like Ripples, and too long. A curious detail: The filler noises in the middle remind me of Gabriel's Down the Dolce Vita part.

Your own special way is, apart from 'Afterglow, the closest Genesis have ever been to pop. But the chorus is charming and bewitching, and finally I hear Hackett playing; it makes up for the song's radio purpose.

There's no point in describing Wot Gorilla, as I elaborated on the uselessness of Genesis' instrumentals. Skip it! Along with All in a Mouse's Night. Come on! The lyrics are simply stupid and the song is a retarded clone of Robbery, Assault & Battery (which is a retarded clone of The Battle of Epping Forest.Genesis you evil inbreeders! They never learn - and they'll make another retarded clone of "The Battle. blueprint" on their next album! Can you believe it? I couldn't, until I heard).

Blood on the Rooftops saves the traces of originality of this album with a long acoustic opening (something like Horizon's), the most Brit song on the album, with a terrific atmospherical chorus. You might get fed up with the intro, however, after listening to it for a few times and you'll end up (just like me) skipping to Phil singing.

The last three tracks are supposed to be combined in something of a instrumental to instrumental to sung suite. I have no idea why. Afterglow is a great standalone without the dumb improv (made only to put a quote from Wuthering Heights somewhere in the titles to make the album look really really fancy). The last track has something romantic in it. A better ending than Los Endos. Again, one of the few times on the album - Hackett is audible and even Collins is! And the lights slowly fade. to calm the Unquiet Slumbers For The Sleepers in That Quiet Earth (In your face Genesis! I too can put a quote from Emily Brontë, so my review looks fancy and intelligent!).

Best song: Blood on the Rooftops (for the originality, guitar and the British touch)

Worst song: 'Unquiet Slumbers For The Sleepers... (for another Zombie-Banks melody and THE drum roll)

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