TRESPASS

The huge amount of four star ratings that Trespass receives in ProgArchives.com may hide the fact that this is an unmatchable album in many ways.Although it's fair to classify it as being apart from what was made directly after it,this proto-prog album(predominatly acoustic)achieves a tenderness that more folk-oriented bands such as Jethro Tull simply lacked at their best.The six compostions spread over two sides don't hold any pretentions beyond pleasing their own creators,and being able to sense this is what makes Trespass so remarkable.

As if by accident,the album is geniously structured,with perfect timing and a subtle contrast of light and shade.All of this hit me as a great surprise at the first couple of listens(considering I arrived late to this earliest footage),as everything,from the media to the band itself,sugests this is an inferior work.I'm taking a shot here and saying that,even though the final result may not be as stunning as classics such as Nursery Cryme or Foxtrot,this is the most consistent album Genesis ever made,providing a satisfatory and not so demanding listen.

Although the songs themselves may take a short while to be fully aprecciated,the overall positive mood of Trespass can be sensed and enjoyed from the word go.It is unlikely that most listeners should ever get to put this pieces side by side with The Musical Box or The Cinema Show,but to compare them would already be unfair.Not so much for the musicians themselves(Anthony Phillips is flawlessly present,while drummer John Mayhew does not spoil the album by any means,despite what some people would have you think),but concerning the point they were at by 1970.With new members joining afterwise,Genesis' overall sounding would grow darker and heavier,holding few resemblances to this earlier material,at least as far as songwritting goes.

Peter Gabriel is to my ears somehow a spotlight here,leading the pieces all the way through,and the rare absence of his voice is missed when instruments take the lead row.This is perhaps not a bad thing,just different from the symphonic prog Genesis we're all used to.While Looking For Someone,Stagnation and Dusk are mood-settlers,to point out individual songs is again unecessary.It's insteresting and unique,however,to notice the album's growing intensity pattern(whether this have been planned or not):Looking For Someone is a melodramatic opener before the constrasting White Mountain.From there,we're presented to the sweet Visions of Angels and Stagnation,before the silent calm that is Dusk(a controversial piece)and finally the wilderness of The Knife,where all the acosutic and light valures presented so far are crushed and put aside in favor to a truly heavy piece(though I personally happen to find it heavier than it actually is,considering my ears are at that particualr point used to a folk-oriented album).

Even if it's lighter arrangements shouldn't please every fan,Trespass still deserves praise for being the statement of how much can a band change in such a short period of time,having in mind it's direct follower Nursery Cryme.And yet,even in such a primitve stage,Genesis left the heritage of a joyfull album to those willing to apreciate it's subtle beauty.