TRESPASS

And so begins the true journey of Genesis, and for the first time we could hear their true vision of music as they intended to be. We can say for sure that is another landmark by Genesis, and also a huge step from their previous record, indeed a giant step. Although a very underrated album, it shows us the beginning not only of the true form of Genesis, but also, the foundations of symphonic prog. One of the more frequent mistakes from some reviewers is the way they tend to compare albums from different times and eras of music, and obviously, thats wrong and completely unfair for the musicians since the evolution ( good or bad) requires time, experience and even economical capability to afford new and better material to improve the sound quality or to explore new music landscapes and possibilitys. In the case of Genesis we can feel that evolution specially between Trespass and their previous album: From Genesis To Revelation. Their compositions became more complex and full of the fundamental elements of prog rock. In their search for their new sound they broke the deal with Decca and Jonathan King ( their first producer), arranged a new drummer ( John Mayhew) and invested a lot in the new material. Eventualy they soon signed with Charisma records. So in October of 1970 Trespass is released, for those who think of Trespass as a simple and regular album, are completely wrong, the Genesis had return with so much more to offer. Also the release of : In the court of King Crimson in 69 was a huge happening for the prog music scene giving extra motivation to those bands who wanted to look for something different and also more complex.

The Music:

Looking for someone: The album starts with "looking for someone". The voice enters (somewhat resembles the intro a capella of Dancing with the Monlit Knight) with organ in the background. The lyrics are refered to the need of the human to find someone else and the fear of being alone in the world. Eventough a simple subject, the lyrics are very poetic and meaningfull, here we have the first glance of the writing ability by Peter Gabriel, the band sound much more mature especialy in the instrumental bits of the song, the harmonic progressions are much more richer that even for some one who didnt listen to Genesis before can understand that something different is going on. Other aspect of the matured band is the progression of the music itself with the lyrics for example:"You see the sunlight through the trees to keep you warm, In peaceful shades of green". here the chord progression goes like this - E major- A major- G sharp minor- C sharp minor. The sunlight makes you warm ( the major chords give you those sensations of warmness; in peaceful shades of green- the green present you with a cold colour, the earth, the ground ( minor chords). The felling we get is that the sun is peeking trough the trees, and few rays of light can trespass the trees, and the descent change of major chords to minor chords gives you a false sense o warmness that is contained by the trees in a symbolic way. The music is full of this moments playing with the listener. The final instrumental is one of finest moments and we can listen to the envolvence has a band that reached a great level of maturity.

White mountain: One of the great points of the album, for the first time we hear the great trademark of Genesis that prevailed for such a long time, the 12 string intertwined game, the music is full of folky passages and pastoral references, the lyrics are about a wolf (Fang) who seeks to usurp the authority of the pack leader(One-Eye) by learning of the crown and sceptre of the Gods that only the king is allowed to see, as punishment One-Eye leaves in a chase to kill Fang, wich dies in a climatic battle at the White Mountain.The great feature of this song is the musical environment created by the band that capture the fantastic realm induced by the lyrics.A very underrated song that contains very special moments that shows the listener some of the experimental fields that Genesis were trying to discover.One of this key moments his when One-Eye is informing Fang of his sentence, at this point, the music transforms, changing into a martial-like section, while Peter Gabriel is litteraly speaking in a cold morbid tone, i believe one of the first theatrical moments of Genesis, since the music contains a very strong sense of dramatic aura and representation. Nearly by the end, they present us with another special passage, those frantic whistles supported by the organ, it gives a bizarre felling of false comfort, truly desconcertating, and when the whistle section ends we enter the finale wich all the band is humming the theme with a eerie background atmosphere. Truly magnific.

Visions of Angels: In my opinion the weakest piece of the album eventhough a very good music with some really good sections in it, by listening we get the felling that some of the old Genesis compositions from the previous album are somewhat confined in here,by other words the only music of the album that gives you that popy felling, but don´t get me wrong it´s a great and beautifull music, and we can watch some of the transformations that Genesis had been trough, by the minute 2.30 we have a crescendo that explodes in a section with choir and cascading guitar and piano, the climatic point of the music that send shivers down the listener spine, indeed a beautifull moment that truly shows us how Genesis trasformed a more average song into something more complex and a with a different atmosphere, once more the chord progression here are extremely well chosen.

Stagnation:Well here we have one of the finest compositions in all the album, we finally hear a more close aproach to the complex music that was yet to come. The lyrics also ilustrate the imaginative world of Genesis, concerns of a man who inherited the world living in a underground shelter( a reality that was very concerning at the time due to the cold war). The music is somehow more complex than anything in the album. Begins with the so traditional 12 string guitar intertwined game giving a relaxing pastoral mood to the music with some calm vocals, a tender theme played by the guitar sends some shivers down your spine. As the chord progression gains tension at the minute 1.40 Tony Banks offers us one of most intriguing and beautifull organ solos of the prog scene at the time. The whole song is one big epic and contains just great moments of music, it ends with a beautiful and intense climax with the well known phrase " Then Let us drink " the sections ends in a very apotheotic way. A magnificient composition by Genesis.

Dusk: Another beautiful composition by Genesis with great lyrics by Peter Gabriel about love and the meaning of life, the more folky composition of the album, has no drums in it giving the song a more naive and soft structure, even though there s a section that resembles a bit of bossa nova rhythmic phrases, another underrated music from the album that is more complex that it seems but without any doubt the softer track of the album.

The Knife: And here stands the true scream of emancipation of Genesis ( as the all album ), the climax of the album. From the begining a concert favorite ( where Peter Gabriel once performed a stage diving and injuried himself, but carried on with the show) and with a truly agressive lyrics, The Knife offers us some of the best moments of the album if not of the prog scene by the time. The song has received great praise by Keith Emerson ( The Nice,Emerson, Lake and Palmer). The lyrics are about rebelion and revolution. For the first time we can ear Rutherford with fuzz on the bass and Anthony Philips showing to the listeners his versatility as a musician providing us with a spectacular solo full of anger, technic and intensity.

For those who didnt have listened go and ear right now, a truly must-have, not only as a prog rock listener but also to understand its roots, a complex and beautiful album another one by Genesis and a wake up call for all who didnt even know the band, this peice of art will give you chills, anger, mistery and will show one of the greatest bands of prog music in pure evolution.

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