CALLING ALL STATIONS

First, let's get this out of the way: It's not Ray Wilson's fault. You can find videos of him performing "Carpet Crawlers", including his appearance in Steve Hackett's concert in the Albert Hall, and he did a really good job there. In the album itself his vocals are serviceable, and it seems he was in a losing battle having to replace a technical musician with a great vocal range like Phil Collins.

That said, I just cannot give this album any more than two stars. The biggest problem is that there really isn't a coherent direction; the tone is all over the place from the smatterings of alternative rock influences alongside the proggier sound or what you would expect in Mike + the Mechanics. I just found the album rather boring to go through, with "Congo" being a decent track that I can see why it's included in the greatest hits compilation. I was actually pleasantly surprised with "The Dividing Line", but then a couple tracks later, there was a track I loathe: "Small Talk". I don't hate the album, nor is it one of the worst, but most of the tracks are meh. Easy to say it's the weakest Genesis album.