WIND & WUTHERING

To be frank, I don't listen to GENESIS a lot. You see, the group attained God status in Quebec before anywhere else, and the local FM stations paid homage to them on an hourly basis. As a result, all but my absolute favourites took the stairway to heaven quite a while ago.

Having said all that, good music is good music, and Peter Gabriel's departure allowed the "joe the plumber" character of the remaining members to shine for at least a couple more releases. I have wavered over the years as to which of the 2 symphonic gems is better, so it's obviously a u-pick, but my preference is marginally for "Trick of the Tail". "Wind and Wuthering" opens more strongly, with "Eleventh Earl of Mar", a superior amalgamation of "Dance on a Volcano" and "Robbery Assault and Battery", and "One for the Vine", an improvement on "Mad Man Moon". "Blood on the Rooftops" is Hackett's best performance with his amiable classical guitar picking and a haunting chorus, and the closer "Afterglow" is a fitting farewell to the glory years.

From there, well, not quite so good. The cloying "Your Own Special Way" cannot compete with the "Entangleds" and "Ripples" of the world. Some filler in the middle like "Wot Gorilla", "Unquiet Slumbers..", and "In that Quiet Earth" remind us why Hackett left, as they all seem like mere workouts for some of his more mature and accomplished instrumentals that would grace the early 1980s. "All in a Mouse's Night" is more than a little prescient of the group's imminent decline.

The storm hinted at by the cover and title must have been minor compared to the changes afoot in GENESIS at this time, but the winds of change were already whipped up and the group would soon be withering on the vine. 3.5 stars.