SMALLCREEP'S DAY

Anything with Mike and Anthony Phillips playing together can't be bad. Ant's keyboards for me were a huge part of this album and he turns in a fine performance on side one (side two on the Passport Records version). It was hearing Steve Hackett include 'At The End Of The Day' from this on the programme 'Star Special' (where guests chose their favourite songs) which made me want this album for Christmas 1980, so much more than the single edits of 'Working In Line' and 'Time & Time Again'. It also made me want to investigate Ant's solo work!

Does anyone else think 'Romani' lyrically betrayed disillusionment within Genesis? 'Overnight Job' also has a bubbling synth line at the end recalling 'Stagnation' and taking us back to how it all started on Charisma. If only they'd included 'Compression' (the b-side to 'Working In Line') - the coda seems to recall 'Nightmare' on Ant's 'Sides', and I loved this!

If you find the original book that inspired this album, the ending is much sadder than the album and there are aspects that seem to anticipate 'The Lamb...' and 'The Ballad Of The Decomposing Man' (Steve Hackett).