GENESIS

After the relatively lackluster 'Duke', Genesis hit back with "Abacab" and "Genesis", a pair of great albums made in the early 80's that balanced the new and old sounds perfectly, before they went too far. Also, this album rectifies a few of the problems of "Abacab", namely the production, and Phil's drumming isn't so 'robotic' this time around. Actually, Phil's drumming on this release is superb.

All the songs on this album are well crafted and expertly performed, the band sounding very tight indeed!. The band find plenty of inspiration and innovation within the dense 80's sound that they are working with. Even if this isn't a progressive rock album per se, it still tries to innovate within it's realm, as there are many well chosen keyboard textures and some very original songs.

Tracks like "Just a job to do" and "Home by the sea" are so well executed and have interesting sleuth lyrics. The ballad "taking it all too hard" has a great melody, and plenty of vocal. enthusiasm from Phil Collins, while the closing pair of "Silver Rainbow" and "It's gonna get better". The former is supremely catchy and has some nice keyboard touches, while the latter has a great bass-line and some swirling synths.

There aren't any bad songs, all are enjoyable, but this album is a little below their best in the 70's, but then only a little, and most releases aren't able to come anywhere close to Genesis at their best. A wonderful 4.5 stars.