INVISIBLE TOUCH

It's not about the commerciality. "Duke," "Abacab" and "Genesis" were increasingly commercial projects as the band found they enjoyed the money that was rolling in. Yet, those albums retained more than a shred of artistic value and a nod to the prog roots -- "Second Home by the Sea" satisfies my tastes in that regard. Not great, but good enough, thanks for making the effort.

That all disappears on IT. "Domino" is a vastly overrated "prog" song. "The Brazilian" worked better for me live, here it's a weak, weak nod to "Wot Gorilla?" And the pop numbers ... vapid, soulless, techno crap. This disc is the "Open Your Eyes" of Genesis' career. You don't have to completely sell-out to be popular and make money. I don't expect "Supper's Ready" over and over and over. If they'd kept on doing "Abacab" and "Genesis," I could live with that. Here, they went over the edge.

I still remember the "We Can't Dance" tour when I was one of the very few cheering the old medley, a bare bone they threw us loyal vets. And then when the first chords of "Invisible Touch" started the entire arena lept to its feet and cheered lustily. Boy, had the band and the world passed me by. Well, these days the band's dead and all those "IT" fans don't give a poot about Genesis at all, yet I'm still playing all my Genesis CDs and buying the box sets. I'd like to think Banks/Collins/Rutherford appreciate that, but I'm probably just the fool (more fool me?).