ABACAB

What else was on the radio in the US when ABACAB hit the airwaves? Loverboy? REO Speedwagon? Lionel Ritchie? Rick Springfield? Journey? It was a dismal period. Yes was apparently gone. Zeppelin was done. ELP had imploded. About the only competitors that Banks, Collins and Rutherford had worthy of any respect were The Police or perhaps Dire Straits.

The opening single note bass synth part of the title song came blasting over FM stations like a computerized piledriver, sounding modern and soul-less, but at least our heroes were on the air, and women were finally discovering the group.

We knew that Phil liked working with the EWF horn section, but was that right for Genesis? It must have been, because Tony Banks is known to be fairly strong-willed. I'm sure that very little got onto this release (or any other trio-era album) that didn't have his blessing.

Nonetheless, back in our own listening chambers, the Abacab release seemed only half full. The dramatic and dynamic excursions we were used to weren't there anymore. "Abacab" rocked efficiently, but "No Reply At All" seemed like overly busy top-40 twaddle, and who knows what "Who Dunnit" and "Keep it Dark" were trying to accomplish. The warmth, majesty, richness, and depth of arrangements that had set these guys apart from their peers had disappeared completely. I don't believe there is a single acoustic guitar or piano anywhere on here.

"Me and Sarah Jane" teased at some old school atmospheres and complex melodicism, and while "Dodo/Lurker" seems to be cited by many as a high point, the track continues to strike me as a clunky, cheap and dirty rewrite of the more organic, but no less powerful, "Squonk" from 1976.

Sure, I know the band had to keep up with the times, and it was nice to see them have some success, but I find I can't sit through this one anymore. It was good pop music in its day. Progressive? Perhaps from a marketing standpoint, or the fact that they had not ventured down Abacab's relatively one-dimensional road before. It's just not progressive rock, unless you're comparing it to Juice Newton.

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