WE CAN'T DANCE

"There is never a time to say cos it seems to me we've lost our way" These opening words from "Never a time" sum up the group at this time when they had completed their transformation from Genesis to Generic. The previous few albums, while bland and imaginative in their production, did contain some strong themes lurking Dodo-like beneath their over-produced surface. All of the old Genesis grandeur and quirkiness has gone now. The interesting chord professions and memorable melodies and replaced by insipid pop tunes, the original lyrics replaced by faux-anguished love-songs and the usual earnest fingerwagging. What is really distressing though is the lacklustre generic style applied to every track. Inappropriate 'crying' guitars, 'atmospheric' synths, and drums that are either 'pounding' or 'mechanical'. In some ways this generic production was more of a pity on say, Invisible Touch, where there was a least some musical ambition. Here there are several long songs but they have absolutely no development, they merely achieve their length but repetition. One thinks that they were put on the album as a)filler and b) so that an unsuspecting prog fan might see a 10 minute track and think that there may something progressive about it.