GENESIS

So the question you may be asking yourself, is this album a major disappointment? My answer is 'not entirely.' As we know, Genesis have adopted an entirely new approach to their overall sound as a band by really stressing pop influences with, what is now, a slight dash of prog. Not many are very happy about this, but if their is a band that can pull this off where pop and prog marry each other, GENESIS can make it work. Personally, I do not mind this album cause I can handle 'Pop master Phil' to some extent but not fully. Anyway, some of the great moments on the album start with the opening track MAMA, which is actually a pretty dark piece of music that also creates a very dark atmosphere. I have to hand it to GENESIS, they are pretty good when they get moody and dark. The electronic drum beat with the eerie keys from Banks certainly create quite a mood indeed. Even Phil Collins shows off with his famous Grand Master Flash evil chant 'HAHA HA HA HA HA AHHHH!!' something to get into indeed. Another highlight is the track THATS ALL. it has kind of a blues like sound to it that is reminiscent to the Beatles Rocky Racoon. Overall it is a very catchy song and Banks sounds great with a grand piano sound to his credit, while Rutherford offers a nice deep bass to round out the tune. Lastly, we have HOME BY THE SEA/SECOND HOME BY THE SEA. This is indeed the best track on the album and the last track worth mentioning on this album as a whole. HOME BY THE SEA offers up a solid rhythm with Phil's electronic drum presets filling up the background that actually works nicely. Banks decides to finally kick it up a few octanes  by the 2nd half of the song with some fine catchy and deep synth work. Rutherford even flashes the 12 string guitar at times which is so nice to hear, but so little on the album overall. HOME BY THE SEA has it all from GENESIS in the 11min timeframe of the song. Has some good transitions as well as a lively atmosphere. As for the rest of tracks on the album, SILVER RAINBOW, JUST A JOB TO DO, TAKING IT ALL TO HARD and IT'S GONNA GET BETTER (it really doesn't) are really not prog at all and won't be of value to most because of the Popi nature they carry. I found SILVER RAINBOW to have some nice moments on it. But that's it. ILLEGAL ALIEN is the biggest joke of all. It's humor based and it doesn't work for me at all. Bad track. 

All in all. I can only give this album a 3/5. It's not mediocre, but it's not great either.  Don't expect anything more from this album and same goes for ABACAB, INVISIBLE TOUCH and truly the last GENESIS album 'WE CAN'T DANCE'. All of these albums, including this one are systematically the same in terms of style and composition. BEWARE!  

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