DUKE

This isn't the first review of this album but it is my first review of a Genesis album. First a warning: Genesis is the best prog rock band of all time so I had hard to judge this fair but I did the best I could. It was a risk I gave it five stars by just emotion. Duke was recorded 1979 in my city (Stockholm) and said good bye to a wonderful decade, started with "Looking for someone" in 1970. Duke isn't Foxtrot or A trick of the tail but it's still a fabulous Genesis.

Since last record there were just three members: Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks and Phil Collins. It was a big task to face the loss of two fallen heroes but they did it very well. Actually I do not longer mourn their popularization. As progressive musicians they wanted to do something new and even the progressive isn't progressive if it's tradition. This is tematic disc, and a very long one, keep in mind it's just a single lp-record. This record has twelve songs and two of them take place amongst my favourite Genesis tracks: "Heathaze" and "Cul de Sac". The both of them has a melancolic dancing melody and wonderfull lyrics. In both tracks there is good piano work by Banks. "Behind the lines" is a great opener with power and both symphonic an popular tendencies. "Guide vocal" is short but almost in class with the two giants and the two ending tracks "Duke's travels" and "Duke's end" are also terrific with a strong and fast melody. Some other pieces are more popular and less interesting but the record definitely is worth four stars. After this record Genesis begins to sound to artificial, still good but not as genuine as before. This wasn't what I liked when I began listen to Genesis, but this is why I continue to listen to them.