INVISIBLE TOUCH

Definetly a Mass Pop album but well done for a pop album.The only song that goes a bit away from the pop structure is The Last Domino at close to 11 minutes in legnth. I still enjoy the album for what it is on an occaisonal basis but to much listening of this album might be bad for your progressif health ;-)

Very good genesis pop with a good production sound, featuring electronic drums. The track Domino showed that Genesis were still interested in more complex arrangements and building up to a climax as symphonic prog tracks are wont to do.

Similar in sound to 'Genesis' but 100% better. Had several good successful pop songs lifted from it, also the longer more 'proggy' tunes work well as well. To be objective a good quality pop/rock album but I don't expect the purists would like it because its not esoteric enough, which is not essential for good music.

Someone previously nailed it, the problem and the turn - off is the first song. It doesn't grab you...it sort of holds you screaming in agony.

That said, the redeemnig factor is Domino, a very good prog song, worth the wait, again....once you get past track 1 ( which shall be nameless ).

It's a good disk, hardly memorable, but good. Any higher a rating would make my eardrums burst.

Give it a go.

This album is a demonstration of the last of the good old genesis that we came to love and cherish. There isn´t much to listen of course. After the departure of P. Gabriel & S. Hackett the group went down hill. The songs that are very good for this stage of the group are The Brazilian and Land Of Confusion, the rest is pop rubish that doesn´t accomplish much. Remember the movie American Psycho; and the comments of this album by the protagonist while he killed people, that´s gotta be something to think about.

I rate this 80s Genesis album higher than some reviewers have, but below others, because I feel it's a middling effort from one of my erstwhile favourite bands. No, it's not classic Genesis, but neither is it absolute "pop rubbish" or "crap."

As with most of the band's output from the post-Gabriel and Hackett era, there is no overall sound to this recording. There are radio-friendly pop songs ("Invisible Touch," -- yuck! -- "Anything She Does" and "Throwing it all Away" -- which I think is a FINE song in a sad vein; the fact that it's by Genesis perhaps makes many deaf to its strengths), some that strike a middle-ground (the undistinguished "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight," and the very good "Land of Confusion"), and two attempts to recapture the old prog sound. It is in this latter category that I think the band has been most successful: for my ears, "The Brazilian" is a strong instrumental that can hold its own with forerunners like "Los Endos" and "Wot Gorilla," while "Domino," with its over ten-minute, two-part structure, is as good a piece of progressive as anything the band did after the departure of P.G. This one must be played loudly, with the lights low. I was fortunate enough to catch a concert from this tour, and let me tell you, "Domino" was one of the absolute standouts of the evening -- perhaps even the highpoint of that memorable show!

Thus, I don't write this album off; I believe that the aforementioned last three tracks are reason enough to add INVISIBLE TOUCH to your Genesis collection.

Oh Dear, Oh Dear! I know some think that this was the best of the later Genesis albums, but go and listen to A Trick of the Tail and Wind & Wuthering after hearing this. You'll soon see how far they'd fallen. Domino may have been saved with better production, but the keyboards were very 'thin' after Dave Hentschel was dropped as producer for the band. For me, anything post 'Duke' was for the US market and the UK middle of the road pop fans.

I propose that we start a petition for a -1 star rating and that this one is the first one to become the rock bottom of all albums reviewed on this site. I think this album is much worse than Abacab but somehow hate this less because I was not expecting anything from Genesis anymore,

Again I am exagerating a bit but this is to drive a point home, because Land Of Confusion and its amusing Spitting Image video did make me smile and I never zapped when I heard it. But the rest is much worse than dreadful although there are some interesting rythmic patterns , and there were many different dance versions of some of these tracks. We have here Genesis reaching the complete pop realm and obviously having turned away completely the progressive page a long time ago , even if they had given us a slight hope with the first side of their previous album.

But really, we are really lower than the Marianna Trench here. Best avoided if you are a prog fan.

Again, I don't think this as bad as people say it is. However, there is a lot of filler. I think 'Domino' is the best song they had done in a long time. I also like 'The Brazilian' and the album version of 'Tonight Tonight Tonight' For what it was, 'Land Of Confusion' isn't that bad either. This is however, their worst studio album, in my humble opinion.

Maligned because for its personnel, and its countinuing radical departure from the band's highly influential past, "Invisible Touch" is a great POP album, which bears similarities to what 10cc and Roxy Music were doing during the Seventies, totally decked out in the sugary POP culture, but when you get to the core you get the bitterness of the bands prog past. Trust me its still their. The Best POP album Genesis ever did.

Charles

3 DESERVED stars. "Is he nuts?!" some whispered. No, not nuts, but realistic. Could these guys survive the 80's by doing all over again Supper's Ready or The Knife? No, and the bands who do it are targets for laughs and yawns. (Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, BTO, Sex Pistols, Moody Blues). Wonder why? Maybe because the 80's brouhgt MTV. MTV brought more people into music. More people means more boys but also lots of girls. But girls don't like much prog. 80's Girls liked dancing (and still do). Girls just wanna have fun, right? I'm not possessing the answer but one thing is sure: Genesis had to grow to survive...and progressive rock died with the end of the 70's anyway.Too bad? Not really. It could be seen from far away. Prog is an underground movement loved by college students (at first) just like ambient, acid, drum n' bass or jungle (90's electronic frenzyness). Often, underground stuff is less to have a long life. Doesn't mean it's bad, au contraire. But the market is not made for progressive rock and today, read the papers, people don't want others to know that they love prog (Jack Black for instance). How many people make their family live with an income of underground-du-jour music? Not much or very very few. It's good, because they do what they like and I respect that. But it doesn't mean in any way that Invisible Touch is crappy because it's Pop (even with a capital P). Once again, prog lovers are (too often) stuck in this kind of thinking: "Man, 1975 was the best! Wish it never ended!" Perhaps, but time's passing. And music is marching on too. And what the heck is that 80's bashing's all about? What's wrong here? Okay, this album sounds very 80's, but what's wrong with that? At least the 80's innovated in some ways. Today's just the same over and over again. Hugh Padgham made this album sound very good, even to today's production. If you spit on the 80's, maybe you follow too much what people say? It's hip to laugh at that time. The 80's had good stuff and bad stuff just like every decade, period. And you who nags, do you write music? Do you know how hard it can be to create a good 4 minute song? Well, Collins-Rutherford-Banks did something amazing here. Many catchy songs in one single album. Songs that makes you move. Why not? Prog is so static, cold and technical. It's fun to vary! Yes, the 80's had their share of lame stuff, but so did the 90's and today's stuff is more violent, gory and recycled than ever. In conclusion, Invisible Touch is great in the car or to do chores around the house. Gives pep in your day too. Don't vomit yet or play freesbee with it, just adjust your optic.

Few acts have the good fortune to release an album as popular and pervasive as "Invisible Touch". More than half of these songs ended up on regular radio/MTV rotation (noting, as I write this, that "Land of Confusion" might be the most visually unappealing video I've ever seen). This reached a saturation point for some, who found little distinction between Phil COLLINS' solo music and the work of GENESIS (as ballads like "Throwing It All Away" and "In Too Deep" would have felt at home under either moniker).

At this stage, the band was working from a set formula that included downbeat ballads wrapped in seductive melodies, longer instrumental works that suggested vaguely exotic dreamscapes, and songs with a social conscience. In fact, "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" is little more than a mix of "Mama" and "Man of Our Times". If the first side of music runs smoother than a Japanese train (i.e., like a Phil COLLINS record), Tony BANKS exerts his influence on the second side with the two-part "Domino" and the closing instrumental, "The Brazilian". As clever as BANKS can be, his growing interest in percussive and nonmusical sounds (heard on "Land of Confusion") contributes to what can be a dry and brittle-sounding record. With Phil often playing electronic percussion and Mike RUTHEFORD reduced to random bass lines and snippets of guitar, it's on Tony's shoulders to champion the softer side of GENESIS; a challenge he sometimes accepts ("In The Glow of the Night") and sometimes declines ("Invisible Touch").

GENESIS started on this path with "Abacab", and cultivated a new audience in the process, while alienating some old fans. Professionally, the trio was at the top of the mountain, their inevitable descent evidenced on "We Can't Dance" and completed with "Congo". The notion that "Invisible Touch" is product occasionally haunts me, but all records are product in some sense, and any one that makes millions of people happy must be a good thing.

Never the title for an album fitted so well the music it must illustrate. Genesis touches nobody indeed, except cash. But if for obvious reason, we must not consider this one as a progressive album ("Domino" is as fake as "Dodo/Lurker" was), it handles nontheless some pleasant pop songs, and i think about "Throwing It All Away" (no pun intended). And i do enjoy the atmosphere of other songs like "Tonight Tonight Tonight" and even "The Brazilian". Ok, it's true, it's been a while i didn't really make the effort to put the disc on my cd player to listen to it. But those melodies are still in my brain. Somehow. Somewhere.

How could i say that and appreciate in the meantime something like "Musique pour l'Odyssée" from Art Zoyd ? Well... I never said i was rational.

Invisible talent

The title of the seventh track "Throwing it all away" is so appropriate here, since that's exactly what Genesis were doing. While the music they were making by this time was unquestionably popular, the band appearing to have had the ability to create hit singles at will, all the credibility the band had worked so hard to acquire was being unceremoniously abandoned.

The title track is not for me at all, it might have been OK performed by Collins & Bailey ("Easy lover"), but as a Genesis track it's entirely inappropriate, bordering on the sacrilegious. The dance beat and banal lyrics would have been laughed out of the studio just a few years previously.

Of the two longer tracks "Tonight, tonight, tonight" is pleasant, but it's little more than an extended 3 minute song with little in the way of development beyond the basic form. "Domino" comes across as the best track, but even then, it does not stand up well against other Genesis pieces of this length. The track still has a very pop orientated basis, both lyrically and musically.

The only other track worthy of mention is "The Brazilian", which is very much in the "Los Endos", and "Duke's travels" mode, but falling someway short of their standard.

In all, a very disappointing album which signified once again that the days of Genesis as a credible prog rock band were seemingly well behind them, (or were they.?).

As much as I supported my taste toward Genesis being more commercial sounding I have always battled to love this album. I love all the others but this I just like. It just does not warm to me. Tonight, Tonight and Anything She Does along with Domino probably the best tracks but for me The Brazillian is one of Bank's weakest moments.Sure a commercial monster but for me the least pleasing.

Their worst, without a doubt. Why? Because of its commerciality? No, not specifically. The previous three albums had been fairly commercial but still had the Genesis trademarks. You could still hear that some thought had gone into the songwriting. Invisible Touch is abysmal by Genesis standards. Everything from the cheap packaging to the poppy pop production, confirm that Banks, Collins & Rutherford had finally lost it. This is essentially a Phil Collins album riddled with silly love songs, drum machines and predictable brass sections, most natably on 'Anything she does' This horrendous piece of music makes 'No reply at all' from the 'Abacab' album look like 'Suppers Ready' The title song is perhaps the most bland piece of music I have ever known a 'rock' musician to put their name to. A predictable chord sequence, inane lyrics and a crap unimaginative chorus. The 'epic' on IT has to be 'Domino' This is the intellectual prog blockbuster on the album. In two deeply meaningful parts, the trio attempt to apologise to all those fans who have enjoyed the music of Genesis over the years, stuck by them, and kept them in the lifestyles they enjoy, by offering up this token obituary to their prog roots. With open arms Genesis welcomed a new generation of fans and stuck their fingers up at their old ones. IT is one of those albums that could have been played at a wedding reception at the time, and your granny would have known the words to 'Throwing it all away' perhaps the most apply titled track on the album. This is sorry album, and I was embarassed for some time after its release to admit being a die hard fan. I felt let down. I'ts hard to find anything good to say about this album. I suppose 'Tonight tonight tonight' has its moments, but is essentially boring and over long for the sake of it. Rubbish.

hm well this is a great pop album. i mean the band was always essentially a pop band any ways. think about it. they had very very tightly structured songs and melodies without any real soloing except for hackett of course and an occasional brilliant (and occasionally awful) banks solo. they wrote about strange subjects, but so does they might be giants. are they prog? no they're pop.

pop is not a dirty word, and on here it's most defintely not a dirty form of music. HIGHLY enjoyable from beginning to end, except for a few bland phil collins ballads.

not all good music is prog music. in fact a majority of prog music is BAD music. :)

This album is much, much better than their 1983 "Genesis" album. Even if this album has a lot of electronic drums, which I don`t like very much, it has some good songs. But it is mainly a Pop album, with songs composed by all members of GENESIS, not only by Phil Collins, who is the favourite "scapegoat" of old fans as the reason because GENESIS changed "prog" by "pop". The song "Invisible Touch" is very good. "Tonight..." is almost "prog", but with electronic drums. "Land of Confusion" is pop with "serious" lyrics, and a very good video clip. "In too deep" is a mellow ballad, with a mellow video too (this song also appeared in the British movie "Mona Lisa"). "Anyhing she does" has interesting drums. "Domino" is the most "prog" song, but the sound of the electronic drums is not very interesting for me. "Throwing it all away" is a good ballad, with a good guitar riff by Rutherford. The instrumental "The Brazilian" is not very good, in my opinion, as it`s boring.

Is this album really that bad?? I think is not. OK, this is mainly a pop album, but what a pop album! you can't be comparing this to their previous masterpieces, it's not right, people change and change is needed for self progression being a musician, they had been playing progressive rock for about 10 years, you gotta understand that (also take in account that the 2 master minds who made those previous albums are gone, and please! don't just blame it on Collins!). OK, this album is filled with catchy songs (i think that's the point of a pop album), specially Invisible Touch and Land of Confusion (one of my favorites), which i couldn't take out of my brain for a while, nice songs to entertain. Into Deep reminds of Backstreet Boys, also a VERY catchy one (if it was a BB song it would be the best one). Throwing it all Away is a very good balad. Then The Brazilian is very relaxing, you could hear that when trying to sleep or while reading. Anything she Does sounds to me like the one makes you dance (¿? somehow...). And finally the best songs of the album and very good songs too: Domino and Tonight, Tonight, Tonight this are the 2 songs in which you'll find some prog elements, TTT can become very repetitive, but is for sure a very well crafted song. Domino is the one with "parts" and you could say "wow, it may be good", well, it is. Well, thats it for this album, if you find it cheap, go for it.

Edited 10/7/2005!

From the poor cover art alone it's quite obvious that this was a commercial Pop Rock album by them. The times that the musical ideas have been brought in by Steve Hackett had been definitely gone by then. Some reviewer said "DOMINO" is still the best track. In fact I have to admit it's a rather good Pop Rock song but the fact that it has a ten minutes clocking doesn't make it more progressive than the rest. "LAND OF CONFUSION" is great somehow and became famous as well for a good reason. Although being mere Pop Rock, this song is at least well done, I have to admit. IMHO the album has its best moment at the end, I mean not in this sense that it's great when it's finally finished, no I mean the last track "THE BRAZILIAN", in my impression they are TRYING to sound a bit more like in the old days with this one, but it's really just a weak trial. I'm a big fan of this band but sorry to say but everything what came after WIND AND WUTHERING and the live album SECONDS OUT (with Hackett and Bill Bruford on drums) is almost not worth mentioning in terms of Progressive Rock. They were still quite fine after Peter Gabriel left and Phil Collins took over the lead vocals (nothing against his voice,he's a great pop singer, but even a much greater drummer), but the demise of Steve Hackett as the inspiring mastermind was too much for the band. And it's quite obvious that none of the remaining members was able (or willing due to commercial demands) to bring in a similar input. So that's how a great Prog Rock band became a rather successful Pop Rock band. Having one ear closed I can still rate this one with 2 stars!

It's hard for a Genesis fan to rate this kind of albums and be forced to place a 0 or 1 star rating besides the name of our favorite band, but we also must know that this band of three guys more worried for the big bucks than for real art is not the Genesis we know and love.

From the start the album is less than mediocre the title track is not rock or even good pop, it's a caricature of what Genesis was one day, simple chords, foolish lyrics and the terrible voice of Phil Collins to complete the crime.

Tonight Tonight Tonight is a track that Phil Collins should have kept for his solo albums, but included in this album because of the greed of the other two members, a soft and boring ballad that has no place in Genesis discography.

Land of Confusion is another poppy track heavily supported by MTV and local radio stations that was created only to make the band more popular and easy to listen by pre teens who bought this album massively when released.

In too Deep and Anything She Does are only fillers so don't even deserve a word.

Now we come to the track that was supposed to be the Piece of Resistance, Domino, but this song proves that not all 10 minute songs are epics, Domino is a hybrid, too long and complex to be pop and to absurd and lack of quality to be considered progressive. I think this track was a waste of time for the band because it wouldn't help Genesis to recover all progressive fans or help them to convince POP fans, absolutely unnecessary.

Throwing it all Away is the correct name for this waste of time because by this point all I wanted is to use the album as a Frisbee (But it was a gift from my sister and I didn't had the heart to throw it, so is kept in my drawer with only one listen for her to see it each time she comes to my house). This is the kind of tracks that gave Genesis a bad name among serious listeners, radio friendly, absurd and boring, simply what Genesis represented since Steve Hackett left the band.

The album ends with one decent track The Brazilian, not in the level of other closers as Los Endos or Wot Gorilla, but this very decent song deserved better destiny than being the closer of this aberration called Invisible Touch.

Drum machines, terrible vocal, boring ballads and a few dancing songs is what this monstrosity leaves us, that's why I was tempted to give Invisible Touch a no stars rating, but I believe The Brazilian at least deserves one weak star.

If you already have it, well you know why you bought it, there is music for every taste, but if you're a fan of early Genesis, save your money and buy any decent legal bootleg or film if you have all the progressive albums.

This puppy needs to be put down. This album has no bussiness being listed on this site. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE Genesis, 1969 through 1978 and I like some of the post '78 stuff too, but this work expects too little of the listener to be taken seriously. It is a fine example of MTV pop songcraft that earned zillions of dollars and I'm sure the guys worked hard making it, but its not good prog. If I could give it a -1 rating, I would. The only good thing about my experience with it is that I purchased it from a charity shop and the money I spent on it has gone to a good cause. It will now be returned to said shop and will hopefully find some simple minded music lover to live out it's days.

First off, if you can mark THE END of Genesis it is this album. Look hard, but you won't find any good lyrics here. "I'm coming down, coming down like a monkey..." Could someone please expalin what he's talking about? The progressive elements are apparent in this album, but consist of annoying twans clanks, and basically any annoying noise they could conjure. The funny hting is that if they steer away from the prog elements the music improves.

Collins' voice is no better than in the previous albums beginning at Duke, where he seems to scream far too often, to get a cheap emotional feel. Any atmosphere created by Bank's keyboard seems ot be killed off. an unfortuante end to a legacy, but that is what it is. Perhaps not a terrible 80's rock album, but in comparison to Brilliant albums, such as "Foxtrot", this is worthless. The trick to getting enjoyment out of this, is the same as with "Genesis", Abacab, and Duke. Pretend it is another (non Prog) band.

As a rock album from the dark ages of music, it scores some points, but as a prog album by one of the timeless giants of prog this album is nothing but an embarrasment.

At this point, Genesis were tossing microscopic scraps of greatness at their old fans while the larger mainstream Top 40 audience fell down in supplication to their rigid, antiseptic pop material. Only a demented serial killer can love this album (see Bret Easton Ellis' 'American Psycho'). So.to the abattoir.

The first thing that greets us on this album is a thin, digitized recording job, everything sanitized and tidy. The drums sound like programmed machines rather than skin-and- wood, the guitar/bass tones are feeble, and Tony Banks' once majestic layers are reduced to shiny, happy pitter-patter. I'm not one of the conspiracy theorists who feel Phil Collins' solo career ruined Genesis. No one put a gun to the heads of Rutherford and Banks. I believe their evolution into a radio-ready pop band was natural. It couldn't even have been money-motivated, as they all had plenty to go around by this time. But that doesn't mean we have to like it.

Songs like "Invisible Touch", "In Too Deep", "Anything She Does" and "Throwing It All Away" are crud. Appealing to the lowest-common-denominator Top 40 listener, these tracks are completely inane slices of pop, up there with the worst of the Phil Collins solo catalog. While nearly 9 minutes, "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" is dreary and too long. There are layers to sink into, but that's only because there's not much of substance to hang onto elsewhere. It seems like they were going for an "In The Air Tonight" vibe, which would've been great, but it comes off flat and stale. Similar problem with album epic "Domino", the first part ("In The Glow Of The Night") giving a few moments of drama and tension, with some beautiful melodies peaking out of the sterile production. Unfortunately the song's climax ("The Last Domino") takes the first half down a few notches, with a too-bright contrast to the somewhat brooding beginning. "Land Of Confusion" has some poignant lyrics, and the song itself is quite good, but like any of the decent scraps on this album, it's hard to listen too due to the squeaky-clean production. Final track "The Brazilian" is a moody instrumental piece. It doesn't flail and challenge like some of their best instrumentals, but it does set a nice tone that ends the album on a relatively high note. Unfortunately there's precious little enjoyment in the songs that come before it. Only for the completist, indeed.

This radio-friendly pop album sold by the bucket load. It is a very good example of eighties pop and i will admit i do like some of the tracks (Tonight...). The production is very good on this album. But in t parts Tony Bank's keybaord work gets lost. The Phil ballards on the album are awful (in too deep). You will either love it or hate.

One of the worst genesis albums. I am sorry to say this because they were my favourite prog band until Duke, but this is not Genesis, this is a easy listening group of the worst sort, it does not grab you. Mike and Tony have definetely lost their creativity and will to play . Only Phil's voice can be saved, but I would hardly save a track in this album. I would have appreciated them if from Abacab down they had changed their name. It is good that the group has split up . They have nothing more to say now.Only an improbable reunion with Peter and Steve may resurrect them.

Not a good album, but has it's good moments, nonetheless. The worst thing about it is Collins' singing which is getting more and more obnoxious with every album after Abacab. Another is lousy production. Another is simplified approach to songwriting - sort of condescending, "Genesis For Dummies" type of thing. Than being said, one has to be fair and say that there are some very good things here too. The Brazilian is a tight, neat instrumental, Tonight... is a very melodic song, and Domino contains some good chord progressions and a long instrumental section. Together these 3 songs make up about half the album - so it's fair to say that half the album is good. So I'll give it 2.5 stars.

I like to listen to this album now and then although it contains only three tracks that may be classified as progressive: "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight", "Domino" (especially Part II), and "The Brazilian". If the album contained only these three I would give it four stars without much hesitation. I agree with several other reviewers that other tracks, such as "Invisible Touch" or "In Too Deep" are excellent pop songs, and I would add, much higher in quality than those one usually hears on pop radio (if people here listen to pop radio at all, he-he -- I don't :-)). Incidentally, when I was younger, I did not defferentiate between the quality of, say, "Lamb Lies Down ...", "Duke" or "Invisible Touch". To me the music on all of them was great. "Invisible Touch" and "We Can't Dance" were just another GENESIS, but still GENESIS. But now I grew up, and having read a few hundred reviews at this website became slightly snobbish :-) So, three stars only.

This is an excellent album.

One shouldn't write this record off merely because of pseudo-prog elitists and people who supposedly hate pop music yet listen to artists that spew the same rhetorical thread with their schlock but never garner the critical success that Genesis did with "Invisible Touch". Their are songs on this record that provide incredibly introspective and PROGRESSIVE moments, and their are moments that are not only remarkably touching and emotive in their deliverance, but are - in my opinion - some of the most well written and daring songs that Genesis ever dared write.

To simply write of a record because it's "pop", or because MTV picked it up is ridiculous. Progression is a word that symbolizes the means for change and development, and that's exactly what the band was doing at this time - like it or not, pop or prog, this isn't a record that you should take lightly.

This album was a pop-driven Phil Collins solo record when it first was released, and sounds even more cheezy some 20 years later. The 80's synth drums, and really cheezy lyrics ("she seems to have an invisible touch-a"), remind me of why i disliked "Su-su-sudio" so much. Honestly, as a lifelong Genesis fan, there really is very little here worth listening to. "Tonight" is about the only decent song on here, and they even cut that to make it a single. I remember when the single for "Invisible Touch" came out, and the sign at my local record store said "Invisible Touch by Phil Collins and Genesis". That about sums it up for me.......

With the exception of "Invisible Touch", I wouldn't recommend ANY Genesis albums after 1978's "And Then There Were Three."

Invisible Touch is a mixed bag, split 50/50 between good songs, on the one hand, and Phil Collins-style garbage on the other. Land of Confusion is fun and upbeat; Tonight, Tonight, Tonight, though arguably ruined by overexposure in a beer commmerical, is emotional and intriguing. The epic Domino and the instrumental The Brazilian are also great tracks with an exotic feel. But the rest is garbage, tracks you won't want to rip to your ipod. For the uninitiated, Genesis was a mighty band up to 1978.

Indeed, according to Amazon sales ranks 70s Genesis albums on average sell much better than their 80s releases. You'll also note that used copies of the 80s releases can be picked up very cheaply - simply because they're of little value.

Yet another controversial album from a band that used to be progressive. I remember the 80-ies, and the music played on radio. And "Invisible Touch" is one of those albums that reminds me of that days. And the memories are nice. It was good music for me. I didn't know any of their previous albums, in fact I didn't even know who they were, but always when I heard "Land of Confusion", "Invisible Touch" or "Throwing It All Away" it was a pleasure for me. And I kept listening to the radio. Look at crappy music we can hear on radio or tv these days. Most of it is just horrible. "Invisible touch" reminds me of those innocent days from my youth, when popular music was listenable. Twenty years passed, and I still find pleasure listening to it, although I know that it has nothing to do with progressive rock. I rate it between 2,5 and 3 stars. And every time I put it on my CD player I try to forget they recorded something earlier. Just can't wait the flood of reviews posted in retaliation.

Invisible Touch is much better than 1983's Genesis, but that doesn't mean it's a prog album.

The title track is pure pop, this has got nothing to do with Gabriel albums, but it's not the worst song on this album. Average, and if it wouldn't be such a big hit I would say it's a filler. Tonight.... has got a good intro which reminds me of Duchess (from Duke), with bongos and a "real ambience", you know what I mean, atmospherical track.....but it fades too fast into a pop song. In the middle of the song you can hear weird effects. Somewhere after 7 minutes it starts to be boring and it lacks after 8 minutes so you jsut wish that it fades very fast. A nearly 9 minute pop track..... but not really a filler track.... Land of Confusion was a very big hit in the 80's. In my opinion, it sounds too mcuh like disco crap. In Too Deep is a Collins ballad, but there are good Collins ballads (like Your Own Special Way, Many Too Many, Man On The Corner or The Roof Is Leaking from his first solo album) and bad Collins ballads. This one isn't good and it isn't bad, just a filler track. Anything She Does: silly crap. The worst song on IT. Domino has got two parts, In The Glow Of The Night and The Last Domino. The first part is the better one, the second part is more disco-ish. Although it's 10 minutes it's not that typical 10-minutes-suite, more a very long and sometimes strange ballad, something about a nuclear war and two lovers who don't know if the other is alive. You can't see what the topic is when you just read the text, I've read this on a Genesis FAQ site. Throwing It All Away is another Collins ballad. It's a quite good one. The last instrumental song is The Brazilian, very good as a closer track (yes, of course Los Endos or Afterglow are much better closers), but I've never listened to the whole song so I don't know how it finishes. I'll listen to it right now, when I've finished the review. The song also appeared in the film "When the Wind Blows". Roger WATERS (Pink Floyd) had also written some songs for this film. Sorry for my English mistakes.

Good, but non-essential.

the Sorcerer

This work had nothing to do with progressive music. But is not too bad, at all. There are tracks that I hate with all my essence of man! Tracks like "Into the Deep" and "Anything She Does" are really the reason to hate Genesis' '80ies period, but the rest of the work is likeable. "Invisible Touch", "Land Of Confusion" and "Throwing It All Away" are three pop songs made to like at the audience, so nothing special, but really simpathic songs. "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" is an electric ballad with really good instrumental parts and with good vocal lines. At last I've leaved two masterpieces, in my opinion: "Domino", both parts, and "The Brazilian". I really love theese songs for the amazing musicianship, the atmosphere that I receive during the listening. For appreciate much more this work, I recommend to buy "Live at Wembley" in DVD format. Genesis' live exhibitions are always amazing, believe me. "Invisible Touch" is not for all Genesis' 70ies fans, but who likes also 80ies pop careere of the band may find this work good.

Okay, it's not a great prog album. But I don't understand why peopel hate it so much. I think that people are very biased to "Selling England By The Pound" and against "Invisible Touch". Sure, Phil Collins was dominating Genesis by this point, but that's not neccesarily a terrible thing. This is the pop-iest Genesis I've heard, but it also is the easiest for me to listen to of any of their albums. Not 5-star worthy, but an excellent album.

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?).

GENESIS disaster continues...!

Some of you wander why to bother with reviewing bad albums. Well, it is not an easy task but somebody has to do it (:-), otherwise we would have only very subjective 5 stars hails and praises of really mediocre staff.

With "Invisible Touch" GENESIS made hit again and were more popular than ever. Sure, now they were mega-stars and earned a lot of money and became celebrity. That's OK, after all it is all part of the show business. However, I am not interested in judging the business undertakings of music artists, but rather their artistic musical output, their courage to experiment, their ideas and how well they communicate certain emotions.

Being "commercial" does not necessarily exclude quality. The same year, 1986, Peter Gabriel recorded a well-crafted pop album "So" with loads of hits, synthesizers, funky rhythms and modern production, but in a way he remained faithful to his own artistic integrity. It was a commercial and it was a good pop album (or "art-rock" if you want). On the other hand, "Invisible Touch" is nothing short of a disposable single-use industrial product that evaporates quickly after opening the protective cellophane package. I even would not remember a song called "Land of Confusion", with its quasi-engaged "Cold War conscience" lyrics, had it not been incorporated in the jolly Spitting Image video spot.

This is the saddest story of once beloved "progressive" rock band, which offered us a blueprint of the genre. If only they changed the name after Hackett left in 1977...

Guy,it's hard,too hard to talk about this album,because it's too bad!How could this fantastic band do this awful disc?We all know that Mr.Collins was already completely on the pop road, as he won Grammy and recorded that forgettable,horrible song "Separate Lives",a long with Marilyn Martin(???) and other horrible pop solo songs...

To give a fair rating to this "disc",I divided 10 points into the 8 songs(1.25 per each),and then divided it into 2,so then I could get form 1 to 5 stars,I mean,from 1 to 1...

Invisible Touch-0.0-what is this???

Tonight,Tonight,Tonight-0.25-only for the instrumental part...

Land Of Confusion-0.0-awful,no word can describe this song as this one.

In Too Deep-0.0-just read what I writed above.

Anything She Does-0.05-just for the "good" drums.

Domino-0.6-This one is enjoyable,but a little bit pop,it doesn't deserve greater grades.Remembers,very little,of their prog roots.

Throwing It All Away-0.0-yes,this title describes what the band was doing with its quality.

The Brazilian-0.6-an instrumental song that remembers very little Los Endos time.

After all,we got only 1.5,then we divide into two,and get 0.75.

For those who thought that it was gonna get better,as the last 83's album's song says,a big trauma!Sad,too sad for what Collins,Banks and Rutherford once represented to prog.

Horrific. By this point, Genesis were little more than a tool of Atlantic Records, a product to sell beer or whatever other products they could market them out to.

Depressingly, the highlight of this disc is the mediocre instrumental "The Brazilian", which most closely resembles the appalling "Second Home By The Sea". Hugh Padgham's mega-80's production, with clinky digital synthesizers and overloud "gated" drums pulverizes any life from the music.

Not that there was any life in these tunes to begin with. "Tonight Tonight Tonight" is not so much an prog number as an interminable extended dance remix of a lame three-minute pop tune. And "Domino" is the ultimate canard, two of the band's tunes that weren't seen as good enough to make it as singles by the suits, fused together as a "suite" and tossed to their old fan base like a bone. I'd expect that kind of thing from the likes of Uriah Heep, but from Genesis I'm totally not buying it.

There's not any point in me even mentioning any of the other songs here. If you have any sort of memory of the 80's, you'll have had these songs hammered into you like a litany. All of them are more memorable for their music videos than for their content. Typical 80's trash. The music is the last thing to be considered.

Yet another prog-pop clearly dominated by Phil. I still dig Domino & Tonight, Tonight, Tonight. If I compare the performance of Genesis in the mid-eighties with Yes, Genesis was doing better. At least Phil Collins was delivering some melodies, Anderson wasn't.

I´ve heard awful prog, some of it is not only simplistic, but also uninspired, repetitive, most of it seems to be a cheap copy of many other bands and some prog doesn´t even sound like progressive rock and there´s nothing that makes me think it could be prog. All those bad progers are listed in this site and most of their albums receive good ratings. Most of those albums may have prog-like sounds and some small details in the songwriting that make them prog. But my question is: Is a loussy prog album better than a good and entertaining pop or plain rock album ?.

Why does everybody seem to punish this album for not being "Foxtrot"?. Has anybody thought of the possibility that after 17 years together and making music, Genesis just were not the same?. I´m not the same I was at 13 years old and definitely don´t feel and think the same way. My interests, emotions, motivations and everything is largely different now. No musician in the history has ever written the exact same thing throughout his carrer. And something more important, no rock writer in the history of prog rock has managed to remain creative, fresh and full of the original quality after the 5th or 7th album.

YES, "the ultimate prog band" started doing loussy music only 10 years after their first album, it sounded like pop (What is worse, like ugly pop) and it was so bad that people seem to just disregard it (Tormato). And they made some terrible prog with "Relayer" also (Those 3 minutes of repetitive jamming are not only made out of one single idea, they may get to be anoying too). They tried hard being a succesful pop band in the 80´s and never seemed to make it. It seems like the problem with a band making pop, is that they are succesful, like Genesis. It doesn´t matter if it´s fresh and entertaining pop, the problem is that it´s pop. Does anybody really care about albums with no music like "The final cut"?. That´s not prog and doesn´t even have a tune and is boring like hell ¡¡¡. I´m not sure if I would have liked a Genesis making, or trying to make prog in the 80´s. But thinking of King Crimson (The only who did), makes me wonder if it´s worth it to make robotic prog with no tunes whatsoever just for the sake of making prog. King Crimson´s 80´s prog is no better than any mediocre prog of the 70´s. They were never too much of creative and diverse music writters in the 70´s. Trying to make prog in the 80´s that may like wider audiences (with pop sounds) is too pretentious.

This album is definitely not "Nursery" nor "Selling". The same way "Union" is not "Close to the edge" and "Under wraps" is not "Aqualung". These latest albums are not, or at least, should not be expected to be as good as the 70´s ones. Doing that is absurd.

I used to hate people saying Collins was guilty for turning Genesis into a solo project and making it poppier. After reading about it I knew it was not only Collins the responsible for changing into Rock pop. Rutherford and Banks were as tired as anyone of making music about rare creatures and bizarre stories with the strangest of sounds. Everyone talks about Gabriel as if he alone had made Genesis, and no one seems to realize he practicaly never played a note nor did he write it. The fact that he was the singer and lyrics writer in the most prolific and original moment of Genesis doesn´t make him the owner of an Era. Like the so called "Gabriel´s Era". Come on ¡¡. Every band is more creative and original at the beginning than 17 years later. I consider "Invisible touch" a great album. It sure has some very low points like "Throwing it all away" and the title track. And even these two are enjoyable, entertaining at least. I´d rather listen to this album 5 times than listen to something like "Palepoli" by Osanna. "Tonight tonight." may not be completely prog., but it sure is not a poppy song and you know?, those sounds and sudden intensity is great. Has prog fans (I consider miself one, and enjoy the strangest and most complex prog.) ever though that pop elements and other genres´ are all around even in the best regarded prog albums ?. "Close to the edge" is a song with the structure of a pop song and with catchy choruses just like a pop song. Yet, the playing is great and some sounds are prog trademarks, therefore, it is called prog. ..Oh, and lasts for 18 minutes, where around 8 or even 10 of which are nothing but filler (Like that 6 minutes ballad with barely no music, or the last part which is exactly the same as the first). Still, this song, along with the album that contains it, manages to be the number one in this site. "Selling England", "Foxtrot" and "Nursery" contain at least 2 pop songs each, and I have never read anyone complaining. The "first and most representative prog album", "In the court", has Epitaph and I talk to the wind and are together one third of the whole album (The other third is moonchild, which is a pop & crap song). And it is the third best album in this site. What is "Roundabout" supposed to be with that chorus being repeated no less than .what?, 6 times?..Does complexity alone make a song a prog song?. Wouldn´t it be a Pop song with great playing?. "Atom heart mother", and "Meddle" are 2/10 prog, 4/10 pop, and 4/10 filler, and no one says "If", "A pillow of winds" and "Alan´s psycadelic brakfast" are a shame in Pink Floyd´s cataloge. ..."Ey ¡, don´t dare making pop or songs with simple music in the 80´s or you´ll be called a looser ¡¡¡" .Come on ¡¡..

Prog, not prog, pop, not pop, ???. Is the genre more important than the music and the final effect?. I do agree that great prog is heaven on earth, but also bad prog may be the most boring and less inspiring kind of music. Blaming music for not being prog is ridiculous. And be careful, next time you do, you might be spitting on some of the best regarded Prog pieces of music ever.

I´ve never cared about the ratings, but I´ll give this album a 4 star rating. Every song in it contains a good proportion of energy, conviction and feeling. "Tonight", "Domino", "The Brazilian" and "Land of confusion" are well crafted and wether you like or not the sounds and arrangements on them, I could name easily 100 songs from the 70´s best regarded prog albums that contain less music, imagination and feeling than these. .The pop songs in this album are catchy and managed to succed widely. You can´t call such a popular song like "Invisible touch", crap. Would you dare calling "Don´t stop till get enough" by M. Jackson, crap?..Such a wonderful and inspired song shouldn´t receive less than everyone best comments. "In too deep" is nice, it´s definitely not crap like "Who dunnit" is it?. And "Anything she does" has some energy and a beat that makes me smile and feel happy and was played with conviction. Something mediocre progers never seemed to understand as a valuable element. In the end, these pop songs are consumed completely after a while and nothing remains, I know. That´s why this is not a 5 star album.

What´s a 5 star album to me?.A flawless album, something like YES´ first, full of conviction and implicit energy. Something like "Selling", "Foxtrot", "Inferno" by Metamorfosi, "Octopus" by Giant, "Mirage" by Camel, "Wish you were here", Banco´s "Darwin"..there are way more.all of them have to be entertaining, original, with conviction, with well crafted atmospheres, with great songwriting, creative, insipired, and with that energy only great albums contain, "energy from the heart". Not precisely energy full of power and strong sounds, but that energy that touches your soul.I wish I could write in spanish to make it clear for you..

One thing I know, Pop doesn´t mean crap whatsoever. Bad music, wether it´s prog or pop should be penalized, just be careful when judging music for not being Prog, and prog just for being prog.

I guess I could fill 2 more pages with a lot of other ideas I have regarding the wrong perception of reviewers towards Prog Vs. Pop. Even with my loussy English. But the core of my idea is that music should be seen as what it was meant to be, not as what prog lovers would like it to be.

Well here it is, the dominant commercial piece of the entire Genesis catalog, or as some people like to say nowadays, the Phil Collins era. Realizing that they could craft pop masterworks upon the top ten success of "That's All" back in 1983/84, and on the heels of Collins' Grammy-winning, now Diamond-certified solo effort No Jacket Required, Genesis was primed to make their most "pop" album yet. Well, I know most people have a distaste for this album, but I don't find it all that bad. It's not very good, but it's still not the worst thing that could have ever come out. At least I found it very hit-or-miss. I can still give three stars on the benefit of the doubt.

We open with the poppy title track, which is a miss; I find the song very annoying after a while. You realize that Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford don't seem to be in this thing that much except for a ride on this song. Just wait, though, their influences will be back later on the album. "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" is a decent song, but sometimes feeling like a half-hearted attempt for some semblance to prog-era music on the shoulders of an instrumental fill. My favorite track on this album has to be one of their first American political songs (with a great music video) in "Land of Confusion." I do find Rutherford's guitar and Collins' catchy drum opening as solid drivers for the number. It's not "Duke's Travels" or "Home by the Sea" for the 80s output, but it's still my favorite on this album. The last number is "In Too Deep," a love song which I'm a sucker for when I feel like. "Anything She Does" counts as a miss, and the horn section seems to take away from it instead of adding to it. Then comes "Domino," where you can hear the Tony Banks influence, and the other pseudo-throwback on Invisible Touch. This song stands about average too, simply because it's too slick. "Throwing it All Away" was the second of five Billboard top ten hits on here, and it sounds more like a Collins' solo track with Rutherford and Banks playing on it; I'm curious as to who really wrote what sometimes. The end of the album is nice, as "The Brazillian" may be the best closer to a Genesis album since "Afterglow" closed out Wind & Wuthering. All three contribute to the instrumental and do a solid job.

Nearly everyone has said that this, hands down, is the slickest Genesis album there is. Indeed it is no prog work, but it's better than most stuff of the 1980s, even if it's only AS good as what former prog greats put out during the decade. Wonder why this album sold so much?

I'm really gonna trash this album...I can feel it. The songs traipse along for far too long, and we all could have done without (gag) "Invisible Touch". Yet, it was a huge hit. Meh...

Genesis were one of the first-wave prog bands (not that there was a second wave, mind you) and they unleashed some of the greatest prog-rock we've ever known on the world in the 70's. "ABACAB" started the slip, and now we have "Invisible Touch". Any idiot could've written the title track, as repulsive as it is. Banks' keyboards are the most prominent thing here, far too jolly and insignificant for anybody other than the braindead to consider it prog.

Music is supposed to challenge the listener, to awake emotions and feelings in the listener. The only thing this disc makes me do it vomit. I've already gotten my quibble with the title track out of the way, so let me move on to the other "songs".

"Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" sounds like something that could've found its way onto Britney Spears' 1st disc, albeit in a truncated form. It tools along aimlessly in search of a melody, while Phil Collins' chorus vocal sounds like a football game chant. Yuck!

"Land Of Confusion" could've been a good song, if it had been a little more guitar-oriented. Instead, the song plays out like one of the lesser tracks off "Grace Under Pressure" from RUSH (see my review for that one). And...speaking of guitars, where the hell is Rutherford? I hear nothing but occasional bass thud and snippets of guitar that sound like a synth. Thought that was Banks' department.

Clearly, the show is Collins's alone, and he does a great job of making this WHOLE disc (including DOMINO and THE BRAZILIAN) sounds like "No Jacket Required" castoffs. I hear no prog, no clever songwriting, no nothing! The producton is crude, the "songs" are far too crappy, and Collins' voice sits uncomfortably in a trio format. Moreover, I could've done without the band's and Hugh Padgham's super-glistening production job. It sounds much like "GUP" from Rush...I can't help myself...there are so many similarities (despite the 2-year gap in releases) that it sounds like they very well could've been in the same studio together. My gag reflex is starting to run away with me, so I think I'll close for now.

When you consider this album you should remember we are talking about 1986 and it is fair to say the 1986 to 1988 period was not exactly a vintage time for mainstream rock (unless you were a fan of U2 and the Smiths) before 1989 saw something of a revival which picked up during the 1990's.

In that context I don't thing this is as bad an album as some reviewers have made out. The opening title track is pappy but tonight tonight tonight picks things up with a sinister intro and interesting progression although it is slightly spoilt by the repetitive central hook. Land of confusion is a great song and one of my favourite Genesis tracks. In too deep might as well be a Phil Collins solo effort but is a pleasant enough pop song.

Side 2 opens with Anything she does which has a lively intro but subsides into an annoying albeit catchy hook. Domino parts 1 and 2 returns to a more classical Genesis structure and is quite reasonable although not their best. Throwing it all away is more MOR Genesis , pleasant but forgettable. The Brazilian ends matters and again harks back to the instrumentals of earlier albums.

It is an album I still occasionally play today and so on that basis merits 3 stars.

I first listened this album at the time of its release, the commercial peak of Genesis, and in that moment it became one of my favorite albums of all time.

I was 13 years and i used to listen everything from Wham! to Yes (80's Yes), but Genesis had something, although their music was pop, it was in another level, so elaborated in comparison with the then-current pop. I didn't knew nothing about 70's prog rock neither Peter Gabriel's Genesis, so my judgement was not based in the past.

Eventually Genesis became one of my favorite bands, so i started to collect their albums backwards, and thanks to that i became a prog rock fan, in a path of being enjoying / discovering albums like Duke, A tick of the tail and eventually all the Peter Gabriel era.

I have to be very honest that despite of all the excellent prog i listen now (70's Yes, Camel, King Crimson, Marillion, Rush, etc) and the strong negative reviews found in this site, i still enjoy a lot listening this album, more than other Genesis album, so if i would have to pick just one album, Invisible Touch would be the one.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this was their best album after 1980 (Duke being their last great album). Not their best prog album, Abacab did that slightly better, but just a better album overall. Why? Well, it's an album you can listen to all the way and only cringe once or twice. The songs are actually pretty strong. Probably the worst is the title track, which starts off the album. I also could have done without Anything She Does, but otherwise, this album is actually pretty strong.

Tonight x3 is a really good song, and the shortened single version that you hear on the radio doesn't do it justice. It's not really prog, but it's catchy and it has a genuinely dark atmosphere in keeping with their earlier work. Land of Confusion is a solid pop song that is also both catchy and a little bit dark. Throwing it all Away is probably a song I shouldn't like, because it's a love ballad, but this is probably the best love ballad Genesis ever came up with, which isn't saying much, but still. And The Brazillion is a good instrumental reminiscent of Wot Gorilla.

But the best song on the album is the ten minute epic, Domino, which is probably the closest they got to prog after Duke. It's also the closest they got to the dark lyrical quality of the Gabriel era after Duke. I'm not saying it's comparable to any of their epics before 1981, but it's the best they ever got after 1980. And yes, it's much better than Fading Lights. This one has a lot more energy.

Invisible Touch is probably one of the worst Genesis records ever released, possibly as bad as Calling All Stations. When albums get down to this pop mushfest, it really is pointless comparing them. Even though I dread this album, particularly the ever-present electronic drums, it has a few moments that keep it from being a one-star release. I'll give Phil a break. He can drum on them futuristic pads pretty well, but the sound is headache inducing.

The best stuff on this album is the Domino epic, particularly the second part. It shows a darker side to Genesis not often heard since Gabriel's departure. The Brazilian is an interesting instrumental too, but again, those electronic drums just ruin it. This album would have been so much better if Phil had used real drums. I'll even give them the benefit of the doubt for Tonight, Tonight, Tonight. The ever-repetitive chorus and oh-hooooos drag the song down, but the dark instrumentation is brilliant.

Oddly enough, there was actually better stuff the boys recorded while making this album that didn't make the cut, such as Feeding the Fire. But alas, the boys must've had stars in their eyes and hearing the ka-ching of cash registers in their ears.

An album that was mostly poor when it was released, and hasn't aged well. Two stars. For fans and completionists.

I have noticed the lack of kudos this album has gotten on this panel. True it is not Prog but then again maybe the site should cut out the albums by prog rockers who made mainstream albums. But the albums are here and should be recognized. true the album is full of pop ditties but there are some tunes that come a tad close to prog. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight for one. that whole instrumental part for one. Then there is the Domino. That tune with the 2 parts has some prog elements that should not be overlooked. Granted, the album is no Foxtrot or Nursery Cryme, but the album is good in its own way. The title track is great. Very uplifting and energetic(Though has gotten played to death on dumb pop stations) and has incredible lyics. Now if ever this site ever(god forbid) put Phil Collins solo material here, I can understand why those albums would get panned

Why? What was the point? I really don't follow. I was told to listen to this album because apparently some of it leant towards early Genesis and I was especially advised to listen to Dominos. But this album really is disgusting. What was the point? Thats an hour of my life never to be retrieved, I could have been listening to The Lamb for gods sake...

I really don't think this is even worth one star. If the band's plan was to make a horrible 80s album full of crap, shoddy melodies and revolting keyboard sounds (not to mention the dire songwriting and singing from the three of them) they really succeeded. Well done lads.

Of course puts things in perspective when Peter Gabriel's So came out the same year doesn't it?

My favourite song from this album is Tonight Tonight Tonight.

When i was but a young boy at school, probably around the time that this album came out, my itus as a child was Phil Collins. I regularly used to sit in the front room playing on pots, pans and footstools along to his perkins palace gig. Invisible touch was such a catchy album, and we would listen to it over and over when on long journeys in the car.

It is interesting to not understand lyrics at such an early age, and then learning their true meaning when you are more mature, Tonight Tonight Tonight pulls the same trick as the chilli's Under the Bridge;it is all about drug addiction. When you hear the drum machine, you wonder whether there is something wrong with the player! The original name of this song was "monkey zulu", monkey being the first part, (comin down comin down like a monkey) and zulu being the second. I wonder whether the BBC used the "eh ooohrr's" from the first part of the "zulu" section when they were dreaming up the teletubbies......who knows. It does actually feel like it is building up to a climax, just when the drums come in again. Add to that a huge power chord bringing the next lyrics section in, you know you are listening to something special. One interesting thing about the Zulu section, is that Collins appears to be playing a combination of acoustic and electro drums and it doesn't sound like there are two separate drum tracks. Excellent!!

The perculiar thing about Genesis is that when they were making masterpieces such as Foxtrot they were close to bankruptcy. By the time they descended to mediocre (And Then there Were Three and Duke ) they were going to number one.But by the time they produced this lemon that makes other notorius lemons ( such as Abacab, The Final Cut and Love Beach ) resemble Close to the Edge in quality they were playing to 70000 fans a night at Wembley for four successive nights.

Basically invisible touch is a collection of soulless factory hits aimed at the MTV generation. Long gone were the Genesis trademarks of atmospheric playing and creative songwriting and in it's place is machine generated sound with Phil Collins screaming through every one of the 7 trackls with lyrics . Genesis had now become indistinguishable from Phil Collins solo career.Of the tracks only THe Brazilian (instrumental) reaches mediocre .The suceess of this album is testament to how bad the music scene was in the second half of the 80s. Buy it only to convince yourself of that fact.If you are the type who goes to bad movie nights or enjoys visiting bad websites then get this album surely the worst by the A list of prog bands.

When I was young (what seems to be centuries ago) I fed my taste for good music with what Genesis put on record. Those were (and still are) their first LP's up until 'Wind and...' in 1977 and a taste of their next 'And then there...'

As I wrote in an earlier review: after 1978 the genuine soul of what Genesis really was died. It was that magical band that inspired me to actually LISTEN to music and learn to UNDERSTAND it. Later, it was Progarchives that gave (and still gives) me a change to explore other bands that bring the same feeling upon me. Thank you, guys.

But... I wanted to know what all the fuzz about 'Invisible Touch' really was. I tried to LISTEN but I did not manage to UNDERSTAND. This is no longer the Genesis-band I still am eager to listen to. This is something else, something not even worth being labeled as GOOD music. This has nothing to do (anymore) with what the great band produced in the beginning of their existence. I was very (extremely) disappointed. Basically amusement-song without FEELING. Radio-tunes, music that is only worth to be heard (not listened to... only 'heard') in supermarkets and elevators.

I'm rude, I know, I am not capable of reading one note of music myself and I dare to write things as above... shouldn't I be ashamed? Maybe... but it is the huge disappointment that drives me to express my true feelings. Listening to 'Invisible Touch' brings upon me a feeling as they (The Early-True Genesis Members) have abandoned me. A child that is abandoned, feels fear. I'm older, I'm feeling anger. That angry feeling makes my react. It's pure nature. If it was possible to give no star, I would do it. So... back to when it all started. Back to the good old seventies. Back to the period when they were great.

Initially, when it was first released, I really enjoyed this album and thought it was significantly better than the predecessor 'Genesis'. Time though has not been kind to 'Invisible Touch' in my opinion. Far too much pop and ballad styles. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight has promise but leaves unfulfilled, something is missing. Domino shows that the band still had the ability and need for recording an epic song, and it's not bad, it's not enough to save this album though. Fans only really for this one.

You know that commercial that shows the egg frying in a pan and the voice over says "this is your brain on drugs?" Well, "this is your band on MTV." What tiny shards of progressive rock they may have still had at this point are buried in the close-but-no-cigar song "Domino" but it pales (in a death mask) in comparison to what they were creating a decade earlier. In all fairness, the pop songs on here are actually an improvement over the ghastly "Genesis" fiasco that preceded this offering in that they actually sound like real tunes. "In too deep," "Tonight, tonight" and "Throwing it all away" are well-crafted elevator muzak love songs suitable for contemporary adult radio for all eternity to come. I'll give 'em that much. But the highly annoying "Land of Confusion" should be banned from the planet and "Invisible Touch" would be effective as a torture technique to break Al Queda suspects by forcing them to listen to it on a loop for a couple of hours. Evidently the lure of being rock video stars was just too much for this trio to resist and they found it easier to pay the mortgage on their country estates with royalty checks than to continue to blaze trails into unknown progressive music forests. Perhaps they came to a point where they said "been there, done that" and took the road paved with gold records. I won't stoop to judging them (considering the incredible legacy they've left us in their earlier recordings) but I will venture to say that this album is equivalent to watching (and hearing) a stately castle falling into the ocean from decay.

An underrated album from Genesis who, even at this late stage in their career, display prog flourishes and songwriting, albeit presented here in a glistening 80s pop sheen that have rendered it unlistenable to prog traditionalists. That's really a shame because while there are a couple of subpar ballads on this release that pull the rating down a bit, the highlights are amongst the best material that Genesis had written during the decade. The album is a varied affair... on one hand, "Invisible Touch" is a spirited and energetic upbeat track, and on the other, "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" is a moody atmospheric piece. "Land of Confusion" displays that Genesis had mastered the art of pop songwriting, albeit pop with all the quirks that one has come to associate with Genesis. Even at their most commercial, the band is still identifiable as Genesis... the stuttering guitar riffing of Rutherford is especially notable on this track. Collin's drum electronic drum sound is a bit of a departure, as some have pointed out, but his vocal performance is as strong as ever. Tony Banks is, well, Tony Banks... he never disappoints. The album ends on a strong note with the instrumental "The Brazilian," once again dismissing notions that the band had "sold out." Make no mistake, this is still Genesis, and it's fantastic. Recommended, especially for fans.

This is the nadir of prog rock. By the second half of the 80s band members didn't play instruments they pushed buttons and let production guys do the rest ,you no longer listened to music you watched it on MTV or plied up on booze and drugs you danced at a rave party. Phil Collins a player in the trend cowrote such songs as "only you know and I know" , " I don't want to know","I cannot believe it's true" , " It don't matter to me " , I don't care anymore" and on this disk "thrown it all away" which just about sums up this soulless late 80s turkey.

Genesis seemed to have found their proverbial feet after their self-titled album was released in 1983. Sure it was nothing like Selling England by the Pound, but they were breaking ground on the pop scene with a fresh, crisp, modern approach to pop music and it was refreshing to hear the ideas flow nicely rather than a bit disjointed like Abacab or even the self-titled album. Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, and Phil Collins also stuck commercial gold on this album and it is looked at by pop fans as the seminal 80s Genesis album because of its commercial flare. This album is definitely not progressive, although there are hints of Genesis still carrying a progressive banner in songs like Domino and to a lesser extent Tonight, Tonight, Tonight. If you're a fan of of Genesis post-Hackett era I'll recommend this album to you, sure it may not be perfect (not even close) but there are some redeeming factors that make this a worthwhile listen.

Opening with the smash hit Invisible Touch (complete with a ridiculous music video), you can't deny that Genesis has embraced modern technology for the use of pop music. The electronic drumming and the extensive use of reverb can be heard in great quantities. Mike Rutherford has a more subdued bass role and focuses more on the guitar aspects of the album and Tony Banks tries to not always hog the spotlight which shows he's been subdued a bit. It's a blatantly commercial song, but it's got a catchy edge to it and it's not really that bad in the end. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight is the first of two extended pieces, this one running at nearly 9 minutes. Beginning with forboding synthesizers and almost tribal drumming and Collins' insistent vocal performance. An extended middle section makes good use of Banks mysterious synthesizer sound and although it drags on a bit, it's still pretty good. Rutherford even gets a short solo towards the end, which is nice to hear. Land of Confusion is an okay song at best, there isn't really anything about that that wows me, it's uninteresting to say the least. In too Deep is another lackluster track that feels like soft rock and it's one of my least favorite pieces on the album. Bland keyboards, bland drumming, bland vocals, bland everything.

Anything She Does is another mediocre piece at best. The fake horn arrangement and the cheesy synthesizers match up with the tight rhythmic performance from Collins and Rutherford quite nicely. It's a terribly upbeat piece and it's another piece that while not that bad, I could do without (it sounds like it could have fit on Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe's sole album, as well). Domino is the epic on the album, going at a little over 10 minutes. Banks' synthesizers and keyboards, while sometimes feeling overblown and overdone sound nice and Mike Rutherford is really good on this track in both guitar and bass aspects. There is a fantastic middle section to the piece that utilizes a lot of differing moods to create a tense and mysterious atmosphere. This is easily the best piece of the album along with the closer The Brazilian, just fantastic work on all fronts here. Throwing it All Away is another particularly weak piece that doesn't really go anywhere and throws the mood of the album off after the stellar Domino. The Brazilian ends the album with an instrumental much like Los Endos ended A Trick of the Tail instrumentally. Banks' majestic and superb synthesizers mix well with Collins' drumming and the superb bass performance from Mike Rutherford. Ir's the second best song on the album in my opinion and ends the album quite well.

In the end, Invisible Touch in my opinion is really as bad as everyone says. Sure it has its sore spots and there some terribly mediocre pieces, but there are also some great songs like Tonight, Tonight, Tonight, Domino, and The Brazilian to make up for it. Recommended to those that think that Collins did not ruin Genesis or those who want to get into 80s Genesis. Me? Well, I'm in the middle. 3/5.

Hm, this album is an ambiguous effort by the band and can certainly not be compared to the seventies output by this band.... But for a start, I have to say that I really like this album for the pop it contains. From a progressive point of view, not much can be found here. Their abilities shine through in "Domino" and "The Brazilian" and parts of "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight". (I would also count in the B-side "Do the neurotic".) Maybe Genesis could have, if they had concentrated more on that, catered for two spectrums: the pop fraction and the prog fraction. Trouble is, that that effort would never result in a pure outcome on either side. The pop side is quite good ("Land of confusion" stands out here.the rest is a good Collins Album.) and pop itself is quite good for the charts - IT served quite well here - but prog has a higher ambition in a league in which IT certainly could never play. And other Genesis albums after "And then there were three" suffer from the same shortcomings. So, IT is 6/8 pop and 2/8 prog. Maybe a rate one can expect from eighties prog-rock bands. (Yes did "90125", which also cannot be counted as prog, imho) I give IT three out of five stars, because I really like the album for its pop character. (Prog-wise it is only worth two stars, for the attempt - "Domino" and "The Brazilian" - more or less Banks' tunes.no surprises here).

There can be no excuse for this!!! Genesis were bad enough after Duke which was the last "listenable" album by them, but I both hate and resent Phil Collins and here is where his suffocating influence takes full control of the non music formula garbage here. When I delved into early Genesis this was the first album I learned to hate, but there is more than just Collins to blame for it. Take a look at what Banks and Rutherford did after The Gabe left. After Wind And Wuthering, which was pretty good for what it was, they grew more and more money hungry and political. From Abacab, but especiallly Mama onwards Genesis were no longer a band they were an oil company and a travelling comedy show with no fun in it for anybody in their right mind. There isn't a trace of good music here, the odious videos drove home the point that we could no longer expect anything even remotely decent from Genesis anymore. I will go so far as to say that this, We Can't Dance, and Mama are 3 of the worst records ever recorded by any group and I have lost all respect for them very shortly after Gabriel's departure. The music isn't there, it sounds like any bad 80s AM/FM rock and I love a lot of 80s AOR, but with more of an edge- PLEASE!!! Genesis, to be fair to them, had to change with the musical climate and nobody was successfully playing prog rock at this point in time, but they could have at least done something a little more adventurous than what they turned into! I used to blame all of this on Phil, but Mike and Tony are to be blamed too. It was no longer "make music" it was "make money" and the real shame is it MADE money, and a ton of it. Genesis also trashed all of their early period, said that it was no good compared to this, and here is where the anger at them boils over into a tirade I shall not go into. I simply have had enough of great bands who don't know when to stop and become terrible bands. One of my favourite bands of all time is the melodic rock/hard pomp rock group Shy. After recording the album of their lives (Excess All Areas) they were forced into making a horrible album (Misspent Youth) that infuriates them to this day. Many groups will come out and admit they were forced into doing something musically awful and unworthy, and what did Genesis do? They made their music horrible, they created all their problems, and they had the nerve to disown every good note they had recorded. Meanwhile, MR. or shall I say Sir Peter Gabriel soldiered on undefeated and never sold out. Guess who the real artist and real person with a great heart was after the split. PETER GABRIEL!

Invisible Touch is where Genesis proved that they weren't coming back to prog. Duke, Abacab, and the eponymous record all fooled people into believing there was hope. Apparently, the band believed that longer songs would convince people they were still progressive, but even the long numbers like Tonight, Tonight, Tonight and Domino are not progressive in the least, they are simply repetitive. As a result, pop fans avoided the lengthy songs and Genesis' fan base jumped ship. I first heard about Genesis when a friend of mine gave me this, Abacab, We Can't Dance, and Seconds Out. I didn't listen to Seconds Out since as a live album, it would probably contain the songs off these albums, and all three were horrible. I couldn't believe this band was supposed to be progressive. I only discovered how good this band was about 5 months ago when I listened to Seconds Out and heard Suppers Ready. Now, I've heard Selling England By The Pound and the rest of their classics and I've come to love this band.

With this album Genesis seem to be actively trying to destroy their credibility. It makes ELP's Love Beach and Yes' Big Generator look almost passable. Albums like this prove that punk was unnessecary to end dinosaur rock, it was collapsing form its own weight like a beached whale. Whatever you do, avoid this album! Stick to the albums from Trespass through Wind and Wuthering.

This CD is from the same caliber of its predecessor three years before : not bad but definitely not great. Therefore, the same rating : 2 stars. The poppy opener and title track is pleasant (but might be quite disturbing for old fans). Next song "Tonight ..." is quite long, toooooooooo long. it could have been cut after 4 minutes. It lacks in harmony and feeling (like "Home by the Sea"). "Land of Confusion" is an OK poppy track but "Anything She Does" is really bad and quite dispensable. "Domino" - the longest track - is the best song of this CD : it has melody, rythm changes and a nice middle section. One of the (too) few track since ages that could remind me of the "old" era. "In Too Deep" and "Throwing It All Away" are nice and romantic ballads. An instrumental piece closes the CD : but "The Brazilian" is nothing comparable to "Los Endos" or even "Duke's End". Globally, this CD is not really necessary in your discography. But I guess that, as myself, lots of fans did purchase it to complete their Genesis catalogue. It will be their most succesful album in terms of sales. For the fourth time in a row, Genesis will hit the number one spot in the UK chart. It will reach Nr. three in the US. What is even more impressive is the quantity of singles they will issue from this album : seven ! The most sucessful one will be "Invisible Touch / The Last Domino : Nr. 1 in the US. Generally, all of them will perform very well in the US : Throwing It All Away/Do The Neurotic (Nr. 4), Land Of Confusion/Fedding The Fire (Nr. 4), Tonight Tonight Tonight/In The Glow Of The Nnight (Nr. 3), In Too Deep/I'd Rather Be With You (Nr. 3). If the last two didn't chart in the States, it is because they were only released in the UK (the only difference being the B-side) : In Too Deep/Do The Neurotic (Nr. 19) and "Throwing It All Away/I'd Rather Be With You (Nr. 22). Still two stars for me.

I was 10 years old when this album came out. Of course, at the time I couldn't help but think the songs were good. They were everywhere on television and radio. When I finally realized that I was a real person a few years later, I would have not been caught dead listening to Phil Collins pop crap.

Today, I am 30 and playing in a band where we're doing a lot of 80s music. I pulled out this CD from my wife's childhood collection (I never had my own) and I'll say that I had a blast. I've already purchased the music for Invisible Touch for us to begin working on next week. But perhaps I just recognize now that these guys were middle aged by 1986 and had to support the families and what not (right?)

I don't understand what all the fuss is about regarding the title track? Every review seems to bash it; even the better ones. Try to sing it at full volume and energy. I swear I have more respect for Phil Collins as a vocalist tonight (no pun intended) than I ever have in my life. That F to G key change sounds incredible every time I hear it. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight is another gem full of fake poppy emotion, though it works superbly. Land of Confusion was always my childhood favorite. I suppose the Ronald Reagan puppets in the music video had something to do with that. Today, the song has implications for the current political climate.

Avoiding the other radio staples for brevity, I wanted to say that Domino was a huge surprise given that my first listen was tonight. Even though the band was trying get as much exposure as possible, they still threw in this prog tune while keeping with the "updated" synth sound. The Brazilian closes out the album quite nicely. Hearing this one also for the first time tonight, I wish I would have paid more attention to these tracks when I was younger because they certainly have their own light to them even if overshadowed by the pop success of the other tracks.

So basically, there's nothing to be ashamed of here. I think everyone here likes the title track anyway in secret...a guilty pleasure, if you will. Now it seems, I'm falling for her....

Another maligned album from the pop era, Invisible Touch has a lot to offer: catchy pop songs and a couple of great prog tracks. It is another solid and underrated release by GENESIS.

It opens with the "happy" title track, which is too happy for my taste since it is about someone getting in love. It works very well to scare off people with its pop cliches all around, but manages to be an addictive song despite its obvious simplicity and commercial intent. We are then led to "Tonight Tonight Tonight", an attempt of making a progressive number which works pretty well. It is highly atmospheric as "Domino", and both are the highest points on this album, containing very interesting and mesmerizing melodies. "Land Of Confusion" is the best pop song GENESIS ever did, it has a weird video clip and some really nice lyrics by Rutherford. "In Too Deep" and "Throwing It All Away" are beautiful ballads. "Anything She Does" is in the same vein as "No Reply At All", just being slightly weaker, and it is the album's lowest point. "The Brazilian" looks like an 80's version of "Los Endos", and despite its mechanical feel provided by the cold decade's production, it is still a very nice ending since it manages to holds someone's attention as it is a true progressive number.

Invisible Touch is a very good album, with a nice flow and shows a perfect combination of prog and pop, and some really nice atmospheres around. It has to be listened with an open mind, not all pop stuff is bad, and GENESIS' shows how to do good use of the 80's new style of composing music.

I think the main reason because so many people hate this album is because it was the definitive leap towards the more conventional style they seemed to be searching for since Steve Hackett left. That is, this record contains in a more clear and obvious way many elements and structures you could find in any synth-pop album of this time (which for my taste is not something so terrible). However, this record appears as a more consistent and solid effort considering the severe mistakes found in its two predecessors.

Although we still find songs that appear to be fairly unnecesary in a Genesis record (the title track, for example, which could have been perfect for a Phil Collins solo effort, though, or "Anything she does" or "Into Deep", which are the typically unsustancial ballads), the majority of songs present here appear to be pretty interesting and reasonably good.

"Land of Confusion" is a Genesis classic, which some catchy rhytms and melodies but not falling into something ridiculous like "No reply at all" or "Illegal Allien". It is not exactly a progressive song but it is worthy of being remembered. "Throwing it all away" is the other ballad present on the album. Although, again, it relies on the typical structures of a pop ballad, it is relaxing and good.

But the best this album has to offer are the remaining three songs. "Tonight, tonight, tonight" is a reminder of the fact that Tony Banks is no amateur, having some of the most interesting instrumental passages present on the album. It is an atmospheric and enchanting song. "The Brazilian" is an instrumental ending theme, remembering us of classic instrumental offers by Genesis (remember "Los Endos" or "In that quiet Earth"?) although full of 80s mood. And finally, the best track for me, although again many people underrate it, is "Domino". You have to admit that is it was a somewhat brave move to provide such a long and commited piece is a record of this kind. I admit that it is not the best epic or long song, considering that we are still talking of the band which composed songs like "Supper's ready" or "One for the vine", but it is still a strong song by own merits.

So, after two irregular albums Genesis released something more commercial but still more consistent, being considered by some the best Banks/Rutherford/Collins record, and the worst by others. I don't say one thing or the other but for me it was a certain improvement.

This is the worst GENESIS album I have ever heard ! I can't believe I actually bought this cd some years ago. Well this offended me so much that I still haven't heard "We Can't Dance" or "Calling All Stations" and I don't plan on it either.Years ago I saw Phil being interviewed and saying that because of the change in direction (Pop) by the band, there were probably people out there who have an effigy of him and are poking it with needles. Anyway, as he's laughing i'm thinking "Your not too far off Phil" (haha). I listened to this today in order to review it and yes it's worse then I remember. I feel there is nothing for the prog fan at all, unless you count the guitar and percussion on "The Brazilian".

This is a poor album by prog standards and would recommend it for completionists only, the rest of you...run like hell!

I can see that this album probably deserves no more than 2 stars on a "Prog-rock scale", but if you would just rate it for the (pop)music itself I guess it would be worthy 3 stars minimum.

There's probably two kind of "Genesis" fans. First you have the ones who got to know Genesis from the start in the PG-era and of course they didn't like to see Genesis turning into a commercial vehicle with songs rating high in the pop charts. Then you also have the "other kind" of people, who got to know Genesis during the eighties (like myself) and at the time found albums like Genesis , Invisible Touch and We Can't Dance quite amusing. I actually owned those albums before I got into Prog after which, of course, I also bought their older albums.

After getting to know "the old" Genesis, I can see why the albums mentioned above are rated very low on PA. Nevertheless I personally think all of the tracks on Invisible Touch are pretty good pop songs. I must admit I almost do not listen to this album anymore from the moment I got into Prog, still I would rate it quite a bit higher than most of my colleague reviewers.

Oh dear. What'll I do now? How do I rate an album that's basically pop, on a prog scale? The five star rating says "Essential: a masterpiece of progressive music". If it said "Essential: a masterpiece of POP music" I wouldn't doubt it for a single second to award this album a 5-star. You know, this is my favorite Genesis album. Yes, I'm also a pop fan. So what?

But we're in progland here, and there's no point in convincing prog diehard fans to listen to this, if they won't enjoy it. So if you feel a gorgeous prog band going into gorgeous pop territory is sacrilege, why would you listen to it if you'll probably hate it? I respect that. On the other hand, if you ALSO enjoy pop (with a spice: you could count all or some bits of "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight", "Domino" and "The Brazilian" as prog), put this album in a pedestal. I do.

Gee, if I could avoid the star-rating thing here, I would. It's a prog scale, not a general one. I'll go for a "Good, but non-essential". I think it fits in a prog context.

But don't forget: in my heart this is a 5 star (pop) album.

i can't understand why people hate this album so much. it's not prog, not even close. it's pop, but it's a very high quality pop music. at least, Genesis was one of the only prog bands who has turned to the pop side and still could do good music (nothing compared to the awful 90125 and Big Generator from Yes or Love Beach from ELP, which destroyed the reputation of these bands in my point of view). This isn't the best pop Genesis album, but it's not the worst as well. it does have some incredible moments, as well as some horrible moments. This album also makes full use of the Drum Machine, which is bad, but not THAT bad. But all in all this is a fine album. I would recommend this to people who like good music, but not for hardcore Genesis fans. On to the songs:

Invisible Touch: The title song was a massive hit and it was sure a very good one. The lyrics are silly, but the rest is just great. 8/10

Tonight, Tonight, Tonight: this is an really dark song which talks about drug addiction. the instrumental section is very nice and it has an prog feeling in it. This song also has one great guitar solo by Mike Rutherford at the ending. 9/10

Land of Confusion: This song is nice, very agitated, with an great bass line and good lyrics. but I think they've could have made it better by adding an guitar solo , or a better keyboard solo. 7/10

In Too Deep: Great love ballad, quite sad by the way. the keyboard work is excellent, and the guitar lines reminds me of Eric Clapton. unfortunately, the lyrics are quite dumb. 8/10

Anything She Does: In my personal opinion, Anything She Does is the worst song Genesis has ever made. it's horrible on both musical and lyrical department, and the horns are far more annoying as they were on the Abacab album (yes, that is possible). I don't know if it's irony, but this is the only song that uses real drums on this album,such a waste... 0/10

Domino: This is the best song in this album. very well constructed, very well executed. The lyrics are very good and the keyboard parts are wonderful, as well as Phil's voice. Even the Drum Machine sounds good on this one. Really bombastic stuff. 10/10

Throwing It All Away: For a extremely simple song, Throwing it all Away is really great. Lyrically speaking, this song is as dumb as it's name, but the melody is so catchy, that you can just forget that detail and sing along :D. 7/10

The Brazilian: this song is an really awesome instrumental piece. Catchy, well constructed, with awesome keyboards, electronic drums and guitars. Excellent instrumental piece and the second best song in this album. 10/10

overall: 3 stars

I've meaning to write a review for Invisible Touch for quite a long time but gave up the idea too many times; actually writing a review for this album is quite difficult, as strange as this may sound. If you compare their work on this album to any album they released from 1970 to 1980, disappointment is what i feel; that's why i take this album for what it has to offer. The songs rank from great to average and unfortunately in one case (IMHO) to mediocre.

But let's have a look at the songs: Invisible Touch - a pop song that is quite catchy and joyful; I sometimes love it , other times, i just skip it. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight - one of the good songs of the album; both the album version and the single version are quite enjoyable, Banks and Rutherford did a good job here. Land of Confusion - my favourite song on the album these days; one of my favourite 80s Genesis songs, LoC is one of the best songs of the album. In Too Deep - to me this song is just an average pop ballad; nevertheless I like Tony Banks' keyboards here. Anything She Does - a pop song, in the manner of the title song, but not as good as it. I'd say it's a pretty average pop song. Throwing it All away - my least favourite song on this album these days; the word i would use to describe this song is "mediocre" pop song. Domino - this is the longest song of the album, let's say it's the epic of the album. It's a very good song, in the manner of Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea, it's one of the highlights of the album (although it's inferior to Home By the Sea) The Brazilian - fortunately, a really good instrumental with great keys from tony and some good drumming from Phil. A really good song IMHO.

Invisible Touch is one of those albums that require a special mood for those who enjoy it. Although sometimes we might use the "skip" button (Throwing It All Away, Anything She Does in my case), and seeing Genesis music getting even more commercial than their previous albums, Invisible Touch is a catchy pop-rock album, but unfortunately that's all it is. Therefore it's not essential to any prog-rock collection.

This album is a splendid return to form after the weak 'Abacab' and the slightly stronger 'Genesis' albums.

Now, you'll read a great deal of opinion on this and other review sites suggesting that there is no progressive music on this album, that it consists entirely of commercial pop, and that it might as well be a PHIL COLLINS solo album. Wrong, in my opinion, on all three counts.

'Tonight, Tonight, Tonight,' 'Land of Confusion', 'The Brazilian' and 'Domino' are as progressive as anything done in the 1980s. There is nothing like these tracks on any of PHIL'S solo recordings. The other tracks - apart from the appalling 'Invisible Touch' - are decent pop songs. There are no fillers here, just one bad, three good and four excellent tracks. I'll take seven out of eight anyday. It seems to be an acceptable ratio for lovers of 'Selling England By The Pound', for example.

PHIL COLLINS is the star of this album: his voice, already outstanding, achieves new levels of excellence. Of course, it also acheived new levels of overexposure on rapid rotation radio, so thousands of people eventually equated his voice with fingernails on a chalk board. That's a tragedy, and why I don't listen to high rotation radio stations. As an aside, in the pre-recorded music era, the most number of times a person wold hear their favourite music played in their life would be between five and eight times. Songs weren't intended to be overplayed. Don't ruin music for yourself - exercise temperance!

Rather than the nadir of GENESIS' catalogue that so many consider, I argue that this is an excellent album. Just a pity it opens with such a poor track.

I'm hardly going to break any new ground here by saying this, but this album, as the apex of 80's Genesis, represents the peak of all that I hate about the band. I'm one of a common breed here: those that love 70's Genesis and hate this era, so this review is hardly unbiased.

This album possesses absolutely no redeeming qualities. The songs are insipid. I never thought I'd say this about a Genesis album, but I am glad that most of the songs are so short. It means that they are over sooner. The exceptions, Tonight Tonight Tonight and Domino are 8-10 minutes of bad as opposed to 3 minutes of bad. Many will claim that the album's saving grace is Land of Confusion, and it is the best song on the album; however, I only say that because of the phenomenal cover done by In Flames on their Trigger EP. The original is the same flat, drab, insipid synth-pop that dominates the rest of the album.

Avoid at all costs.

Definately NOT one of their best albums in terms of critical success. But without a doubt it is the bands most successful effort according to pop album sales (on the level of the Bee Gee's). I was just out of high school when the 'Genesis-mania' broke loose and took control of all medias both television (MTV) and radio waves. To be honest I really hated Genesis at the time because it was all just a bit too much. The over-exposure created by the never ending offerings of popular videos, massive #1 hits, platinum album sales, rich and famous interviews ect... was more than enough to make any serious music listener puke chunks. But listening to the album a few years later... it kind of brings a smile to my face as I sing along to "... she seems to have an invisible touch ..."

If you think things went downhill with the group's 1983 self-titled release, their 1986 album Invisible Touch proved that Genesis had much further to fall. Most likely the band was enjoying their belated pop stardom and indeed it would seem that their audience had shifted. Thus they apparently made this album for them and only briefly paid tribute to their old die-hard fans with Domino and maybe Tonight, Tonight, Tonight. Die-hard fans were most likely insulted as can be seen with the vast number of one-star reviews here at Prog Archives.

Basically, Invisible Touch is full of pop songs. They even took Tonight, Tonight, Tonight (a tribute to electronic drums no doubt) and made it into a shorter single. Domino is the only song closely resembling prog rock, although it is more of a "prog tendencies" kind of thing rather than actual prog rock. In fact the second part of this two-part suite is quite dark, musically and lyrically with references to "blood on the windows" and a "river of blood." Another point worth making is that this song is also full of electronic drums. If they get on your nerves, it's best to avoid this release.

This is quite a poor release. If you can get it for free, it might be worth the time just for the Domino suite. Otherwise, this is a good candidate for the trash can. By the way Mr. Collins, where are all those fans that loved this stuff now?

Twelve years earlier these guys released a double album called "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway." How did things go so wrong?

I guess the short answer is thatt Genesis learned what the public wanted. Three and a half minute well crafted pop songs. They've learned to do that so well that they can't break the mould anymore even when they TRY to on Domino.

So why should we, the faithful progressive rock fans, listen to this album? What is there on it for us?

Frankly, not much. Invisible Touch and Land of Confusion are both exceptional pop songs, so I suppose we can listen to them for a change of pace. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight does at least build to a conclusion, albeit not one that is worth spending eight minutes of my life waiting for. Domino is perhaps the most lifeless and unimaginative attempt at an epic that I've ever heard. That can't really be Tony Banks playing that limp keyboard line, can it? Listen to this thing for a few minutes and you'll start thinking of all the things that could be done to improve it. Say what you want about ABACAB, ABACAB at least had a touch of heart and imagination in it.

So do we give this one star or two stars? Given that there are some well crafted songs on here and that there is hardly anything that is unlistenable, we'll go with two stars. But oh, how far we have fallen from the days of The Lamb.

Though I can't rate it any higher than two stars, I really must come to the defense of this album. The mid-eighties were a bleak period for rock music in general and prog in particular, and this album is as guilty as any of the major complaints of music of this era - populist drivel designed by corporations to feed corporations....the music and accompanying videos as product. Still, even with all the overhype and overplay on MTV and FM radio and those mind-rattlingly irritating synth drums and jumpy keys, the band still delivered an attempt - weak as they may be - at a progressive epic. In the muck of the teenage drivel lie Tonight, Tonight, Tonight on side 1 and Domino on side 2, and it's for these two numbers I'll award the record two (2.4) stars. Tonight stretches out a Dutchess/Behind the Lines-like melody and riff and comfortably ride it out over nine minutes....Domino may not be as consistently strong but includes some proggy thrills over its 10+ minutes. Thought not Genesis classics (perhaps a lower echolon minor classic tag might suffice....after all, how many 8 plus minute Genesis epics do we have for prosterity now that the boys have basically packed it in)....but, the point of this review is to point out how few other even moderately selling bands of the 80s included 10 minute slabs of prog on their albums and to come to the defense of Invisible Touch as a not particularly engrossing Genesis record, but a Genesis record nonetheless.

I really feel this album is vastly underrated. I don't care for the title track and it is not because it is on the radio. I just think it is not very good. "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" is a great tune though. There is something about the middle instrumental section with sustained chords. "Land of Confusion" doesn't need to be commented on as everyone has heard it. I really enjoy it though. The song just has a powerful message. I don't like "In too Deep" or "Anything She Does". I think with "Domino" they were trying to throw their older fans a bone. I think it's decent but it isn't as good as their other longer new songs like "Home by the Sea" or "Fading Lights". "Throwing it All Away is another song everyone has heard, but I like it a lot. It's like Follow You Follow Me, a nice little pop song. "The Brazillian" is amazing. It's the best on the album. Again, Mike shows he can craft wonderful guitar solos. Overall, I give it two stars because it is not a prog album. It is a pop album and it is a good one at that. If two star means "collectors/fans", then that is what I base this on for I am a fan and I like it.

The 80s did a lot of weird things to prog.

Getting through the 80s was going to be tough for any prog band, as a decade where the word "Progressive" was more dirty than many of the pop stars we have around today. Anyways, emerging from the gaggle of music comes Genesis, but not the band we so dearly know and love. It would appear that even Genesis had to revert to pop to make it through the times.

Now, I'll state right here that the album is not all bad... if you're looking for pop/rock music that is... The pop-rock hit Land Of Confusion was the big buying point for me, and continues to be the main reason I ever listen to the album, while the 10-minute Domino is a fairly good 80s epic that proves that the band maybe still wanted to be progressive, it's unfortunate that the track itself doesn't work out quite as well as even earlier long 80s songs such as Me and Sarah Jane. Tonight Tonight Tonight is also slightly worth mentioning, as it's synth soundscapes give it a fairly malevolent sound. Another good track is the coda, The Brazilian is a very enjoyable instrumental, so I think it's worth giving a shout out to.

Now comes the rest. All the other singles off the album; the poppy Invisible Touch, the oh so unbearable In Too Deep, and the irritating Throwing It All Away, are what give the album such a bad name. Next stop - Disney for Mr. Collins. My dislike of the tracks listed here is not out of pure bias, either. I gave this album a few chances and really didn't find much real prog substance in it. In fact, I'm more likely to hear most of these songs on the speakers in Walmart than I am to see them on a "Best of Prog" compilation.

To conclude, like I said, the 80s was a monster that did a lot of weird things to music, and it's too bad that this band was mutated in it's wake.1 star for this album - only buy it if you want to listen to 80s synth pop or if you're a fan and must have every single album by Genesis. Avoid at all costs.

"Invisible Touch" is the album that got me interested in Genesis. I found it sitting at the bottom of a budget bin in a record store years ago and just had to get it. This was afterall the Genesis that I had grown up listening to, and it was a shame to see it sitting in a budget bin. I know most people hate this album, but I reserve my hatred for the album that came after this one. Besides the fact that this album sold a ton, and solidified Genesis as one of the most popular bands in the world, I don't see where all the dart throwing comes from. I know that this album sounds like they have songs lined up based on a formula they developed over the years, but that doesn't mean the songs aren't good. They just aren't very innovative, and it seems like on points in the album like Genesis are just mailing it in. However, "Domino" is a great epic song, and I swear that "The Brazillian" is one of the best closing songs on an album, ever. The 1980s had settled in and so had Genesis.

After Genesis released their self-titled album in 1983, I became an avid Genesis fan, and by the time they released Invisible Touch in 1986, I owned every album Genesis had made up to that point. Further, by that point I was deeply immersed in the progressive rock genre. My expectations were high that maybe there would be a return to their previous heights, or at the very least a continuation of where the band left off at the end of side 1 of their self-titled album. Sadly, I would be disappointed. Although only 8 songs appeared on the album, 11 songs were actually produced during the Invisible Touch sessions. For reasons which will become clear later, I can't really review the album, without at least briefly touching on the 3 additional tracks which were left off the album, and relegated to the fate of being a b-side. But first on to the album proper (or improper as the case may be):

Invisible Touch - This song has one truly redeeming quality about it. It is mercifully brief. Phil's chants of "she seems to have an inveesible touch, yeah" drove me to fits of despair upon first hearing it. The song is pure pop, but not the intelligent, fun pop the band had done previously with songs such as "That's All" and "Turn It On Again." This was pure drivel. Simplistic music, and trite lyrics.

Tonight, Tonight, Tonight - Much better. Phil's lyric regarding addiction is fairly decent and the music is entertaining enough. However, on every album, the band always included a "jam" song. This song, since there are no others on the album to fit the bill, must be it. The song starts off with a simple drum machine pattern and some minimalistic keyboards. This is fine during the song proper and fits the atmosphere of the song. But when they take off into the "jam" portion of the song, they never really do "take off." And you get the sense that they just extended the song out to 9 minutes, just for the sake of putting a lengthy instrumental on the album. Sadly, the instrumental section is not very inspired and although it's a decent enough song overall, it is also a disappointing song, because you know Genesis is capable of so much more.

Land of Confusion - Mike's political protest song. It's a lot more inspired than the title track and has a good guitar riff going with some fairly decent lyrics. But it's not a song that stands up to multiple listens. After hearing the song a few times, one soon finds themselves getting bored during this song, taking a restroom break, or grabbing a beer while the song is playing. Tony's Feeding the Fire was a much better protest song, and it's a shame it was not included on the album.

In Too Deep - Funny enough, the first line of the chorus to this song "You know I love you but I just can't take this" was a perfect summary of how I felt about Genesis after hearing this song. A cheesy piano ballad with whiny lyrics about losing a love. How original. Come on boys, you can do better than this.

Anything She Does - Ok. A decent song finally with some amusing lyrics from Banks about falling in love with a poster girl. The one saving grace on this album was Banks and he more than made up for the trite lyrics on Silver Rainbow on their previous effort. The song also has a rather rocking "horn" section going on, and although short, it is also a rather complex tune.

Domino - Ah, finally, a true Genesis classic, and the one song that really saves this CD from becoming a beer coaster. It's an extended piece at over 10 minutes, and Banks resurrects the idea behind Stagnation, for the lyrics to this song, i.e. the last man alive on Earth after a nuclear war. No extended instrumental section here, but the lyrics here are really the star of the show. This song, coupled with Anything She Does and Feeding the Fire restored my faith in Banks as a lyricist. The song starts off slowly, but picks up the pace halfway through to become a manic musical statement which reflects the madness and despair of the main character.

Throwing It All Away - One wished Genesis had thrown this song away in favor of something worthy of the Genesis name. A simple guitar riff over more whiny lyrics about lost love.

The Brazilian - Much better, and save Domino, the best on the album. A quirky instrumental mostly composed by Banks, using loops of Phil's drumming to make it sound nice and strange. The "chorus" here is particularly appealing. The one thing about this song though is that it sounds fairly similar to the two instrumentals on Banks' solo outing, the Fugitive. But this sounds better than the other two, IMO.

As I said at the beginning, I can't really talk about this album without mentioning the three B-Sides which were left off the album in favor of such tracks as "Throwing It All Away," "In Too Deep," and the title track. The three songs left off were far superior to these three tracks, and along with "Domino" and "The Brazilian" were part of the five best tracks from the sessions. "Feeding the Fire" is Banks' answer to "Land of Confusion" and is a much more compelling song and unlike Rutherford's tune, this one stands up to repeated listens. "I'd Rather Be You" sports a cynical Collins lyric over an old style rock n' roll backing. Lyrics such as "I'd rather be you than me, up there looking down, tell me what do you see" sure beats the. out of "she seems to have an inveesible touch yeah." Finally, there is "Do the Neurotic" which is an extended "jam" song, this time with no lyrics. But the music is so great, lyrics are not needed and would only hamper enjoyment of the song. The only reason that I can imagine for leaving these three superior songs off in favor of three rather awful songs, is that Genesis were hoping to turn Invisible Touch into some visible cash. They did succeed at that at least.

2 stars, but had they replaced the three awful songs with the three b-sides, we would be talking about a 3 1/2-4 star album. If you get this album, get it for Domino and The Brazilian. Otherwise, there are three tolerable/decent songs, and three terrible songs.

Yes, it's poppy, commercial, seems to be one of the Phil Collins solo albums more than a Genesis album...But Invisible Touch is not bad. There are, just like the previous release (Genesis 'Mama', 1983), a lot of great songs. I especially love the long Domino suite (I prefer the second part, 'The Last Domino', than the first), and the instrumental The Brazilian (what the [%*!#] for the title anyway ?) which closes the disc. In Too Deep is a pretty slow, Land Of Confusion is very energetic, Tonight, Tonight, Tonight is perfect. And, of course, the hit-single Invisible Touch. OK, some fillers too : Throwing It All Away is the second slow on the album, and it's too much mellow for me (remember Takin' It All Too Hard on the previous release ? Well, it's the same way here !), and Anything She Does bores me a little each time I put an ear to. I got the album both on CD and vinyl, and when I decided to hear it on CD, I jump from In Too Deep to Domino (Anything She Does is between them). Very awful cover art, and an underrated and good album.

Well, this is my least favorite album of their ´pop´phase. It does have some nice songs, but it lacks what always had in their earlier (and latter) releases, a remarkable tune. If Genesis had Home By The Sea, and We Can´t Dance had No Son Of Mine, this one has something close, but not quite ther in Domino. Maybe that´s the reason I never owned this album, even thouth it does have a mention to my country (The Brazilian).

As a pop album this an excellent efford, nevertheless. In Too Deep, for instance, is a beautiful ballad, maybe one of Genesis best. The musicians, as always are great, the production is one of the best and the arrangements are fine.

As a prog album, in a prog site, though, this CD is far from essential. Invisible Touch is only for completionists and pop rock fans. Good, indeed, but nothing more than that. And even at their most commercial, they did better CDs.

So Here We Go.... Invisible Touch. Alot of prog fans cringe at even the mention of this record. I do not think it is as bad as people say it is.

Invisible touch opens this album. It was the first number 1 hit by genesis. It is a very upbeat track. This track is average at best, and the lyrics are very stupid.

The next track Tonight,Tonight,Tonight is one of the highlights of this album. It is much darker then the first track. It almost sounds like Mama to me. It is one of the longest tracks at almost 9 minutes,and is also one of the proggiest.

The next track is very good. It is my favorite on the album. Land of confusion is almost a hard rock song and is not proggy at all, but it is a very good song.. The music video for this song has to be one of the freakiest videos i have ever seen. it is very cool and I recommend you watch it.

In Too Deep is the next song. It is a very good Ballad with very good lyrics, but this is Genesis and they should not be doing ballads. This sounds like it should be on Phil Collins solo album, but nevertheless it is still a pretty good song.

Anything She Does is a more upbeat song like invisible touch, but it is pretty bad and the lyrics are terrible. One of the worst on the album.

Domino is the next track and is the longest. It is a more proggish song and is pretty good. This song gets boring in the middle but it is still one of the better songs on the album.

Throwing It All Away is next and it is another ballad. Skip this one and if you want a ballad then listen to in too deep. One Of the worst on the album.

The Brazilian is the proggiest track on the album but it is not very good and gets boring after around 2 mins.

So there is Invisible Touch. It is better than most say, and deserves all the pop attention and radio play it got when it is released.

In 1986, Genesis recorded what was to be their highest selling album of all time. By now the group consisted of Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, and Tony Banks. Live assistance was from Daryl Stuermer on guitar and bass along with former Weather Report drummer, Chester Thompson. This trio had previously recorded four albums after guitarist Steve Hackett's departure (They recorded two albums with Hackett after former frontman, Peter Gabriel's departure).

Genesis's departure from progressive rock to pop and soft rock began with their 1981 album, Abacab.This would continue onto their 1983 album, Genesis. Now both of those albums are still fine pieces of music but pale in comparison to such works as A Trick of the Tail and the epic The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Genesis would finally start re-exploring their progressive roots with Invisible Touch.

Beginning with the hit single and title track, "Invisible Touch" the listeners find themselves off to a quick start. The opening song is a fast paced poppy smash with upbeat guitar licks and a trademark Tony Banks keyboard solo. I find this a very fun and cheerful song, a major departure from the dark opening song, Mama, from their previous album. But in any case, we end up sliding into darkness with the second track, "Tonight Tonight Tonight".

Opening with a startling drum loop and eerie bleeping keyboards, we hear one of the album's longer tracks. The lyrics tell of an drug addicted individual trying to get their latest fix and the music only adds to the misery. The third song is slightly lighter but has a doomladen political edge. "Land of Confusion" was another popular hit for the band, partly due to it's infamous music video featuring twisted caricatures of the band and US president Ronald Reagan. The lyrics are a simple criticism of Cold War policies and the fear of an armed exchange between east and west. Musically it's supreme. I couldn't stop listening to this song after I first heard it. The bizarre keyboards, edgy guitar riff, and marching drumbeat all add up to the fearful overtones of the song.

Next up is the glamorous "In Too Deep". Here is where the poppier and romantic side of the band shows up. This song grew on me after awhile. It doesn't exactly work as a Genesis song, but it would probably fit in well on any Phil Collins solo album. Song five is the frantic "Anything She Does". It sounds a bit like a holdover from the Abacab sessions with its fast paced guitar riffs and choir of horns. Again, not one of my favorites on the album.

Now we come to the epic of the album, and no progressive rock album is complete with out it's epic(s). "Domino" is a great throwback to the fans of older Genesis. It starts off slowly and builds to a wild climax. Tony Bank's superb keyboard work holds the song together and directs it forward. Beginning at the 4 and a half minute mark, we find ourselves moving lightspeed from the relaxed nature of the song to a jumpier side of the band. An interesting fact to note is that the song Invisible Touch started out as an unused section of Domino and the similarities between the two songs are quite interesting.

We come full circle to the pop side of the band with "Throwing it all away". This song has a very serene feel to it, as if you're sitting on a cliff watching the sun set. Again, I'm not a fan of the pop side of the group, but this song is worth a listen once in awhile. Finally, the final song on the album and my favorite. "The Brazilian" is the only instrumental track of the album and is an excellent conclusion to a fine piece of work. Largely synthesized, once again, Banks shines here with his talented keyboard work and carries us off into the abyss.

While it isn't a complete rehash of Genesis's past achievements in the prog area, Invisible Touch is still a fine effort and is their most polished release of the 1980s aside from 1980's Duke. Songs such as Domino and The Brazilian are worthy examples of how Genesis was still able to retain its roots even in a new era of music.

Decent... pop

Decent - I can't help but admit, although neither inventive, nor too ambitious. Unfortunately, seldom does Genesis activate its prog side (something I prefer to call progressive pop - lengthy as Prog, but without the guitar edge of neo-prog). Nonetheless, as one may notice Invisible Touch is not really about being a grand parade of pop sell out, but more about the lack of good musical ideas. Creativeness is a trait of great scarceness, when a band consists of three musicians (all three of them fully occupied with issuing solo albums) making up for five.

The listeners are given catchy tunes with absolutely no musical value whatsoever, interwoven with fruitless efforts to create BIG progressive music - and that ends in a mediocre middleground - not always though - there are gems, but gems cannot single-handedly create a masterpiece album. They might save it from eternal damnation, but don't expect more.

Pop-Genesis (more like: Banks + Banks + Collins + half-a-Collins + three-quarters-of-Rutherford) in their top shape deliver really exciting pop-rock, here by the name of Land of Confusion, perhaps their most recognizable and most often covered hit single. Worth the time, if you aren't allergic to untangled music.

Likewise the brighter, proggy side of the G. band has come up with a nifty idea - expanding and combining several pop melodies into a 10-minute suite - Domino. I'd say it's in the mood of Fish's solo songs or even Misplaced Childhood's screamed out love lyrics. It's the kind of prog-pop combination that makes me listen to such albums, and bear the overall kitschy mood of other tracks.

Thus ends the best of Invisible Touch. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight & The Brazilian unfortunately don't come anywhere near the level set by Domino. With the former being too lengthy (it's really similar to In the Air Tonight... I dunno, maybe it's because you mainly hear just drum-Collins and vocal-Collins on both songs), and the latter too humdrum (the main tune in an never-ending loop), there's nothing really left for die-hard prog-listeners.

Overbrimming with upbeat, low-quality melodies & drum machine abundant, the pop songs are what you might expect from Alcazar or other Timberlakes, but not from Tony and the company. Even though I had a pleasant time listening to them (with the exception of In Too Deep) - Anything She Does even reminded me of The Police's Canary in a Coalmine - I guess Genesis' principal problem was, that the band created songs in a fashion similar to the scene below:

(insert heavy British accent here) Collins (nervously glancing at his old-fashioned hourglass): God dammit I'm almost late for my solo album recording! It starts in five minutes forty-five seconds exactly. Mike: Oh, by God! The same here! The Mechanics are going to be really, really angry with me being late. Banks: Oh right guys, just play five chords and three beats and I'll try to make half an album out of them. Collins and Mike: Splendid old chap! It was the right decision to make you band-leader! Where do you get all your brilliant ideas from? Banks: Alright... make yourself comfortable, while I check in on Hackett's and Gabriel's bodies in the freezer. Anyone hungry? ... (a heavy red curtain conceals this disturbing scene of progressive agony)

Best Song: Domino (where pop and prog combined give a chilling suite filled with real emotions)

Worst Song: In Too Deep (too deeply Collins-like; Genesis were never good at equanimous torch songs)

In too deep (into the 80's)

The 80's was a weak period for Genesis which is generally agreed by fans of progressive Rock. While Abacab is the worst album they ever did, Invisible Touch offers some competition for that position! However, there are some good songs here too, one of which is at least semi-progressive. I'm thinking, of course, of the 10 minute plus, two-part Domino. This song was played on all tours following the release of this album, is understandably a live favourite. It is not as good as the similarly structured Home By The Sea/Second Home By The Sea from the previous album, but if you like that one you should like Domino. I know I do! I do, however, prefer live recordings of these songs. The live concert DVD Live At Wembley, that was recorded on the tour in support of Invisible Touch, features all but one of this album's tracks and all of these songs sound better live than in their studio versions. So, if you are choosing between buying the studio album or buying this DVD, I would definitely go for the DVD.

The title track from the Invisible Touch album is possibly Genesis' worst song ever (but even that song sounds slightly better live than on the studio album). Tonight, Tonight, Tonight is a decent song in the same style as Mama. Land Of Confusion is a good song that can be said to be this albums' Abacab, bouncy and catchy. In Too Deep, on the other hand, is a sugary ballad that would fit better on a Phil Collins solo album. Anything She Does is a throwaway; a completely useless Pop song. Throwing It All Away is also not very good and would also fit better on a Phil Collins solo album. The album ends with an instrumental called The Brazilian. It is a nice display of Tony Banks 80's technology.

Invisible Touch is one of Genesis least good albums, approach with caution

This album marks the peak of GENESIS as a stadium-filling Pop-Rock act. The success would last until, and including, their We Can't Dance Album and 1992 tour.

This one mainly contains 80s Pop, though more advanced than the typical. It's actually quite good for being that, but you have to be more of a fan of the 80s than a fan of Prog.

Of course, tracks like "Domino" may please your taste for epic songs just a little and the full version of "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" and the instrumental "The Brazilian" are also neat.

Invisible Touch looks like a solo album by Phil Collins,not Genesis album.There is concentration on the vocals and all the instruments are only background.It's not a band I think.The only exception is The Brazilian - a great song I remember from my childhood.This song remind us that the band still remember what progressive rock really is!The other songs are not bad,but they are just pop music and I can't listen to them ordinary.For me 2 stars.

"Invisible Touch" is the 13th full-length studio album by UK pop/rock act Genesis. The album was released through Charisma/Virgin Records in the UK and through Atlantic Records in The United States in June 1986. After finishing the tour supporting their 12th full-length studio album, the eponymously titled "Genesis (1983)", the band opted to take a break in band activities and work on their solo projects. Most of 1984 and 1985 went by doing that, but the three members of Genesis met again in October 1985 and starting working with producer Hugh Padgham on new material. As the case was on the predecessor the material was written as a collaborative effort by all three members, as opposed to how many of the earlier releases by the band were composed, with various members bringing their own parts or whole songs to the recording sessions.

Genesis had enjoyed great commercial success in the early to mid-1980s, but "Invisible Touch" took them even closer to the stars, selling in multi-platinum numbers (back when a platinum album symbolized 1 million sold copies). It´s the band´s most commercially successful release and spawned no less than five hit singles, including the title track which reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Top 100 Chart.

"Invisible Touch" is Genesis most accessible and mainstream oriented release, and it´s easy to understand its appeal, even to those who weren´t already fans of the band. Tracks like the title track, "Land of Confusion", and "Throwing It All Away", are instantly catchy pop/rock songs and very well written ones too. "Invisible Touch" is more than "just" a pop album featuring a couple of hit songs, and the intricate 8:50 minutes long "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" is a good example of how sophisticated and detail oriented Genesis are when they compose their music. The 10:41 minutes long "Domino" and the closing instrumental "The Brazilian", are the two other most obvious examples of the band not being satisfied just writing 3 minutes long vers/chorus radio hits. It´s one of the great strengths of "Invisible Touch" that it is as varied as it is. It´s a well thought out album with a well planned tracklist, with the result that it´s an entertaining release throughout its 8 tracks and 45:37 minutes long playing time. Sure the ballads are a little saccarine, but damn they are well composed...

"Invisible Touch" features a well sounding production, suiting the material perfectly. It´s clearly an 80s sound production (reverb on the drums which have an electronic tone to them, and loads of keyboards), and gone are the organic touch of the band´s 70s output, but Genesis managed to stay relevant and still challenge themselves in the process of writing and producing music with more mainstream appeal. You can chose to enjoy it or not, but this is arguably not the sound of a band selling out, releasing soulless pop music to become famous and make money. On the contrary this is a band who have evolved on every release since their inception in the late 60s and continue to do so on "Invisible Touch". A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

Don't laugh dad, PLZ!

Ok let's start from the beginning... it was the 2001 and I was a young stupid teen that were listen to MTv's trash (while doing homework mostly), and so in my dad's car was playing (every morning for a month I think) We Can't Dance... so my father began to talk about Genesis and their famous music, to a young teen that didn't known the difference between an electric guitar and a bass guitar... at home I had all the Genesis discogarphy and since I was listening We Can't Dance in the car I thought it was clearly a good step to listen Invisible Touch and when at evening my father (back from his work) started to laugh at me for listening another of his albums, PLZ dad, don't laugh I shouted at him...

But let's start the review...we have 8 tracks 7 are merely a pop mix of music from Banks/Collins/Rutherford, the last is an istrumental designed originally for a movie called When the Wind Blows and surprise that 8th song is the only one that is something prog-related even is a bit too redundant for me. Lyrics part: Ok we see for the fist time the trio writing song with a sideback (some political problems, or so), the kind of message that we never saw before in a Genesis album, eventually the lyrics and the way of singing them are a bit interesting and I like the intro of Domino (from 0:00 to 1:00), still the voice of Collins is clear and bring some nice points to the album... but it's not the performance of Elevent Earl of Mar or even Squonk so 1/3 for the good voice and the original copy from previous albums of Collins pop era (Face Value included). Total: 1/3 Music part: Ok nothing valuable here too, still nice mix of drums from Collins and a bit poor keyboard on the side of Banks that confirm the end of his poetic vein in favor of Collins pop era. Brazillian is a nice intrumental and the last try of old Genesis to come back but isn't enough to worth an entire album. 1/3 on music and ambience, for the nice background on Domino and some parts of Invisible Touch that keep togheter the parts when Collinc sing. Various: Nice video of Land of Confusion (I love the ugly face of Puppet-Collins), but it don't worth the bonus star 0/1...since the entire picture is nothing special. Total 2/5, a bit too low for Mr Collins & Co. ...back to my story

Alright, this may be better than most pop out there, but what is the best rating for this? 'Only for completionists' fits it quite well, I'd say.

What else can I say that hasn't already been said? The title track is god awful and I could easily go the rest of my life without hearing any of this. Where's the art? Where's the progress? What exactly were Genesis trying to accomplish with their music?

I will never figure out the answer to that last question, as it doesn't seem like there IS much to be accomplished with an album like this. Easy listening pop with some interesting tendencies, pretty much. Hey, I'm not saying this album is absolutely terrible; it's actually pretty good if you're looking for adult contemporary pop-rock that has SOME substance sprinkled throughout it.

However, at PROGarchives, there is no way in hell that this album deserves more than 1 star. Please avoid this unless you want to hear pop.

I think this is a far better effort than its predecessor, Genesis, for the simple reason that they went back to writing and performing well good songs, either commercial or prog.

The first three tracks are all huge selling singles, and all of them are very well executed. Invisible Touch races along to a great Rutherford riff, Tonight....again features fantastic guitar work and understated keyboards from Banks, whilst Land of Confusion is simply a rollicking pop song, with Rutherford on blazing form. He really shines throughout this LP.

In Too Deep is probably a little bit too saccharine for many listeners on this site, but it is pleasant without being awful, certainly an improvement on tracks such as Illegal Alien & Whodunnit! Anything she Does is also a good solid track which picks up the pace again very well.

Then there are the two Domino interlinked tracks, which, to me, are very strong successors to the Home by the Sea tracks on the previous LPs. This still plays very well live. Rutherford really blasts out his chords, and Banks returns to form on what is clearly his song with a very strong keyboard lead over Collins singing very strongly. The point about these tracks is that they continued to prove that they werre still a rock group with progressive leanings first and foremost - not a singles band. Again, I feel that many people buying this LP on the strength of the singles would have rushed out to buy previous albums when they realised just how complex and beautiful the longer tracks were. The way the first, slow, movement gives way to a harder edge is stunning.

Throwing it all Away is another very good commercial track which is exceptionally pleasing to the ear.

Then the last track, Brazilian, probably my favourite Banks moment in the history of the band. This keyboard track is a piece of sheer genius, with Collins especially backing very strongly on his now trademark drum machine. Every time I hear this track, I hear something new and this demonstrates the genius of Banks. A great way to end an album which I regarded as a very solid return to form.

Recommended. I would probably award 3.5 stars for this, but as I am in such a good mood tonight (tonight, tonight), I'm going to round it up to four.

I like about 1/3 of this album:

Track by track breakdown: 1) Invisible Touch This track is incredibly poppy and I do not enjoy listening to it except for when Phil Collins says Chee sims to have an inbisibo toucha.

2) Tonight, Tonight, Tonight I'm not sure what it is about this song that I like but overall it's a pretty decent song.

3) Land of Confusion Again, this song isn't terrible but it is very generic 80's rock.

4) In too Deep I really dislike this song, I couldn't even finish listening to it while doing this review.

5) Anything She Does I don't enjoy this song very much either, it's a high energy song on the subject of a woman with very plain intrument work.

6) Domino, Pt. 1 - In the Glow of the Night/ Pt. 2 - The Last Domino I like this song (these songs?), again it has the underlying subject of a woman but it's very calm and what sounds like a flute or something (probably a keyboard) adds a very relaxed tone to the first part which I appreciate a lot more than the second.

7) Throwing It All Away The only part of this track is towards the end, faintly in the background, you can hear someone going Ahh! and it sounds as if they are sighing in relief of the song being nearly over.

8)The Brazilian The last track on the album, the best of the lot and the only song I have no problems with, a thoroughly enjoyable song that I will never get tired of

If there were .5 star ratings, this album would recieve a 2.5 from me but since there isn't it gets a 3 as I cannot say I only collectors should get it. Overall a mediocre album from Genesis, We've seen much worse and we've seen much better.

The inimitable Pop band "Genesis" finally goes prog. Haha, charade we are.

Released after their self titled album, Invisible Touch on the surface seems more progressive than the last album, but it is not. This is even more glaring radio pop. Where the previous album had an at times dark feel, and an enjoyable atmosphere, not to mention the melodies weren't half bad, everything here seems even more washed up and uninspired.

Title track is some laughable dance pop, with a somewhat enjoyable main melody line. The electronic vibe gets old rather quickly, though. Those goofy middle section keyboard noises make me weep, though. But my word, it is still catchy.

Tonight, Tonight, Tonight goes on too long. To me, this is Phil Collins trying to be Peter Gabriel solo, and failing pretty hard. The guy still sings well, though. Nothing here catches you like it should. The solo is one of the most uninspired things I have heard in a good while. Land Of Confusion is the big radio hit, and I suppose that is a deserved facet. Still, Home By The Sea makes this look pretty bad. Catchy and dance rocking all over the place, with facile society criticizing lyrics.

In Too Deep softens it up, and delves into Phil's wet world of adult contemporary. This album is so very average in its pop craft, that I wonder truly what was going on. It sold well, yeah, but it is some very soulless radio pop. Anything She Does sounds like the theme song to a 1980's School time instructional video. Add that to the slowly devolving lyrics, and you've got yourself great Genesis pop...ugh.

The "epic" track, Domino, is funny. Why? Because it is supposedly progressive. It is a shame that this is possibly the worst song on here. It is slow and crawling, but not in any great way. The atmosphere is literally non-existent. Groaning forward with uninspired poppy light. Hurts my head.

Genesis is finally what it always wanted to be. That is right, an adult contemporary pop band. You could here it right from the start. That second song in Selling England, The dresses, the drummer.

Anyway, Throwing It all away is painfully bare, and plodding. Forgettable? Of course. Tropical banality in extremis. The final song is no better. The Brazilian bores me dreadfully. Those keyboard hits are generic and simplistic.

This takes the negative aspects of their previous effort and multiplies them. If you like decent pop, then this is a good purchase. Most anyone else will be quite bored with the whole affair. Not as dark or thrilling, not more than limp and dance pop. At least it isn't terrible. Is it?

Best Song - Hard to say, possibly Land of Confusion.

Worst Song - Hard to say, possibly all of them.

* Solid Star

A Genesis review so I might as well start with the one most proggers love to hate, Invisible Touch. With Gabriel and Hackett long gone, Genesis continues on a path more towards the middle of the musical spectrum. IT is heavy on the pop/rock and quite light on the prog. This is nothing new as this has been a decade long journey to prosperity. Some may call this selling out. Many forget when Gabriel left Genesis after 7 albums, they were financially still in the red. With Trick of the Tale and Wind and Wuthering, they prove that they are more than capable of carrying on although they are more musically oriented and the lyrics become more direct. After Hackett goes solo for good, Genesis?s sound changes again as they sorely miss his guitar. They accidentally have a hit with Follow You, Follow Me, which was a last minute addition to And Then There Were 3. Three more albums follow and a pattern has evolved where Genesis albums have ballads, mid-tempo rockers and nod or two back to their prog past. Each album has outsold the previous one, so to expect Genesis to change now was not going to happen. Invisible Touch didn't mess with the success. What IT did do was become their biggest selling album in their history. That is the history lesson and now on to the review.

IT starts with the title track, which is a light weight, catchy pop song. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight is a long 9 minute song (non prog), with a catchy chorus, and an interesting instrumental middle surrounded by pop/rock made interesting by a slow buildup of guitar and drums. Land of Confusion is a very good, political protest song which is not familiar territory but they pull it off well. In Too Deep is a ballad that was a minor hit and a forgettable song. The wheels fall off with Anything She Does, which I nominate as the worst thing this incredible band ever did. It?s an upbeat pop song that I always skip. The wheels get repaired and the car gets a paint job with the two part prog nod Domino. Clocking in at over 10 minutes and getting away from pop, this track is where old time fans may feel at ease if they can get this far. Throwing It All Away is another ballad but executed much better that ITD. The album closes with instrumental The Brazilian, which I love. Constant drum fills by Phil, build-up keys by Tony and a very nice slow cooking guitar solo by Mike help create a sinister mood and make this my favorite song on the album.

When Invisible Touch came out, a local newspaper reviewed it saying that it was an excellent album except for the two pretentious pieces of garbage, Domino and The Brazilian. They are my two favorites on this album of big production, shiny synths, electric percussion, huge hooks, and hit singles. IT is a product of its time, but not a bad as most old time Genesis fans paint it, or as good as the charts say either. I admit I had this in very heavy rotation at the time and if I reveiwed it back in the day, I would have given it a strong 4, almost 5 star rating. Time hasn't been so good to some of the tracks and now I give it a weak 4 star rating.

'Invisible Touch' - Genesis (6/10)

To start things off, I really do not know what's so wrong or awful about this album. I can understand why prog afficionados would think it was not prog (for the most part; it isn't) but just to say that it isn't a work of progressive music doesnt mean to say that it's awful.

However, I might be drawn towards supporting the album from default; seeing as it was one of the first albums I remember ever listening to alot. Let me explain...

As a child, I can solidly remember listening to these songs alot; my parents put on this album quite a bit when I was young. This was a long time before I started to introduce music to myself, and I really liked the album 'Invisible Touch' as an infant. A good decade or so before I would start really getting into prog, 'Invisible Touch' was already well-listened to.

When I finally got into prog, I searched everywhere for the CD (now being into Genesis' earlier stuff, I wanted to go back and listen again to the album that had been with me as a child) but I could not find it...

...as luck would have it, a few days ago I found the CD lying around and without hesitation, I put away my prog CDs for a bit to listen to this blast from the past.

I have to say that upon first listen, I was really blown away by how familiar, yet how unfamiliar all of the music was. I consciously felt my memories of childhood being brought to the forefront. With a progressive outlook on music, 'Domino' really stood out to me as being epic.

After a few repeated listens, the pop tendencies of the album began to age the album a bit too quickly. The album is songwritten very thoughtfully, but as time went on, I became weary of all of the songs on here that sound a bit too much like Phil Collins' solo career; very balladesque and slow. On songs like 'In Too Deep' and 'Throwing It All Away,' my attention wanes. Even though they are very well written ballads, there's just too much of it on one album.

Highlights include the incredibly catchy and lovely 'Invisible Touch' (while being a pop song, I still love it) and the epic 'Domino.' While the majority of the album is pop, 'Domino' definately falls in as being a majestic piece that covers a multitude of moods and feelings throughout it's extended length.

From a solely progressive viewpoint, this is a non-essential album with a few highlights. From an honest viewpoint however, it's a special album to me, and on a general music sight I would gladly rate it a 4.5 (being marred only by the heavy concentration on ballads.)

A great, intelligent pop album, but unessential by progressive standards.

This is a website dealing with Progressive Rock. Now, with this album we are stepping into dangerous territory when it's not only no longer PROGRESSIVE - it's even no longer ROCK....

This is where Genesis reached their absolute lows. Yes, "Abacab" and "Genesis" were also pop albums, but there is pop and... there is pop. Pop music can also be creative, imaginative and have some elements that make it a worthy addition even to prog collections, although I would never give even the greatest pop masterpiece 5 stars here on PROGarchives. Their previous two albums contained songs that - although relied mainly on hooks and accessible melodies rather then elaborate instrumentation and fantasy lyrics like on early 70's records - still had some mood and identity behind them. The band still seemed to care about production, arrangements, giving the songs some kind of atmosphere. Even if it wasn't prog rock any more it was still 'rock' or 'art pop' or 'pop-rock with imagination'. With this album it isn't the case. This album is about hooks, hooks and really nothing more... It is more related to the once popular genre of 'europop' than 'pop-rock'. I feel embarrassment when I listen to most of the tracks. I just can't believe that Genesis ever could release stuff like that and don't feel embarrassed. "Invisible Touch" is a track that would fit nicely on Madonna's "Like a Virgin" record. "In to Deep" would be a nice addition to Mariah Carey's catalogue... For Genesis, this is simply an abomination. This is dance-pop, pillow-pop, you name it, in any case it has nothing to do with prog or even with rock. Even the 10-minute 'epic' (haha) "Domino" is nothing more than a boring 10 minute pop song. Only bright moment on this record is the last track, instrumental "The Brazilian" but only because - being an instrumental - it is not spoiled by stupidity of the lyrics and simplicity of vocal melodies which thoroughly pervade this album.

Still, I can only recommend it to the fans of 80's Madonna or Mariah Carey... No prog, no rock, just pop and not even good pop...

Genesis goes into more pop realm. While I enjoy this more than previous album selftitled who is to me the worst Genesis album ever, Invisible touch from 1986 has some good moments and some totaly unintristing tunes aswell. I remember first listning of this album in 1991,, pieces like Invisible touch, Land of confusion or Throwing It All Away are still today very pleasent to my eras even are comercial and far from old Genesis subtle and impecable progressive rock arrangements. The rest are from mediocre to bad. This album overall is not very bad but the lack of progressive elements make to give only 2-2.5, that means mediocre but not very bad, still enjoyble in places.

To a progressive rock fan, INVISIBLE TOUCH seems to be the nadir of their discography; out of all of the albums I've heard so far, that seems to be true to me. There's nothing on this album that makes me want to come back and spin it again. It was released in 1986, and it sounds like 1986 and stuck in 1986.

Tracks like the title tune, ''Land of Confusion'' and ''In Too Deep'' either are disgusting on first listen or quickly wear out their welcome into meh territory. Most songs are filled with ''icepick-through-the-skull'' (not a good description) synths and annoying gated drums. Perfect for the 80's, but over twenty years later it sounds like mush.

Thinking ''Tonight, Tonight, Tonight'' is a prog song by length is just wishful thinking; it's an annoying dance tune stuck on repeat (maybe not literally, but it feels as such) for nine minutes. ''Domino'' offers a glimpse of something decent in the first half (keyboards sound decent this time), but by the second part, it's the same old song and dance.

The pop isn't what makes INVISIBLE TOUCH annoying to the ears, it's the way it was produced and it's ''with the times'' sound. I got lucky and had a few free listens because my uncle used to own this album on vinyl. This at best looks awkward in a prog collection, although if you can avoid this record, do so.

Honestly, I'm not sure exactly what criteria I should follow while reviewing this.

One thing I do want to say, however, is that Invisible Touch is not, by any means whatsoever, a progressive rock album. It's a pop/rock affair, with only slight instances here and there of progressive-oriented material. But this is where I'm lost: as a pop album, Invisible Touch is an absolute masterpiece, one of the exemplars of the genre. It's almost like a greatest hits record for the band, containing more than its share of cheesy, bubblegum tracks. Lyrically, it's somewhat prolific (in moments), as well. "Land of Confusion" is one of Mike Rutherford's greatest lyrical achievements (although he ain't Peter Gabriel); songs like "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" (despite being a good song on their own terms) have exceedingly poor lyrics, however, which detracts a lot from the album's artistic value. And that's another issue: I'm not ragging on Phil Collins, he's a great musician, but by the mid-'80s, he seemed more concerned with pleasing the unwashed masses than the fans...by the time Abacab was released, Genesis undoubtably lost thousands of hungry listeners. To sum this all up, Invisible Touch is absolutely fantastic as a pop album.

However, as a progressive album (a title which, as I mentioned earlier, doesn't fit it at all), it's a horrendous failure. The few tracks that are reminiscent of the group's past glory ("Domino" comes to mind) are absolute atrocities, and the radio-friendly pop-oriented songs that fill the meat of the album would likely make any prog addict's stomach flip over. In other words, I don't recommend this if you're a King Crimson freak. However, if you're a big fan of new wave and synthpop groups, I think you'd like this record.

Like 90125 by fellow giant Yes, Invisible Touch has been endlessly cited as a horrible album that immediately induces suffering, both physical and mental, in listeners. And, as is the case with Yes's 80's work, the reason that this is so disliked is probably because fans of these bands became that from listening to a different style of music- and, when they hear said band turn their approach around almost 180 degrees, bad things will happen to their perceptions of the band and the album. However, I am not a deep-rooted "golden era" Genesis fan, and I approached this album as one that won't be a classic, but may hold some enjoyable material, and for under 3 dollars, I couldn't resist.

The title track is hated by many, many people on this site, but as is the case with most songs along this line (Owner of a Lonely Heart, Heat of the Moment, etc.) I find it to be actually pretty good, even if it's horribly (and I mean HORRIBLY) dated by today's standards. After that is the nearly nine minute "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight", a song which, again, I actually enjoy- I'd say that this is the best song on the album, as it evokes a pleasant night-like atmosphere- even if the lyrics aren't so great ("I'm coming down, coming down like a monkey"?!?!). Next is Land of Confusion, which is a pretty adequate song, not bad, not great, lyrics are nice. After that is In Too Deep, and though I always try to see music in a positive light, to me, this song is simply horrible. It is a generic, dated, uninteresting light pop song- where it tries to be tender and beautiful, it comes off and lightweight and empty. Fortunately, it is followed by one of the better songs- the extremely catchy Anything She Does. Yes, it's yet another song about love, but it's an enjoyable listen, even if, like everything else here, it sounds atrociously dated. After that is Domino, which has been passed off as 80's Genesis's attempt at a "prog epic"- however, this is not prog at all- this is merely two pop songs sandwiched together. However, these are good pop songs, fun to listen to, but it does drag, being an almost eleven minute pop song- well, two songs, but I digress. After that is Throwing it All Away, and all I have to say about this song is; see In Too Deep. Then is The Brazilian, the song many reviewers credit with "saving" the album. In my opinion, it's an okay instrumental, but not the best song. So, of the eight songs, 2 are horrible, 4 are merely okay, and 2 are good. While I am tempted to give this 3 stars, I feel confident that it only deserves 2, because Genesis has much, MUCH better than this, albums that transcend "prog classic" and become absolute legends. My advice is, if you see this album for under 5 dollars (and if you visit used record stores, chances are you will; Genesis DID sell 150 million albums, after all, and this is one of the more popular ones), then get it. Recommended to fans of eighties pop who already have all of Genesis's 70-77 albums.

My patience has been quite a gigantic-size one. I've survived through other four terrible albums of dark age of Genesis. I even liked some songs, or elements in it. But this album is worst of them. Not that there is nothing progressive, nothing at all, not even buried underground and hidden for first and casual listeners (I've tried to locate something, but it's not there, this is HOLLOW), but they managed to do it even worse. Most of songs here are annoying (first half - with In Too Deep being stupid ballad with every cliché you could expect from it). Second half, no, no.

1(+), almost absolute bottom. And don't even ask what do I think about second half.

I was thinking about giving a 2 star rating for this album, because I like Domino. Anyway, I thought better about it and many fans do like another tracks. I know it is pop, but Land of Confusion and Throwing it all away are also reasonable tracks and I reallu like this album when I was a kid!!! Most people know: by this time, without GABRIEL and KACKETT, the band is fully comercial and the sound is directed to the pop-rock genre. There are radio hits here, most of us who had listened to the radio probably sang along some of the tracks (except those who really hate this album). At last, this is no prog music, but deserves a 2 stars based on the ratings COLLECTORS AND FANS ONLY.

Wow! This is bad. The bottom of the barrel for Genesis as far as I am concerned. With the exception of possibly Domino and the Brazilian, any progressive elements left in this band have been sucked out by Phil Collins pop. I think the song "Invisible Touch" is the second to worse Genesis song ever. (The worst being "Illegal Alien). This and the self-titled Genesis album are the only albums by Genesis that I have never bothered to get on CD. I even have Calling All Stations, amazingly enough, though I rarely listen to it. This album is close to being 0 stars, but the 2 previously mentioned songs bring it up to a 1 at best. I think I'll go listen to Foxtrot to bring myself up again after this review.

Throwing it all Away like an Invisible Crutch.

Here's how to appease record labels. Sell out and forget your solid prog roots and rebuild a new fan base of teeny bopping girly dancers. They succeeded. This sold like hot cakes and rocketed to number one. I own the vinyl and it cost me 50 cents at a second hand store; that's what it is worth too!

"Invisible Touch" is a damned album, a wretched album that ushered in a new Genesis sound that was only approved by those who were not enamoured with the prog Genesis with Gabriel in full voice.

Banks, Collins and Rutherford were now in charge and sold completely out to a mediocre crystalline 80s sound that was not even close to progressive. Domino was Ok as a ten minute romp into prog territory but it never measures up to the classic sound the band was famous for.

Gone are the musical interludes. Hyper lyrics and musicianship only to be replaced by that 80s synth radio friendly pop sound, and awful synthesized drums, and processed vocals.

The album sold huge amounts due to the singles 'Invisible Touch' and 'In Too Deep' showing a balladic Collins singing about love, love, love. In other words no different to other radio bands. The fans were becoming female as a result of course but all of the innovation and creativity was being sucked out of the group and becoming plastic and not a bit fantastic.

I like 'Land of Confusion' because the melody grew on me and I actually liked the film clip at the time. 'Invisible Touch' was a song that haunted the radio, and I remember it being sung on Young Talent Time, the 80s teenage talent show, by some unknown singer as teenyboppers screamed his name; sick. It was fun when I was a teen but nowadays it is so dated and better forgotten.

'Anything She Does' is notable for the film clip with hilarious funny man Benny Hill taking centre stage, as he visits Genesis in their dressing room, and continues to try and cater to their outlandish wishes, even showing some gorgeous groupies the way out, complete with speeded up action, and a dressing room full of weird oddballs. The band were certainly innovative in their MTV clips.

The song 'Throwing it All Away' was self prophetic as the band were throwing away everything that made them great. The clip to this was again innovative with the band filming themselves during rehearsals and it features some great backstage footage.

Overall though this is an atrocious album. Even the album cover is corny with a stupid design that the average person could emulate on a computer. "Abacab" was worse overall, but this is still a terrible album! I changed my rating to 1 star, as 2 stars is being too kind.

This is the big 80's hit for Genesis. It's not bad really. They are still quite inventive, even if within an '80's pop' realm. The title track 'Invisible Touch' and 'In too deep' are very catchy, 'Tonight Tonight Tonight' and 'The Last Domino' are longer, more well-thought out tracks with plenty of interesting synthesiser tones and little additions on the side here and there to keep things interesting. The tracks 'Land of confusion' and 'Anything she does are fairly good song, but more 'pop' sounding.

The reason I took two stars off the rating is a) I've never really cared for the last two songs. 'Throwing it all away' starts off slowly, and when Phil Collins starts going 'Throwing it all away' you realise that's all there is to the song, it's disappointing. Okay 'The Brazilian' is not bad but I think they have done better things in the instrumental department than this. The other star went because b) this album doesn't really give a full flavour of Genesis. This is catchy pop music done well and in an inventive way, but Genesis, even in the 80's, can give you so much more.

Overall, this is a competent release that showed was Genesis still making good music, but wasn't their most satisfying release.

Invisible Touch is the most popular album the band ever did, at least if both album and singles chart positions are to be considered, but it's also a central lightning rod for people who hate this particular era of the band. IT came out the year after Collins made No Jacket Required (a winner of the Album of the Year Grammy), and it's hard to deny that this gave the band an impetus to let Phil's "non-Genesis" creative approach have a greater influence than it had before. I mean, the last three albums had undoubtedly been "pop" albums, but I'd be hardpressed to buy into the arguments put forth by many that Genesis had somehow become Phil's side-project. I just can't stress enough that those albums were just way too weird in too many ways to qualify as the same kind of (painfully) straightforward music Phil was making on his own, and they had (I insist) a strangely classy sheen in the production that served them well. On this album, though, the production bears a lot of the characteristics that Genesis had not yet had, but that had become trademarks of Phil's solo style and of production work that he'd done in other circumstances. In particular, no matter how many times I listen to this album, I can't help but think that the drums sound absolutely awful here, whereas on Abacab and Genesis they'd often sounded pretty great. I'm not really fond of how the other instruments sound either; there's a definite tacky, cheesy gloss on all of the instruments that make them jump out, yes, but not in a way that I want instruments to jump out. If 80's sounds and textures don't bother you in the slightest, then you'll probably be happy with how things turned out; me, I've got kind of an allergic reaction to the way this album turned out on the whole.

And yet, underneath all of the stuff that bothers me, this is still, for the most part, a full- fledged Genesis album, and not a glorified Phil Collins album. There are still bizarre (maybe not by traditional prog standards, but certainly by the standards of "mainstream" pop) extended keyboard-centered instrumental breaks, driving some of the song-lengths far past the bounds of a regular pop albums. There are still Rutherford-penned pop songs with decent guitar presence, and some unconventional lyric topics, and there's even a full- fledged instrumental at the end! Yes, this album has more of Phil's fingerprints on it than previous ones had had, but this was still just as much Tony and Mike's band as anybody's. Granted, that also means they should get about as much blame for the album's failings as does Phil, but acknowledging their presence helps make it easier to avoid getting blinded by those failings.

And, you know, the songs are far from universally sucking. The only track on here that clearly belongs more on a Phil solo album than on a proper Genesis album is the ballad "In Too Deep." It's just way too saccharine for my tastes, and moments like that sickly-sweet falsetto Phil does when he sings the "crying at the top of my lungs" line are just too much for any non-Phil-lover (that I know) to bear. Yes, I know that it (like pretty much all the singles here) was a huge hit, but it definitely was targetted more for fans of Phil than fans of Genesis.

The other song on this album that I seriously dislike is the opening title track, yet there's a major difference between this song and "In Too Deep": for all of its flaws, it's still clearly more of a Genesis song than a transplant from a Phil solo album, if only because it originated from Phil improvising lyrics over an early version of the second half of "Domino" (discussed more later). Plus, it's playfully up-tempo, has an okayish melody, has a light-but- decent guitar presence, and has very active work from Tony. Unfortunately, these positive elements are largely cancelled out, thanks to the song featuring one of the most awkwardly sung and written choruses (come on, do you really think that "She seems to have an in- vees-eee-bul touch" is on par with the typical pop song Phil had done in the band before?) I've ever heard in a hugely popular song. The song also has a lot of the production, um, tendencies that I mentioned previously, but as much as I could forgive a lot of the other material of these flaws, the weaknesses in the song make it so I can't here.

That leaves six tracks, which are all flawed but which are all basically good. "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight," of course, shouldn't actually be a nine minute song: it's basically a five minute song, stretched out in a clear attempt to keep one foot in the band's past. Still, the percussion programming is decently clever, the keyboards do a good job of building and releasing tension when necessary, and the vocal melodies are memorable without being cheezy. Plus, as tacked on as I think the lengthy instrumental passage might be in principal, I enjoy it when it's on, and I never feel like I've had my time wasted or anything like that.

"Land of Confusion" is even better, though, as much as I hate to say it. The song has a lot of things going against it in terms of good taste: the overwhelmingly 80's nature of the drum track, the corny (while taking on an "epic" vibe in places) synths, the ridiculous lines about "my generation will put it right" that evoke images of The Walker Brigade from Saturday Night Live. And yet, I can't stop liking the song. The melody is incredible, creating an urgent feel in the verses while the intense synthesized bass drum pummels along underneath, and the pseduo-universalistic synths work better for me than reason says they should. Plus, I'd be hardpressed to name an 80's Genesis song I'd rather do in karaoke, were the opportunity to come up.

Of the four remaining tracks, I actually held a dislike for two of them at first, but not anymore. It's tempting to lump "Throwing it All Away" in with "In Too Deep," but that's a mistake; "Throwing it All Away" is much more Rutherford than Collins, and it stands up to any straight-forward pop ballads that he wrote before (excepting "Ripples," which is clearly in a separate class all together). Unlike "In Too Deep," there's no glop whatosever in the song (unless you count anything Phil sung during this era as gloppy, which you shouldn't), and the hooks don't come across as tacky at all. The other song I disliked before but could never bash now is "Anything She Does," kind of the band's answer to "Pictures of Lily." It's a bit chaotic and hurried in the arrangement, which took me some time to get used to, but there's something strangely addicting about it and the way Phil sings the line, "I won't ever, no I'll never get to know her." It's a minor track, but definitely not a bad one.

The remaining tracks, then, largely destroy the idea of considering this album just another 80's pop album. The album's centerpiece is the ten-minute "Domino," basically two pop songs duct-taped together and featuring Phil singing Tony's brand of prog lyrics. The lyrics, of course, are kind of silly (and supposedly, Phil disliked singing them, to the point that there were later quotes hinting that part of the reason he quit the band later was because he was tired of singing this song live), but they're silly in an addictive, non-preachy sort of way. Plus, while there are some pretty ridiculous moments in the arrangements (especially in the keyboards), they're ridiculous in a way that's grown on me rather than off me over the years. And, of course, the melodies are mostly very good, especially in the chorus of the "Glow of the Night" and in the "But you gotta go domino" groove in the second half. And finally, the album ends with "The Brazilian," a fine instrumental. It has a good set of riffs for Tony's keyboards, and the percussion underneath is very interesting. Even Mike's generic mid-80's guitar soloing works very well in this piece!

In the end, a *** rating is the best I can do for it. Still, compared to how I used to view this album (it would have been a ** once), and how bad it could have theoretically been, that's not bad at all.

Damned for most of the progressive fans, I don't think by the same way. This album, as the others 80`s Genesis albums should not be compared with their 70`s works, but yes should be compared with other bands 80`s albums. In this context (of Symphonic Rock Bands converted in Crossover prog bands) Genesis has much to say. After ATTWT the band gave in every album some progressive rock stuff, not in the vein of the 70`s, but progressive in my opinion. In the IT album, there is 6 world wide hits, between which 5 are high quality pop rock, and the other, Tonight, tonight, tonight is non pop nor prog or maybe arguable prog. The other two are what I call modern progressive rock. If I sum Domino, The Brazilian and Tonight, tonight... I have almost 25 minutes, more than a half of the album. So the most of the album is not pop rock, and that is the interesting thing.

Tonight, tonight, tonight is an almost 9 minutes song really strong, in the vein of Mama, but with a superb instrumental interlude dominated by a great keyboard job, wich flows into a different and agressive tune before returns to the initial melody line, and then finishing with a good guitar solo. Domino is the absolute highlight of the album, an almost 11 minutes epic, far better than much of the modern prog tracks from other great bands like Yes, Pink Floyd or ELP at the same years. The track has two sections conected by an unique story. It has not many instrumental parts, but has many change of rythms and other progressive elements. The track is really stunning, tells a good story and becomes far better in the live versions. The Brazilian is a good instrumental piece of 5 minutes long, with a non conventional drum job, and a great counterpoint between keyboards and guitars. Not the best instrumental from Genesis, but really good.

The rest is high quality pop rock, wich I enjoyed too much at that time.

The non pop half of the album, and the great progressive tracks as Domino and The Brazilian makes to me that this album is closer than four stars than three and I consider it a good addition to my progressive rock collection.

I'd say it's not so desastrous. It's certainly really popish and all of that but it counts as good pop I think.

The first track is a real happy pop track wich I think will get me to smile when I hear it again. It's catchy and good, I can't find anything really horrible about it. It grooves a bit too, I got my head bouncing a bit on that one. It's still not progressive.

The second song is really intense but not bad too. I could say it's a bit too long for it's content but it's acceptable: good melody, good feel, acceptable groove. The drum is nice in this song too. Phil really sings well in this one too. It's not pure prog but it's got progressive highlights.

Land of Confusion is a good pop song with a bit of rock in it. Phil sings well in this song. The chords are nice to hear. The melody sounds good too. It's really popish. I wouldn't say it's progressive.

I must say that In Too Deep is really really cheesy and that it's the most flagrant exemple of comercialism I heard in the album. It's really horrible. Pop rubish at it's pure form.

Anything She Does is a bit too intense for me. It's power happy and really popish. Far far from progressive rock. It's at the boundaries of acceptability to my ears.

For Domino, it's a popish little intro. After it there's a little poprock part wich tends to be as cheesy as the intro. After a while, it even gets to a typical 80's drum beat wich tends to be too intense. We see a try to be progressive in this song. There's many themes in this song wich seems an imitation of their own previous work with Steve Hackett. It's too long too, they could cut some parts and it would've been better.

Up to Throwing it all away I tend to be tired of the album (a condition wich began at the song In too Deep). And in my tiredness there is another really popish song that offers nothing original. The album tends to be a bit too linear and boring. I try to stay focused because this song lacks interest for me. The melody isn't even catchy, there's no groove and it isn't prog.

Finally, the end of the album! After a long stupid intro, a melody arises. It even sounds a bit like prog! Finally something that gets a good prog influence! It's not the proggiest thing I heard but still! The melody is good. The chords too. The drum solos are really boring though.

I'd say that the best songs in this album are Invisible Touch, Land of Confusion and The Brazillian. The album in itself is really boring though and it deserves his two stars (maybe and a half).

Yes, I like this album, any problems?

It is fully justifiable hatred of fans to "Invisible Touch ', ultimately there is a vast difference between him and the masterpieces of the 70s, as" Foxtrot, "" Selling England by the pound "or" trick of the tail. "Neither same "And Then There Were Three" or "Duke"were so pop it!

Despite all this, it is important to note that there is an effort by the band playing progressive rock in the past (see "Domino"), but it is obvious that the sound would not be the same the past decade.

The best tracks here are "Domino, " "Land of Confusion" (one of my fav Genesis ever), the beautiful ballad "Throwing It All Away" and the closing instrumental "The Brazilian" (a tribute to my country?).The other tracks are no less interesting, although not at the level of those here mentioned.

Honestly I really like the pop phase of Genesis (something I inherited from my father), but logically I think it is not the height of the masterpieces that I mentioned at the beginning of texto.Eu like all albums of the period 1978 - 1991, except for "Abacab, " the worst of all the albums I've heard of the band (I excluded "Calling all stations" because I have not heard).

The middle of the '80s was not a good time for any of the '70s prog giants even though some of them did manage to maintain some of their commercial appeal. Genesis might have seemed like they were on top of their career with the release of Invisible Touch but this was also where my favorite band went too far and released their most tiresome album to date.

This commercially oriented release has gathered somewhat of a cult classic following in some circles but I personally can rarely get through this album in one sitting. Some of the prog-era fans may argue that Domino and The Brazilian are still two very creative tracks, but I personally have a problem with the terrible 80's production and the fact that the former sounds better on live albums like Live - The Way We Walk Volume Two - The Longs and especially Live Over Europe 2007. The 9 minute long version of Tonight, Tonight, Tonight is overblown beyond any reason and is one of the main reasons why I can's enjoy this album. Even the band members seemed to agree with this since all of their live albums feature a much shorter version of that composition. In Too Deep and Throwing It All Away are decent ballads but they completely fade in comparison to material on Duke and instead sound more more like Phil's solo material.

Still my main grudge comes with the fact that Invisible Touch doesn't really feel like the creative collaboration I was expecting from Genesis as a band, it's doesn't even feel like a team effort! Moments that do work are few and, most often than not, seem too artificial for their own good. There is only one rating for these types of albums.

**** star songs: Invisible Touch (3:27) Land Of Confusion (4:44)

*** star songs: In Too Deep (4:57) Domino (10:41) Throwing It All Away (3:48) The Brazilian (5:04)

** star songs: Tonight, Tonight, Tonight (8:50) Anything She Does (4:06)

Don't believe what anyone else says. Invisible Touch is an excellent album. One of the all- time great pop albums. The number of hit singles is a testament to that. But these are not ordinary pop songs. These are masterful pop songs performed with style.

There are also some great proggish songs like Domino (10:45), the second half of Tonight, Tonight, Tonight (8:54) and The Brazilian.

From the best of prog to the best of pop. Who else has mastered two genres with such critical and commercial acclaim (and such distain!)?

But do the two genres belong together? I enjoy listening to this album, and it is one of the few Genesis albums that I can play in front of others rather than in secret!

There are no weak songs and it makes a great listen. Just relax and enjoy some great pop songs coupled with some good prog. Your girlfriend will appreciate it!

And it can't be all that bad if Invisible Touch acts as an introduction to the delights of early Genesis? Can it?

This is essential in any collection. 5 stars (but file under 'Pop' rather than 'prog').

ProgArchive rating: 3 stars.

Can you tell me where my country lies? Definitely not in pop songs. Genesis offers up this as their thirteenth studio album. Trust me, it's nothing like their earlier work.

"Invisible Touch" is a pop song. It's not even a good pop song. I can't tell who makes it bad (maybe it's the drummer... wait a second...) It's very eighties. That's not good. The lyrics are terrible. Perhaps the would be better if Michael Jackson or Prince sang them, but Phil Collins doesn't have a pop singer's voice. This is a great revelation, and I hope you all take this into consideration while I give this song a solid 1/5.

Oh, god, more drum machine. "Tonight Tonight Tonight" is another pop song. It's slightly better than the title track, but not by much. The lyrics are still very mediocre. I've never seen a monkey come down, but I have seen one of my favorite prog bands do it and never recover. Wonder who that is... Despite being all around unappealing, there is a semi-interesting breakdown in the middle of the song that pulls this up a bit. 2/5

"Land of Confusion" is another 80's pop song. The lyrics are slightly better, and it's danceable. I think Collins may actually be sitting behind a drum kit for some of the drum parts on this song. Still, not a very good song, and definitely not prog. 2/5

If Genesis produced a record of songs similar to the last two songs, it could have pulled something of a semblance of respect from me. They're slightly good, but not within my taste ranges. "In Too Deep" just brings the album down so much. It's not just pop, it's soft pop. Collins is still trying to sing his pop songs, and, still, he's not doing very well. I always did prefer "Dance on a Volcano". Still some terrible lyrics on this song. 1/5

"Anything She Does" is another pop song. There's not much to say about pop songs. They're basically mostly the same. Collins gruffs out some vocals here, to the lyrics that look like they should actually be sung by a teenage girl in her mirror. 1/5

And, now, some redemption. "Domino" is a refreshing song that is about three eighths prog and five eighths pop. The lyrics are better (thank Banks), and Collins sounds at home singing them. Still, it's an eighties song. It runs for about ten minutes and they're some of the best ten minutes of the album, which isn't really saying much. It's no "Supper's Ready" or "Dance on a Volcano", but it's definitely not bad. I think the music could be fleshed out a bit more and performed by a proper rock group to become a great song, but the Genesis version is only good and nothing more. 3/5

"Throwing It All Away" follows a pop format. Shame, after the glimmering beacon of hope of the last song. Soft pop. Nothing more to say. Lyrics are mediocre. 1/5

"The Brazilian" is another half-glimmer of hope. It's an instrumental, which are rare in the pop world. It's still eighties tinged, and sounds like something from a movie soundtrack. It's a good enough end to the album considering what preceded it. Now, if only it were longer... 3/5

This album manages to scrape together two okay songs, but barely falls out of the one star range. Worth a twirl for "Domino" and "The Brazilian" only, but those songs aren't even all that good.

Invisible Touch is in the same vein as the previous few releases by Genesis; poppy and synth-heavy, and ultimately not progressive rock. This was, however, one of their most popular pop albums. "Invisible Touch", "Land of Confusion" and "In Too Deep" were very popular and got quite a bit of radio play. The longer songs such as "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" and "Domino" seem like half-attempts to communicate with their ignored progressive rock era fans. Unfortunately, those tracks only come off as sounding like longer-than-average pop songs, much like "Abacab" and "Dodo" from the Abacab album. However, if you were a fan of Abacab, Duke, and the self-titled album, then you might find some music you like on this album.

Genesis has been castrated.

What in gods name am I listening to, seriously? So I just started to get into Genesis and I started out with a Trick of the Tail, which is utterly fantastic. I also am exploring the Gabriel era as well, but its my explorations which lead me to Invisible touch, the multi-platinum super popular Genesis album, figuring that if so many people bought this thing that it had to be good right? Well, the only conclusion that I can come to is that people as a whole, are really, really stupid. Why do the crappiest albums always sell the most copies? I will never understand this. Sadly, many of the great prog bands of the 70's got violated by the music theory of the 80's and metamorphosed into something boring, unrecognizable and bland, such as what happened to Yes and Genesis. Other bands metamorphosed into something new and interesting such as with King Crimson and Rush, but whatever. Well, on second thought, even the mighty King Crimson went off the rails after Discipline as did Rush after Power Windows, so I guess the Eighties eventually caught up with every Prog Band in some way or another. This album is really god awful, lifeless and without any soul. Its like the soundtrack to care-bares movie or something a toddler would be amused by. Even Land of Confusion which I enjoyed for many years now, for some reason sounds WORSE when I listen to it within the context of the album, which is troubling.

Boring and uninspired album art also. In the end, Invisible Touch is an appropriate title as my ears are being violated by the invisible touch of this album.

I will never listen to this album again. As a matter of fact I just put back on A Trick of the Tail as I am writing this review.

As much as this is labelled a pop album, there are really only three pop songs, well 4 if you count "Land Of Confusion", but I always saw that as more of one of those catchy rock songs that aims at enlightening listeners to the state of the world and some possible solutions. It's very succesful at that, and no, as of this writing, it's goal has not yet been reached. Another song, "Anything She Does" would be a pop song, if not for the very progressive keyboard runs that run through the verses. (Nice creative tone on that sound, by the way.) The three songs that I do consider to be written in the style of largely loved music, I still get into because the songwriting is so strong. The title track is the most obviously catchy, maybe sometimes I'm not in the mood for it, but it's very well done with a good arrangement and performance. The production on the album in general may make the songs sound kind of uniform, but there are subtle touches here and there that each song has that make them stand on their own, like the very tasteful contemporary sounding guitar fills in "In Too Deep", another immaculately produced and performed "popular" number. The other big hit, "Throwing It All Away" also features Mike Rutherford showing his growing as a guitarist with a nice rhythm part that's both simple and complex, not to mention just as melodic as the song's own melody. All of the lyrics are strong on this album, and it's on the non-pop songs where the true message comes out, especially on the song "Domino." Some dark imagery abounds, but it is for the good of mankind, as in exposing our attraction towards such dark entertainings in the lines "Now you never did see such a terrible thing as we seen last night on the TV/Maybe if we're lucky they will show it again/such a terrible thing to see." The most profound, though, is the uncovering of our tendencies to join the masses and pretend that everything that's going on around us is okay, when it's really not: "Now I'm one with the living and I'm feeling just fine/And I know just what I gotta do/Play the game of happiness and never let on that it only lives on in a song." This is all accompanied by very creative and thought provoking music, especially the first part of the song, "In the Glow of the Night", some very entrancing Mike and Tony duets there. Mike Rutherford really takes the cake on this album, most notably on his David Gilmour-like solo at the end of the industrial instrumental "The Brazillian," but there is a very cool keyboard interlude in the song "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight", that is unfortunately edited out when played on the radio. Besides the unwaveringly strong songwriting, which is what stands out most to me about this album, there is also a perfect sequence of songs adding to the greatness. For example, most people who heard the single "Invisible Touch" may have been turned off if they'd started the album with one of the heavier tracks, "In Too Deep" is just when the album needs a breather, hearing "Throwing It All Away" so late in the album and especially after "Domino" adds just that much more depth to the song, and "The Brazillian" is a very Genesis way to close things out.

Genesis is a good example of how to distance sound. The group has been involved in sound for decades before this release.

The songs are professionally recorded and first heard the group when my brother bought their album/cassette. upon its release date. Later of course was a large commercial success to compliment this reflection.

The groups name is beyond time even Sega has a console system named Genesis, the band has to be considered essential? The video released for their song is nothing short of award winning though and was televised in the mainland many occasions.

The commercial success is the only problem when reviewing in the progressive genre. There earlier work was much more unpolished in the English or island distance.

England is trying very hard to be the most recognizable island in the world, but I cannot give them any credit, they are a working perversion. The artists in England are far the most arrogant since they are trying to be the most friendly--USA also..

There is not a wonder to how so much island influence comes to America, the nearest mainland is the USA and so what about the mainland and common sense.

Genesis was overplayed is the problem. Some people like the overplayed mentality and England produces and provides plenty of overplayed groups this one no exception. this is not mainland progressive music and once more Island progressive arrangements based on performance and entertainment.

Invisible Touch- A Catchy Poppy opener, it was a huge success for the band and I enjoy this song.

Tonight, Tonight, Tonight- Kinda interesting "epic" song that deals with drug addiction, I think. Is it prog, not really. The mid-section has some elements in it but mostly this is just a pop song droned out. Took me awhile to get into but do enjoy it now

Land of Confusion- Really good Rock song. Not very prog just more straight ahead rock. Made a great video though.

In Too Deep- A love ballad that spoke volumes to me at the time and do enjoy now. Not bad at all but ballad pop, no prog.

Anything She Does- Upbeat tune talking about a chick poster. It made a funny video with Benny Hill (of all people) with horns in the song too like No Reply At All. Prog, no.

Domino- An awesome 10+ min track. Great from start to finish with a kinda somber mood but ends on a powerful note. Prog, more so than track 2 but the prog is still yet to come ;)

Throwing It All Away- Decent Rutherford ballad. I've never been a fan of his ballad writing and this doesn't change it at all. Successful but no prog at all

The Brazilian- Here's the Prog. This is a fantastic song with a kinda world music feel but mainly jamming between Banks and Collins with Rutherford joining near the end. This is a memorable track and recommend this one of all these. Prog, you bet your bottom dollar.

Overall, a great pop/rock album that is a favorite of mine. Except for Brazilian, and parts of Tonight and Domino, not much prog but still enjoyable to me. As an album, 4 stars but as prog only 3 and a half. Highlights: Tonight Tonight Tonight, Domino and The Brazilian

The first Genesis album I heard and I assume I'm not the only one as this is the bands most commercially successful album. One of the main reasons for this success was that this album followed Phil's hugely successful solo album No Jacket Required. When I was a kid I loved the video for "Land Of Confusion." The video for that song almost won the MTV Video Of The Year award. Who won that award instead? Some guy named Peter Gabriel for his "Sledgehammer" video. I actually know people who have never heard the Genesis original, only the cover by the band Disturbed.

Rutherford is responsible for two of the albums best songs: "Confusion" and "Throwing It All Away." The former is probably my favourite song here and I've always thought it had a great middle section. The latter is one of the better songs they did in the 1980s. The title track is one of the better pop singles of the decade. "In Too Deep" I never really cared for. "Anything She Does" was always my least favourite song here. I hadn't listened to the album for years but I never remembered the verses being so catchy and memorable. Still hate the rest of the song though.

The album version of "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" is longer than the radio edit because of the great instrumental middle section. This is the the proggiest of the hit singles from the album. "Domino" is the longest and proggiest song but it's not a highlight. I honestly didn't remember much about this track. The first 4 1/2 minutes are good and then comes an awful disco/synth-pop part that sounds more 1982 than 1986. The rest of the track is nothing special. "The Brazilian" is a good and proggy instrumental which also happens to be the most "80s" sounding thing on the whole album.

The music here is good for what it is: mid-80s pop/rock. Even at this point they still have longer than average songs. At least one person who bought this album must have thought: "Songs over 5 minutes long...is that even legal?" Genesis were never a Collins side-project, not even on Invisible Touch. I find it amusing how Phil gets blamed for everything while Mr. Gabriel (with his album So) and Mr. Rutherford (with his Mike & The Mechanics) get a pass. The fact is Genesis never completely left their prog roots behind and they *always* had a pop side to them. Unlike a train-wreck like From Genesis To Revelation, this is actually *good* pop music. Not recommended for prog fans but some may enjoy it. 2 stars.

The album that confirmed the three-piece version of Genesis as one of the world's most popular acts, 'Invisible Touch' was one of those super popular albums that defined both the group who created it and the era it's of conception. Featuring a string of hit singles, a slick synthesized sound and a strong electronic streak, this is a Genesis album that has wandered furthest of all from the group's original symphonic prog sound. Whereas 'Duke' and 'Abacab' straddled the line between pop and rock with occasional keyboard-heavy hints towards their past and 1983's 'Genesis' featured the pounding, ultra-heavy and decidedly un-Genesis mini-epic 'Mama', 'Invisible Touch' features precious little progressive material beyond the gruesome, drum-machine drenched 'Domino', an eleven-minute piece so very typical of the 1980s which attempts, and fails, to graft a progressive sensibility on the group's synth-pop sound. Elsewhere you have attractive albeit lightweight ballads('Throwing It All Away'), anthemic rock('Tonight, Tonight, Tonight') and best of all, politically-motivated pop-rock in the shape of the catchy single 'Land Of Confusion'. Listened to now it all sounds very dated, showcasing a streamlined style that highlights the trio's deft ear for melody but precious little soul. Although in actual fact quite a decent pop album, 'Invisible Touch' features little that will appeal to progressive rock fans, so much so that it sounds like the work of a completely different group. And in the end, of course, that's exactly what they had become.

STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2012

Invisible Touch is an album that is heavily-maligned, mostly by those who wish that Genesis continued to release Selling England By The Pound clones for the rest of their career. When analyzed on the basis of being a pop-prog fusion in the mid 1980's, IT is an absolute triumph. The straightforward pop songs include the title track, Land of Confusion, In Too Deep and Throwing It All Away. Each one of those songs attained massive chart success, and resentment from prog-heads who wanted to keep Genesis for themselves. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight was issued as a radio-edit, but the LP version is a dark, well developed example of 80's prog. Domino is a fantastic song with several movements, and has been a concert highlight in every tour since it was released.

I can understand the displeasure of many 70's prog heads who do not like the direction Genesis took beginning with And Then There Were Three. From my perspective, I was 14 years old when IT was released, and it was an accessible gateway to me to the entire world of prog music which I had not yet discovered. I will always hold this album in high regard for introducing me to the genre.

To begin with, I have to say one thing: I love and adore this band simply because of their braveness. Believe me, if it wasn't for albums like Wind and Wuthering, ABACAB, Genesis and Invisible Touch I don't think I would be here in the first place. I love and breathe music since I was a child who could barely walk or speak so I think that I have earned the right to speak with much more conviction than these Expert Prog guys here who try to trash and dismiss every single thing that Phil(in particular), Mike and Tony did after Wind and Wuthering.

Let's get one thing straight, the success of this band relied on their capability to evolve, change and mature (YES) throughout the years. That's what attracted me (and the whole world) and has drown me into their music ever since. I know how to recognize a good piece of music regardless of who wrote it, sang it, produced it, prog, rock, pop, disco etc. I am not prejudiced.

Some Prog Rock fans have a very limited taste and a horrendous bad judgment of what good music should be. They cannot stand a ballad or a love song, even if it has a beautiful melody, lyrics and a serious fantastic production. I'm saying this because I know that all of you regard Wind and Wuthering a fantastic album but discard ''Your Own Special Way'' as a low point. I mean, really? My god, that's one of the most beautiful songs that I have ever heard, but I think that you people think while you listen to it: - Oh my god, it's a straightfoward, direct love song. My god, I cannot listen to this. Skip, skip.... Guys, come on... Do you really think that such diverse and talented musicians would continue to do the same thing over and over again?

They had to keep up with the times and Invisible Touch was the perfect album for it. Full of engaging, beautiful, well crafted rock/pop songs with hints of their prog roots. Of course, the production now sounds a little bit dated but remember, this was the 80's. These songs got better arrangements when they were taken on the road. (Especially the 87, 91 tours). Daryl Stuermer has done some fantastic songs of some of them in his recent Genesis Rewired Tour.

''People that like Genesis' prog roots probably hate "Invisible Touch" but there's a reason this sold 15 million copies while albums like "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" only get masturbated over by dudes who like to play Magic the Gathering and watch Star Trek; it was just a masterfully executed pop album that appealed to a much wider audience. In an age where pop ruled and quite frankly 85% of it was hackneyed prototypical radio fare, "Invisible Touch" was the rare album that had a shred of depth in a genre that pretty much hates the concept. Maybe it's because they were so damn arty and smart(anyone here on progarchives?), but Genesis was able to easily make the transition from wankery to studio pop mastery.'' Just ask Pat Bateman.

It's time for you to eat all your words, swallow your pride and open your eyes.

Wow does this album rate poorly with many of the other reviewers! Let me start off by saying that I like pretty much all versions of Genesis, some more than others. To the people who think Phil Collins ruined Genesis I saw BALDERDASH! The pop bent of Genesis in the 80s is as much about Banks and Rutherford as it is about Collins. It was a decision of all involved, and agreed upon by all.

That said, there is much here that is just too poppy - Invisible Touch, Anything She Does, In Too Deep. But there are still strong prog songs here - Tonight Tonight Tonight, Domino, Land of Confusion, The Brazillian. In fact, Domino is one of my favorite Genesis songs of ALL TIME. This song just sings to me; I love the interplay between the drums and the keyboard.

With all that in mind, it still is only an average album. I saw them on this tour and they smoked it, but unfortunately they didn't play much of the old material, mostly stuff from this album and the one before. Still, Domino is worth the price of admission in and of itself.

I would give this 3 1/2 stars if they allowed that.

Invisible Touch is an interesting album because it tries to please both fans of Genesis' early years and the newer fans who were more accustomed to their more recent radio-friendly output. I think, for the most part, Invisible Touch succeeds.

The songs:

Invisible Touch - The album kicks off to a poppy start with the title track and despite it being slightly tarnished by Phil Collins' cheesy lyrics, I feel as if it is a catchy and enjoyable tune that gets the album off to a great start. (7/10)

Tonight, Tonight, Tonight - Clocking in at 8 minutes and 53 seconds this is the first of three progressive pieces on the album with a dark, moody song about drug addiction proving that when he isn't writing about love and relationships, Phil Collins can write some deep, meaningful lyrics. The music itself holds together nicely with a great middle section and a brilliant climax. (8/10)

Land Of Confusion - A brilliant, energetic protest song about the Cold War (if the Spitting Image music video with Ronald Reagan wasn't an indication) that doesn't waste anytime in making its point. I think this song is still as relevant as it was when first released in 1986. (10/10)

In Too Deep - Now we come to the first real blemish of the album. This is the generic "I'm in love with you but it hurts" song that Phil Collins seems to be such a fan of writing. This song also comes with that slow, plodding rhythm that is associated with this type of Phil Collins song. (5/10)

Anything She Does - This is a strange song about a mans' obsession with a porn star. Upon hearing the horns at the beginning of the song my expectations for it hit rock bottom. However, as the song progressed I was proven wrong. It is probably the fastest song on the album featuring some great guitar work by Mike Rutherford. But those horns... (7/10)

Domino: In The Glow Of The Night/The Last Domino - The second progressive piece and the longest song on the album at a length of 10 minutes 53 seconds. This, for me, is the best song the album. It encompasses everything that is great about the Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins eras of the band. Nice melody? Check. Surreal, dark imagery in the lyrics? Check. Accessible? Check. I would even go as far to say that this is the centrepiece of the album. (10/10)

Throwing It All Away - A less boring version of In Too Deep. By that I mean the rhythm isn't as slow and plodding. (6/10)

The Brazilian - The final progressive piece and closing track of the album. Very much like with A Trick Of The Tail, Genesis decided to end the album with an instrumental song; this one having the band going all out with their experimentation joined in the last minute by an awesome guitar solo by Mike Rutherford, closing the album with a bang. (10/10)

Overall: 3.5/5

"Invisible Touch" is probably the most hated of all the Genesis releases. This album is probably the most 80s sounding of all of their releases, and it spawned some major hits.

"Invisible Touch" is a great pop song and "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" creates a wonderful atmosphere, but the rest of the album is rather dispensable 80s pop music. The sound of the album is very synthesised and plastic sounding, which was characteristic of a lot of 80s music. But it is not completely horrible. While I understand the dramatically negative reviews, I disagree with them to a certain extent. While Genesis were not really making progressive rock music, they were still making decent (but not amazing) pop music.

I do like this album, but I think that 2 stars is a realistic rating.

At the age of 14, I joined the RCA Music Club (anyone from the USA remember that?). Among the first 6 cassettes I got (this was 1986, after all) was this one. My first exposure to this album, aside from the title track which was the band's first single, was from some friends visiting from Canada who had brought their own cassette copy with them (and hearing it definitely piqued my curiosity). At that age I was still formulating my opinions of music, but upon purchasing it, I discovered something different between Genesis and what most other bands getting airplay on the radio - the only way I could formulate it was "they don't use their instruments like everyone else". I had never heard the term "progressive rock" before, but that cassette started my journey into the land of prog and fusion jazz. I owe a great deal to this cassette for pushing me onto that voyage, providing me with countless hours of enjoyment, analysis and speculation in the often sophisticated realm of some of the most technically challenging, thought-provoking music out there.

It pains me, therefore, to say that "Invisible Touch", in and of itself, simply doesn't hold up all that well as a document. It has some nice moments - "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight", while a bit overlong, has a nice mood and some melodic bass playing; "The Brazilian" is certainly the most progressive piece on here (and unlike "Second Home By the Sea" from the eponymous album, this one is actually interesting), and "Domino", while perhaps a bit overstated as a live centerpiece, is certainly better overall than "Home By The Sea" from "Genesis".

However, there are a lot more pleasant-but-unremarkable ballads on here. "In Too Deep", "Throwing It All Away", and the fun-but-entirely-superficial title track are the chief offenders here. That's a fair amount of filler, and none of the remaining tracks necessarily just reach out and grab you. There's nothing as riveting as "Abacab" or even "It's Gonna Get Better". The lows are not terrible, but there are no great highs here either. It's just a lot of mediocrity with some extra fat that needed serious trimming. Adding "Do The Neurotic" in might have actually pushed it up to three stars, but the band opted for what was more commercially viable. I get the desire to make money (and this was their top-seller, after all), and in a post-LP era that track might have been included, but its absence because of time and circumstance does the album no favors.

I'm grateful to Genesis for what this album inspired me to investigate. IQ, Pendragon, Brand X, Weather Report, the Flower Kings and tons of other great music fills my collection now because of this purchase. But, by itself, it simply doesn't hold up as anything more than mediocre. Two bittersweet stars.

I'm going to say that at this point I was really eager to use the later Genesis albums as frisbees or as coffee mug coasters. The intracacy of the band had long gone by this point and it was purely pop music for teenagers. How adult men with the past that the members of Genesis had could with all honesty release this music and call it music is beyond me - it is the stuff of airheads and teenage angst. Listening to the interview relating to this release from the band members I do pick up a defensive attitude. Genesis were chasing the mass market and that was certain. Can one really deride the members for chasing money? I would say no but with that being the recipe for Genesis they definitely lost me as a willing listener - and they lost me after the fantastic "Duke" album due to the drivel that they became happy with on later albums. Two stars because this isn't a bad pop music album but pop music isn't my thing and beat machines are even less of my thing.

Invisible Touch was the pinnacle of Genesis' commercial success, largely due to five smash singles in the United States, an incredible feat for a formerly obscure progressive band from the UK. A large measure of this success is due to the soaring popularity of Phil Collins' solo career in the states, and critics of latter day Genesis will say that Invisible Touch was basically a Collins solo record. Those critics, however, are ignoring the fact that the album is a collaborative effort, with each member's songwriting skills shining brightly. Each of the five singles are brilliant, as is Domino, the lone track on this album that harks back to their prog roots. Is Invisible Touch a prog album? Not really, but that doesn't mean that it is not worth listening to. Invisible Touch is a thoroughly enjoyable listen for those prog fans who don't take themselves or their music too seriously. For many of us younger prog fans, hearing these songs on the radio or in our dad's car were our first taste of "prog" music, and for that I am forever grateful. Do I think that Invisible Touch is one of Genesis' best albums? Not really. However, there is no denying that Invisible Touch is a good album, albeit non-essential for any prog rock collection. That's worth three out of five stars according to this site's rating system. Many progheads will debate endlessly as to whether Invisible Touch (or any of the post-Genesis albums) are legitimate prog albums, but they're missing the point. Prog or not, Invisible Touch is a light-hearted, enjoyable listen every time.

By the time the mid-80s came around, Genesis and their singer/drummer Phil Collins essentially became synonymous with each other in the public eye, especially when it came to the band's big hits. Who once was a musically and lyrically complex progressive rock outfit was slowly transforming into a pop/rock band once original vocalist Peter Gabriel left and Collins took over the mic. Soon, Steve Hackett left as well and the remaining trio pressed onward; once Collins started his own very profitable solo career in soft rock music, elements of his work started creeping into Genesis' sound until their progressive roots disappeared completely (this happened around the Abacab era). Once 1986's Invisible Touch came around, the sound of Collins' solo work almost completely overtook the band's work (with a few notable exceptions); so why, after all of this, would it actually end up being such a solid listen?

On the surface, Invisible Touch is probably a 70s Genesis fan's worst nightmare; there's barely a touch of progressive rock to be found, and a good handful of the songs would fit very nicely in adult contemporary radio stations. Furthermore, the four biggest smash hits were crammed into the front of the album; it's obviously a popular choice for pop artists to kick an album off with a strong opening single, but having four at once seems a bit ridiculous (although I have seen it happen before). However, commercialism aside, Invisible Touch isn't nearly as bad as you might expect it to be; if you can accept the poppy nature of the record, it becomes a stronger listen as well as one of their most emotional ones. As was said before, the first half of the experience is dominated by the big singles like the title track, "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight," "Land of Confusion," and "In Too Deep." Immediately, the one that should surprise most listeners is "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight"; remember the single version that's played on the radio frequently? Well, that's not the version present here; this one is a whopping nine minutes! This song and the eleven-minute "Domino" represent the most progressive tendencies of the album with their sprawling length (at least by pop Genesis standards) and some added complexity in the songwriting. "Tonight..." in particular has a full synthesizer-driven instrumental section in the middle; in fact, most of the song's strength's are driven by Tony Banks' keyboard work. The biggest thing that comes to mind is the tension-and-release tactic between the verses, choruses, and the uplifting vocal interlude that follows; the way the major and minor notes/chords intertwine gives the song a very unique touch. The other hits (excluding one, but we'll get to that) are great as well, despite their more poppy nature. The title track is an iconic synth-driven power ballad that allows Phil to give one of his strongest vocal performances, while "Land of Confusion" is a heavier number that primarily showcases Mike Rutherford's high guitar chords and catchy main riff.

The first half is definitely where all the best things happen though, because the second is a bit of a mixed bag. While "In Too Deep" is a deeply emotional, soulful ballad and one of the band's best songs from their pop-era, the same can't be said for the hopelessly boring "Throwing It All Away." Definitely one of the biggest products of Collins' solo influence, the song sounds like if you took "That's the Way of the World" by Earth, Wind and Fire and sucked the soul out of it to fit an easy-listening format. While "Domino" is a successful "experimental" pop epic, "The Brazilian" seems like an unnecessary instrumental with synthesizer experimentation that just isn't all that interesting. "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" experimented with Banks' multi-layered synth arrangements more tastefully, but "The Brazilian" simply seems like filler. Also, one more thing: where the hell is Mike Rutherford? He's put to the sidelines for the majority of the album; while his basslines remain are prominent (although pretty simplistic), his guitar playing just gets drowned out most of the time.

To fully enjoy Invisible Touch, you have to go in with the right frame of mind. Don't go in expecting a crazy progressive rock comeback or something, but also don't get too cynical and expect a full-on Phil Collins solo record. It's still a full-band effort, although not as much as it could have been; in any case, if you enjoy fun and emotional 80s pop/rock, this album will easily fit the bill. Perhaps I'm viewing it as a guilty pleasure of sorts, but it's just too damn entertaining to completely ignore; yes, there's still crap on the record, but the gems are so well-done that it almost doesn't matter. Almost.

(Originally published on Sputnikmusic)

Invisible Touch must be one of the most hated albums in Genesis' library... maybe one of the most hated albums in the entirety of Prog Archives. I've listened to this album many times, and I don't understand where that hate comes from. It's a crisp, smart, hook-filled pop-rock release that is as classy as it is memorable. It's stuck with me more than almost any other Genesis album.

As a "prog" album it gets below-average marks: it's squeaky clean, occasionally schmaltzy, and definitely playing for the masses. This has got to be one of the reasons for the hatred that Invisible Touch gets. As a pop album, it's first rate, and has a lot of artistry going on behind the scenes, but it doesn't have layers of lyrical depth or 10-minute instrumental passages, so it gets blasted by prog heads by default.

I don't have any sort of nostolgic tie to Genesis, but I know that a lot of readers here on the archives do. I can imagine what seeing your favorite fringe art-rock group go mainstream would be like... it would kind of suck. Fans like us hate the thing we love when it becomes the "it" thing. This is a natural response, but one that doesn't allow a person to be objective.This is reason enough to be leery of the album's poor rating.

Reason number two is that many reviewers are saying things like, "avoid if you like prog," or "not for prog fans," or similar things. This is a juvenile argument, and one that I think many musicians would roll their eyes at. We like our prog because of certain traits, but it's silly to trash music by default because it doesn't have each of those traits. I realize that defining music as "good" or "bad" is incredibly subjective, but recognizing that this is a natural response will help you be honest and come to a more reasonable and honest opinion of a release.

So without digressing further, here's what I hear happening on Invisible Touch.

The title track is 100% killer. It hooks you in right away with creative drumming, memorable synth hits, and great bass riffing. It's incredibly catchy, and Phil Collins hits a home run with his vocals. I'm not going to say that it's especially creative, but it's entirely effective.

"Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" is a keyboard effects driven tapestry, with dense layers by Banks. In fact, he has an almost 2-minute stretch of atmospheric improvization that builds to great crescendo with a guitar solo finale. Again, very effective.

The next song is probably one of the band's best single tracks. "Land of Confusion" simply rocks. It's upbeat, catchy, passionately executed and practically pulls you in to the performance. Great, great stuff, and one of my favorite Genesis songs.

The schmaltz kicks in with "In Too Deep," which is probably where most of the prog purists will roll their eyes in disgust and press 'Stop.' Well I can't really blame them, because this is pure exploitative radio-play balladry. But, again, a good love song (break up song, really), and it nails the delivery. I for one like indulging in this sort of schmaltz every once and I while; it's like going to a dive bar. It makes listening to "Supper's Ready" that much more enjoyable.

I'm amazed that "Domino" isn't talked about more. First off, this track is better than almost anything the great prog bands produced in '80's (Discipline being the exception). It's richly nuanced and ambitiously written while remaining its energy and appeal. It contains three passages, each with a distinct identity and feel, transitioning with dynamic performances and style. Its an old style prog song performed with the slick technology of the (then) new decade. I think it qualifies as one of the best prog songs of the '80's.

"Throwing it All Away" dips back into the FM balladry, but listen closer and you'll hear the impeccable energy the band produces by blending a heavy back-beat, synth textures, and guitar effects.

Finally, we get an instrumental closer with moody and energetic keyboards and a guitar solo overdub. Not too shabby, even if it does feel like the sound track from Miami Vice.

So in the end I'm going to be generous and give Invisible Touch four solid stars. No it's not "prog" in the pure sense, but it is an exceptionally polished and elegant pop-rock album that is so artistic and well done that, without the Genesis legacy attached to it, would probably rate much higher on this website.

Give it a try if you're interested in hearing some nuanced pop-rock, and especially if you're a Genesis fan ready to let go of your decade's old hate.

Songwriting: 3 - Instrumental Performances: 4 - Lyrics/Vocals: 3 - Style/Emotion/Replay: 4

For some reason this album is one of the most favored albums in ProgArchives to hate. However I see this as a one path where prog music could have gone. This and "Mama" album are both great albums which are pure progressive rock albeit with a pop music aspect. All of the tracks in this album are very enjoyable.

Although most of these tracks made to the charts that does not make them bad ones. They are not simply pure pop but they have progressive aspect in them too. Music is written in pop format though, and there is not long and complex pieces, perhaps Domino being exception.

I see this album as a master piece and definitely Prog. Sometimes I wonder what this kind of prog music might have become with time...

The only reason I am giving this 4 stars is because I don't think it is essential for any self respecting prog fan to own this album. If you just love music, then I think this is an excellent album to own and listen to. All you pretentious reviewers who gave this album one star should lower your expectations, because Genesis aren't ever going to release an album with extended mellotron passages and songs about flowers and volcanoes and blood on the rooftops. I used to look down upon their later work as well, but as I listened to this album more, i realized there wasn't a single bad track on the album. There's something here for everyone; ten-minute songs, radio friendly tunes, interesting meter/key changes... in fact, Tonight, Tonight, Tonight probably has the widest scope of any Genesis song since Supper's Ready. There's shades of Mama, In The Air Tonight, Man of Our Times; even The Musical Box, because of the change in the middle and the subject matter is a bit similar. Anyway, I'm winding a bit, so to wrap this up; if you aren't afraid to listen to different music, even if it's accessible and more radio-friendly than Selling England or The Lamb, then I recommend this album to you.

#3 Review

Invisible Touch is an album that was destined to be much better than the final product, see songs like "Do the Neurotic" that isn't in the final cut, it's a really nice song. As always i'll review the album by song.

1.- Invisible Touch 6/10 The hit from this album, really simple and catchy, sometimes you can start the first notes that the battery does and you already know the song, it's not a bad song but it doesn't fit that much into the prog aspect, but for what the 80s asked, it's probably one of the best songs on that era.

2.- Tonight, tonight, tonight 8/10 A song that was destined to be much more than the final product, it fits in the long side of songs and it was even longer, it has a really eery feel to it, really interesting lyrics that describe how people trapped in drugs feel. It has a really interesting solo, and i think that everything in the song translates really well the feelings of everything, and that's what Genesis is about, or not?

3.- Land of Confusion 8/10 This is the song, this is the first song i heard from Genesis, i was watching youtube, searching for 80s musical videos, i came to PGs SledgeHammer, and yt recommended me the video of this song, wich i loved it, this is probably the only pop song that i have in my phone. This song it's really catchy, i think that this was the best pop song that the 80s had to offer alongside PG's stuff, it's simple, catchy and a little edgy, to sing this and to play it is really entertaining.

4.- In too Deep 7/10 A really relaxing and chill song, really pop tho, but it's nice to have a change of pace... it sure is repetitive, but short and at the end it doesn't feel that repetitive, it's like well balanced, that's why it has a 7.

5.- Anything She Does 5/10 The lowest in this album and i fell like it doesn't fit at all here, it's like they tried to have another hit like the first song, but didn't succeed, it gets repetitive and a little annoying fast.

6.- Domino 9/10 It's hard to judge this one as one because it has 2 parts, In the Glow of the Night and The Last Domino, both are really nice pieces of music tho, the first part starts really chill and then goes a little exagerated, it really represents well the night, it can be really peacefull but always bound to be surprising... and then the song its ending in a really pacific note to go at 100% with The Last Domino, a song that makes me feel like i'm travelling on a portal through time and space, the song gets really epic but then at then the last 3 minutes it goes pop for no good reason. This is the longest song in the album and it was another song that was longer and much more prog than what it became... another interesting thing is that this song is from what they got many song ideas for this album.

7.- Throwing it All Away 6/10 Another chill song that gets a little repetitive, it really doesn't feel like it throws anything away really, this song is pretty average but it's well executed i guess?

8.- The Brazillian 10/10 This is the best song in the album, it's prog, i now that it could've been better (not deserving of a 10/10) but this song for me represents what this album could've been, this scores goes to every prog song that didn't make it to this album. As for the song, it's a little repetitive, it's all instrumental tho and it feels like a trailer for a nice movie near the end... maybe for the new Blade Runner... idk, but it's still a really nice song, i really would like to do a compilation of every prog song, or every part that it's prog that was made by Genesis in the 80s.

In the end, this album goes a little higher in score, maybe i gave it too much praise, but i think this album, the concert that followed it, the videos, the songs that didn't make it and the practices that they did were all good, and if it wasn't for this album, probably many young people wouldn't have been able to know Genesis, and i'm grateful for this album to exists.

The final score is 74/100, and here i'll give it 3 stars.

Well here I am. And to quote the big climax of Tonight, Tonight, Tonight...GET ME OUT OF HERE!. Yes, the archives incorporate a fantastic feature that allows a quick rating on an album with a simple click. Well, with a touch screen device so popular now, like iPads and smart phones, it is even easier. Yes, I accidentally touched Invisible Touch. I assure you, the irony is not lost on me. And this is not the first time. Fortunately, the previous episode involved a band/album that turned out to be a hidden gem when I dove in to avoid having ratings without reviews on my record. But this time, I know what sort of travesty I am heading into. But you know what, I am going to do it anyway.

I have heard a lot of apologist excuses for why this is a good album. "Its one of the best examples of a pop album ever". Well, I don't care. Are we going to start giving successful and efficient totalitarian regimes high scores as well? We all heard the Patrick Bateman monologues about what is so great about 80's Genesis. We all are free to are own tastes, but the attempts at convincing me all come across as psychosis. This was a band that made some of the greatest progressive rock of all-time, now producing the very dross that embodies the horror of 80's popular music. Right from the start, the punchy overly compressed keyboard samples in the title track give me that bile aspirate that the soundtrack to Beverly Hllls Cop always did. And the absurd electronic drums, that were dated before they were ever used, dominate every square inch of this album. How does a guy who played some of the most outrageous beats of the classic prog era play that long drawn out, go no where, section of Domino night after night and not lose his mind? Oh yeah, I forgot, he inflicted it on Chester Thompson for live sets. Even when the songs sounded promising, like The Brazillian, they would go nowhere, just ending up in the same spot they started. And don't get me started about the lifeless ballads. I love a good ballad as much as the next guy, but In Too Deep with its anti-Rhodes-sampled electric piano (it goes along well with anti-mellotron; that punchy orchestra sample that dominated 80's pop, see Owner of a Lonely Heart) is the stuff of nightmares for the hardened progger.

Sorry, not sorry. This is every bit the heap of waste that it was when it came out and I was a thrash-metal head. Nothing has changed through the years and my expanded exposure and deepening tastes. "You're taking it all too far". So apropos . 1 stinking star, because less isn't allowed.

1980s Genesis really needs to be marked on a different scale from the 1970s group. Whilst up to Duke they were still largely in the prog realm, from Abacab onwards they were very much on a pop kick, with Tony Banks' synthesisers switching from being delivery mechanisms for carefully composed classically-influenced solos to becoming devices for offering a certain art pop texture to things.

Yes, Invisible Touch is undoubtedly a pop album - and a very successful one in pop terms, given the crop of hit singles it spawned. But let's not pretend that it's simplistic, vacuous bubblegum pop. Here, the band have hit a careful balance between the deployment of killer hooks on the one hand with adding their own personal twist to proceedings on the other. Let's face it: an 80s pop group who only cared about hit singles would have never produced something like The Brazilian or Domino, extended art pop pieces which, whilst they don't go full prog, are just a bit too eccentric to be full pop either.

Out of all the prog bands who went pop in the 1980s, I think Genesis might have pulled it off the most successfully, in part because they didn't fall into the trap of abandoning their personality entirely - they're still the quirky bunch you remember from the 1970s, it's just that this time they're hanging out at a Miami Vice-themed cocktail bar. If that sounds like an utter nightmare to you, you're hardly alone, but if that sounds like the sort of thing which would be a lot of fun when you're in the right mood, then you might find the same is true of Invisible Touch.

Let me explain my point. If we consider that there is a prog pop subgenre - think of Supertramp and 10cc for example - and take the 80's prog albums as a kind of adaptation effort to post punk scenario, then we maybe could begin to see this album in a different perspective. In 1986 none of the greatest prog heroes were doing the same thing they did in the 70's. And not only prog has changed, all genres changed a lot as well. It's the market pressure, I know. But it's also the history of any kind of art, they all change with time. So it's just naive to expect that an album made by a prog band in 1986 would sound the same as one they made in 1976. What Genesis brings here is a well done, well played, well produced and honest and catchy blend of 80's pop with progressive elements. Maybe I'm too open minded and eclectic, but I give Invisible Touch 5 stars as a really strong prog pop album.

1 Invisible Touch attack frankly, GENESIS moves away from GENESIS, the dance tempo, the pop rhythm, the easy Wavian keyboards, the melody that flirts to be played on the radio, high treason for some progs; well the radio edit anyway that made GENESIS known to the young people of the 80s, Phil not being the first drummer to come along! 2 Tonight, Tonight, Tonight and the slap just for the duration, yes a 9 minutes that raises questions; at the beginning it is very synthetic, the unstoppable melody, Phil who sings well, expressive, without makeup, and then this chorus that seems not to stop; bang at the third the progressive drift, yes but with a new-wave sauce we agree; you have to get used to it or not, it is lack of warmth although the keyboard becomes languid; yes the prog Charisma makes its revolution; Phil comes back and tells us that well we shouldn't criticize before listening, the prog blood is still there; yes in the John CARPENTER way, that is to say easy to access but there is a response; very repetitive ending... 3 Land Of Confusion and the boosted, effective MTV clip; the puppets, the parody of the situation, the chorus, the parody, the choirs, the parody, Rambo, the president, the prime minister, the dictator, 2001 with the bone still makes me laugh, the heavy riff that boosts the song, a hell of a confusion that is ultimately very funny, until the final red button; I almost forgot to talk about the song, but you have it in mind 4 In Too Deep with the synthetic ballad of synthetic, everything is electric, the voice is bee geesian, the marshmallow ballad, the rare crystalline guitar, Tony's piano, the synth pop that flows all by itself; GENESIS has changed its tune and we have to accept it, but what a killer chorus all the same

5 Anything She Does with Benny as a guest trooper-guardian introducing this title; we are indeed on the lands of Albion for the antics, which will save the album for daring to parody itself; the track winks at BRAND X with the brass, GENESIS loses its soul but manages to come out with a bluffing dance rhythmic tune; well do I continue or do I stop?

6 Domino in 2 parts, drum machine, synth-pop yes but classy, ​​ah that calls out to me... I continue; the chorus that does the job, airy, modern; bang 4 minutes and the clean break, superb.. and it goes straight to this catchy beat worthy of a TANGERINE DREAM, guaranteed impulse effect; electronics have taken possession of the Genesis soul but Tony shows that he still knows how to come out with melting melodies; Chester comes to help him live and boosts this progressive pharaonic title 7 Throwing It All Away with a sharp riff from Michael as if he adapted well to Steve's departure; well the feeling is not there, but the tune is; a little piano and again this very clear voice of Phil who often saves the scores; rhythmic ballad, tribal, with a burning groovy 8 The Brazilian comes to conclude this controversial album with this very synthetic instrumental, too much yes, but well done, energetic, a catchy setting with these pad rolls and the melody which suddenly slips in; this tune so simple at first, so fat, so intense giving pride of place to the electronics of the 80s revisited by one of the masters of keyboards, it gives this enjoyable progressive finale with a warm guitar solo in addition which warms the heart; yes GENESIS understood well what it took to remain famous.

I really can't stand this album and it's difficult to come up with the 100 words which qualifies as a review. My feelings towards this album can be summarized by the titles of three Genesis songs, "Who Dunnit?" and "Another Record" off the Abacab album and "Land Of CONFUSION" off this one. This album in my opinion represents the nadir of Genesis's creative output only rivaling some of the worst song writing on The Abacab album. To be fair Domino, which the band performed live throughout the 80's, isn't a bad song while The Brazilian is a half decent instrumental. Unfortunately you have to wade through 25 minutes of sludge before you get to the last couple of decent songs.

Surprisingly the trio came back for one more album before they decided to break up and the result, We Can't Dance, isn't a bad effort. The opening 6 minute track off that album, "No Son Of Mine", is superior to the 45 minutes of music you have to sit through listening to Invisible Touch.

Genesis released 'Invisible Touch' in 1986 and with it they reached new artistic and commercial heights. The album is their thirteenth studio release, and is arguably the pinnacle of their 80s work - jam packed with fantastic songs, presenting this very intelligent and colorful pop music, with gracious instrumental work from all three members of the band, as well as the impactful and particularly strong vocals of the ingenious artist Phil Collins, and we could not stress the word 'artists' enough, as he also provides some of his most mature and thoughtful lyrics that just fit more than perfectly the lovely music and the zeitgeist of the mid-80s.

An important achievement for Genesis, and truly one of their finest works, where it seems that all the elements the band has been developing over the previous years of the decade are well-organized and chiseled in a most impressive manner; Probably not as trailblazing as their early 70s output, 'Invisible Touch' is no less essential, and no criticism and negligence could prevent it from being a really enjoyable piece of music. Not only this, but this album produced five very strong singles, some of which are beloved by millions and are still played with decent regularity on the radio.

Kicking things off is the really impressive title track, one of the biggest hits the band ever produced, and one of the most memorable songs of the 80s, a sing-along number about a girl with which the narrator is falling in love. This one is followed by the gloomy but no less romantic 9-minute 'Tonight, Tonight, Tonight', another very successful single and a real high of the album. 'Land of Confusion' and 'In Too Deep' conclude side one, which can be easily called flawless; Needless to say, these songs are also quite gorgeous and were two very well-received singles, too.

Side two is definitely weaker than side one, with 'Anything She Does' opening it, a power pop number that is not as impactful as the title track on 'Invisible Touch' but has the potential to have been a single; 'Domino' is a two-part nearly 11-minute composition that impresses thoroughly, with the first part being darker and maybe more intriguing, while the second part of the song (named 'The Last Domino') is the more uplifting one. 'Throwing It All Away' is also good and was a single that is probably forgotten by now, and 'The Brazilian' is a fantastic way to conclude the album, a powerhouse instrumental and a band composition, on which Tony Banks shines with some pretty fabulous keyboard sounds.

With not much to add, it has to be said that 'Invisible Touch' is deservedly beloved and undeservedly criticized; It is a powerful statement for the band, and a great presentation of their skills as songwriters of catchy, yet smart pop rock songs. Phil Collins impresses as a band leader, and his vocals are quite inspired. The songs are tremendously good, the band is at the top of their game, and the album makes up for a severely enjoyable listen, an excellent collection!

The band at their most 'poppy', yet there are still some good songs here. You have to get past such lightweight disposable (and somewhat annoying) pop fluff like 'Invisible Touch' and 'Anything She Does', but 'Throwing It All Away' is a genuinely beautiful pop ballad and 'Land of Confusion' is a solid quirky rocker. They even throw a bone to whatever remains of their prog-rock fans with 'Domino' and parts of 'Tonight Tonight Tonight', that keep the prog elements ever so faintly burning. And the oddball instrumental 'The Brazilian' could have been something if it went anywhere (after intriguing opening sections, the song just repeats itself after the first 2 min.). So, definitely a very mixed bag here, with some of their worst crap, but also some worthwhile elements.

'Invisible Touch' captures Genesis at their peak in terms of mainstream success. Coincidentally, 'So' by Peter Gabriel was released less than a month before this album and was the album where Gabriel reached the height of his commercial success. I'm sure that was an exciting year for Genesis fans who were alive at the time. Unfortunately, I was yet to be born.

Everyone at least once in their life has heard the singles from 'Invisible Touch' on the radio or in a supermarket. I've heard the title track ad nauseam, which is probably why I find it to be vexing. Genesis, up to this point, always had great opening tracks. The abrupt electronic drum fill that leads into "Invisible Touch" filled me with disappointment the first time I heard it in the context of the album, especially after hearing "Mama" from the previous record, 'GENESIS.' The album starts off on a weak note with one of my least favorite Genesis songs, and an even worse song, "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" follows the opening track. This song, which in essence is mediocre and doesn't engage me whatsoever, is far too long. The instrumental section captures the band struggling to stretch out the song to nine minutes, making it a challenging song to get through entirely. In my opinion, this is certainly one of the worst Genesis songs. However, the rest of the album, for the most part, is better in terms of the quality of the music. "Land of Confusion" is an excellent rock song and is one of my favorite Genesis tracks of this period. "In Too Deep" is a smooth, pop ballad that I actually like quite a bit.

The second side opens with "Anything She Does," which is energetic but not particularly interesting at the same time. "Domino" is the longest song at ten minutes and forty-five seconds, and signifies the progressive aspect of Genesis' music, albeit not very well. I will say, I really enjoy listening to the chorus of the song which is introduced in the second half. However, the rest of the song doesn't really interest me. "Throwing It All Away" is a great pop song that features Mike Rutherford's superb rhythm guitar playing. "The Brazilian" is probably the most prog song on the entire album, and also happens to be one of my favorite songs on 'Invisible Touch.' The interplay between the electronic percussion and synths are appealing. The main theme is anthemic and contains a great Mike Rutherford guitar solo at the end.

In conclusion, 'Invisible Touch' is yet another mediocre 80s Genesis album. Even if I wanted to listen to 80s pop, seldom would I ever choose to listen to this record. It doesn't have the same highs as its predecessor, but at the same time, it doesn't have the same lows; it's an average album of this era of Genesis. 4/10

Review Nº 776

"Invisible Touch" is the thirteenth studio album of Genesis and that was released in 1986. It became and is remained by far, as the most commercially successful album of their entire musical career, and it eventually sold over fifteen million copies worldwide. It received in general, favourable reviews from critics, and catch Genesis at their commercial peak. However, some of them commented that "Invisible Touch" was more a Phil Collins' solo album than a Genesis' album. Perhaps due to that, it was also the most pop album of them, mainly based on electronic percussion and synthesizers.

"Invisible Touch" has eight tracks. All songs were written by Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins. The first track "Invisible Touch" is the title track. It was also released as a single and it became the most successful single in the band's lengthy history and was also their first and only single to be # 1 in the United States. This is a typical and pure pop song that was made to be a greatest hit. As a pop song, we are in presence of an excellent song. However, it has nothing to do with the progressive music. It seems to be a song written to be part of a Phil Collins' solo work. The second track "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" was the fourth single to be released from the album. It was the first of the two extended musical pieces on the album. This is a very good song with some progressive lines and once more, when he wants, Tony Banks can show his great musical skills. It's a very nice atmospheric song with many interesting musical passages. This is, in my opinion, one of the highlights of the album. The third track "Land Of Confusion" was one more single taken from the album, one of the four tracks of the album released as a single. It became a Genesis' classic song with a catchy rhythm and a beautiful melody, very nice and pleasant to hear. Of course this isn't exactly a progressive song but it's good enough to be remembered. Undoubtedly, we are in presence of an excellent pop rock song, with nothing to do with silly songs such as, "Who Dunnit?" or "Illegal Alien". The fourth track "In Too Deep" was another song to be released as a single on the album. This is clearly a Phil Collins' song with the entire DNA present on the songs released on his solo albums. This is an excellent pop song, one of the most beautiful, mellow and sweet songs ever made by him. I must confess that in some moments I like very much to hear some Phil Collins' songs. Still, this isn't, without any doubt, the right place for him to write a song like this. The fifth track "Anything She Does" is lyrically a song about pornography. It's about a man who is in love with a porn star and that can't have a relationship with her in the real life. Musically, it isn't, in my humble opinion, a great song, and it represents also, for me, one of the weakest points on the album. It seems to be a song put out of the place, which doesn't sound anything to a Genesis' song. It sounds too much to reggae and reminds me too much a song made by The Police. The sixth track "Domino" is divided into two parts, part one, "In The Glow Of The Night" and part two, "The Last Domino". The first part was released as the B side of their single "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight", and the second part was released as the B side of their single "Invisible Touch". It was the second of the two extended musical pieces on the album. It's, without any doubt, the best track on the album and it's a song in the same vein of "Duke's Travels" and "Duke's End" from "Duke", "Dodo/Lurker" from "Abacab" and "Home By The Sea" and "Second Home By The Sea" from "Genesis". The seventh track "Throwing It All Away" was issued as the second single released from the album. The song is a soft rock ballad and is musically structured around the guitar riff of Mike Rutherford. It's a very decent song and a successful song but with nothing progressive on it. It's a soft pop song without anything more special to say about it, except that we are in presence of another Phil Collins' song that should have been released on a solo Collins' album. The eighth and last track "The Brazilian" is a song that reminds immediately "Los Endos" from "A Trick Of The Tail". This is a true fantastic and memorable instrumental track with many progressive elements and that soon became a classic Genesis' instrumental track. This is a song that features some experimental sounds and effects and that sounds a bit like a progressive song. It's undoubtedly with "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" and "Domino" the best and only progressive moments on the album. We even can say this is a wonderful and fantastic moment, and perfect enough, to close a nice and good album, really.

Conclusion: Sincerely, I don't consider "Invisible Touch" a bad Genesis' album. Probably it isn't even the weakest album of them. It's true that "Invisible Touch" is the less progressive and most popish album of all Genesis' albums. However, it has quality enough to be considered a good album and it can also be considered more balanced than some other albums from them. It's also, in a certain way, better than "Abacab" and "Genesis" is. It's much more balanced and it hasn't weak tracks like "Who Dunnit?" or "Illegal Alien". By the other hand, it isn't much less progressive than those albums are, and in terms of a non progressive album, is probably better than they are. It's true that is far from the class of most of their albums, but it has more fun than some things made by them. This is the typical 80's album. It rules.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)