DUKE

Average? Not for Genesis. A bit of a downer, really. I had this album for years on vinyl, & never listened to it much. (I have made no move to replace it on CD.) "Turn it on Again" and "Misunderstanding" are good "new wave" and pop songs, but I certainly wouldn't include them on any of my home-made prog compilation CDs -- they're NOT prog! "Cul-de-Sac" is just OK. I don't mention any other songs because they simply weren't memorable enough for me to have remembered them.... All but the most fanatical of fans can safely give this one a miss

Of course I am one to howl in the safety of the wolf pack by denouncing the Genesis sell-out , but this is mostly false! They were not taking it the easy way! If you take away the three best known numbers Misunderstanding (THE obvious sell-out and one of the most simple track ever written by the trio), Turn It Off Again (although this track is on a strange rythmic pattern amounting to something like a 13/8 or something along those lines - I read it somewhere , I never listened to that insufferable track) and to a lesser extent Behind the Lines ( I count it as a hit because it did get major airplay on Canadian radios at the time), you have got a fairly good album. But still not to one quarter of quality their early classic albums.

But the three big hits are there and ruin the ambiance of much better numbers such as Duke's Travel, End Cul-De-Sac, Heathaze are all reminders of what a great band they once were. Duchess I also find rather pleasant and delicate . Please note that although Collins is now a fully confident frontman and mainly responsible for the huge sales of this album , but his writing credits are still relatively few and therefore those yelling that he is the main cause of Genesis devolutions/regressions are wrong. nothing got done without Mr. Banks consent.

Can be regarded as the last worthy album from them as far as progressive rock is concerned.

A GOOD ALBUM... "Duke" has good fresh songs! Phil COLLINS voice is excellent, BANKS modern keyboards are interesting and accessible, often quite floating. There are very pleasant smooth songs, and couples of well deserved hits like "Turn it on Again". Simple songs no more progressive, it can disappoint the GENESIS fan of the GABRIEL era. "Duke" may be good to listen some times, reminding you that it is not so bad!

Once known solely as the authors of sublime album sides, GENESIS was steadily earning a reputation as a reliable singles act. "Misunderstanding" was as succinct a pop song as the band had yet managed; coupled with the relative success of "Turn It On Again" and "Duchess", it appeared that GENESIS had found a way to package their appeal into smaller packets. No doubt some fans resented the band's newfound appeal (implying a sell out) while others delighted in hearing their idols on regular radio rotation (citing that the singles from "Duke" were still scads better than most of the Top 20 fare).

On close examination, however, "Duke" is no less ambitious than their last album, the difference being a clarity of attack that better suits a trio running on all engines. In fact you could make the argument that "Duke" helped set the stage for the neo-progressive movement; a song like "Heathaze" would have felt equally at home on MARILLION's albums. Whether "Duke" represents a different chapter is a matter of taste; some listeners draw the line at "Lamb", "Wuthering", their last album or this one. Some of us don't even draw the line at all.

If "Duke" isn't an improvement over the old band, it's still the ideal setting to hear the songs of BANKS, COLLINS and RUTHEFORD. "Cul-de-Sac", which would have been rendered by some ill-suited singer in BANKS' band du jour instead becomes a great song in the hands of GENESIS. And would you want to hear Mike RUTHEFORD warble "Man of Our Times" or "Alone Tonight?" Or have Phil wilt over the piano for the entirety of "Please Don't Ask?" No, you wouldn't. And that's where "Duke" succeeds, by providing the best vehicle for three very talented musicians/songwriters. "Duke" is a feat of musical engineering: a smaller plane built from the ruin of a larger one, boasting better maneuverability and remarkable gas mileage.

Note that the album might function on a conceptual level; plenty of mind-candy moments and a clearly defined beginning and ending to the album would suggest the presence of some unifying theme, but I'll leave that to the individual listener.

The last half decent Genesis album before they descended into their pop era.This is a mixture of great tracks like 'Behind The Lines' and 'Man Of Our Times' mixed with the not so great 'Misunderstanding' and fillers like 'Please Don't Ask' which I always skip.To me this is inferior to everything Genesis had done before but can at least claim to be the last Genesis album that doesn't make you want to vomit.

"There was a choice but now it's gone, I said you wouldn't understand"

"Duke" was the first Genesis album to point towards the Collins dominated output which was to spoil subsequent product by the band. Fortunately, it is only certain tracks which do so this time, and there are enough good ones here to make the album enjoyable.

On the plus side, "Duchess" is a well performed story of a fading diva; while it's certainly pop influenced and was a successful single, there's enough traditional Genesis in it to make it worthwhile. "Duke's travels", which combines well with the coda "Duke's end", is a wonderful, largely instrumental 11 minute piece. The track allows Banks in particular to slip in one of his all to rare lengthy solo performances. The soft, short "Guide vocal" from the first side is reprised towards the end of "Dukes travels" as a powerful conclusion to the track, making it one of the best pieces Genesis have ever recorded.

On the minus side, there are too many Collins dominated ballads ("Alone tonight" "Please don't ask", etc.) and pop songs ("Turn it on again", etc.).

With "Duke", the writing was very much on the wall that Genesis were prepared to abandon their traditional fan base in their pursuit of wider fame and fortune. Fortunately, this was just the start of the transition, so there is still some good Genesis music to be found here.

When I first heard Duke I felt like the typical old faithful fan that had been betrayed for a new ' sounding' Genesis. As erstwhile fans do, they persevere and in my case I am glad I did becuase Duke is a great album. Duchess being the high point but Guide Vocal, Behind the Lines and Heathaze are solid enough tracks. Side two is definitely more commercial but for those who liked the new direction Genesis were taking as a natural progression then you won't be disappointed with Duke. It definitely has a concept feel about with the exception of the Collin's tracks. 'Please don't ask ' is raw emotion concerning Collin's dissolving realtionship with his then wife. Yes you could also pick up he had hit the formula for commercial songs outside Genesis and in some future Genesis tracks but then again it worked as the times had changed.

After almost a year of not working together as a band, GENESIS returned to work as a band with this album, which was recorded at Polar Studios in Stockholm (ABBA`s recording studios). Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford also recorded their first solo albums there, in 1979, before "Duke" (and this studio was also used by LED ZEPPELIN in 1978 for the recording of their last album called "In Through the Out Door" which was released in 1979). GENESIS recorded this album between late 1979 and early 1980. So, for me, this is a "farewell album" to the GENESIS`s sound of the 70s, with David Hentschel as producer. But it is still "progressive" in some ways. For me, the main sound in this album is Tony Banks`Yamaha Electric piano, which appears in several songs. Banks` work in this album is very influenced by the sound of his first solo album, "A Curious Feeling", which was released in October 1979. "Behind the lines", "Duchess" and "Guide Vocal" are very "progressive". It seems that for this album Banks also bought new keyboards, as the mellotron is absent in this album. "Man of our times" is a song composed by Mike Rutherford with distorted guitars and bass pedals, with very good drums by Phil Collins. "Misunderstanding" is the first appearance of a Collins`song in an GENESIS album, and yes, it`s a very pop song, but it `s a good song. "Heathaze" is the best song of this album, in my opinion, composed by Banks, with Banks`s very good electric piano and backing keyboards, and maybe he also played 12 string guitar in this song, which is similar in sound as another song which was released as the B side of one of the singles of this album, called "Evidence of Autumn", which also was recorded during the "Duke" recording sessions. This song was also released in the U.S. version of the "Three Sides Live" album, and now it is available in the "Genesis Archive vol. 2" Box Set. "Evidence of Autumn" is a beautiful song which could have been released in this "Duke" album. Side Two of the original L.P. starts with "Turn it on again", another pop song. "Alone Tonight" is another song composed by Rutherford, a ballad with good guitars and keyboards, plus Collins`emotive vocals. This song is similar as another song released as the B side for another single from this album, called "Open Door", also released in the "real" "Three Sides Live" album (as the original U.S. double L.P. had 3 sides recorded live and one side recorded in the studio) and also now available in "Archive Vol. 2". In his song "Cul-de-sac", Banks also uses the electric piano, and it is one of the best songs in this album. The next song, Collins` "Please Don`t Ask", is a song about the divorce or the separation of a couple, and is similar to the "divorce songs" Collins recorded for his first solo album. The instrumental medley, "Duke`s Travels/Duke` s end" is similar in structure to previous instrumental medleys included by GENESIS in previous albums ("Los Endos" and "In that Quiet Earth") as it reprises some musical themes used in other songs of the album.

This is a great album, and out of the 'Pop' genesis albums, the best. The Duke Suite is outstanding (songs...1,2,3,11,12), climaxing in the fanatastic instumental 'Duke's Travel's. Behind the Lines, Duchess, Heathaze, and Turn it on Again are all very good tracks. This is the last Genesis album i listen too, as Abacab Onward is pretty bad. Phil Collins pop hit 'Misunderstanding' is weak and really brinsg down the flow of the album. Overall a great album for those looking for lighter, more accesible progressive rock.

This album signals the sea-change in Genesis' musical direction and the confirmation that Phil Collins was the driving force behind the band in more ways than the obvious.Listening to the first two tracks, Behind The Lines and Duchess you can hear the foundations of Collins' solo career-the booming drums and mock angst-ridden vocals.These tracks are Ok, but they aren't Prog Rock-maybe a new hybrid of Prog Rock and pop:Regressive rock anyone?

Guide Vocal, 12 minutes into the album, and the cat is out of the bag - Collins wants to be the Dean Friedman of the Eighties Coffee Table Pop generation. On we go: Man Of Our Times,actually sounds more Stygian than Styx. The "poppy" Misunderstanding and Turn It On Again staples of AOR Radio Stations sandwich Alone Tonight- a dire monologue about Collin's marriage problems. Cul-De Sac, Please Dont Ask should have been used as B-sides to Misundersatanding and Turn It On Again, they aren't of sufficient quality to warrant inclusion on a studio album. Duke's Travels and Duke's End are tolerable musically but sound to this reviewer like going through the motions and I am not convinced these were ever intended to be full-blown "songs". This album sounds worse now than it did nearly 25 years ago-that in itself is a feat.

The first Genesis album since their unusual debut that I cannot listen to in its entirety, 'Duke' marked a distinct change in the band's aesthetic and saw Collins' shift into simpler pop material begin to spread throughout the ranks. The result is a very unbalanced, conceptually absent collection... but since this was only the beginning of the change, there is still a bounty of great pieces by Banks and Rutherford; still different, but powerful enough to raise this album a notch above an average three stars.

The offenders: 'Behind The Lines' (minus the excellent W&W-esque intro), 'Misunderstanding'. and 'Turn It On Again'... despite very tight performances I simply find these unlistenable. Simplistic, repetitive, shallow lyrics, echoes of Motown almost in the vocals... ok for the background of a party, maybe, but this is the sound of a different Genesis, and sadly a less emotional, unadventurous one.

The high points: Tony Banks' personal pieces on this album are simply gold, starting with 'Guide Vocal', a short piece that closes the previous 'Duchess' which is also interesting, featuring some of the most mournful lines ever delivered by Collins. The unclearly motivated speaker tells of a guardian, or a force, or an inspiration, one that is essential but will be destroyed by the inquisitiion of the ignorant, and when it abandons us we shall be left empty to our own devices - 'take what's yours, and be damned'. To achieve this in so minimal and so short a track is quite an accomplishment, a sign of the better side of this album, but also a sad reminder of how Genesis could have continued. Similarly in 'Heathaze' and 'Cul-de-sac', Banks again weaves moments of sadness, change, disillusion, and ultimately even the doom of our kind thanks to shadows of our own devising. The music is laden with his 'Curious Feeling' era pianos and synths, built up to deeply-textured degree, and rolling along like a classical/rock symphony. Rutherford, too, steals the show with related tones - the steel-future, relentless 'Man Of Our Times', and self-explanatory 'Alone Tonight'.

The quality continues in possibly the best Genesis song to come from a purely Collins composition, 'Please Don't Ask'. Lyrically he would go on to cover the same subject numerous times, but never again with the same heartbreaking sensitivity as on this track. As Phil relays the quiet anguish of seeing a lost loved one again, each harmony that builds up is as gentle as the last, so fragile they could shatter at any time, and the key shifts as he realises 'but I miss my boy' are quite evocatively subtle. The band also let loose in power-instrumentals the likes of which were again found in 'Wind And Wuthering', with 'Duke's Travels' and 'Duke's End'. Very impressive musically, the concept itself (if any) is very muddy, and most likely exists more for the anonymous album cover character rather than any topic inherent to the songs.

For me 'Duke' is the beginning of the end for Genesis, but still an essential purchase with strong material patched throughout.

Everybody's got a different example of the album that signals Genesis' downhill slide. Some say 'And Then There Were Three', some say 'Abacab', some say 'A Trick Of The Tail'. I've even heard someone say 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway'! For me it's 'Duke'. This album continued the band's evolution, but it finds their sound working toward a really streamlined area, with Phil Collins' R&B roots creeping in.

'Duke' is one of those half-baked concept albums, a storyline linking only half the songs. It's baffling that they spread those songs out between the stand-alone songs. "Behind The Lines" is grand in scope, with a nice momentum guided by Tony Banks' keyboard accents and some creative guitar/bass from Michael Rutherford. But Phil's Motown- esque delivery is an annoyance unless you're into that kind of thing. It never reaches the stellar heights it hints at. There's a nice segue from the ending into "Duchess", a really beautiful number filled with a certain sadness. Banks' keyboards are given full reign, and with Phil's dramatic delivery of this melancholy tale, it's a winner. "Guide Vocal" continues the brown emotions, hazy, gauzy, haunting.and way too short. "Man Of Our Times" is an epic squeezed into a short-song format, with a recording that does no favors to its grandiose leanings. Everything here, as on the rest of the album, sounds condensed and compressed, like the Genesis from the previous album in a sonic cage. This is a foreshadowing of the production values that would haunt Genesis (and prog in general) throughout the '80s decade, everything way too antiseptic, too muffled, too damn digital. But the end of "Man Of Our Times" breaks out of this cage momentarily and it's a joy to hear. "Misunderstanding" is a throwaway, probably the worst thing the band had recorded up to this point, a bouncy R&B number that can only appeal to those who already have a liking for that genre. I don't, so I don't get it. Next up is "Heathaze", a song I consider not only underrated but one of Genesis' best. It links Banks' sensitive writing and beautiful melodic choices with Collins' painfully moving delivery. Tear-jerking stuff. Autumnal and perfect.

Side two starts with a song that Genesis fans seem split on (just look at the many other reviews of 'Duke' here). I love "Turn It On Again", but I think it's much more effective as a live opener (as on 'Three Sides Live'), and I wonder why they didn't begin this album with it. "Alone Tonight" is no better than "Your Own Special Way" or "Follow You Follow Me", a weak ballad that hints at the awful commercial material that was to come. When it comes to ballad-esque songs, I hold "Afterglow" up as the Genesis standard, and this song is just another in the shadow of that tremendous track. "Cul-De-Sac" marries the old Genesis sound (old here meaning the first two albums with Collins on vocals) with the direction they were heading in. Some beautiful keys from Banks, a theatrical arrangement, symphonic in spots. "Please Don't Ask" is more forgettable filler material, with Collins' voices laid on thick in the chorus. I don't get anything to grab onto with this track, except maybe the skip button (this is an album to listen to on CD, cuz there's a lot of skipping potential). What finer way to end an album than the tandem "Duke's Travels" and "Duke's End"? Too little too late? No way. These are gorgeous songs, mostly-instrumental soundscapes showing there's still some symphonic Genesis in 'em yet. With several of the album's previous songs revisited (as they would do on 'Selling England By The Pound' and 'A Trick Of The Tail') you have a nod toward tradition. Amazing writing and performances save the day.

Could the artwork be any freakin' uglier? It's difficult to look at, and since artwork is inextricably linked to the music inside, maybe it colors my enjoyment of the album ever so slightly. But of course it's the music that matters, and with 'Duke' you're getting a good album, full of latter-day Genesis highlights but also brought down with some seriously "blah" material.

Obviously there is a big discussion going on about the time point of the downhill slide in quality of GENESIS records. Actually IMHO it's quite futile to discuss about this question. Whether it was ATTWT, "Duke" or "Abacab", who cares? I think it's quite obvious that all these albums did not nearly reach the level of any of the ones between TRESPASS and WAW. And as well it was quite obvious that the biggest hole of creativity and musical skill has been left only by one person and that was STEVE HACKETT. I don't want to say that PETER GABRIEL has not been as well an indispensable group member since he had quite an important impact on the group, but more from the point of charisma and his unique vocs and not that much on the quality of their compositions as HACKETT had.

IMHO the band's decline happened in three steps. The first slight, not that dramatic drop-down was on ATOTT after PETER GABRIEL had demised and COLLINS took over lead vocs (honestly his voice although being very good just fits better to pop-rock and ballads). Though the album still contained great compositions one could realise on this one and even more on WAW that their music does not have anymore the same quality than in the 70-74 period. The second and very huge step downhill came with the release of ATTWT when they started to sound more like a rather good Pop or Art Rock band, because two decisive factors influencing the sound came together: COLLINS' rather pop-ish type of vocs plus (or even multiplied with) the lack of a real good guitarist, consequently keyboards taking over the role of main instrument. Two years later Duke came out, and here keyboards were even more in the foreground and the band finally adapted to a common 80's plastic synth sound even taking over some minimalistic elements of New Wave. The third step and finally the end of the band GENESIS the way it started came with the release of ABACAB, where the degeneration of their sound to pop was accomplished. This one and all studio albums that came after I'm usually just ignoring because they simply don't deserve anymore to carry the band's name and actually I wouldn't miss anything if they never had been released. BTW I listened to ALL of them (only once that's enough!), but I do not own any of them as an original.

Honestly Duke sounds already mainly like COLLINS's later solo albums with very few exceptions that are Heathaze, Cul-de-Sac and Duke's Travels + Ends which are rather good prog songs but of course lacking the greatness of earlier works. The rest of the album consists of some mediocre pop-prog songs like Behind The Lines and Duchess plus a few COLLINS-typical ballads and as well some very pop-ish and catchy songs with Misunderstanding being the worst. Cul-de-Sac is the only track showing some of the band's passed qualities - very good intro with piano, vocs sound stronger and even some odd-timed bars are present. For me this album (together with ATTWT) is just on the border to be accepted as a Genesis output but admittedly one has to regard it rather as a (fairly good) Art Rock Album.

SUMMARY:

As a pop-rock album Duke would deserve 3 stars or even more, but here we're dealing with Prog and GENESIS used to be a trademark for this music genre. So I'm giving 2 stars for it (maybe 2 1/2 in real) and recommend it only to those favouring the Collins/Banks/Rutherford line-up or lovers of Collins' solo stuff!

Actually an improvement over "...And Then There Were Three", though here Genesis had stepped into the commercial music scene for real. However, "Duke" is much stronger musically here than on ATTWT, and it sounds really fresh and clear, despite the somewhat sterile mood. The strongest parts is absolutely the "Duke's Travels/End" suite at the end of the album. A very proggy and excellent piece of music that is almost equally as great as their glory days epics. This album might not appeal to all Genesis fans though, but give it a try. 3.5/5

Suprisingly solid pop/prog effort from the 3 remaining members of Genesis. 1980 saw the beginning of Genesis' pop era, which was led blindly by Phil Collins. This album acts as the bridge between the progressive and the pop sides of Genesis. There are progressive influences in certain songs, and genuinely pop stylings put into one tight recording. Phil Collins' drum work is solid and his vocal work is among the best of his Genesis reign. Mike Rutherford plays solid bass lines and tight guitar lines. And Tony Banks holds them all together with soft and touchy synths, and mighty piano work.

Examples of their final progressive touches are the final two tracks, Duke's Travels and Duke's End, which are both mainly instrumental works, with Tony Banks harking back to his earlier works, playing a sprawling and extensive keyboard solo. Some consider this to be the final progressive song from Genesis (Domino being one of the only other ones from this era). This is the crowning achievement of the album. But for this masterpiece, the rest of the album is filled with pop sensibilities and hooks. Misunderstanding is a dreadful track, with a repetetive and boring riff, and rather dry vocals from Collins. Turn it on Again is the most adventurous pop track of the album, with a catchy riff, and some great drum and bass work.

Overall, this is where Progressive Genesis fans end their journey. In later albums, you'll find no real satisfaction. This is a very solid work, IMO. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend it to everybody. Only Genesis fans should dabble in this work. For me, I give it a 3.5/5.

"Wake up now, this is the time you've waited for ."

When this album was released, I was hospitalized - not because of listening to this album - terrified and then getting sick; but it's because of motorcycle accident I experienced. During my one week stay in the hospital, I only brought the cassettes of Duke, Foxtrot, Selling England By The Pound, Led Zeppelin "Physical Graffiti" with me. Rocker man! I cannot live without rock music, even though hospitalized! And I don't know why I played Duke cassette more than any other cassette. And you know what was my favorite during walkman listening pleasure at my bed? "Cul-De-Sac" man! To tell you straight from the heart, this short song is truly masterpiece! It has great melody (even it's killing!), tight structure, creative keyboard / piano work and excellent Phil Collins singing. It starts wonderfully with Phil's voice: "Wake up now, this is the time you've waited for .." continued with keyboard / piano layer with an excellent melody. I like it man. It's a combination of energetic music and touchy melody. This song accompanied me when I was in bed and it continued as my favorite even until now when I'm reviewing this album - I still like it.

The album opener is an excellent trilogy: "Behind The Lines - Duchess - Guide Vocal" is an excellent introduction to the album. Yes, this kind of music is not a typical early Genesis music but it shares a similar basic component. "Behind The Lines" (5:43) is an upbeat tempo music full with energy and accentuation combining wonderful drumming by Phil Collins and multi-layered keyboard sounds by Tony Banks, augmented by guitar solo at background. "Duchess" (6:25) starts off with a nice transition piece using keyboard. It's a nice tune and it ends up with "Guide Vocal" (1:21) in mellow style.

"Man Of Our Times" (5:34) is a rocker with hard driving rhythm using powerful drumming, combined with stunning keyboard work and Phil's excellent voice. "Heathaze" (4:57) is a melancholic song with excellent melody. Tracks like "Misunderstanding", "Turn It On Again", "Alone Tonight" do not really attract me at all. But it's OK I can tolerate this.

What's so important about this album is the concluding tracks that must be enjoyed in its entirety: "Duke's Travels" (8:39) and "Duke's End" (3:08). It starts with an ambient opening exploring the keyboard and cymbals sounds in a beautiful way. What's so enjoyable is when drum work enters and brings the music into crescendo. Oh man .. It's really great. Especially when the music is played in full blown fashion featuring Tony Bank's wonderful keyboard solo. Drum work by Phil Collins is truly stunning. It's a well composed music with touchy melody. Oh yes, Tony Banks creates killing melodies with his keyboard solo. I usually play this song in LOUD volume to ensure drum sounds existence in the music. WOW! The climax is when the howling guitar enters the music at approx minute 5:50, just before Phil fills in with his voice. Greaaaatttt!!! "I am the one who guided you this far, All you know and all you feel .". Genesis rules! "Duke's End" continues seamlessly as final track of the album with some chords of "Behind The Lines".

Yes, I know there are some bad tracks bad I still consider this album, overall, is an excellent one. The composition is tight, the melody is killing and it has strong structure. Regardless your categorization about this album as not a truly prog album, it does not really matter to me. Because at the end, music is what that counts. And, this album stimulates my emotion in a positive way. Keep on proggin' ..!!

Progressively yours, GW

" I call you for I must leave, You're on your own until the end. There was a choice but now it's gone, I said you wouldn't understand, Take what's yours and be damned."

Duke was an album that was conceived and produced under trying circumstances for both the band and Phil Collins. Phil gong through a divorce, moving to Canada, starting a solo career, not sure if Genesis was in his future. Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford made some concessions to him and this album was the result.

The first thing I notice here and among many of the prog legends entering the eighties was abandoning the Hammond organ. ELP, Genesis, Yes and Kansas to name a few all did this and it changed their sound. A lot of this music seems like something is missing and I believe that is what is missing.

The second thing is the music is written different. Much more minimalism going on and less is better attitude to the songs even in Dukes Travels and Dukes End. No embellishing keyboards or lavish guitar colors accent the music as it did on Wind And Wuthering just three years before. It isn't bad just not as good as before. More going through the motions or settling for less.

All that said this album had a personal attachment for me when I went through my divorce over 15 years ago. The music touches you there and though many critisize it's songs as being poppy or drivel I don't think many of these people have experienced the loneliness of a divorce such as what is laid out here.

On top of that the Duke suite which is comprised of Behind the Lines, Dutchess, Guide Vocal, Turn it On, Dukes Travel's and Dukes End was supposed to be one piece of music. The rational was that it would be too much in the format of Suppers Ready. While i am sure no one would make that mistake it would have been a better way to present the music. I would give this CD 4 stars if they did because it would have meant a big nod to the former progressive sound and ideas. Alas they did not.

Even so rating this album without my personal attachment to it's subject I can only give this one a three.

We were on the brink of finishing a very pleasant monthly progrock evening, loaded with 'classics' albums. I advised my friends to take a look at the Prog Archives site, the very first reaction was: "Duke" three stars? Down to two" (this was the most friendly advise, I censor the other reactions!). My own opinion about this albums is that Genesis had turned into a 'non-symphonic-pro-pop-orchestra', I cannot mention one interesting song, perhaps the two final tracks contain some nice moments. POOR, VERY POOR, HOW A REVELATION TURNED INTO A PROGROCK DISASTER!!

The last good album of prog legends!

"Duke" is probably the last GENESIS album that can appeal to prog listeners, although it surely marked a direction in which the band would move on throught the 1980s. It is obvious in soul/R&B moments of "Behind the Lines" and "Misunderstanding", which would be frequently called upon by the subsequent GENESIS and Collins solo albums. Here they are still nicely fitting into the album concept. In "Duchess" we witness the introduction of drum machine, but again it is here far more effective than on the later albums. Apart from these, excellent moments on the album include "Man of Our Times" and the closing pair "Duke's Travels/Duke's End", the latter being obviously shaped after the similar ending of "Selling England", "Lamb Lies Down" and "Trick of the Tail" albums. Rutherford was always much more than purely a bassist, but on this album he delivers several very interesting and effective guitar solos. On the other hand the hit "Turn It On Again" is overrated and pretty silly number along with a "lemonade" ballad "Alone Tonight" ("No one cares I am a lonely man...") - can I get a hanky please!

Still this album can be recommended as the last one (and probably the only one) that a GENESIS fan of pre-1977 period would want to include in her/his collection.

Definitely a retooled Genesis for the 80's. A more streamlined, synth-oriented sound, with an obvious prog feel, but basically song-oriented. Actually, Genesis were always song-oriented, but this time they were explicitly aiming at the singles market. If they'd stuck to DUKE's formula, they could have been as successful artistically as they were commercially.

Surely, this is the most underrated album by the band's prog base. It was all downhill AFTER this, certainly, but this album is actually excellent, a near-perfect marriage of prog-rock musicianship and pop melody. While much-maligned, "Misunderstanding" is actually a gem of a pop song with a winsome melody, and deservedly a big hit. If anything, the weak spots on the album are Rutherford's "Alone Again" and Collins' "Please Don't Ask", both rather drippy MOR-type ballads and both setting rather bad precedents.

But the rest of the album is really superb, from the anthemic opener "Behind The Lines" to the energetic fusion-tinged numbers "Man Of Our Times" and "Turn It On Again" and mini-opuses like "Heathaze" and "Cul-De-Sac". And the epic, largely instrumental (save for the revised reprise of "Guide Vocal") "Duke's Travels/Duke's End" is one of the band's peaks as a performing unit.

So, don't listen to the "Genesis went to pot after Hackett left" contingent. Let them cling to their copies of TILL WE HAVE FACES. This is a superb album, definitely worthy of having in any collection.

After "...And Then There Were Three...," Genesis come back in full force to produce this very solid album. People may be put off by the fact that this album produce a couple of hits (e.g. "Turn It On Again" and "Misunderstanding"). This album is an improvement over "...And Then..." The album flows together much better. On the previous, album there were a lot of good songs and ideas, but they weren't all executed very well, much like Yes's "Tormato."

This album has a lot of really outstanding tracks, namely the last two, "Duke's Travels/Ends." The live version on the Archives Vol. 2 set is worth checking out as well. All the tracks here, for the most part, segue into one another. Most other reviewers seem to not too keen on the first track, "Behind the LInes," but I think it is one of the best on the album, and certainly a very fitting opening. Other good tracks include "Duchess" and "Man of Our Times."

The rest of the songs are either just ok by me or not so good and too commercial. The obvious stabs at mainstream pop make this album less noteworthy. It's not that these tracks are particularly awful, they're just nowhere near as good as "Dance on a Volcano," for example. I even think some of the tracks on "Abacab" appeal to me more than those like "Alone Tonight" or "Misunderstanding."

This album is just good by my standards, but still better than the previous "misguided effort." Most Genesis fans are already going to own this, but for those looking to get into Genesis, this is not the place to start. Final verdict, three stars.

Some people believe Genesis career ended with the departure of Peter Gabriel, I don't believe this is true, of course the band suffered loosing one of the best vocalists in Prog' Rock (If not the best) but also the man I considerer the best (and by far) lyricist ever.

Despite this terrible loss, still they had two great albums more (A Trick of the Tail and W&W), but in the same moment Steve Hackett left the band, it was Genesis no more, the main characteristic and trade mark of the band was the incredible atmospheres created by Steve Hackett and Tony Banks. But that after Steve left this incredible sound disappeared forever, plus the fact that there was only one great songwriter left, and Tony didn't had anyone else that could even be a challenge for him, because we know how weak is Mike's career and how incredibly poor is Phil's.

Mike Rutherford is an outstanding bassist but he's not more than an average guitar player and incapable of creating an atmosphere even if his life depended on it, so it was easy to expect the greatness was lost.

I have at least something good to say about Duke, it isn't as repulsive as any other later three men Genesis album, but again without the famous and unique atmospheric sound, Genesis was no longer a great or to be precise not even a good band.

Many people think There are some good songs in this album, well I wouldn't go so far to say there's something really good, but at least Duke's Travel/Duke's End is pretty proggy and can be listened without wishing somebody stick a nail trough your ear drums to stop the pain, even Duchess being repetitive is pretty decent for this Genesis caricature.

But there are a couple of songs that are hard to forgive:

Behind the Lines: For God's sake, what is this? Pomp Rock, AOR, POP? Nobody knows, but something is certain, despite the pompous and promising keyboards opening, Phil's voice appears and anything decent in this track is killed, if you combine this with poor mediocre and bland lyrics, you realize there's not hope for this once monumental band even when is clear that Tony hasn't lost the touch.

Misunderstanding: There must be some misunderstanding, there must be some kind of mistake......this is not Genesis, it's only a less than mediocre Pop track that shouldn't be named in the same paragraph with the word Genesis, boring, repetitive lack of imagination and horrible lyrics that would be OK for a band like BREAD.

Turn it on Again: I won't even stop to worry about the terrible music, because I just had lunch, but I can't stop mentioning the lyrics, because it's almost impossible to believe this is the same band that created solid, sometimes poetic but mainly intelligent lyrics like Squonk, Eleventh Earl of Mar or One for the Vine even after they had lost Gabriel, sorry but I can't get this.

The rest of the tracks are not much better (It's hard to get worst), but is enough to reach a final conclusion, no Gabriel or Hackett, no Genesis.

Trying to be nice I would give 1.5 stars to Duke, but there's not that possibility in Prog Archives, and doesn't deserve two, so I will stay with one lonely star.

Honestly I will never upgrade this album from LP, paying two times for this is too much and wouldn't accept it for free, of course this was the last Genesis album I ever bought until Archives I was released, and honestly I recommend prog fans to do the same, avoid any post W&W studio recording.

I have yet to review the Genesis collection of classic cd's. As they remain my overall favourite band of all, I have to try to be as unbiased as possible. Nevertheless, like most Genesis fans, I agree that when Steve Hackett left, they lost something vital in their makeup, and were never the same, or as good, again. However, of all the post- Hackett albums they did, this is, for me, without doubt, the best. It is the closest to the 'classic' Genesis sound. Ok, it is lacking Hackett's melodious and mysterious touch, but, otherwise, it is a good collection of songs. Mike Rutherford, in his own right, is a talented guitarist. He only turned to bass because Anthony Phillips was a better player, and then along comes Mr Hackett! This album does have a couple of songs that indicate the direction the band were to go under Mr Collins, eg: 'Misunderstanding', 'Alone Tonight', 'Please Don't Ask', but these tracks are not bad in their own right, and don't spoil the album in any way. The first three songs here merge magnificently together, and sound in many ways like the old Genesis, but with an updated sound. Collins on some songs sounds more like Gabriel here than on most other albums, especially the stark but effective 'Guide Vocal'. All good stuff! 'Man Of Our Times' is a wonderfuly powerful piece. 'Heathaze' is another superb song, melodic and Gabriel-like. 'Turn It On Again', although aimed more at the singles market, is a decent enough effort, catchy if not traditional Genesis fare. Cul-De-Sac is, again, an above average offering, whilst the magnificent 'Duke's Travels' is maybe the highlight of the album, and more in keeping with the old style. If Hackett had been on this song, it could have been a classic. As it is, Tony Banks is in wonderful form here, as is Phil Collins, whilst Mike Rutherford contributes an incredibly short, but stunning solo towards the end. And, at the end, we have 'Duke's End', which reprises 'Behind The Lines' in a most effective way to bring the curtain down on the last Genesis album worth having. After this, things were never the same again. Good job Steve Hackett is keeping the prog banner flying.

I consider this album the apex of the band after Gabriel left. The previous effort, "And then there were three" remains one of my least favorite recordings by the group. Then they released "Duke" and all was forgiven. It bursts out of the gate with Behind the lines and instantly announces that they are on a mission that won't let up until the last notes fade away about 56 minutes later. They are telling a story of disillusionment that is timeless in its everyman associations. I understand why many don't like a number of songs included but I keep in mind that they were trying to hone their craft to where they could be more accessible (i.e. more successful/profitable) and I refuse to hold that against them. Phil was never going to be as mystical and charismatic as Peter was and they were writing what their hearts and minds were leading them to. Yet it is the incredible Duke's Travels and Duke's End that make this album soar above the rabble. It ascends ever higher until it reaches a tension filled peak that I consider one of their greatest moments ever and a landmark in progressive music.

Duke is the last prog-rock album of Genesis, without any doubt; and also in my humble opinion one of their best albums. Don't diss me for saying that; times changed and not for the better, most of the 70s prog-rock bands started to make more accessible music and so did Genesis. That doesn't mean the music was bad (at least not in 1980). Duke is still a prog album. The songs are shorter and straightforward (in a positive way) but not simple as some say; there are progressive songs that remind of the 70s - the opener Behind the Lines, Duchess, Heathaze, Cul-de-Sac, Guide Vocal/Man of Our Times and the epic Duke Travels/Duke's End. Turn It on Again is a nice rocker. The rest of the songs are slower - Alone Tonight, actually one of my favourite songs of this album (great collective effort), Misunderstanding is a Phil Collins song - not bad at all (anticipating what was about to come in the future), and last but not least Please Don't Ask Me, another ballad, but a pretty good one.

I warmly recommend this album to all the people that enjoy prog-rock; great musicianship and good song-writing from beginning to the end of the album (as far as I'm concerned). Maybe after more than twenty years after Duke's release, we could keep an open mind and give this album the place it deserves: an excellent addition to our prog-rock collection.

Genesis first Nr. 1 in the UK (reached 11 in the US). This record clearly drew the line between their prog era and their pop one (which in terms of sales will be very profitable) although this is still an OK album. In my jargon, OK means three stars. "Behind the Lines" is quite a good opener. Strong drumming and heavy keys from Tony. Vocals from Phil will be typical for this Genesis period. "Duchess" musical intro is spacey and nice : it could have been a good Oldfield production. The second part is less interesting. "Guide Vocal" is a very short and unnecessary transitional track. "Man of Our Times" is a nice ballad : very similar to what they have done in "And Then There Were Three" (like "Cul de Sac" and "Please Don't Ask"). "Misunderstanding" written by Phil is a poppy tune that they will play quite a bit in their concerts for the years to come. Some like it, some hate it. I belong more to the latter category. "Alone Tonight" is a short, very nice, and romantic ballad. The "Duke" suite is a great prog moment on this album. "Duke's Travel" is superb (a bit in the style of "One For The Vine"). Quiet for most of the time but with a strong and rocking section towards the end. With "Duke's End", the band seems to reproduced a song like "Los Endos". It is also a very good moment. It is a shame that it only lasts just over three minutes. Two highlights. Genesis adapted themselves quite successfully (in terms of sales) to the eighties period. For "old" fans like me though, a song like "Turn It On Again" was the worse we could endure.

Recorded in Sweden this would be their first album to go number one in the UK. This is also the first time they used a drum machine.This record is special to me in that it was the first GENESIS album I ever purchased.1980 was an incredible year for me as I met a beautiful girl who would become my wife and some great albums came out like BLACK SABBATH's "Heaven And Hell", AC/DC "Back In Black" , RUSH's "Permanent Waves" and other favourites of mine.

The first three songs blend together and when I hear "Behind The Lines" my favourite on the album it just brings me sheer joy as i'm taken back to a time when life was simpler and when I was having such a blast ! The keys are so good on this song. "Duchess" is another good one while "Guide Vocal" is a short mellow and uplifting song. "Man Of Our Times" features heavy drums and some good keyboard work from Banks. "Misunderstanding" reminds me lyrically of "Fool In The Rain" by LED ZEPPELIN. It also reminds me of SUPERTRAMP's "Give A Little Bit" in that they are both commercial mid paced tunes that were on the radio and drew my attention to both bands in question.

"Heathaze" is another beautiful song with piano and gentle vocals.The song becomes quite passionate. Gorgeous. "Turn It On Again" is a great odd metered song with a really good beat. "Alone Tonight" is such an honest, heartfelt and meaningful song. "Cul-De-Sac" is another song with some nice sounding keys and the vocals get passionate later on. "Please Don't Ask" would fit well on Collin's solo album. "Duke's Travels" is a long instrumental until the vocals come in that recall "Guide Vocal" around 6 minutes in. And "Duke's End" is an instrumental that recalls "Behind The Lines". The first three songs that blend together on this record and these last two were played as one song on their tour in support of the "Duke" record. Some say they initially were going to make these 5 songs a side long suite, but changed their minds.

For me this is a solid 4 star record.

Tell you what. Just for the sake of not missing an excellent musical experience, pretend for a moment this is an album of music, and not the first nuclear explosion in Armageddon, or the cancer that destroyed Progressive Rock. Take a moment; get your mind clear. Ready?

Oh yes, do one more thing. Rearrange the track listing so that Tracks 1, 2, 3, 7, 11 and 12 are on one side, and the rest on the other. Now you're ready. Go and listen to it. Then front up and tell me this isn't a classic, powerful GENESIS album.

Our new Side 1 is the 'Duke' suite, one powerful epic as it was originally intended, The band shied away from releasing it in this form, fearing - can you, who've heard the anti-COLLINS vitriol, believe this - comparisons to 'Supper's Ready'. Can you tell me that at this point commercial pop was uppermost in the lads' minds?

And this suite is powerful. 'Behind The Lines' is excellent and complex. I've read reviews lamenting COLLINS' solo influence. You want to know how COLLINS would have made this track sound on his own? Go listen to 'Behind The Lines' on COLLINS' solo album, 'Face Value'. That's diluted funk and soul. This is not. 'Duchess' is more reflective, presenting the tragic woman as artist figure. But, ooh, naughty PHIL uses a drum machine for the first time. So what? It's an instrument. Just because in the 80s the sound became ubiquitous doesn't mean it's a bad choice here. 'Guide Vocal' sets us up for the power of the epic's finish. It's fashionable to hate 'Turn It On Again', but one must listen to it in contect. I never heard it played incessantly on the radio, so it remains an excellent progressive track.

Do I really have to tell you how strong 'Duke's Travels/ Duke's End' is? Pounding rhythms, keyboard solos, a soaring guitar solo (Rutherford's best moment with a six-string), the haunting 'Guide Vocal reprise, and the extraordinary moment when they halve the beat - 'You fear what you ... don't understand' - music and vocals underlining the sadness, almost desperateness, of the small private lives under investigation in the suite and the album as a whole.

Yes, we do have 'Misunderstanding.' 'Argh, a pop song!' the trenchant critics cry. Actually, yes, and a very good one too. A little whimsy, and a courageous way for COLLINS to deal with his marriage breakup, along with the poignant 'Please Don't Ask'. I'll accept that singing about love and relationships is not an accepted part of the progressive rock sensibility: normally we get epics based on mythology or other fantasy motifs, and GENESIS have delivered their share of these. And this lessens the musical impact of the 'Duke suite' a little, especially since the suite is distributed amongst these other songs. But... the album's theme is about the little man and woman and their insignificant lives. The love songs make much more sense in this context. And there are other gems yet unmentioned: 'Heathaze' and 'Cul-De- Sac' are excellent examples of GENESIS' work.

Musically the drums really come to the fore on this album; COLLINS' gated drum sound (where the reverb is cut off rather than allowed to decay, giving the sound it's distinctive power) dominates a little too much. The classical GENESIS sound is being reworked; not necessarily better or worse, just different. Just as well GENESIS was blessed with such a great drummer.

A word about the artwork. I find it simply stunning. Again, not typical progressive artwork: no Roger Dean or Hipgnosis here. But the little heads make the point of the album.

The real change in the GENESIS sound comes with their next album. Don't let your loathing of baby- eating PHIL prevent you enjoying this near-masterpiece.

DUKE is the perfect blending of late-70´s prog-rock and techno-synth-pop based on sometimes plastic sounding keyboards but with a very convencing background rhythmic session. Solid in its concept and with a better production, immediately noticed basically on the drums and keyboard sound troughout the record, DUKE showed that Collins/Rutherford/Banks incarnation of Genesis could produce some gorgeous stuff in the irregular 80´s even after a huge retrospect of masterpieces in the 70´s. So pieces like Duke's Travel, End Cul-De-Sac, Heathaze are all reminders of what a great band they once were. Duchess I also find rather pleasant and delicate. Nothing left for me to add just this record is a 4 star album, and maybe the best they done in the '80.

I have a soft spot for this particular Genesis album, it being the first one I bought as soon as it was released. I've always loved the artwork inside and out and since it has song's titled "Duke's Travels" and "Duke's End" and the album is titled "Duke" I naturally assumed it was a concept album. Well. I was wrong. Oh, you can try to wrangle the lyrics and make it seem like a concept album, but other then the first three songs melding together and the last two, it's definately not a concept album. But how is the music? It's the last Genesis album to these ears to have the majestic sound we all love. Banks keys just dominate this disc, and to put it honestly without his mighty wall of sound Genesis suffers. Even songs like the simple "Behind The Lines" is helped out immensely by Banks keys. Listen to "Man Of Our Times", a simple beat but is filled in enormously by that wall of keyboards. When you get to the center of the album though, it's where things begin to fall apart. "Misunderstanding", "Turn It On Again" and "Alone Tonight" smack of whats to come, plain pop songs without the classic Genesis sound of past. "Cul-De-Sac" and "Please Don't Ask" don't fare any better either. For me, the last two tracks are the last classic Genesis-sounding tracks in their career. Tempo changes, bombastic, great drumming by Phil and Banks mighty keys propelling the colors and mood. For these two songs alone I'd garnish these album three stars and I'd give the first three/four songs another half star, but it doesn't compare to any other post-Gabriel album except maybe ATTWT, (which I gave three stars). So, three stars is what it deserves. Good, but not great.

Duke is actually an improvement over the band's previous release and is for the most part, one of their most underrated releases. And Then There Were Three showed a rather sudden transition to shorter format songs. Duke follows this pattern, but at the same time hearkens back to their Wind and Wuthering period with pieces like Duke's Travels, Cul-de-Sac, and Behind the Lines. So it's sort of a hybrid of the new and old of Genesis.

There is slightly more radio-friendly fodder too, including Misunderstanding, Turn It On Again, Alone Tonight and Please Don't Ask. Lyrical subject matter is still interesting except for the aforementioned four songs.

Another interesting addition to the band's repertoire is the use of a drum machine on Duchess. One has to wonder why a band with one of the best prog/jazz drummers out there needs to resort to this. But when you give this song a listen, they make really good use of the drum machine as it plays more of a background role. Due to this experiment's success, the band would use the machine more often in the next few albums.

Overall, slightly better than And Then There Were Three, but far from reaching their former apex of works from the mid-1970s. Four stars seems quite deserving, making this an excellent addition to your symphonic prog collection.

Just behind the line!

While it's been said before that many people draw the line for "good" Genesis at Wind And Wuthering, some people prefer to end the "good" at this one, some end it when Peter Gabriel left. I, for one, think that Wind And Wuthering is the last of the classic Genesis period, but this album gets stuck in a sort of parellel dimension where pop-prog-rock Collin's era Genesis is great music! While "And Then There Where Three..." is certainly a good and underrated album, this one is excellent! (and underratted.) Duke manages to mix elements of the pop band that Genesis would come to be (with Collin's "Emotions on the sleeve" style of writting) and the last shards of classic Genesis (With Banks and Rutherford's contributations). A truly unique album.

While the album was originally supposed to host the side long "Duke's Suite" the track was split up in order to avoid comparison to earlier work. While I, and I'm sure most on this website, wish that the song had been left as one, all the parts are still there, and all still excellent. (As stated by Banks in the 2007 interviews) The Duke Suite would have consisted of the songs: BEHIND THE LINES, DUTCHES, GUIDE VOCAL, TURN IT ON AGAIN, DUKE'S TRAVELS/END. Each one of these songs holds very very good music. BEHIND THE LINES is a great opener that sets the stage for the fantastic ballad DUTCHESS, with it's unique vocal mellodies that's sure to please the ears of many. GUIDE VOCAL is a nice, short, well sung track while TURN IT ON AGAIN is a fantasic pop-rock single that (while many dislike it, sour grapes, perhaps?) has always been a favorite of mine. It's got edge, it's complex, it's not stanard in sturcture, what more could you want? DUKE'S TRAVLES/END are a pair of perfect instrumentals that go very well together and ... they just work. All in all the 28-minute suite is fantastic, the only thing that could make it better is if the songs were kept together as one.

Other tracks on the album are good as well, if overshadowed by the suite. MAN OF OUR TIMES is a well done track that's pleasing to the ear. HEATHAZE is a great, obscure-sounding slow beauty that stomps on the other slow tracks ALONE TONIGHT and PLEASE DON'T ASK (Each of which is okay, but not great, they each sound more like something off Abacab or beyond). CUL-DE-SAC is the obvious standout among the non-suite tracks, it's eerie, ominous and generally great.

Did I miss any? No? Great.

All in all this one is too often overlooked simply because it exists in the 80s. Don't let that fool you, this is an excellent album that can easily compete with (but not match) previous albums. It would also prove to be the last great Genesis album, being succeded by the like of Abacab, the self titled and the oh so selly-outy Invisible touch... and some others. As for this one, great job boys! 3.5 stars!

Apologies in advance for this long-winded look at an already familiar artifact. But sometimes a belated review needs some sort of context to make any sense.

Like a lot of fans of early Genesis I lost touch with the band during the 1980s, at a time of rapidly evolving musical priorities (both theirs and mine). 1978's "And Then There Were Three.", their first LP without guitarist STEVE HACKETT, was not coincidentally the last Genesis album I ever heard...until a few weeks ago, when curiosity (and a nagging twinge of nostalgia) led me to finally catch up with this popular 1980 follow up.

In retrospect it's curious how the albums of Genesis always seemed to arrive in complimentary pairs. Think of "Nursery Cryme" and "Foxtrot", pearls of the early PETER GABRIEL era, or the post-Gabriel "A Trick of the Tale" and "Wind and Wuthering". And of course "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" was itself a double disc.

So it shouldn't have been surprising to discover how snugly "Duke" fits alongside "And Then There Were Three." That earlier LP was never the strongest album in the greater Genesis catalogue, but it at least kept the group afloat after losing yet another irreplaceable talent. Two years later, having circled their remaining wagons and consolidated the band's position in an unforgiving post-Prog landscape, the surviving trio of Collins, Banks and Rutherford were able to produce, for better or worse, probably their most confident and cohesive musical statement since The Lamb.

Mind you, that doesn't automatically make it any good. The band's target audience was of course changing, but die-hard Genesis partisans (like myself, dating back to their 1973 "Live" LP: the first Progressive Rock album I ever owned) couldn't fail to notice the discouraging lack of instrumental delicacy, always a hallmark of the classic Genesis sound. Here, it was replaced by enough Arena Rock bombast to rattle the largest stadiums on Earth, and I speak from experience: the last time I saw the band in concert, in April 1978, was at the massive Oakland Coliseum, tiny specks on a distant stage from my view in the nosebleed seats.

But I have to give the lads a little credit. Without the guiding vision of PETER GABRIEL, without the signature sound of STEVE HACKETT's guitar, the music was still recognizably Genesis. You can hear echoes of the old magic in the opening fanfare of "Behind the Lines", and (notably) in the dynamic complexity of the climactic "Duke's Travels/Duke's End" medley, clocking in at close to 11 minutes (almost all of them instrumental, by the way).

Heck, even the verses of their radio-friendly rocker "Turn It On Again" are arranged in what sounds like an unexpected 13/8 time signature. And, flying in the face of 80's fashion, there even appears to be a narrative concept behind it all, but don't quote me on that: my borrowed CD was missing its booklet.

Too bad the balance of the album is only progressive in the narrow sense that it anticipated the dumbed-down simplicity of the next decade. I certainly don't begrudge the band any of the world-wide success that followed: after all, Prog Rock had all-but exhausted its commercial potential by the tail end of the '70s, and to have continued plowing the same barren fields would have been suicidal at the time.

Even so, the plodding anti-Prog rhythm and ersatz R&B backing vocals of the hit single "Misunderstanding" must have been the final straw to discriminating listeners, despite the silver lining of a stronger beat than the anemic AM radio fodder of "Follow You, Follow Me", or the sappy "Your Own Special Way".

So, with more than twenty-six years of accumulated hindsight, what's the belated knee-jerk verdict? Not half bad I suppose, which of course is only another way of saying it's not half good either. The album is certainly a valuable slice of Genesis history, but having heard it at long last I don't see myself in any rush to catch up with "Abacab" now. Maybe after another quarter-century..?

The 173'rd rating of this Genesis release, where the first dozen or so reviews say it all - this shows Genesis in their final, transitional phase (which has been increasingly obvious since 'Wind and Wuthering') from Progressive Giants, to being accessible and radio-friendly , and contains a fine cross-over in the process. The last of the truly 'Prog' Genesis albums IMO. Opening track 'Behind The Lines' incorporates a nicely performed instrumental introduction which gives the three-some equal share of the spotlight - cleverly arranged Drumming, dynamic Bass and lead- Guitaring, and some of the best sounding modern Keyboards for 1980 (discounting older, analogue hardware still used at the time). The bulk of the song has a 'soul' flavour to it, very tasty Bass-lines from Rutherford. Ironically, Collins did a funky re- recording of this song on his debut solo record, complete with a Brass section !..... 'Duchess' is quite an epic in its own right, and not too bad either. 'Man of Our Times' highlights an interesting drum pattern from Phil and is a very good song with an uplifting chorus. The weakest tune during the first half would be 'Misunderstanding', a Motown-flavoured poppy piano ballad, it's O.K. 'Heathaze' is a fantastic piece - Banks' keyboards shine, with some ripping fretless bass from Rutherford. 'Turn It On Again' is an intelligent song, in that it is extremely catchy, poppy, but with interesting rhythmic displacement - incorporating bars of 5,6, 7 and 8 beats, (if I'm not mistaken), but Collins makes these irregular patterns flow - a compositionally progressive trait. Next song worthy of mention is the touching ballad 'Please Don't Ask' - not even remotely Prog, but really beautiful. I have to say that we have an emotionally moving vocal from Phil, and the tune itself is quite pretty - along the lines of 'Many Too Many' from the previous album.) I still appreciate it a lot. The closing suite of 'Duke's Travels/Duke's End' is quality, inspired Prog-Rock, and allows Bank's to let loose on his synths and trusty old Hammond, and never becomes stale sounding, courtesy of the constantly shifting tempo's - Phil drums' his heart out. An outstanding composition and up there with the best Genesis has to offer. 'Duke's End' is a reprise of the opening passage of 'Behind The Lines' with the riff from 'Turn it On Again'. I rate DUKE as a 4 star album.

The is the best of pop sounding Genesis. Still quite a few shades of old here. The hits _Misunderstanding_ and _Turn It On Again_ are here, but that should not deter any prog.rock fan from turning their nose up at DUKE. This albums has a great opener with _Behind The Lines_ which is revisited on _Dukes Travels_. It also flows nicely into the strange but ominous _Duchess_. My favourite track here is _Man Of Our Times_ which could the _Undertow_ of this album. A mixed bag of pop and prog. and pop here, but DUKE works well. Recommended.

Duke's end

Duke was the last ever really good album by Genesis and their last progressive record. In many ways Duke is a crossover between what had been and what was to be; a blend of 70's and the 80's Genesis. Some purists lost interest in Genesis already when Peter Gabriel left the band, but Trick Of The Tale and Wind And Wuthering are both, in my opinion, fantastic albums (indeed, both are all time favourites of mine); yet others gave up on Genesis when Steve Hackett left, but, again, both And Then There Were Three and Duke are, in my view, great albums too! For sure, the signs of the commercial direction the band would take with their next couple of albums were already there on And Then There Were Three (and some would claim Wind And Wuthering), but Behind The Lines/Duchess/Guide Vocal and Duke's Travels/Duke's End are great pieces of Symphonic Prog and together these tracks make up about half of the album.

The rest is mostly high quality Pop/Rock with only a few songs that stand out as weaker than the rest. Turn It On Again became a hit and a live favourite that was played on all (?) Genesis concerts since. I really like this song! Misunderstanding too became something of a hit, but it is a merely decent Pop song. Man Of Our Times and Heathaze are good songs, but not really more than just good. The weakest moments, however, come towards the end with Alone Tonight, Cul-De-Sac and Please Don't Ask, but this is remedied by the strong Duke's Travels/Duke's End that reprises some themes from the album's opening songs.

Duke is a highly recommended addition to your Genesis collection. Genesis last great album.

The last great album for Genesis and their best as a trio.Pop influence is already here but there are such songs as Behind the Lines,Duchess,Man of Our Times,Turn It on Again,Duke's Travels,Duke's End which are very good progressive songs.As whole the album is rock,not pop,but it's not solely progressive rock,but contains melodic rock,too.Slightly better than their previous release,it is the last really good album over the middle quality for Genesis.I would like to pitch on the song - Behind the Lines.I think this is an important song in Genesis' career.It is a mixture between progressive rock at the beginning and pop rock after that.The band wants to tell us that they still can make progressive rock and they aren't run out of ideas.They just want to break the commercial market.And they tell us all of this with one song - the opening one.

"Take what's yours and be damned."?

Was this unintentionally directed at Genesis' diehard fans? I don't know, but what I do know is this album has the dreadful Misunderstanding on it. "What the hell was a Beach Boys song doing on a Genesis album?", I thought at the time. The irony was that just as I was becoming a serious progressive music fan, the band was running away from that style. I thought Turn It On Again was a lot better for a pop song. I had been listening to and enjoying Follow You, Follow Me when it came out on radio (from the previous album, of course). But I really think they went too far with that one, yes it was "some kind of mistake". It would have been more appropriate on a Phil Collins solo album. Still it accomplished what it was probably intended to do and lead a bunch of pop fans to the band, and they probably came to outnumber the original fans at some point. Now I must admit that by that time back then and still to this day I am a huge fan of the pre the three.

For me, if you took out Misunderstanding, Turn It On Again; also, Alone Tonight, probably, along with Please Don't Ask, definitely; you've got a decent sort of concept album.

What had really changed on this album, though the most of the music is proggy, is that the lyrics are almost all about personal relationships rather than mostly inspired storytelling.

I've an autographed copy of the LP and an unremastered version on CD. Fortunately, I skipped the "Definitive Edition" and now I've got the actual definitive edition in my collection - the one with the DVD. This is the one to go for and the complete package offered, with this edition, gets me off the fence as to whether the album is an excellent addition or merely non-essential. Granted it does have the Misunderstanding and Turn It On Again videos, but also one of Duchess (all of these available on the video compilation Video Show, too).

There's a surround sound mix and a 24 bit stereo mix of the original album to boot, an interview about the album, the world tour programme 1980 (I still have my hard copy from the show), but the thing that makes it worth the price of admission is the Live At The Lyceum London 1980 video. You get (in order) Behind The Lines, Duchess, Guide Vocal, In The Cage, Afterglow, Dance On A Volcano, and Los Endos! Notice what's not missing! What's been added? If you can't guess the former, the latter are Darryl Steurmer and Chester Thompson.

I can't say enough about Darryl Steurmer and Chester Thompson, providing guitar and drum support, respectively, without which Genesis could not have really functioned well on tour. Already excellent musicians in their own right, they learned to play some of the old prog songs and hung around with The Three for many tours as Genesis mutated into a pop band that would throw their old prog fans the occasional bone.

Now "nobody cries for more"? Well, Genesis is back and touring as I write this, yet more as a retrospective act than a progressive one.

I think this is a great LP, and, in addition to some of the more commercial feeling songs creeping in on the back of Follow You..., it has some great prog moments.

I give this album 5 stars - it has always held a special place for me since I brought the vinyl on release, and I really do not think there is a weak song on it.

The opening Behind the Lines, Duchess, and Guide Vocal were performed stunningly on the last reunion tour, and they are a tour de force of a band creating a huge wall of sound and progressive moments behind a more accessible veneer.

Man of Our Times thunders along, with Collins, I think, sounding particularly sinister in a song clearly aimed at politicians and their art. Banks & Rutherford again create a huge soundscape.

Misunderstanding is hated by many, I know. No, it's not prog, yes, it's pop, but at this stage, songs such as this did not detract from the excellence of all else, unlike in the following albums which I will review next.

Heathaze is a pleasant Banks inspired song with gentle and emotional keyboards providing the backdrop.

I still think Turn it on Again is a fantastic single, this studio version being far superior to the live versions in later years which I came to loathe. The original version contains some thunderous keyboards, huge drum sound, and simple, but effective guitar work. A brilliant single which again introduced many people to their earlier, pure prog, works.

Alone Tonight is a great melancholic song, definitely to be played after about 8 pints when you've been dumped or some such other tragedy. Again, the difference here between the individual band members solo efforts and the band efforts is the huge sound they create and the sense of emotion and musical feeling.

Cul de Sac features some excellent Banks work and is comparable, I think, to One for the Vine in its feel and subject matter.

Please Don't Ask was originally to be a Collins solo track on Face Value - thankfully, the other two liked it and created, again, a sympathetic and huge sounding texture to a very personal account of a breakup.

Dukes Travels & Dukes End are simply symphonic prog at their best - a huge sound driven largely by Banks, with the return of the guide vocal seeing Collins almost driving away whatever demons were pursuing him a the time. The final part crashes into a massive keyboard, drum, and guitar noise which is pure prog - not pop by any stretch of the imagination.

This is a far better album than many of the previous reviews suggest. It is not at all comparable to any of the Gabriel LPs, but it does represent a band who started an alternate journey with Trick of the Tail and have matured into a confident and musically tight outfit producing great work. Very highly recommended for all those who can listen to an LP without imagining its rubbish simply because its a Collins LP.

An exercise in mediocrity.

Actually, mediocrity might be a bit kinder and gentler than I tend to mean. This is the beginning of Genesis' long downslide out of the graces of prog fans. Some people wonder why I don't like Genesis as much as other 70s giants such as Gentle Giant, King Crimson, or Yes. It's all because of what started here.

No, I'm not saying that this is necessarily a bad album, but considering that I'm not as big of a fan of the band as most people on this site (I for one think they only ever made two, maybe three, masterpieces), this album still has a few good songs in Duchess, Cul-De-Sac, and Duke's Travels. However, that's pretty much where any enjoyment in this album ends for me. The rest feels too much like bland pop, despite me thinking of this album as more pop-prog. This is however the last Genesis album that will have any trace of prog on it as far as I'm concerned. I think Genesis fans will enjoy this one more, but if you're not a huge fan of them, then this 2 star album is one you don't need in your collection.

Probably Genesis last really progressive album. I have to admit I like the Collins era pop period. ?At least it was fine, well done, prog influenced pop music. And Duke is where this transitional period is more evident, even more than on the patchy ...And Then We Were Three. Phil Collins was steppin in as a main songwriter in stuff like Misunderstanding (fine tune) and Please Don´t Ask. There are some great stuff here like Duchess, Behind The Lines and, most of all, the Duke´s suite at the end. Ok, there is also Turn It On Again, a very repetitive song that I never liked and I can´t really stand hearing it even today, but those weak moments are few.

Duke may have divided fans, but I still think it´s a fine album if you take in consideration the time it was released and the general confusing state of the music scene by then. The simple fact that it is still enjoyable today speaks for itself. So it may not be Genesis finest hour in their discography, but it is good anyway. Three stars.

|C+| So much music coming from just three guys. Sound familiar?

Indeed, the Genesis album Duke is recognized by most in both the prog and pop communities as a very worthwhile album, and it isn't too often that the two groups agree on anything when it comes to music. The reason for this is obvious: the band maintains relative musical integrity while still making the music accessible with catchy melodies and more repetition. So there you go, a happy intermediate between pop and prog, though a bit more on the pop side with this album.

I came across this album after discovering my parents' old vinyls in a box which hadn't been open for years. The only post-Hackett Genesis I'd heard before this was their self titled album, which I still consider pop rubbish. So naturally I expected the same with this album. When I first played it, I dismissed it as such after only half listening to it, then the last two tracks played, which caught my attention. Duke's Travels and Duke's End sound a lot like the band's proggier stuff, which I was pretty happy about. Since then I've played it on the turn-table about once a week or so, and each listen I'd pick up more things I hadn't noticed before, and now it's to the point that I can say I really enjoy this album, though I still don't give it the merit of many of the band's prior albums.

The main thing that impresses me about this album is Banks' diverse keyboard work throughout the album. I think of his parts playing a similar role in the music to Lifeson's guitar work (hence my introductory sentence) in that it not only fills up the middle space between the bass and vocals, but plays a key role in driving the music overall with the chord progressions and melodies. He does more with his keyboard on this album than most other hailed prog keyboardists on their masterpiece works. And of course let's not forget Collins' reputable drumming and competent vocals, and Ruthorford's bass, twelve string work, and backing vocals. So there should be no argument about the demonstration of diverse musicianship, something I certainly wasn't expecting from post-Hackett Genesis.

The main reason why I enjoy this album, however, is the emotional aspect of the album. Many of the experiences our character Duke faces are something most of us can really relate to on an emotional level, and this emotion is portrayed in the music very well. It's one of those albums you could easily sing to and enjoy even though you know it's not the old Gabriel-era Genesis we all love. This relatibility is probably why the pop listeners enjoy this even more than most proggers. Duke is a character we all know, because his adventures are similar to our adventures, in a sense. Quite frankly, of course a concept album about personal relationships isn't going to be full blown prog!

And this album does vier between pop and prog, coming real close to being completely one or the other for some tracks. The tracks Duchess, Misunderstanding, Turn It On Again and Alone Tonight come closer to the pop side, while the last two tracks, Man of Our Times and most of the instrumental sections come slightly closer to the prog side. But overall, it is somewhere between the two concepts, thus this album could probably be best labeled as predominantly prog-related.

Duke is certainly one of the better threes I'll give. I mainly suggest a purchase to those who are already fans of the band and don't mind Collins' voice and fans of prog-related music who like the pop-prog combination, but really this is a good buy for anyone who likes prog rock or pop music. I wouldn't be surprised if this is indeed the best of the post-Hackett albums.

Duke is what I find as a farewell to Genesis in their good days. The previous album was my introduction to progressive music, and "Duke" is higher on both extremes. It's significantly poppier at times, and significantly proggier at times. I'm debating between 3 or 4 stars for this one, but I'm leaning towards 4. The pop moments aren't horrible (for the most part), and the prog moments are some of my favorite from Genesis (the Duke's Travels/Duke's End suite is some of my favorite music ever).

I'm not sure if this is a concept album or not. I don't know of it has a lyrical story or not (I guess I didn't pay close enough to the lyrics), but it certainly does have a few musical and lyrical reprises. The opening to "Behind The Lines" is reprised in "Duke's End", along with two or three other reprises.

In terms of music, this is a very solid effort that is far too often overlooked in the prog community simply because Steve Hackett and Peter Gabriel had left at this point in Genesis' career. Also, songs like "Misunderstanding" and "Turn It on Again" are associated with Duke way more than they need to be. Look folks, these are only 2 out of 12 songs. The rest of the album is almost all incredible. Ultimately, these two songs are why I'm giving this album 4/5 stars. What ISN'T associated with this album is all of the great parts that earn the other 4 stars. "Behind The Lines" has a proggy opening, but has a funky main section with really cool bass. Even some of the more poppy songs (Alone Tonight, Please Don't Ask) are very good.

One of the main things about this album is that, prog or pop moments, it is very synth-heavy and has a different feel, even in comparison to its predecessor. It has a sound that I tend to like, but I could understand somebody not liking some of the traits. One of these things that I definitely do not like is the drum machine that is used occasionally here. It's not nearly as bad as it would soon become, but it's a hint of where they were going to go, which is definitely a shame because the drumming is incredible on this album. If you listen to the drumming on the last two songs, you will see some of Phil Collins' true drumming ability.

All in all, this is a solid album. Is it Foxtrot? Certainly not. But in the dying prog scene in the early 1980's, this is a very good album with moments of symphonic prog at its best. This is a mix of a few prog songs and a few pop songs put together to make a solid album, warranting a 4 star review.

Rutherford, Banks and Collins' 1980 release is a gorgeous one from a band that had never been able to stand still musically. Whether one liked that newness is, I suspect, more a matter of taste than art. In the case of these three, a penchant for a more defined musical design - leaner but sonically larger than previous work - had always been evolving since they began playing music together. And though Phil Collins' lyrics are typically ambiguous and vaguely symbolic (underlying story? general associations? open to interpretation?-- does anyone really care?), he'd matured as a singer and turns in a very strong performance. What we got was a record with wide appeal that showed what could be done with both pop and prog.

As usual, this band was at the forefront of new ideas and technologies and this time was no different, they were just older and increasingly interested in getting to the point. There are several cuts that will not appeal to 70s Genesis fans, there is no doubt, and Collins' broken-hearted, bubblegum tapioca pudding moans could induce late stage diabetes. But on the whole Duke is not only generally better and far more developed than their next, but also outdoes previous And Then There Were Three for continuity, studio sound and mixing. Which is to say, it's a good record. Real good.

'Behind the Lines' defines the new sound well, the guys sounding bigger and badder than ever but on contemporary terms. The Collins preoccupation with Jackson 5-style Motownism is unavoidable and the band seems happy to oblige, and his personal fascination with childhood pervades the lyrics. 'Duchess' is better, abruptly opens into a grand march after a timid start and chronicles a performer's fate, touching 'Guide Vocal', and though 'Man of Our Times' is a perfectly fine tune, contains increasingly obtuse lyrics that make us scream for Peter Gabriel's abstract nonsense which was at worst interesting. Obsessive young romance of hit 'Misunderstanding' was a highway-driving favorite, grim ecological visions in 'Heathaze', and utterly fantastic Flashdance-era spectacle for 'Turn it on Again'. Is that Travolta shaking his ass in Staying Alive? No! It was just the new Genesis record in 1980. Relax, and keep moving. 'Alone Tonight' will stay alone if I can help it as will 'Cul-de-Sac'. Finally some of the old magic for Duke's 'Travels' and 'End', Banks pulling out the tricks with a marvelous timbre on keys and bass pedals, the joy this band has playing together pouring through with some killer bits.

This, their tenth in the studio, is probably also the tenth Genesis album one should acquire. But far from being undesirable, Duke is a terrific pop record filled with highly entertaining music by some of the finest players of any realm in the world .

Sidenote: Sweet mother of prog, thank you that I'm back from these dark times of prog music. However, I'll return there, because some work has to be done. And it's not pleasant one (albums after Genesis).

Duke has nice cover(t) art, simplified, but about as simple as in Little Prince, but both promises great experience, when you properly feel into it. Still, this has almost all elements that old Genesis used to have (we all understand which ones, right?). When listening this, I feel like at home from some distant country of unhappy and unpleasant music (80's).

4(+) and let eternal damnation on my soul for doing it. This is not bad album, not even by remote, because honestly, when judging this in compare to some new bands that I've been listening and reviewing lately, this still stands still & firm (even it's "past Genesis time as undisputed prog band"). Long, instrumental passages, great atmosphere (finally, going backwards proved to be useful when I went from 1985 to 1955 and now it helped again), vocals of Collins that sounds even more like Gabriel's (good one, but how the hell are they doing it?), almost pompous structure of some songs and monumental outro.

Simply great

I'm going to go with my better judgment and give this 2 stars. This is primarily because there are at least some fleeting moments of...dare I say...great music on this album.

By 1980 much of the fun of listening to a new Genesis album was gone. They may have some good lines or melodies here and there, but due to effects and overdubs they didn't lay much of it down together, and that comes through in the music. Also--and I don't know whether to attribute this to the production or the instruments--but the synths sound cheesier and the guitars and drums tin-ier than a decade earlier.

In other words, as we all knew, the early 80s just weren't good for prog.

Highlights include the opening and closing overtures--particularly Duke's End--which show that the band could still rock out if called upon to do so. Despite what others think, Turn It On is a good and catchy song to my ears, even with a little non-standard rhythm in there to ever-so-slightly stick it to the traditional pop world. Duke's Travels also gets a B for effort, but it's really just a generic jam with some cheesy-sounding synths when you break it down.

The rest of the songs, at least to my ears, just don't need to be discussed much in the context of progressive rock.

All in all, I really just love the balls-out glory of Duke's End, with some highlights here and there. Some of the rest can lie in the scrap heap of other cheese-pop of the times.

And let's not even get started about that cover art...

This was my brother's favorite Genesis album, so I rode on his enthusiasm into the concert to see this tour. The album is good, just not as great, as intricately detailed and full of quirky/unexpected moments as 70s Genesis.

It starts off fairly promising with 1. "Behind the Lines" (5:30) (7/10)and the powerful drum play of Phil. It's kind of like a Broadway overture in that it introduces several of the themes from later songs. (BTW: in case you didn't know, this is a concept album.) But when things calm down for vocals all of the power comes apart and the new "pop" Genesis rears its head.

2. "Duchess" (6:25) (9/10) is definitely one of the highlights of the album for me with its (then) experimental electronic percussion leading into the album's best vocal section. It all kind of goes down hill from there.

4. "Man of our Times" (5:36) (6/10) has some incredible chord structures from Tony Banks but that's about it.

5. "Misunderstanding" (3:15) (8/10) I have to admit is a rather catchy pop tune.

6. "Heathaze" (5:01) (8/10) gives us Phil's singing at his best: tender delicate singing--and nicely accompanied by Tony's electric piano.

7. "Turn It On Again" (3:44) (8/10) is yet another nice pop tune--and a concert favorite. The following four songs are throw-aways, but the final two, the (mostly) instrumental

11. "Duke's Travels" (8:39) (9/10) and 12. "Duke's End" (2:07) (9/10) are quite nice.

The overall effect of the 55 minute album definitely makes me feel like I just listened to the recording of a Broadway show. The music is okay--though I find the mix of the tracks a bit quiet and muddy. Phil's singing keeps getting more confident and central to the music and his drumming is still outstanding but the movement towards a pop audience has become apparent. A good album that stands up fairly well over time but it is not consistent with its quality, shows a definite decline in the complexity of the music, and lacks as many high points as four star albums.

After getting introduced to the two post-Hackett Genesis albums through As Good As Gold live album, it felt like Duke was suppose to be a pretty decent and the better release of the first two trio albums. And so I once again used Spotify to listen to one of the later Genesis albums!

Duke definitely turned out to be a rather enjoyable release, especially in comparison to the self-titled (1983) album, which I will be covering shortly. Still, it doesn't come close to even the least interesting moments of the pre-1977 Genesis. The songs that I've learned to love on the live album were Turn It On Again and Misunderstanding, but surprisingly non of them managed to surpass their live counterparts. Instead it's the dramatic Tony Banks ballads that steal the show for me. Heathaze and Guide Vocal both feature very recognizable melodic hooks that could have only been arranged by the keyboard master himself. If you like to hear a clear difference in both arrangement and melody then Alone Tonight is a pretty good example of just that.

The Duke-suite was clearly made to integrate both fans of progressive rock and pop into the band's new direction. It all sounds a bit like a cheap trick to pull on your trusting audience and so most of those tracks never really clicked with me the way that they probably are expected to. I'm actually not sure if the pop audience would have been entirely convinced by this release if it wasn't for the surprise hit single Turn It On Again that skyrocketed Genesis into stardom for another decade.

Overall, it's a nice surprise to see that not all the albums released by the trio line-up were as bad as they were considered by the progressive rock fans at the time. Duke might not be even remotely close to the excellence of the band's past but still a worthy listen after you've covered all of the classics.

***** star songs: Guide Vocal (1:21) Heathaze (4:57)

**** star songs: Behind The Lines (5:43) Turn It On Again (3:46) Alone Tonight (3:54) Cul-De-Sac (5:06) Duke's Travels (8:39) Duke's End (3:08)

*** star songs: Duchess (6:25) Man Of Our Times (5:34) Misunderstanding (3:13) Please Don't Ask (4:00)

Duke shows Genesis moving further into their slightly progressive synth-pop phase. Genesis have fully embraced the fact that they write above-par and intelligent pop songs, and are quite able of being a terrific singles-act. The sound here is much more synth heavy than their last album, and eschews more of the progressive elements that were still loosely intact on And Then There Were Three.

The musicianship is still great throughout the album, and the music here is great for what pop music is generally considered to sound like. The only track here that I find to be completely enjoyable is "Duke's Travels" which is a progressive instrumental journey that really brings the album up a few notches.

Overall, this album isn't entirely great, and I would only suggest it for "Duke's Travels". This is the last album that Genesis would record with any noticeable elements of progressive rock.

Well, this Genesis album is dividing the respective critics who give it 1 to 5 stars and obviously cannot agree as to whether this is a masterpiece or a master-mess. I sit pretty comfortably in the middle. It is not all that bad, but nowhere near a masterpeice.

"Duke" is the first Genesis album that I owned and as such has a place in nostalgic terms for me as a vinyl treasure. The packaging is unforgettable with that iconic figure looking at the window. I absolutely love 4 of the tracks, but, as is the case in the 80s, Genesis was losing their prog power. But having said that, suffice it to say, 'Turn it on Again' definitely was progressive and hit the top 10 charts at that! The unusual meter in the pre chorus, dropping a full phrase and intonation, is outstanding and showed Genesis were still maintaining the inventive edge of the 70s days. Phil Collins is better on this album than subsequent albums when he turned to power ballads. He is wonderful on Behind The Lines and the brilliant Duchess. I always loved that war cry in the chorus "and everyone cried for more", having seen it first on the promo clip on TV.

The others on side one are rather forgettable. It is on side 2 that the genuine prog touch returns on the classic Duke's Travels, an 8:39 blitz of awesome instrumentation. There are many mediocre moments on the album so I could never rate this any more than 3 stars. However, there is nothing wrong with the aforementioned tracks, and really Turn it on Again and Duchess are quintessential to the 80s Genesis repertoire.

Hardly the pop sellout it is sometimes painted as, Duke is in fact the last hurrah for Genesis' proggy side. Tony Banks ably incorporates a more modern (for the time) synthesiser sound into the band's music this time - and is one of the few people who are able to avoid early 80s synths sounding dated - and the album consists of three different types of song: adeptly composed art-pop pieces like Turn It On Again or Misunderstanding, nods to the band's pastoral prog past like Heathaze, and a modernised progressive sound displayed on songs such as Duchess and Duke's Travels/Duke's End which could have happily seen the band carry the prog torch through the 1980s and still attain great commercial success if only they had pursued this direction.

The disc also seems to be something of an inadvertent concept album - dividing up the "Albert" suite (Behind the Lines/Duchess/Guide Vocal/Turn It On Again/Duke's Travel's/Duke's End) and spreading it over the album means that overall the album seems to have a hidden storyline about a man whose wife leaves him, goes through a depressing period in his life, musters the courage to meet up with her again (Please Don't Ask), and then realises that he's moved on and is able to finally put her behind him. (The first "Take what's yours and be damned!" in Guide Vocal is sorrowful petulance from the jilted man; the second "Take what's yours and be damned!" at the end of the album is a firm rejection from a man who has decided he doesn't need what his ex was offering any more.)

I wouldn't call it the crowning prog achievement of the Phil era of Genesis - that accolade probably goes to A Trick of the Tail - but it's a competent updating of the Genesis sound which at its best ably balances commercial accesibility with progressive credibility. Granted, the songs that form the core "Albert" suite do tend to be somewhat more solid and polished that the other material, which tends towards insubstantial filler at times. But mild inconsistency doesn't translate to the album being a full-blown betrayal of the band's prog roots by any stretch of the imagination. That, friends, would come later.

A damn sight better than the stodgy pop-prog of 1978's first post-Hackett album '...And Then There Were Three', the first Genesis record of the 1980s also proves to be one of their strongest since their first post-Gabriel album, 1976's 'A Trick Of The Tail'. Conceived and created during a difficult period for the now trio-sized outfit, 'Duke' - and for that matter Genesis' entire post-1980 career(sorry for the multiple uses of the word post, I'll stop now) - only came about thanks to the painful demise of Phil Collins marriage. Really? Yes, really. Because of the drummer-cum-singer's personal strife the goup had decided to disband for a while in order to allow their frontman the time to sort his domestic life out, and for Collins that really did mean the end for Genesis if that's what it was going to take to save his ailing relationship. Sadly(but not for fans of eighties Genesis) the marriage failed, and back came Collins, armed with a notepad stuffed full of self-penned songs - many about his, yawn, break-up(get over it Phil, your a rock star for christ's sake) - and a new desire for international success. Back together with Tony Banks(keyboards) and Mike Rutherford(guitars), the new, slimlined group reconvened in Holland(?) to start sessions on a new album. Virtually a million miles from the sound found on such Genesis prog classics as 'Nursery Cryme' and 'Selling England By The Pound', 'Duke' finds the threesome parlaying slick, synthesized keyboards and snazzy new technology into a distinctly melodic pop-rock brew that was just perfect for the 1980s. Still a year-or-so away from his own smash-hit solo success, Collins would, for the first time, contribute much of the writing to 'Duke', and rather predictably, the album proved a big success. Penning, amongst others, the catchy-albeit-lightweight break-up ditty 'Misunderstanding', and thus affording the listener a brief glance into the balding vocalist's own soft-pop future, Collins poured much of the pain, anguish and emotion of his recent break-up into 'Duke', making for a peculiar mixture of emotional pop balladry, fast-paced electro-rock and, still lurking hazily in the background, a dash of modernistic keyboard prog for those fans still yearning for the good old days. Of course, many of Genesis' older fans would leave the story at this point, but they would be replaced tenfold by a younger, hipper and less demanding audience who lapped up everything the band had to offer over the next five years. 'Duke', an album stuffed with expensive studio trickery, essentially kick-started the lucrative second-life of Genesis, and despite its slightly cynical commercial conception, it's actually a rather good album. Highlights are frequent, and include the toe-tappingly good 'Turn It On Again', the rather beautiful keyboard-led 'Duchess', and last but by no means least, the epic techno-prog of the surprisingly complex 'Duke's Travels'. Yes, it's not the Genesis we once knew and loved, but come on folks, deal with it. As a certain singer-songwriter once said, the times, they are-a-changing. He wasn't wrong. STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2014

Not having a nostalgic connection to Genesis, I don't gag reflexively when I consider my thoughts on Duke, as many of the other prog fans do on this page. But I certainly understand where the reaction comes from. Reviewing albums by prog bands during the 1980's is usually like rolling up ones sleeves with the intent of polishing a turd out of the desire to find something good in groups we know are capable of producing gems. I get it - I feel the same way about most of Yes' and King Crimson's 1980's material.

At any rate, Genesis has never been a favorite of mine, so I'm coming to the review of Duke without the heartbreak associated with having one's favorite band "go mainstream." So what do we get with Duke? Well, the answer is something much less mainstream than detractors would have us believe. While the overall sound fits into the modern, synth-heavy style of the period, Genesis' performance here is actually quite good, ambitious, and energetic.

The album opens with walls of keyboards and big flashy hooks, fat bass riffing, and a thoughtful composition that has an eye for variety. "Duchess" gives way to a lush ballad, with still more walls of keyboards. Banks is definitely the star of this show throughout. Nestled between a few mediocre ballads are the single hits that helped make Duke reach #11 on the Billboard charts. Unsurprisingly, "Turn it On Again" and "Misunderstaning" feel very much like Phil Collins' solo output. Given his success as a solo artist, it's easy to see how these songs are what people remember most about Duke.

"Duke's Travel's" is probably the best song on the album in terms of song writing and instrumentals. It's dynamic, surprisingly bottom heavy, and filled with great solos by the group. It fits very snuggly into the classic prog feel while retaining that modern sound. Sure, Duke plays it safe on a few tunes that border on the sappy and simple, but these are in the minority.

All in all a solid release that holds up 30 years later as a great snap-shot of timeless emotions set against the sonic pallet of the '80's. Despite a few short comings, a good but not essential release.

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

"Duke" is the 10th full-length studio album by UK pop/rock/progressive rock act Genesis. The album was released through Charisma Records (UK)/Atlantic Records (US) in March 1980. It's the second album working as the trio of Tony Banks (keyboards, 12-string guitar, background vocals), Phil Collins (drums, percussion, lead & backing vocals, drum machine), and Mike Rutherford (guitars, bass guitar, bass pedals, background vocal). Genesis had been inactive as a band since finishing the tour supporting "...And Then There Were Three... (1978)", as Collins had asked for time off to try and save his marriage with Andrea Bertorelli, and Banks and Rutherford both worked on solo albums ("A Curious Feeling (1979)" and "Smallcreep's Day (1980)"). When Collins attempt to save his marriage failed, he did some work with Peter Gabriel and Robert Fripp, and an album with Brand X, before teaming up with Banks and Rutherford to write material for "Duke".

"Duke" is sort of a concept album and then again not really. The tracks "Behind The Lines", "Duchess", "Guide Vocal", "Turn It On Again", "Duke's Travels", and "Duke's End" were in their original form part of one 30 minutes long track that told a story of a fictional character called "Albert", and on the first part of the tour supporting the album, they were actually played like that. The band decided against recording them as one long track on "Duke" though and mixed them with tracks written individually by each band member (each member brought two tracks with them). Knowing the story about the tracklist, it's actually quite obvious when listening to the album, that half of the album was written as a concept (although the tracks are spread out), and half were written as individual tracks. It's hard to know if the album had worked better with the concept piece puzzled together into one long track, and the individual tracks placed after (or before), but as it is "Duke" works fine and flows nicely.

Stylistically the music on "Duke" is quite different to the music on the predecessor. Although "...And Then There Were Three... (1978)" was in many respects a transition album, which began to show signs of more accessible songwriting, it's still overall a progressive rock album. The scale tips a bit more towards commercial pop/rock on "Duke" although it certainly also has it's progressive moments. Tracks like "Misunderstanding", "Alone Tonight", and "Please Don't Ask", are very accessible in nature, but one should not be tricked into thinking this is simple radio pop/rock by the catchy nature of the tracks, because listening a bit more closely the songwriting is actually quite clever and rather sophisticated for that type of music. In the more progressive end of the scale you have tracks like "Behind the Lines", "Turn It On Again" (featuring quite interesting rhythmic patterns), "Duke's Travels", and "Duke's End". But tracks like "Duchess", "Man of Our Times", and "Heathaze", are also quite interesting in that regard.

I mentioned rhythm above, and as usual Phil Collins has produced a diverse rhythmic output, which is a great treat throughout the album. The use of drum machine (Roland CR-78) on "Duchess" is very tasteful and atmosphere enhancing too. Vocally it's like he comes into his own on "Duke". Collins vocal performances on the three preceeding albums were great too, but he is really burning through on this album. Both Banks and Rutherford deserve mentions too for their great instrumental work (and backing vocals), and especially the tasteful and very intricate keyboard work of the former is high class.

"Duke" is the last David Hentschel produced Genesis album (he had produced all Genesis albums since "A Trick of the Tail (1976)"), and he does a great job here. "Duke" is a very well sounding album, which successfully sounds contemporary for 1980, but still retains a relatively organic 70s touch. Upon conclusion "Duke" may not have been what the most conservative fans of the band's 70s material wanted, but it is a natural successor to "...And Then There Were Three... (1978)", and it was the band's most commercially successful album up until then. A 4.5 star (90%) rating is deserved.

The Duke album started when the band decided to take songs not used from all the members solo albums. So they took their bad experience in love and relationships in their real life to turn them into stories around this Duke character. This Duke wanted to get away from his frustration in life by hitting the road, but those problems are still in his memories. "Behind The Lines" is born after some experience of Tony Banks during repetition in the studio. It's got a big intro with heavy drums and great synths lines. The vocals of Phil are intense. "Duchess" started with Tony Banks trying to reproduce with his synths a drum pattern melody. It's got a great intro with electronic drums and we have again a Phil making his entry with a lot of impact by his vocals. "Guide Vocals" is that cool short song from Phil and Tony in the spotlight. And then the songs quality started to drop with "Man of Our Times" which contains some big drums sounds and some special vocals effects. "Misunderstanding" is simple, catchy with a Beach Boys kind of vocalization in the back of the melody. It's one of those trouble songs with "Please Don't Ask" coming from Phil. The music return to the quality of the first set of songs at the end with "Duke's Travels" who contains some strong drums/synths parts. A part from some average songs on it, this album could have benefited from more guitars even if it's not Steve Hackett. This album seems to me to be centered around Phil drums and Tony's keyboards and the most interesting parts are the instrumental sections at the beginning and at the end.

Review Nº 154

"Duke" is the tenth studio album of Genesis and was released in 1980. It was released after "A Curious Feeling", the solo debut studio album of Tony Banks, which was released in 1979 and "Smallcreep's Day" of Mike Rutherford, released also in 1980, and before "Face Value" of Phil Collins, which would be released in the next year, in 1981.

"Duke" became the second album of Genesis released as a trio. The album began their development towards a more accessible pop and rock music. A closer look at "Duke" reveals that the album is sort of divided into two parts. First there is the so-called "Duke" suite, consisting of "Behind The Lines", "Duchess", "Guide Vocal", "Turn It On Again", "Duke's Travels" and "Duke's End". It was written by the whole group. All these songs were supposedly part of a big long track made up in the best tradition of "Supper's Ready" of a series of song fragments. However, there doesn't seem to be a "bigger picture" behind the songs, and it's uncertain whether there ever was an underlying all concept. The other group consists of half a dozen songs written by the individual members of the band, distributed very evenly.

"Duke" has twelve tracks. The first track "Behind The Lines" written by Banks, Collins and Rutherford has a great progressive start with about 2 minutes, but after that the song enters on a pop rhythm. It's an interesting song with some nice musical moments. The second track "Duchess" written by Banks, Collins and Rutherford is basically a pop song with some progressive influences and it represents another good track on the album. It's an interesting attempt to merge the progressive with pop. The third track "Guide Vocal" written by Banks is the smallest song on the album and is a very beautiful and melancholic ballad which gives us a brief and nice musical moment. The fourth track "Man Of Our Times" written by Rutherford is a song that feels more influenced by the new wave than by the progressive music. This is a good composition, well balanced, which gives to us another good and nice musical moment. The fifth track "Misunderstanding" written by Collins is a pop song and is one of the better produced on the album. It seems that was one of his two songs chosen by Banks and Rutherford to be part of the album. They might have been released on "Face Value". This is a great pop song which may be part of a hit parade chart. But, this is a song for a Collins' album but never for a Genesis' album. The sixth track "Heathaze" written by Banks is with "Duke's Travels" and "Duke's End" one of my favourite songs on the album. Sincerely, I think this is an underrated song which deserved would be part of a better Genesis' album. This is a very beautiful ballad in Banks' vein. It's a great song which gives us a great musical moment on the album. The seventh track "Turn It On Again" written by Banks, Collins and Rutherford is the pop rock song of the album. It was one of the greatest successes of them and was one of the most played live songs by the band. Whether we like it or not, this is a good song. The eighth track "Alone Tonight" written by Rutherford is a pretty pop ballad in the same vein of "Your Own Special Way" or "Follow You Follow Me", but is weaker than those two songs. It represents one of the weakest moments of the album. The ninth track "Cul-de-Sac" written by Banks is an interesting song with some progressive influences. This is a good track and is one of the songs on the album with more progressive lines. It's an enjoyable and melodic song with some interesting music, but somehow ends up being a bit bland. The tenth track "Please Don't Ask" written by Collins is another pop song and is the other Collins' track chosen to the album. It's a slow pop ballad and is also one of the most forgotten of the album. This is another track for a solo Collins' work and not for a Genesis' album. It represents another weak point on the album. The eleventh and twelfth tracks "Duke's Travels" and "Duke's End" written by Banks, Collins and Rutherford are really the only truly progressive moments on the album. I don't know why they split the song into two, because it sounds to me as a unique piece. This is really a fantastic progressive track, almost instrumental, which reminds us our very good old Genesis's sound. It's a pity that this moment represents so few on a Genesis' album. Still, it's better than nothing, and it almost saved the day.

Conclusion: As some of you know, I'm a huge Genesis' fan, but honestly, it's impossible, for me, consider "Duke" the last progressive album of Genesis, or even a half progressive album. For me, somehow, the last was "...And Then There Were Three?". Sincerely, I can only see on this album two really progressive tracks "Duke's Travels" and "Duke's End". But, I don't consider it a weak album either. So, it's hard for me rating this album. "Duke" has two great progressive tracks "Duke's Travels" and "Duke's End", two great pop songs "Misunderstanding" and "Turn It On Again", but the rest of the tracks are in general too much undefined. Some of them aren't totally progressive and others are pop songs that failed, because they weren't commercially big hits. I think the band searched to do something different, somehow to break with their past. Maybe they hadn't the courage or were unable to cut completely with their past. The final result is an indefinite album, a strange hybrid album. I only can see it as good but not an essential album.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

After embarking on a divergent path from their progressive roots, found in dribs and drabs on the predecessor "...And Then There Were Three", Genesis surprises and, with "Duke", goes back a couple of steps and includes some unexpected winks to their original side, resisting to discard it completely.

And so it is that in their tenth album, headed by the troubled and exceeded "Albert" on the cover, the recessive genes of the band are present, with more vaporous structures and a less complex sound compared to the past, and where the instrumental is guided mainly by the keyboards of Peter Banks, as in the initial "Behind the Lines" and its continuation "Duchess", or in the final and worthy "Duke's Travels" and "Duke's End".

But as not all that glitters is gold, progressively speaking. The new musical orientation of the band, more given to simplifying their musical proposal and making it more digestible, is consolidated in "Duke" with short and direct pieces like "Misunderstanding" and "Turn It On Again" (originally thought as part of the disassembled "Duke Suite"), or tearful ballads like "Alone Tonight" and "Please Don't Ask", under the clear leadership of Phil Collins, a place he comfortably occupies with the approval of the other two members of the surviving trio.

After "Duke" there would not be much turning back, it is the last swan song left in the progressive lake of the British.

3 stars