INVISIBLE TOUCH

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

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

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

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