Like so many, I'm sure, Genesis took off for me in 1986 with their opus, Invisible Touch. As a child, I never saw them as a 70's band, would have never guess Peter Gabriel was part of them at one point, and couldn't differentiate between what was Phil Collin's solo work and the band's work. Basically, I was ignorant to Genesis.
Much like many of the prior "legacy" bands I've listened to in the past, I'm not going to profess knowledge, which would essentially be a regurgitation of their Wiki page. So, I'm not going to get into the storied history. It would be an insult to their fans. Instead, I'll continue my personal journey through the albums.
Despite owning their entire 1980's catalog, I've actually only listened to two of them until today. Those were 1980's Duke, and the aforementioned Invisible Touch. While I (of course) praised the latter, my initial impression of Duke was that it ultimately lost my attention. Hopefully, their 1981 entry, Abacab can deliver a bit more than that, which for you readers who are always one step ahead of the game, you know that's today's Retro Spin.
Abacab starts with the title track, and while it initially intrigued me, its sheer length eventually made me take a step back. The instrumental portions were simply too long, and not all that impressive. Keep in mind, I don't associate Genesis with a jam band. Instead, I see them as the pop group with condensed but hard hitting chart toppers.
The prior paragraph is iconic, because I found myself thoroughly enjoying the third track, Me And Sarah Jane, an equally lengthy tune. It has almost a Beatles vibe to it with its horn overdubs, akin to that of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (the album).
Though I heard additional songs which I found shuffle worthy, there were two tracks which stood out as making the purchase of Abacab worth it. Those were the lead single, No Reply At All, and the fun, Who Dunnit?. If I only walked away with these two, I would have been perfectly happy.
Now, with that said, I would be lying if I said Abacab didn't repeat history from Duke. By that, I mean that it eventually fell into the realm of background noise, which I ultimately ended up tuning out. This probably wasn't helped by the frequent disruptions I kept incurring while playing through it. It's hard to get into a song when you're constantly being pulled away from it. Mind you, I don't think I ended up really missing anything as a result.
I do prefer the more radio friendly iteration of Genesis, but I'm not done with them just yet. I have one more 80's album to get through, and if you're familiar with the trend around here as of late, that will happen tomorrow.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS June 9, 1984 |
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