CATALOG CRAWL: GENESIS, Part 5 (1981-1983)
As Genesis entered the '80s, they stepped confidently into mainstream rock and downplayed most of the progressive rock trappings they had been known for (though they kept a little more prog mindset than diehard genre fans would give them credit for). Duke kickstarted this trend but the three albums covered below in this Catalog Crawl are the ones that completed that changeover.
From here on out, there would be a cut or two on albums that nodded to their art rock past and you'd have to go to see them in concert to hear the old prog style via vintage numbers. However, they approached their new pop style in a progressive way by improvising most of the material in the studio rather than self-consciously trying to write hits, experimenting with different styles and using their ornate musicality to create hooks rather than orchestral passages. If you don't have a "prog or die" mindset, the two studio albums show an underrated amount of ambition - and the live set straddles past and future in an effective way.
Members: Phil Collins (drums, lead vocals), Tony Banks (keyboards, vocals), Mike Rutherford (bass, guitar, vocals)
ABACAB (1981): if Duke split the difference between prog past and pop future, this album strips prog down to a conceptual basis for greater pop experimentation. For example, the brass-laced pop soul of "No Reply At All" offsets its breakup lyric with effervescent, uptempo melodic hooks and the Collins-penned "Man On The Corner" is a ballad whose minimalist, electronics-dominated arrangement develops big pop dynamics when the emotions require it. These are balanced by the title track and "Dodo/Lurker," which have longer, jammier prog structures but utilize subtler arrangements full of spiky synths and exotic drum treatments showing a new wave influence. Speaking of new wave, controversial avant-popster "Whodunit" sounds like something from XTC's first two albums and alien abduction tale "Keep It Dark" offers a pulse-pounding variant on synth pop. That said, Schlockmania's favorites here are "Me And Sarah Jane," an almost psychedelic ballad whose melody constantly mutates in captivating ways, and the brooding AOR of "Like It Or Not." The result is accessible yet full of daring surprises, a perfect middle ground for these aging proggers.
THREE SIDES LIVE (1982): The title for this one reflects a version that once contained a set of E.P. and b-side studio tracks but the commonly accepted version today is a full double live album. The first three sides mostly focus on the Duke and Abacab tours, showing off how the band had developed an arena-friendly approach that divided its time between hook-conscious crowd pleasers like "Misunderstanding" and "Turn It On Again" with more ambitious material that still had dynamics suitable for a concert setting (top examples: "Dodo/Lurker" and the one-two punch of "Behind The Lines" and "Duchess"). Proggers will enjoy an energetic medley built around Lamb-era nugget "In The Cage" that capitalizes on the unit's instrumental pyrotechnics. The fourth side of the all-live version focuses purely on prog, including the deep cut "Fountain Of Salmacis" and a cool take on "It" that utilizes material from "Watcher Of The Skies" for its coda. All in all, it does a solid job of capturing the band's transition from prog chamber orchestra to stadium act on record.
GENESIS (1983): Fans love to debate where Genesis officially closed the door on prog rock. The uncomfortable truth is they never fully did but you could argue this is where prog becomes the last of their concerns. The hits here were "That's All," a sinuous piano-driven popper whose elegant instrumental breaks that reflect their chops, and "Illegal Alien," an oft-misunderstood character portrait of an aspiring immigrant dressed in a high-tech novelty song arrangement. Prog fans will appreciate the eerie atmospherics of moodpiece "Mama" (a hit single in the U.K., believe it or not), the way the two-part "Home By The Sea" medley mixes ghost story with tricky new-wavish jamming and "Silver Rainbow," a synthy '80s version of psych-pop. If that's not enough, "Taking It All Too Hard" is the kind of brooding balladry Collins imported from his solo work and the surprisingly funky hitman tale "Just A Job To Do" wasn't but should have been used on Miami Vice. The result is accessible but craft-enriched in a way that the proggers don't want to acknowledge.