It's 1976, and punk is about to sweep the nation. But not in my head - I'm still stuck with the prog rock of the seventies and Genesis are still my favourite band.
So, when during late 1976 on his Radio City show The Great Easton Express, DJ Phil Easton plays the entirety of the new Genesis album (which I was getting for Christmas anyway), along with the instruction 'press record and play NOW' at the start, I'm ready with a brand new C90.
I recently picked this up at a market stall for a couple of quid, but nearly half a century later, I'm so familiar with it, it's like an old friend. And just like meeting an old friend after many years, it sometimes reminds you, not just why you liked them, but what annoyed you and why you didn't stay as constant companions.
If I'm honest, I think I saw the cracks even then and was aware that there were things heading in a direction which I wasn't to follow. This is probably the last Genesis album I took any notice of, later looking on scornfully when Collins and chums became top 40 hit singles merchants.
But, let's return to 1976, and the album, which opens with Eleventh Earl Of Mar , a song about the Jacobite rebellion (no boy meets girl nonsense for us sophisticate progsters), which is a decent, rocking tune, and a solid opener to the album, with a gentle middle section. It's followed by ten minutes of One For The Vine, a slower theme and much less interesting, but to contrast the first piece, the middle section is much more uptempo and satisfying. Your Own Special Way is a limp love song, which goes on far too long, a taste of future Genesis, but there's a bit of an uplift with the instrumental Wot Gorilla? a decent enough tune.
The second half (as I recall, Phil Easton played the album either side of the news, with a cue in for bootleggers on both sides) kicks off with the slightly twee, but listenable All In A Mouse's Night, and that's followed by the lovely Blood On The Rooftops, probably my favourite post Gabriel Genesis song, Steve Hackett's acoustic intro setting the scene and carrying Phil Collins' tale of current events Weltschmerz along. Unquiet Slumbers For The Sleepers......In That Quiet Earth is actually two instrumentals running together, the first part a mellotron sounding airy theme, before a guitar heavy second half, which is really enjoyable, and leads straight into the final track, the lovely Afterglow, a lazy tune building to a great climax.
I can hear why I enjoyed this album, and why we parted company after it. At it's best it's like a comfortable old jumper but there are bits which feel like that awful shirt bought on an impulse with the 16th birthday money. Certainly the final four tracks are as good as anything post-Gabriel, if the first half is disappointing.
3* - Plenty to enjoy, but the future direction of the band is looming ominously on this album
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