WIND & WUTHERING

The album opens with one of the band's strongest songs ever, the exuberant, dynamic "Eleventh Earl of Mar." The last three songs are also excellent, from the elegant dramatic ballad "Blood on the Rooftops," the brooding, mysterious "Unquiet Earth," and the hauntingly beautiful "Afterglow."

Unfortunately, the songs in between are flawed: "One for the Vine" is an epic marred by substandard composition. "You Have Your Own Special Way" is a sickeningly sweet foretaste of the commercial Genesis of the future. "Wot Gorilla" is a pointless fusion instrumental. "All in a Mouse's Night" is - no pun intended - a bit cheesy.

But the highlights are clearly among the best Genesis songs ever. If only the band had stayed in the studio a bit long longer, "Wind and Wuthering" would have been a 5-star masterpiece.