DUKE

Zesty, fresh and NOT a contrived example of Phil-Tony-Mike trying to salvage any well-worn- out remnants of the earlier dungeons & dragons stuff (qv. "And Then There Were Three"). The album refreshingly opens with a high intensity Jazz/Space Rock jam "Behind the Lines"....and closes with a momentous climax of the same idea, "Dukes Travels/Duke's End". Brilliant. Loud. Up-tempo. Phil really takes some angst out on his drums!

I think it's redundant for me to mention that "Duchess" and "Turn it On Again" also qualify for once-in-a-career Classics. This exciting sound wasn't on the earlier albums (as it was a new idea) and, certainly it did not carry over to the more commercialized next album "Abacab". So this makes "Duke" a Gensis Classic. I cannot rate it as 5-Stars, though, merely because of the amount of boring filler songs that were better meant for a Soap Opera. Rate: 4/5.