WIND & WUTHERING

This is an album that I disliked when I first heard it. It is strange, because at the time, I liked Tick of The Tail a fair amount, but felt this was too "poppy" or something. Well, fast forward about 10 or 15 years, and I finally got around to picking up both albums for me own collection. Now it seems this album is the one I prefer (of the two post Gabriel with Hackett Genesis albums).

The first two tracks are magnificent, and showed the way for legions of neo prog bands to come. I don't see how anyone can listen to these two tracks and not hear where bands like early Marillion, IQ, Pendragon, Jadis, etc., etc., got their sound. Not to say these bands copied this sound, only that it obviously influenced them quite a bit. Eleventh is a great energetic opener, showing that Genesis could still write good prog, even this close to the end of their prog days. One For The Vine, while not really matching their Gabriel era material, is stil a good mini epic with great playing from Banks. Then comes the reason I subtract one star. Your Own Special Way, to be fair, is really not that bad when held up against songs like Illegal Alien and Invisible Touch. In fact the acoustic parts during the verses are not too bad at all really. What brings it down for me are the cheesy chorus and the terrible lyrics. And did such a weak song really need to be over 6 minutes long? I think not. In any case, the weakest point of the album, but still not quite to the level of pop lameness they would aspire to in later years. I happen to think Wot Gorilla? is a quite good instrumental. Excellent drumming by Collins, who would soon begin to focus on singing. A great loss to the world of prog. Which is not to say his singing is not good. He shows great improvement on this album over the previous one, coming more into his own and impressing with his vocal abilities. But he never had the unique character and timbre that Gabriel had and still has. He is always too smooth to my ears. All in a Mouses Night is a fairly forgettable, if not bad, song. Not a favorite of mine, but not bad either.

Finally we come to the true greatness of this album. The final four tracks almost fit together as a suite, and highlight Hackett at his best. I always feel a bit sad that Hackett left after such great contributions, but having picked up his first 4 solo albums, I think he did the right thing. Genesis was going in a direction he could not go (or rather, would not go). But at least we have these great tracks to enjoy. Great guitar playing throughout, as well as excellent drumming by Collins. Afterglow is a great dramatic conclusion to a very good album.

This would, of course, be the end of Genesis for me. I've heard the 3 albums that followed this one, and while not completely terrible (Duke actually has some quite good material) none of it would appeal to me as much as this album and the albums before it. The end of a truly great 70's prog band came with the final notes of this album. At least, in my opinion anyway.