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Genesis - Wind & Wuthering CD (album) cover

WIND & WUTHERING

Genesis

 

Symphonic Prog

4.11 | 2230 ratings

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fuxi
Prog Reviewer
2 stars It's terribly sad when you see a once-great band lose the plot. With Genesis, this happened on WIND AND WUTHERING. Although much of the band's playing is as lively and sophisticated as on A TRICK OF THE TAIL, this time their material definitely lets them down. Take the opening track, for example. I've always felt the chorus and the verses didn't fit together, and the drama (based on 18th century Scottish history) simply doesn't come across. Tony Banks' keyboards and Steve Hackett's lead guitar make an awfully soupy sound, and Phil Collins' hectoring voice really gets on my nerves - a foretaste of many irritating hit singles to come. "One for the Vine" is a brave attempt to write a follow-up to "Mad Man Moon", and some of its lines are just as beautifully sung (e.g. 'This is he, God's chosen one, who's come to save us from all our oppressors'), but Phil's falsetto during the chorus gives me the creeps, and the much-applauded instrumental middle section may seem fun, but what on earth does it mean within the context of the song??? For a band like Genesis, "Your own special way" and "All in a mouse's night' are simply below par, and "Afterglow", to my feeling, sounds incredibly pathetic.

Fortunately, WIND AND WUTHERING is saved from total ruin by a number of outstanding tracks. "Wot Gorilla?" is a delightful little instrumental - the best possible way to end the album's original A-side. "Unquiet slumbers for the sleepers...in that quiet earth" (the final words of WUTHERING HEIGHTS) is another magnificent instrumental - a highly energetic counterpart to the more familiar "Los Endos". And "Blood on the rooftops" may just be the loveliest ballad Genesis-sans-Gabriel ever recorded: all the more touching because it deals with reality; not with some infantile little fairytale.

fuxi | 2/5 |

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