PLANET EARTH?

It's very difficult to say anything about The Watch that hasn't already been said in reviews of this album or previous ones for that matter. Understandably most people are going to immediately seize upon their uncanny resemblance to Genesis. This can't be denied and whether it's a good or bad thing is down to your own individual feelings about bands blatantly ripping off others to the point of being totally derivative. My own feelings on this is that we don't have Genesis anymore, never have in a prog sense for almost thirty years now and if we can't have them then this damn fine band will fill the spot nicely.

Whether The Watch sounded like Genesis or not there would be no getting away from the fact that vocalist Simone Rossetti is totally in the Peter Gabriel School of singers. Partly for this reason parallels are often drawn with the Gabriel Genesis era and quite rightly too. The instrumentation is very much of the early Genesis era too with Tony Banks styled piano, Mellotron and Hammond and guitars picked and strummed ala Steve Hackett and Mike Rutherford. Even the rhythm section borrows though in a more simplified form. Musically though I would stretch the influences as far as early Collins fronted Genesis with parts here and there, particularly on Something Wrong having a Trick Of The Tail vibe. Entangled and Ripples anyone?

How The Watch get away with all this is simple. They write great songs and have produced an album with subtle melodies that admittedly take a few plays to get under the skin, but when they do you're hooked. They produce a lovely sound, low on the bombastic front steering a largely mellower course, but that's fine with me. It's a very consistent album, not a weak moment in sight, the seven compositions full of interest with plenty of subtle changes and pleasing authentic seventies sounding instrumental moments.

Whether you like this album or not is going to depend on how much you like Genesis. If you don't then it's not for you but if you're a fan and don't mind something derivative then Planet Earth? Is well worth a listen.