TRESPASS

Before Anthony Phillips quit through chronic stage fright, and before John Mayhew was sacked for his supposed lack of creativity, Genesis recorded this fine album. The short songs format of the first album has been ditched and in its stead are six extended tracks, complete with complex instrumental passages. The album is saturated with richly textured 12-string guitars and Tony Banks' distinctive organ that together accentuate the pastoral nature of most of the songs. Trespass was the band's first album for Charisma and was, for me, the first real Genesis album. It sounds a bit on the raw side with some rather muggy production, but I feel this enhances the dark, at times melancholic nature of the album.

No criticism intended but the sacking of Mayhew shows how ruthless the core members of Genesis were (he was the band's third drummer already). By all accounts Mayhew was considered a solid enough drummer, but he was also rather passive and couldn't provide the kind of input the band wanted. Later events obviously showed that Genesis made the right decision in replacing him and, judging by interviews I've read, Mayhew himself seems to have been quite pragmatic about that decision. Sadly he died only last year, having spent his last five years working as a carpenter in my hometown of Glasgow. Trespass is surely a fitting legacy.

Trespass reveals Genesis as a band on a steep learning curve and it successfully laid the foundations for the band's future classic recordings.