WIND & WUTHERING

The last studio album by Genesis that is highly recommend, followed by a delightful live album. Eleventh Earl of Mar starts with terrific guitar and keyboards by Hackett and Banks in unison . The sound dark and forbidding and match sleeve artwork of the album very well, in fact just like A Trick of the Tailthe mood of the music on this album matchs the artwork very well. After the dark intro the keyboards change the mood to a cheerful one and Collins starts singing and it sounds like a traditional Genesis affair very much in the same vein as Dance on the Volcanoe.Rutherford pounding away at the bass, Banks beautiful and tragic sounding keyboards A great acoustic interlude by Hackett and Rutherford and folky singing by Collins, pretty much first rate music by a first rate band, always well polished, imaginative and interesting. But with this album I cannot get past the feeling that ia lot of it has all been done before in particular their album A Trick of the Tail, don't get me wrong this album is worth your while but in reality the only real real freshness I get from album is from Hacketts iinput. Its like a dark Trick of the Tail and comparisons can be made of the two ( for example Los Endos and Unqiet Slumbers in that Quiet Earth)..It just feels like Genesis were grasping for something else to reach for something more commercial, this is shown in the ballad Your Own Special Way, which was a failed radio-friendly tune and a throwawy track which lowers the album slightly, it feels as if it was business as usual on this album, fantastic musicians creating fantastic songs but some don't quite as fresh as they used to be.Perhaps if Genesis had not have sold out soon their albums would have become very boring and repetitive,who knows?

One for the Vine is perhaps the best track on the album I love it, It is meloncholy and gentle, it has a terrific instrumental an immediate classic, everything a Genesis fan wants and has come to expect, the instrumental sounds very similar to some of the stuff done by Split Enz (many Enz listeners agree that Enz were influenced by Genesis), It has an awesome ending full of both power, humour and tragedy. Hackett Rutherford and Collins greatly complement Banks on this.

Wot Gorrila is similar to the song Riding the Scree on The Lamb Lies Down, a fun little piece, great drumming and percussion by Collins, and very wintery sounding , Hackett has some great interaction with Banks, and great atic work by Mike Rutherford.

All in a Mouses night is a great track but lacks an instrumental likie Ripples and Robbery Assault and Battery, so it doesn't stand out, but does add to the wintery atmosphere to the album, great suibtles by Banks keyboards that sound quite highlanderish and again awesome bass by Mike Rutherford. Good just not mindblowing as I'm accostomed from one of the greatist bands ever.

Blood on the Rooftops is a Hackett, song excellent first rate composition by Hackett, great classical guitar, it sounds quite fresh and hints at Hacketts solo career. I think Phil Collins wrote the lyrics on this track, they do sound quite poor which is a shame. Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers... has a great outer worldly feel to it, written by Hackett and Rutherford, dreamlike with the added meloncholy of Banks keyboards. It evolves into ... In that Quiet Earth, with a great celtic feel to it, Hackett is quite assertive on this piece, with some more assertive guitar to it , which hints at what Genesis could have sounded like if Hackett remained, overall an excellent instrumental and another instant classic.

The Instrumental the again evolves into Afterglow, heralded by many Genesis fans to be a classic, I personally don't like it that much, its not as bad as Your Own Special way but its nothing spectacular either,perhaps one day I'll get it but at the moment I treat it as a filler, a nice one that soothes you to the end of the album, but far from a masterpiece.

Its a solid four stars though just not perfect, Steve Hackett's input sounds as though it was very essential to this album, and adds a lot of freshness to it. Despite my negative statments of this album it is still excellent and worth your time, and has moments of sheer genius and great refinement and polish, its just not perfect, and of course you can accuse me of nitpicking after all this is Genesis!