INVISIBLE TOUCH

Invisible prog

The "Invisible touch" album was clearly intended to spawn a succession of hit singles for Genesis. In the end, only the final track, "The Brazilian" (which of course was the only thing remotely progressive on the album) was the only track not to appear on a single.

This, the title track of the album was the first to be released in single format, reaching the top of the US charts and number 15 in the UK. The song is of course a funky, lightweight number, designed to appeal to the dancehall masses. Fun it may be, but it has little value as a serious or indeed interesting piece of work.

The single was backed by the latter half of the longer "Domino" from the same album, the sub-title of this section being "The last domino". It was relatively unusual for Genesis to use an album track as a single B side, their usual preference being to utilise discarded surplus material from the album. The first half of the track "In the glow of the night" later appeared as the B side of "Tonight tonight tonight".

An extended remix of the A side was released on the 12" single of "Invisible touch", and is now available on the second "Archives" box set.

Taken from their most commercially successful album, this song is maybe the best example of the Pop Rock music with quality which the band was composing then. It is maybe the best song from the album, being at the same time very commercial but with some good arrangements and keyboard sounds, including the use of electronic drums by Phil Collins, which he used in excess in the album, IMO. It is also maybe their best commercial song, and it is still a "respectable song" from their Pop Rock albums. The lyrics are a bit funny and a bit silly in some places, but the music and the arrangements are much better. As Collins explained in the "A History" video, the song was started by Mike Rutherford`s guitar riffto which Collins added lyrics and Tony Banks some music, so Collins wasn`t the main influence in Genesis becoming a Pop Rock band, IMO.

She seems to have an invisible touch, yeah. Ummmm, okay Phil, whatever you say. If you are into collecting 45 rpm singles of prog rock groups during their "time to make hit singles" eras, then maybe this one might interest you. Or maybe you have a deep inner urge to wanna dance, but don't want to share it with you prog reviewer comrades. Maybe Phil did have the answer after all?

The B side of this single is a nice "prog tendencies" piece called The Last Domino, and is unusually dark, musically and lyrically, for Genesis. I do recall the AOR radio stations of the time period playing the B side much, much more than the A side when this came out.

In any case, for the prog community, this is pretty much a waste of time and truly for completionists. Especially those that still maintain a record player capable of playing 45 rpm records. For the rest of you, you've been warned.

To me Invisible Touch is better than Abacab, Genesis and Duke and And Then There Were Three put together and then underrated by quite a bit :). Domino is as good as anything Lamb Lies Down On Broadway or SEBTP and its lyrics are MORE image-laden than Gabriel's silly dreamlike childish abstractions ("whats wrong with realism you costume wearing girl look alike..." [Imagine if I said that on this site, I'd be assassinated.... but I didn't! (its in these curvy things so it don't count! haha!)])

I can clearly picture myself locked in a suburban apartment, double-glazing the windows after the bomb dropped in the city. Sitting in a tent I erected in the living room, starring out, unable to sleep, waiting for death, playing games with myself about my wife's obvious fate. Fretful, strange nights, strange sounds, horrifying television coverage, dying people staggering in the streets, screaming for help. Finally I realize, theres nothing I can do, I'm the next in line, A Domino.... Do you know what you have done Washington!!!???? DO YOU!!!!?????? Didn't you listen to the Land of Confusion!!!!????? See the dummies on MTV!!!!??? Damn you! But theres nothing I can do, I'm next in line..... Maybe my wife is alive........ my hair is falling out.... My GOD! I look like Phil Collins in the Mirror! ahhhhhhh!

WHAT A FANTASTIC FANTASTIC, FANTASTIC PIECE OF ART. Really, the simplistic lyrics are deceptive, they say a lot more than can be said by either Waters like direct accusation or Gabriels.... fairy tale rhyming. What a towering achievement, what a subtle message, but what a huge message. Especially considering the USSR and the USA had many close calls at this time in history.

On my PC I listen to Invisible Touch like this:

Do the Neurotic (Genesis Archives Part II) Tonight, Tonight, Tonight 12" (Genesis Archives Part II) Land of Confusion 12" (Genesis Archives Part II) The Brazilian Domino

If you remove the money-making crap, you have a very strong album. All The pieces on IT, even the bad ones are a lot more confident than anything on the previous two albums and are more forceful than the tracks on Duke. AATWT is a pretty weak album, although it is progressive, so even it looks like an underachiever next to the high motivation of Invisible Touch. That's not to say I think Touch is progressive, I don't except for the last two tracks. But I don't believe any fair music fan could listen through the first three tracks and not want to listen again at some point. Genesis was never this stable or tight.

A note because I do believe that this is important with people when they look at a work like Invisible Touch:

I find it interesting how no one seems to realize that the reason all of our favorite bands go pop is because they get rich and have money interests. Pop=money good music AKA prog = good fans, few fans. Genesis does make prog on their albums, but mainly these are career pieces, not art, although the professionalism and quality is beyond contention. How many Fading Lights does Peter Gabriel put on his "World Music" disks, which I don't believe he releases for free either. I demand that anyone who questions Invisible Touch who likes Genesis as it was with the Slipperman, Rael or whatever his stage identity was for the moment, put aside sour grapes with the reality of capitalism and chew some of the bones Genesis throws to us when it could have put "In Too Shallow" or something there instead and made an extra buck.

2 song single from the "Pop" era of Genesis. I have been re-listening to some music of Genesis that I have avoided for years. Now I remember why. "Invisible Touch"- Possibly the most repetitive and annoying Genesis song ever created. I think only "Illegal Alien" from the same album can match it's pure unadulterated garbage value. 1 star only because 0 stars does not exist. I think this song melted 2 of my fillings. "The Last Domino"- There is some prog here..Some. Don't expect LLDOB or FOXTROT. This is pretty much Genesis poppy-barely prog music. 2 stars. Overall this gets 1 1/2 stars. 1 star actually. Skip it if you can.

#51 Review

After a year and almost 2 months i'm back, no one cares. Anyways, decided to look up the singles uploaded on the official Genesis YT channel, i don't own any of these or the ones i have already reviewed so i can't comment on the physical stuff, but i can write about its 2 contents:

1.- Invisible Touch: Its an ok pop single, hard to believe the hate when this one is still a pretty weird piece that has just that instant edge over other 80s pop tracks, but its still pop, don't get me wrong. This version is a bit shorter but overall the same as the album one, and that continues for the next piece.

2.- The Last Domino: A section from this track inspired the creation of the previous one featured on this 7" vinyl, particularly Mike's riff before "Now you never did see..." starts. Anyways, i have listened to Domino so much lately, that i have been liking the first section more because of its "Keep It Dark" hypnotic qualities (the rythms overlap), but this one is also pretty complex, is just that it repeats sections to reach the end, wich is ok, but the entire track changes so much, and has many "keep moving" qualities that its hard to accept a complete reprise near the end.

Overall, i like this package, but its not really that special, even less special now on the digital age. This won't be the last single i review, i'm a bit tired of long reviews, yet Youtube features different singles than the ones listed here on progarchives, so stay tuned for that if you care, or just search for it, doesn't matter, singles are fine for collecting, but sometimes they have something extra, and those are more essential, but this one is just for completionists and fans.