DUCHESS/OPEN DOOR

As I explained in my previous review for the "Misunderstanding" / "Evidence of Autumn" single, the "Duke" album was a tranistional period for the music of Genesis, still trying to decide to play some Prog Rock songs, and in the other part having the desire to leave the seventies behind and to finally become a Pop Rock band. "Misunderstanding" and "Turn it on again" were Pop Rock songs also released as singles and also successful. But, in the case of this single, it was a strange release, in my opinion, because both songs were more Progressive Rock in style. "Duchess" as a single only reached the Number 46 in the U.K. popularity singles charts (without appearing in the U.S. charts), so I think that for Genesis it was an indication of how they should procede in the eighties: in a more Pop Rock musical direction.

"Duchess", composed by all the members of the band (a thing they were going to do more in the eighties) is a more Prog Rock song, with very good drums by Collins, with very good musical atmospheres created by Banks (Keyboards) and Rutherford (guitars and bass pedals), and with lyrics which are about an artist who see how her successful years are away in the past. Maybe the lyrics of this song show that the band wanted to say goodbye to Prog Rock to survive the new musical enviroment of the eighties, a time when the "old" bands were considered as "Dinosaurs". They had to change to survive, so Genesis, like other Prog Rock bands, had to change their musical style to survive. This was seen by the old fans as a betrayal, but the band had to do it. Anyway, with the passing of time, their Prog Rock albums are considered as their best by their fans, not matter the more commercial success that their Pop Rock albums had.

"Open Door" , like "Evidence of Autumn", is also a nostalgical song, this time composed by Mike Rutherford. The lyrics are hard to understand (at least for me), but maybe are about another broken love relationship. This song is very good, but again, I think that it wasn`t included in the "Duke" album because it didn`t fit in the general musical style of the album. So, it was destined to the "B" side of this single. It is similar in style to "Snowbound" (also composed by Rutherford but included in their "...and then there were three..." album), with very good musical atmospheres played with 12 string guitar and keyboards, but this time without drums. Collins` vocals are also very good. "Open Door" is also like a Farewell to the seventies, in my opinion.

Duchess / Open Door was a single released by Genesis from their Duke album of 1980. Duchess was one of those better prog singles released that had enough catch to it to make it on radio and enough progressiveness to it to make it interesting to new listeners and keep the attention of older fans. I'm rather surprised it was ever released as a single because there were plenty of other numbers off of Duke that would've been even more radio friendly. Duchess is also particularly noteworthy as it was one of the first Genesis songs to feature a drum machine. I believe it was the Roland CR-78 which was launched in 1978 and was in use by a number of artists at the time (Blondie's Heart of Glass and Phil Collins In the Air Tonight come to mind).

The B-side, Open Door, is a Mike Rutherford number and probably would have been a better addition to the Duke album than a number of the other songs (like Misunderstanding).

Clearly this is for collectors of vinyl 45-rpm singles as you can get Duchess from the Duke album (and in its proper context with the rest of the album), and Open Door is available on the 2nd archive box set, and the 1976-1982 remastered box set. Musically, a sound three stars.

Two DUKE era Genesis numbers, one from the album, one not. One good, one not so good. The first, "Duchess", is one of my favorite songs from the DUKE album. I like the way it blends into the next number, "Guide Vocal" if I remember correctly. I can give this a solid 4 stars as a great track. ALthough, of course, it is available on the complete album already. "Open Door" is a poppy soft song which would have been a waste on DUKE, although it is not any worse than some of the poppier numbers on the album. Nothing special, although Phil does a good vocal job as always. This song just doesn't seem to get anywhere, a bit rambling. (LIke many of my reviews!). 2 stars for interest/rareness. Overall, I would give this single 3 stars for it's 2 numbers. One great, one below average or maybe just dull.