And Then There Were Three - Underrated??

Listening to this album, while I see signs of a more pop direction, still has tons of progginess in it, and I genuinely think it's one of the bands best. I don't see why this album seems to be the target of criticism lots of the time, and I'm curious to get opinions on it as aside from reviews I couldn't find much discussion.

Please move this, just realized I was in prog polls and not discussion.

Edited by fudgenuts64 - April 17 2013 at 20:37

Nope, it's at least as bad as most people think it is

It hasn't aged well with me--some of the proggy songs are okay but -it's missing something that could have made it great---Hackett.

I think it is one of their strongest albums for me, having played out their earlier stuff as a teen.  The synthesizer

I opened this expecting to see a poll...considering it is in the poll section. Good job. 

I loved this album from the moment I heard it (my memory is a bit sketchy here, but around 1988-89) - still enjoy it after all these years.  Sure it's more streamlined, but still enough Progginess displayed to be appreciated as a very good, if not excellent, album.

stegor wrote: It was my first Genesis album so I have a real soft spot for it. It was brand new when I got it. At the time I wasn't really aware of their history, or that earlier albums included Steve Hackett or Peter Gabriel, so I didn't have that preconceived notion that they were barely a ghost of what they were. So I was able to appreciate it for what it was and not what it could have been. I don't know if it's underrated, it seems pretty highly regarded here anyway. I'll say at least the vinyl pressing I had suffered badly from thin groove syndrome. It was almost an hour long, beyond the limits of vinyl, so the bass is lacking. Some of the songs sound terribly thin, especially the denser ones like Undertow. But I did, and still do like some of the songs a lot. I even liked Snowbound and Say it's Alright Joe, recently mentioned in the "Cringe" thread. Many Too Many and Undertow are both beautiful ballads and Burning Rope and The Lady Lies are cool. It doesn't stack up to anything with Hackett in it though. There's hardly any guitar on it except for Rutherford's trademark arpeggios. Then I got Selling England and found out what real Genesis was.

Sounds similar to my story!! Yep, this was the first album that fueled my Genesis Journey. There's power to the synthesizers that make this album classic. Listen to the intro of Deep in the Motherlode, the build-up of Snowbound... Sure the songs are catchy, but is that so bad? Still full of prog, elaborate compositions, strong drums.

I've loved every song on this album except for Follow You Follow Me. Not that it was a radio hit, I just find it dull and boring. Why this as an album-closer? After such a high-and-mighty album, why close it with a slow piece like this? Wind & Wuthering closed with the peaceful Afterglow, but in that case it worked perfect. Suppose there's no cohesiveness between the songs in ...And Then There Were Three... that's why FYFM doesn't work... Hm, just a thought...

And Then There Were Three deserves an average rating of around 3.75, so yeah, I'd say underrated. May not be essential to any progheads, but a fantastic composition of magical music. Genesis was still riding the wave. Not as strong as the Gabriel-era, (of course) but there's magic behind Trick, Wuthering, Three, and Duke. Once ABACAB came out, all bets were off for Genesis, but that's a whole other story.


Edited by Raccoon - April 18 2013 at 01:15

For me Collins was at his peak on this album and pretty much takes it by the scruff of the neck both singing and drumming wise. Shorter tracks but tons of energy and only Follow You Follow Me is a bit of a downer. I get very annoyed though with the assumption that shorter tracks = pop. Also I don't mind romantic lyrics which seems to offend some. You could argue that this was the start of 'neo prog' and was certainly a massive influence on IQ who are one of my favourite bands.  I rate it 5 out of 5 although I'm not as beholden as some  to the Gabriel era in my mind. I prefer the 4 albums they made 1975-1980 to anything else they did bar Foxtrot.

Edited by richardh - April 18 2013 at 01:48

Side 2 has some cool tunes and there's a couple of cool outtakes

I have just listened to it again for the first time in ages - the first time I've played any Genesis for some time.