WIND & WUTHERING

After showing the world that Genesis could release a great album without Peter Gabriel, the group follows up with an even better album: Wind & Wuthering. Right from the start of the album things kick into high gear with Eleventh Earl of Mar, a keyboard-driven masterpiece and probably the best song the group had created since Cinema Show. One for the Vine is another excellent song with an epic-like structure.

The next few songs fit more into the shorter time format like the material on A Trick of the Tail, all of them quite well done, even the sappy Your Own Special Way (although that one can be a strain from time to time). They end the album with a three part suite consisting of Unquiet Slumbers For The Sleepers..., ...In That Quiet Earth, and Afterglow. A magnificent ending to a magnificent album.

Wind & Wuthering is clearly a masterpiece and in my opinion the best release of the Phil Collins era. Indeed, when you read many of the reviews on Prog Archives from many of the more obscure groups, you'll find that many of the reviewers like to compare the best keyboard-driven symphonic progressive works to this album. That's how notable and important this work is. It is one of the definitive works of this genre and should be considered essential. Another five star album for Genesis.