INVISIBLE TOUCH

The middle of the '80s was not a good time for any of the '70s prog giants even though some of them did manage to maintain some of their commercial appeal. Genesis might have seemed like they were on top of their career with the release of Invisible Touch but this was also where my favorite band went too far and released their most tiresome album to date.

This commercially oriented release has gathered somewhat of a cult classic following in some circles but I personally can rarely get through this album in one sitting. Some of the prog-era fans may argue that Domino and The Brazilian are still two very creative tracks, but I personally have a problem with the terrible 80's production and the fact that the former sounds better on live albums like Live - The Way We Walk Volume Two - The Longs and especially Live Over Europe 2007. The 9 minute long version of Tonight, Tonight, Tonight is overblown beyond any reason and is one of the main reasons why I can's enjoy this album. Even the band members seemed to agree with this since all of their live albums feature a much shorter version of that composition. In Too Deep and Throwing It All Away are decent ballads but they completely fade in comparison to material on Duke and instead sound more more like Phil's solo material.

Still my main grudge comes with the fact that Invisible Touch doesn't really feel like the creative collaboration I was expecting from Genesis as a band, it's doesn't even feel like a team effort! Moments that do work are few and, most often than not, seem too artificial for their own good. There is only one rating for these types of albums.

**** star songs: Invisible Touch (3:27) Land Of Confusion (4:44)

*** star songs: In Too Deep (4:57) Domino (10:41) Throwing It All Away (3:48) The Brazilian (5:04)

** star songs: Tonight, Tonight, Tonight (8:50) Anything She Does (4:06)