CALLING ALL STATIONS

This last Genesis album was written by Mick and Tony before they have completed the line-up with Ray Wilson and Nir Zidkyahu. Because of that, the songs didn't have a proper ending. The band admits that they were missing the presence of Phil Collins to put pressure on them in the songwriting department. The first song "Calling the Stations" is a great song, very melodic showing the most impressive performance of Ray. "Congo" has that exotic vibe with some simple structure, kind of a light dancing song. "Shipwrecked" is another of those series of love song that turning bad, sound like a radio-friendly 80's alternative song. In "Alien Afternoon" there's not much going on except some nice vocals effects in my rear speakers. It seems that the song was about to build the melody to prepare for a guitar solo, but this is not the case with Mick Rutherford on guitar. "If That's What You Need " is an inferior variation of "Follow You Follow Me". "Divided Line" brings something new with a bit of prog and where the band decided to give to the drummer total freedom. So we went wild with some intense playing. Tony Banks playing is also quite good on this song. "Uncertain Weather" is a sad song with a good melody. The rest of the album is a bit boring, filler songs in this 67 minutes album. Because this is not a progressive rock album, I can't give 4 stars, but 3 stars with a couple of strong tracks.