WIND & WUTHERING

So.....if you were expecting A Trick of the Tail part II,you'll know from the word go that you will have to look somewhere else.If ,however,you're only familiar to the time when Peter Gabriel was their beloved frontman,this album will most likely come as a shock.By the time I got to the mid-section of One for The Vine(...around 12 minutes after the album's intro)I just couldn't believe my ears.It didn't grew on me.It didn't required a few listenings so I could get the big picture.What was passing through my mind was something like 'why did it took me so long to get here'........yes,you can say I had something of a twisted nose about a Gabrielless Genesis.Of course,by the time Afterglow faded away,I was immediately inclined to go and get A Trick of the Tail.After hearing these two albums over and over,I came to a simple conclusion.Gabriel's departure may have worked for the best,alright,but while I happen to find that ATOTT somehow lacks the strenght of previous efforts(but still manages to keep the overall quality),Wind and Wuthering is an all-time masterpiece.A flawed one,perhaps.but still a masterpiece.Why?

The overall mood of the album is something hard to put in words.A mixture of drama,melancholy,sadness and a somewhat evening-like feel.As a reviewer put in very wise words,this is the autumn of the band.They would never be the same after this one,and that surely contributes to the album's mood.Phill Collins isn't as bothering as in the previous album,while Steve Hackett is seen here in what is probably his best performance in any Genesis recording,alongside with Selling England by the Pound.As for Banks,he mentioned in recent interviews that this one is between his two favourite Genesis albums.'I think it's because it's a romantic album,that's why I like it so much',he said.I personally like the fact that he and Hackett received the major share of the writing credits.

Even though A Trick of the Tail had more delicated lyrics,Wind and Wuthering is musically more sophisticated than it's predecessor.Despite the fact that the album doesn't contain any aberration such as Robbery,Assault and Battery,the songs are overall better crafted in therms of arrangement.I can't say Peter Gabriel isn't missed at all,but in the an overall way,the band proved they could do well by themselves.All In A Mouse's Night,however,reflects the iconic charisma they left behind with Peter's departure,as I keep wondering how would it sound had it the touch of the band's old leader.It is not a bad song,I just happen to find it a bit out of place in an album that wisely ignores the main factors which granted it's creators success in the past.The only song that is bad enough to the point of bothering me is the ballad Your Own Special Way,but I seem to be the only one to think that way.By influence of Greg Lake,I learned to be very fond of prog rock ballads,but Phill Collins proves once again in here that he should have stayed where he belonged,that is behind a drum kit.This is not progressive rock.This is a fair warning of what was to come as soon as Hackett packed up and left the band.Fortunately,it is surrounded by an amazing musical context,so by the time Afterglow is concluded,one should have already forgotten that this song ever existed.

And with the exception of Wot Gorila?,all the remainig tracks are tear-splattering masterpieces.This album contains the same english character as the band previously presented in Selling England.But while the englishness of the latter had an eruption halfway through the album,this one 'hangs on in quiet desperation'.Mr. David Gilmour was absolutely right.

Eleventh Earl of Mar is one of Genesis most brilliant songs ever.Despite the absolute drama of the synth introduction that echoes it's way throughout the album,I can't think of a other song by any other band that succesfully matched prog and pop.The real gem is found in the quiet mid-section however,where Collins is surprisingly remarkable in his vocal performance.The song reaches a climax with the lines I'm fighting,gravity falling,a tense interlude lead by Tony Banks.Great lyrics,too.

One for the Vine is aknowledged by many as the best song Genesis ever written.That's...probably not true,but it surely ranks up there.Again,Collins is in a remarkable performance,but the spotlight of this composition is it's creator,Tony Banks.Few instrumental passages in all of progressive music history sound as beautifull as the mid-section of this song.A brilliant arrangement and echoing passages give the album it's first climax.I just loved this song since the very first listen,and the delicate chorus still send shivers down my spine.

As for Blood On the Rooftops,it is focused in Steve Hackett's crying acoustic gutar,but the band as a whole transmit in this song a melancholy which may as well be the cause of tears for the faint hearted.I know this sound exagerated,but I guess this is an album that wheter you get the overall picture,or you don't.Unquiet Slumbers For the Sleepers...In That Quiet Earth is a guitar-driven instrumental suite which concludes Blood On The Rooftops,expressing the same sadness and emotions,but here there's also something of a mysterious hypnotic element as the name suggests,specially in the screaming guitar riif in the second halft.And then,as the song crumbles a way to it's final moments,a nervous reprise of the album's intro is played.An annoucement that the album is coming to an end.

This haunting instrumental piece is faded to Afterglow,the dramatic and delicate conclusion to the album.The structure of this song is quite simple in a way,but the band manages to transmit again a sad mood to this song,making it a perfect closer to the album.The screaming(yet silent)dramatic appeal of Wind and Wuthering is diferent to anything I have ever heard.Selling England By the Pound may be the band's finest hour,but as did The Lamb,this album is unique compared anything else they ever did.Hackett's departure in the following year would resulte in the migration from prog to pop,as we all know it.But here,in the last echoings of an era,is where classic Genesis wrote a beautifull epitaph to it's own grave.