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Genesis - Calling All Stations CD (album) cover

CALLING ALL STATIONS

Genesis

 

Symphonic Prog

2.46 | 1150 ratings

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Warthur
Prog Reviewer
1 stars The Genesis studio album discography is kind of like a reverse shit sandwich - regardless of whether you prefer their prog or pop phases the run of albums from Trespass to We Can't Dance were all at successful in their own way - some artistically successful, some critically successful, some commercially successful, and some managing two or even all three of those flavours of success.

This run of albums is bookended by two utter turds, however. From Genesis to Revelation's failures can at least in part be put at the door of Jonathan King - he mucked about with the material without the band's knowledge and added strings to everything, for one thing, and for another he pushed them into making the album when in retrospect it seems clear that they weren't ready for that challenge just yet.

Calling All Stations is not an album whose failure can be laid at the feet of anyone other than Genesis. Some point the finger at Ray Wilson, but I think this is staggeringly unfair - what, do you seriously think the new lad on the vocals had a level of artistic control over this project remotely near to the level that remaining cofounders Rutherford and Banks had? No, this was the Banks-Rutherford show compositionally speaking for the vast majority of its runtime, and it's clear that they don't actually have any new ideas.

You can read a lot into the fact that, despite reuniting with Phil for a reasonably successful concert tour in 2007, and and despite the fact that five members of the classic lineup have contributed commentary and thoughts on the band's work over the years for various documentaries and other projects, there hasn't been a new Genesis studio album for over two decades. Not one with Peter and Steve, not one with Phil, not one with Ray, not one with anyone else. If there were anything in the creative well, if Rutherford and Banks or other key movers really had some material they were sitting on which cried out for the Genesis treatment, they'd have surely done a reunion album by now.

But they haven't, because they know they're done. How do they know they're done? They tried to keep the flame going on this and could only produce the most achingly generic poppy alt-rock known to humanity. Prog fans will find no enjoyment here, and fans of Genesis' pop phase will be aghast at the near-total lack of memorable hooks. Quite simply, the album is unlistenable by either metric.

Warthur | 1/5 |

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