SIDES

This album reminds me of "And Then There Were Three". Even though SIDES came out a year later, you can detect the similarities of what was going on in Prog music in the late 70's. Genesis would continue down the path of mainstream commercial music, with increasingly disasterous results, while Phillips would retreat from the kind of music on SIDES in favor of more personal, classically-tinged records. I think he was the smarter one! I am a BIG fan of the middle years of Genesis, but after Abacab, they lost me. Anyway, I liked And Then There Were Three, and I like SIDES. The first half is more pop- ish, while the second half is deeply rooted in prog sensibilities. Many people complain that And Then There Were Three is lacking due to the departure of Steve Hackett. This album does not suffer that vacuum! When you have the original, and "originator" of the Genesis guitar sound playing on all tracks, what more could you want? Except, of course, PG on vox, and a young PC on drums. Well, ex-Crimson drummer Michael Giles does the honors on SIDES, and it's first rate. Truly a "must have" for the serious fan of the Prog genre.