THE LAST DOMINO?

I'm going to attempt to do something shocking - defend a Genesis compilation album featuring none of their great albums before Selling England, and focusing on their 80s content which is... erm... mixed. Why am I doing this against my own better judgement you might ask? Well, because it does need the context of why it exists.

A couple of years ago, Collins, Banks and Rutherford announced something of a last hurrah, a tour of the USA, UK, and Western Europe over two years which ended this March. They did this against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, the fact that all 3 would be in their early seventies by the end of the tour, and Phil Collins' own ill-health meaning he can barely stand, and that drumming was out of the question. His son Nic would take up the sticks having previously done so on Papa Phil's solo tour.

The age and health of the trio, the fact Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett were obviously not involved, and the fact that Nic hadn't really played the Genesis discography before meant that the more complex and lengthy progressive tracks were out of the question. Los Endos and Supper's Ready were both rehearsed at times, but deemed too much for a live show which for obvious reasons could only really be a couple of hours long.

Despite all the difficulties above, the tour was a hit, even notably seeing tickets bought by fans who weren't alive even when We Can't Dance was released in 1991. The set list contained what I would generously describe as the best of the worst - commercial hits from the 80s, but also a selection from Selling England, Lamb, Wind & Wuthering which were still accessible to the aging group. These though were either played as a medley, shortened, or acoustically.

It was successful, but quite rightly rather than release a live album, they opted for a compilation album matching the set list. Happily though, they included the full versions of those bigger 70s tracks, and in 2021 the album sent Genesis high in the charts once again.

Should it be a must-buy for a long-time Genesis fan or prog-afficionado? Not in the slightest.

But as a way of slowly introducing a newer Genesis fan to the earlier, better Genesis by carefully mixing some 'accessible' prog in with the moderately acceptable commercialised stuff? Might someone buy this album for someone as an introduction, which then makes them check out the whole of Selling England, and lead them on to Foxtrot, Nursery Cryme and Trespass? Will someone listen to this album and then within a few years be playing Supper's Ready on repeat? Who knows. But it might work.

Yes they could have just tacked The Knife or Watcher of the Skies, or even Suppers Ready on to the end of this album. But there's other ways.

Not essential for any existing Genesis / Prog fan. But could be for someone new to the world.

Review Nº 759

"The Last Domino?" is a compilation of Genesis that was released in 2021. "The Last Domino?" has tracks from nine of their fifteen studio albums. So it has four tracks from "Selling England By The Pound" released in 1973, two tracks from "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" released in 1974, one track from "Wind And Wuthering" released in 1976, three tracks from "Duke" released in 1980, one track from "Abacab" released in 1981, three tracks from "Genesis" released in 1983, six tracks from "Invisible Touch" released in 1986 and five tracks from "We Can't Dance" released in 1991.

So, "The Last Domino?" has twenty-seven tracks. From "Selling England By The Pound" we have "The Cinema Show", "Firth Of Fifth", "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" and "Dancing with The Moonlit Knight". "The Cinema Show" is one of the best and lengthiest epic tracks of Genesis. "Firth Of Fifth" is one of their best tracks and one of their most representative progressive tracks too. "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" is a fun track with characteristics of a pop song. "Dancing with The Moonlit Knight" begins with Gabriel's voice very calm and that progressively gets louder and more upbeat. This is a powerful track. From "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" we have "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" and "The Carpet Crawlers". "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" is an accessible track with great lyrics that gives a nice introduction to the story of that conceptual album. It became a landmark for Genesis. "The Carpet Crawlers" is a beautiful track, very solid and with a fantastic melody. It's smooth and relaxing with a great keyboard work. From "Wind And Wuthering" we have "Afterglow". It's one of the most majestic tracks of Banks. It's one of the most atmospheric, relaxing and magical moments of Genesis. From "...And Then There Were Three..." we have "Follow You Follow Me". It's a good pop song that should never have been part of Genesis. It suits better on a Collins' solo album. From "Duke" we have "Duke's End", "Turn It On Again" and "Duchess". "Duke's End" is the second part of "Duke's" suite with "Duke's Travels" as the first part. It's a great progressive track, almost instrumental, which reminds me the good old Genesis's sound. "Turn It On Again" is a pop/rock song, a great success of them. This is a good song. "Duchess" is basically a pop song with some progressive influences. It's a good track, an interesting attempt to merge prog with pop. From "Abacab" we have "Abacab". It's a song with a simple structure but those progresses in a modern way. This is an edited version. From "Genesis" we have "Mama", "Home By The Sea", "Second Home By The Sea" and "That's All". "Mama" is a great song with quality to be considered one of the highlights of that album. "Home By The Sea" and "Second Home By The Sea" is a suite of two songs. It's a great suite, in the same line of "Duke's Travels" and "Duke's End" of "Duke" and "Dodo/Lurker" of "Abacab". "That's All" is a simple song with a very simple melody. It has a catchy tune and it's nice to hear. From "Invisible Touch" we have "Land Of Confusion", "In Too Deep", "Domino Medley", "Throwing It All Away", "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" and "Invisible Touch". "Land Of Confusion" is a song with a catchy rhythm and a beautiful melody, nice and pleasant to hear. "In Too Deep" is a good pop song, beautiful, mellow and sweet. "Domino Medley" is divided into two parts, "In The Glow Of The Night" and "The Last Domino". It's a great suite in the same vein of "Duke's Travels" and "Duke's End" from "Duke", "Dodo/Lurker" from "Abacab" and "Home By The Sea" and "Second Home By The Sea" from "Genesis". "Throwing It All Away" is a soft rock ballad around the guitar riff of Rutherford. It's a decent song with nothing progressive on it. "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" is a good song with some progressive lines. It's nice and atmospheric with interesting passages. "Invisible Touch" is pop song. As a pop song it's good. Still, it has nothing to do with prog music. From "We Can't Dance" we have "Fading Lights", "Hold On My Heart", "Jesus He Knows Me", "No Son Of Mine" and "I Can't Dance". "Fading Lights" has a great atmosphere with a true remarkable work by all band's members. "Hold On My Heart" is a good song. But it belongs to a Collins' solo work. "Jesus He Knows Me" is clearly the type of songs made by Collins. It's good but never was a favourite of mine. "No Son Of Mine" is a great and remarkable song, with great feeling and clearly influenced by Collins. "I Can't Dance" is influenced by Collins' style written to be a commercial hit. It's a good song but with nothing new and exciting to offer.

Conclusion: "The Last Domino?" has an interesting name. To be the last one it would have to cover the band's entire career, which isn't true. As I mentioned above, "The Last Domino?" only covers nine of the fifteen studio albums of Genesis. It's very hard to understand the criterion of the choice of tracks. It's true that "The Last Domino?" has tracks from their most progressive phase as well tracks from their most pop/rock phase. However, I can't understand it. Three albums that belong to Gabriel's era weren't included, "Trespass", "Nursery Cryme" and "Foxtrot" and one album of Hackett's phase wasn't included too, "A Trick Of The Tail". Of course I'm discarding "From Genesis To Revelation" and "Calling All Stations". However, "The Last Domino?" remains as a good and interesting compilation album of Genesis.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)