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Genesis - Genesis CD (album) cover

GENESIS

Genesis

 

Symphonic Prog

2.79 | 1455 ratings

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Eclipse
Prog Reviewer
4 stars Also known as Shapes, this GENESIS' release is slightly better than Abacab, since it maintains the pop trend in a wise way, with catchy songs containing interesting melodies and ideas.

It starts with the amazing "Mama", a dark song with dramatic vocals and a very atmospheric instrumental work, with a machine-sound that follows all the lenght of the track. This song is really nice played live, as Phil makes some amusing "faces" during the "ha ha" parts, which looks pretty funny. The next track, "That's All", is very catchy and a good example of how pop music should be. But the highlight is, of course, the two parts of "Home By The Sea". This song makes you grasp for air at its ending, as it is one of the most energetic and interesting epics done by the band. That long instrumental section (part two) is mesmerizing and careful to not be so mechanical sounding, despite the electronic drums used. It is definetely the album's climax, and one of the most underrated experiments by the band. "Illegal Alien", while weaker, is somehow catchy. I once found it offensive and irritating, but the song grew on me with time and i enjoy it now. I don't like the ending part of it, looks like a "pop party" with the vocals so happy, repeating the song's title, which is a strong mistake found on pop music, but that can be forgiven. The ballad "Taking It All Too Hard" is quite beautiful and shows a good vocal work by Phil. The guy definetely works well for singing pop music, even though he sounds a bit like Gabriel here (well, both have similar voices anyway). "Just A Job To Do" is catchy and energetic. The "bang bang bang" parts are very nice, and is another good example of how pop music should be. "Silver Rainbow" is very good, it has a nice intro and it is a short progressive, maybe, number. It is surely not as commercial as the two songs that came before, and has a nice rhythm section. It looks like a sequel to "Home By The Sea". The weak point is that it gets a bit repetitive, but this little detail doesn't destroy it. The last one, "It's Gonna Get Better" has an even nicer intro, and some very soft vocals along with nice instrumental work in the background. It is quite a catchy tune, with an atmospheric keyboard sound along it, which is well done by Mr Banks.

Well, this may not be half as impressive as the albums before Duke, but it is still very good, and i don't care if it is pop, or pop with some prog moments. What matters is that the music here is well done, the guys have put some thought on it, and i hope people start giving more attention to these infamous pop albums GENESIS did on the new decade. They are enjoyable and not to be forgotten. Great work by the guys.

Eclipse | 4/5 |

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