WIND & WUTHERING

Genesis

Symphonic Prog

4.11 | 2233 ratings

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Progbear
Prog Reviewer

A TRICK OF THE TAIL showed a band that was still able to produce great music in the face of great adversity. WIND AND WUTHERING showed a band whose formula was quickly wearing thin.

First of all, the production had been gradually getting better with each successive album. But here it's downright slick. If anything, the album feels overproduced, compressed and flattened to within an inch of its life, to the point that album opener "Eleventh Earl of Mar" sounds as thin as a piece of onionskin.

Second, the band's compositional style was looking shopworn. Rutherford's "Your Own Special Way" tips the scales too far, away from the charming folk-balladry of earlier albums and head-on into the drippy, mega-romantic MOR balladry that would signal the band's artistic downfall. And their "story song" style jumped the shark big time with the insufferable "All In A Mouse's Night".

Still, there's enough here to be of interest to the serious fan. "One For The Vine" is one of their slow-growers like "Mad Man Moon", but is very much worth your while in the end. "Blood On The Rooftops" is an utterly chilling number, featuring one of Hackett's most heartfelt performances. And the the transition from the energetic instrumental cycle "Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers/In That Quiet Earth" into the emotional (and much-imitated) album-closer "Afterglow" is another one of those "textbook prog" moments.

Progbear | 3/5 | 2005-9-11

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