Genesis--Land of Confusion (1986)

     When we left things yesterday, Peter Gabriel left to pursue a solo career. The band tried out around 400 singers to replace him before settling on Phil Collins. Over 30 years later, it's easy to think that the band's move to more pop oriented material was a sharp line between the two singers. This was far from the truth as several of the albums post-Gabriel were progressive in nature as well. "A Trick of the Tail" (1976),  "Wind & Wuthering" (1976), and "Seconds Out" (1977--a live album). Of course, you can hear a gradual shift towards more pop sounds, but they would never totally leave their artsy roots. Looking back all of these years later, they were actually ahead of the curve. While the late 70's became a wasteland for many of the progressive rock heroes earlier in the decade, Genesis saw the writing on the wall and began a change to a sound that took the best parts of their prog roots and wedded them to a more pop structure.
     Am not sure if his leaving hastened this change over, or vice versa, but by the album, "..And Then There Were Three" (1978), Steve Hackett had left as well leaving it down to a trio of Banks, Rutherford, and Collins. The 80's was when this lineup struck gold time and time again. Beginning with, "Follow You, Follow Me" (1978), they racked up seventeen top 40 hits through 1992, with the apex of this popularity coming between 1986 and 1988, which included, "Land of Confusion"
     Although a big fan of 70's progressive rock, I always felt an detachment to Gabriel era Genesis. I've always found the latter era group to be more tuneful. To be fair, Peter Gabriel has also done better creatively in his solo career after leaving the group which helped launch his career. Despite what prog rock sympathizers might tell you otherwise, the 80's version could rock as well, and this song is a good example of it. Things began to slow down in the mid-90's, especially after Collins left in 93',   and although there had been a couple of reunions since, 1997's, "Calling All Stations" wrapped it up for the group as a recording entity. 

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Genesis--The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974)

     The story of Genesis is truly one of two different bands, which made if difficult to choose which one of those incarnations to write about. So to be fair, I am writing about the Peter Gabriel era group today, and the Phil Collins era group tomorrow.
     The story begins in 1967 with schoolmates Peter Gabriel and Tony Banks. The other members drawn from bands which came from other schools included Mike Rutherford, Anthony Phillips, and Chris Stewart. Their original intention was to become a songwriting cooperative, however in 1968,  songwriter Jonathan King, who was an alum of the same school as Gabriel and Banks, heard the band at a gig at the school and was impressed enough by what he heard to help get them signed to a recording contract. The resulting album, "From Genesis to Revelation" in 1969 didn't sell well (didn't sound much like what we know as Genesis either), but King continued to encourage the band to go off on their own rather than write for others.
     During the recording of that first album, drummer Stewart was replaced by John Silver. Silver was replaced before the recording of the second album by John Mayhew. The subsequent album, "Trespass" still showed a band in development, but on hearing it again now, showed the template for what was to become the classic 70's era Genesis sound.
     After that release Phillips chose to leave the band due to ill health. Mayhew was also released and replaced with Phil Collins. The guitarist spot was filled first by Mick Barnard then Steve Hackett in the fall of 1970. Thus began a streak of top albums by the five men. "Nursery Cryme" (1971), "Foxtrot" (1972), "Selling England by the Pound" (1973), and "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" (1974).
     "Lamb" in particular was a massive two album set describing the spiritual story of Rael, a Puerto Rican youth living in New York City. The stage production in concert was as sprawling as the album, but it was a huge success for the band critically and in terms of sales. However, Gabriel was showing continues dissatisfaction with the band. He was not only feeling pigeonholed musically, but also felt the band members showed disinterest and callousness towards the difficult birth of his daughter and the need to be home with her and his wife. This led to him announcing that he was to leave after the "Broadway" tour. The band members were aware of this prior to the tour.
     Despite this, the tour was a massive success, and Gabriel and the band he helped create went their separate ways. This could spell disaster for many groups, but this was one instance where leaving not only was very successful for the man leaving for the solo career, but shot Genesis off into a totally different direction which no one could have predicted.

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Frida--I Know There's Something Going On (1982)

     The group ABBA never formally disbanded, but just slowly faded away in 1983 with the unfilled promise that the group had not stopped recording. The quartet had basically lost interest, as well as being lured by other new and interesting projects. Frida Lyngstad was the first to take advantage of this as she paired up with the Phil Collins' produced, "I Know There's Something Going On".
     The other three members had one hit a piece in the US as well. Agnetha Falskog had a top forty hit in 1983, "Can't Shake Loose" (#29), and the team of Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson collaborated with Tim Rice to create the music for the musical, "Chess" . A single from that play "One Night in Bangkok" was recorded by Murray Head and reached number 3 on the charts in the spring of 1985.
     Frida, who had never sung rock before was lead by Collins to record an album that was a bit more edgy compared to her work with ABBA. Having come from a background in jazz, this interested her. As you hear this single, Collins' drums almost dominate over the vocals, but the effect is a striking one. She was to collaborate with producer Steve Lillywhite for the album, "Shine". The album (if you can still find it) shows her pushing the envelope even further, but the album went nowhere. She continued to work in Europe, but wasn't heard of again in the states, until the world-wide renaissance, which began again in the 90's. She currently lives in Switzerland.

    

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Phil Collins--In The Air Tonight (1981)

     By the time Phil Collins began releasing solo projects, he already had a varied and full career. He was a child actor who had his first major role as The Artful Dodger in the London production of Oliver! He was an extra in The Beatles first film, "A Hard Day's Night" (he's in the film, during a scene with an audience....but you have to look close...a blink and he's gone).
     He answered an ad in Melody Maker for a drummer, and found himself in the group "Genesis", which for a period was Britian's predominant progressive rock band. When frontman Peter Gabriel left in 1975, Collins filled in surprisingly well (his voice in those early days had an eerie similarity to Gabriel's). Guitarist Steve Hackett's departure after the release of "Wind and Wuthering" left them as a trio, and the music took a slow turn away from prog and into a more pop sound. With that came success on the US pop charts.
     His first solo album was brought about by the break up of his first marriage more than anything (as did the Genesis album, "Duke" which had been released the year before). The album, "Face Value" contained his first solo single, "I Missed Again", then "In The Air Tonight". This was one of Collins' best singles as he combined the pain in his lyrics, with the atmospheric production which was a direct result of his days as a progressive rock drummer. By the way, according to Collins, many of the lyrics were developed on the spot as he was fooling around with the drum machine....still my favorite Phil Collins single....

     

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