The album has taken me through dark times as a believable slice of aural escapism and one of the few Genesis albums that I can listen too without finding one or two guitar or keyboard solos that border on pretentious tweeness, i.e.the keyboard break in Ripples.Radiohead released their brand-spanking-new single “Burn the Witch” to much fanfare this morning. Yes, the production is possibly too middle to top and ‘big’ but this to my mind is a reflection of the Big Country soundscape that the songs evoke. The right number of tracks, great stories, superb melodies, musicianship and hooks. Of course there are exceptions to the rule.įor me, ‘And then…’ pitches it just right. The 70s, like the decade before it, was a period of dynamic musical change where it seemed you had to undertake a constant metamophosis to survive and be commercially viable, or part company because of stagnation or musical differences. I was a tad too young to appreciate ‘And then.’ on it’s initial release but discovered it a couple of years later, became hooked on Genesis and bought the back catalogue as and when my saturday / college holiday job could fund it. Eleven, largely-forgettable radio-friendly pop tracks. I’m sure that Banks and Rutherford would argue forcefully against it, but that’s how it felt, and feels, to me. Really, though, this album marks the transition from Genesis to The Phil Collins Band. So far from “The all-night watchmen have had their fun. The lyrics to “Scenes From a Night’s Dream” are especially cringe-making: “Dragons breathing fire, but friendly” “Eating all kinds of food so close to bedtime / They always made him have these nightmares, it seemed”? Ye gods. Even then, the “homage” tracks don’t always work. And it’s not a complete break with the past: “The Lady Lies”, for example, has some remarkable complexities, but really is more of a homage to The-Genesis-That-Was. “Follow You, Follow Me” is beautiful and wistful. Gone the majestic anthems gone the intricate musicianship and composition gone the amazing, intelligent lyrics. Every time I hear it, I’m saddened a kind of mourning.
Sometimes, you deride an album at the time, and later return to it and realise it was a piece of genius, and that you were a fool. And then, after a long pause, I turned to him and said, “That’s it. With a friend, I listened to it, without a word, from end to end. This is Genesis having fun and laying down more than a few markers for what was to come.Īnd Then There Were Three can be bought here. “Restraint” is a word that has been used in describing this album, but we would say there is far less restraint in the songwriting…and in the playing. So, what’s not to love about … And Then There Were Three? Well, nothing actually. “Scenes from a Night’s Dream” is based on the adventures of comic strip character Little Nemo, and is the first Genesis song on which Phil Collins is solely responsible for the lyrics. “Many Too Many” was a minor hit single in Britain and is also the last time the band used a mellotron on a recording. Tony Banks’s solo writing credits on the album are the mighty “Undertow,” the seductive, “Burning Rope” (some stellar Collins drumming on this), “Many Too Many,” one of the band’s best ever ballads, and the album’s standout track, “The Lady Lies.” The latter track has a great chorus that is everything that has made Genesis so popular.
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