Genesis

If ever there were a time for Genesis to abandon art rock in favor of a pure pop approach,
that time would be now. The pop hits, after all, were what finally catapulted the trio out of
its cultact status, and a flair for Top Ten singles has made stars of Phil Collins and Mike (and
the Mechanics) Rutherford. So why not jettison the extraneous arrangements and get
down to business? Because without that tendency to orchestral pomposity, it re... More >

For a while I was tempted to buzz Phil Collins over his former fearless leader. He's a warmer singer, God help them both, and the formerly useless Tony Banks proves adept with the keyb hooks. But in the end I couldn't tolerate the generalization density--not just of the lyrics (where Peter Gabriel's personal and geopolitical details offer some evidence that he's been there) but of the hooks, which end up feeling coercive, an effect unmitigated by Collins's whomping instrumental technique. And just to prove they're still Genesis, we get solos. (Grade: C+)