Referring to Genesis…the band, not the book

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Thought I’d wax on (wax off) or maybe even wax eloquent (HA!) about the band known as GENESIS.

Yeah, I’m talking about Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, and Steve Hackett. Well, it eventually became a 4 piece, then down to 3, then became a memory.

(I’m not including the Congo album. Just better for everyone if’n I don’t)

I first heard Genesis from some records that one of my cousins got in a box at a yard sale. Several of their albums: From Genesis to Revelation, Trespass, Nursery Cryme, Live, and Foxtrot. I picked the Live one to start with, as I figured it was a collection of their best. So, the very first song of theirs I heard was Watcher Of The Skies.

I was hooked. Immediately.

Now, I had no idea at the time that Peter Gabriel had by this time left the group, they functioned as a four piece for a few albums, When I got around to actually buying my first Genesis album, the newest one at that time was And Then There Were Three…

(I had also bought a live album Seconds Out which was on sale.)

I know the Genesis fandom is divided between the Gabriel years and the Collins years. But not me. I appreciate them as a whole for the entire body of work they have created. From Prog to Pop and weaving around the genres, I like it all.

I had a friend named Brent who loved The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway album. He had good taste. It is a great album.

So, during the years of Duke, Abacab, Genesis, and Invisible Touch, some of my fellow Rock fans dismissed the band as having gone “Pop” or “Soft” or “abandoned their Prog roots”. I didn’t see it that way. For them to have continued on in that vein after Gabriel and Hackett left would have been a parody, a joke of what they once were. Heck, The Beatles didn’t stay The FAB FOUR wanting to hold your hand towards their latter years. Instead, Genesis evolved into something that will stand the test of time. And with the solo work of Phil Collins and Mike + The Mechanics, it has endured and will continue to do so.

Yeah, I like Genesis.

 

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