Genesis – Genesis
Joe Siegler
- AllMyVinyl #96
- Band: Genesis
- Album Title: Genesis
- Release Date: 3 Oct 1983
- Date purchased: 30 Jul 2024
- Location purchased: Genesis Online Store
- Color of vinyl: black
- Number of discs: 1
- Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]
This wasn’t my first Genesis album I ever owned, but it’s my favorite. It’s no secret I prefer the Collins era of Genesis to the Gabriel era, and from the Collins era, this is the album I like the most. It’s got the highest concentration of songs I like in one place, and the general sound of the album is one that’s super pleasing to my ears. I know some Genesis hardcores don’t care for this era so much (and especially the next album), but that means nothing to me. I like that, and ultimately that should be the only opinion one cares about when listening to music – one’s own. From this album comes my favorite individual Genesis song of the entire catalog. That’s “Mama”. I’ll get more into the song when I do track breakdowns, but I think that song helps drive my overall opinion of the album somewhat.
This game out in the fall of 1983 – when MTV was a juggernaut and to that, I think it helped propel this album to bigger heights. Genesis didn’t need help in that regard really – they were already super popular at the time, but it couldn’t hurt. There were I believe 3 or 4 music videos from this album produced, and all of them were super catchy, so they were in heavy rotation there a lot around this time.
I never owned any Genesis on vinyl until this year – not entirely sure why. I was still buying mostly vinyl in 1983 – but more than likely I saw this as one I wanted more mobile (walkman, boombox) so I got it on cassette tape instead. None of my old Genesis tapes survive into 2024, so it wasn’t until 2008 that I had any Genesis on physical media again. That was when Rhino put out every Genesis album (both studio and live) in three or four box sets. What was cool about those sets is that they contained Super Audio CD versions of the albums in addition to the standard CD stuff. If you had gear to play those, they sounded amazing. I still have those, but give my reintroduction to vinyl in 2020, I thought I should get some. I looked around a few times and the albums I was most interested in were mostly out of print, so I didn’t act on it. Until the summer of 2024 when Genesis was announcing that they were releasing all of their albums again on new vinyl pressings (all but the original 1969 album that they do not have legal rights to). So I snapped up five albums in general, the self titled Genesis album is one of them. I received this after my vinyl project started, so I’ll be opening it for the first time today when I break it out and listen to it. Something rare in the project indeed.
Mama – The album leads off with my favorite individual Genesis song by ANY era of the Band. Mama has it all for me. Genesis is not metal, and nothing they do even remotely approaches the level of metal, but.. The vibe in this song gives me a metal feel. The way the vocals are delivered, and especially in the middle part – I get the feeling of power in this song that isn’t usually conveyed in a Genesis song. I love this track. In fact I listened to it twice AND watched the video today during this play through. A regret I never saw it live. I never saw ANY incarnation of Genesis live, and while I did see Phil Collins solo live once time (in 1985), he didn’t play this (either according to my memory or setlist.fm). The tail end of the song has a nice guitar piece by Mike Rutherford – an underrated guitar player.
That’s All – This some comes down from the vibe that “Mama” was. It’s more the kind of song this era of Genesis produced. Not too loud, not too soft, with a nice pleasant steady beat that runs through it. The catch here for me is Phil Collins vocal delivery. “It’s always the same, it’s just a shame – that’s all” gets me every time. It’s the big draw for this song for me. The music could have been anything, I really love Phil’s vocals here.
Home by The Sea – This is kind of a mix between the two. It’s got some of the power of Mama, but leans musically more towards the kind of song that “That’s All” was. But that’s not a bad thing, it’s three songs in a row with a different vibe, although I can hear some of the others in this one. It’s got the steady beat I’ve mentioned before, but runs at a higher level than something like “That’s All”. Great track too.
Second Home By The Sea – Oddly, this one never did as much for me. I don’t hate it, but if they called it ANYTHING else, I’d probably feel differently. My brain can’t seem to get past this being called a “Part II” of the previous song, and it sounds NOTHING like it. It’s got a more experimental beat to it. It’s not like it’s a bad piece of music, but (probably unfairly) I can’t get my brain beyond “that doesn’t sound like Hone By the Sea”. It does have some really nice guitar work in the second half of it, though. It’s almost a full instrumental. Right at the end, there’s a small part that repeats some of the chorus of Home by The Sea, but like 95% of it has nothing to do with the song before it on the album.
Illegal Alien – This was a big single, and while I liked it when it was new, it hasn’t aged as well for me. My wife has NEVER liked this song – she disliked it from 83 onwards, and perhaps her being snarky about it whenever I listened to it has seeped into my thought process over the decades. I don’t dislike it now, but it’s not what I remember from the past. I do like the main riff that runs through it though – which is probably what drew me in originally. I particularly like the part that plays in the middle bridge section with no vocals going on. It’s probably my favorite part of the song. Some of the lyrics are a bit in the “Mr Spock raised eyebrow” neighborhood.. “But I’ve got a sister who’d be willing to oblige / She will do anything now to help me get to the outside”. So thanks to my wife for taking this down a notch or two. haha. Hi dear! I know you’ll read this somewhere. :)
Taking it All Too Hard – We get to the slow song on the album. Normally this is the kind of track I don’t care for. But this one works. It was also a big radio hit at the time, I heard it a lot back in the day. Listening to this today reminded me of those days in the early 80’s listening to music on the radio in my bedroom, so that was a nice memory to have today. Good song if not the kind that usually rings my bell musically.
This brings us to the end of the big hits from the album. The final three songs on the album are all album tracks. They’re not ones that got played on the radio or were big hits. Albums don’t usually play out that way – they’re usually more mixed – or have all the hits bunched together at the start of the album – but this one had a LOT of attention at the time.
Just a Job to Do – This one has a slightly faster beat than most on the album. When I sat down to listen, I didn’t recall this song by name, but when listening I did remember the chorus (I’ve got a name, and I’ve got a number). Which shouldn’t really be a surprise given how much I listened to the album when it was new. Don’t have a ton to say here, but I did enjoy it.
Silver Rainbow – This has a nice piano sound to go along with the beat. I’m not sure how to describe it. I wanted to say funk at first, but when I started writing that it didn’t feel right, but I can’t sure what to say about the sound of this one. Was an immediate toe tapper as I listened to it. This one didn’t ring a bell to me at all. Definitely one of the tracks that hasn’t been overplayed from this era, so if you’re looking for something different, try this one. I quite enjoyed it – and had forgotten about it.
It’s Gonna Get Better – The album closes out with this track that has what I can only thing of to describe as a “slower bass sound”. The main riff in this doesn’t sound like the bass guitar you’d hear from say Geezer Butler, Geddy Lee, or John Paul Jones or something along those lines – it’s more a a synth sound? I’m no expert there, so hard to tell, but “slow bass” is all I can think to describe it. Not my favorite song on the album. I don’t actively dislike it, but it doesn’t set the world on fire. Given how much of this album I do like, I think that’s a decent ratio of like vs not so much.
Overall, the listen today didn’t change anything for me. I still think Mama is my favorite overall Genesis song, this is probably the most dense album in terms of radio hits the album had.. The songs I liked on this album before I still like. Probably Illegal Alien is the only one I’ve changed a little on. An excellent album that used to be in my own personal heavy rotation, but time has taken it out of. I might have to change that. Great stuff here.
