06-05-2022, 03:27 AM
(A special thank you to Wikipedia and Genius.com)
"Abacab" is Genesis' first self-produced album with engineer Hugh Padgham on board, who in the same year had produced Phil Collins' debut solo album "Face Value." I had heard this was one of Genesis' weaker albums post-Gabriel, so I had some reservations about this one, but I ended up quite liking it. The band opted to go primarily with collective tracks this time around, cutting back the member-written tracks from two each on Duke to one each here.
The title track is the first track; apparently Phil doesn't particularly care for it, but I kinda like it, at least musically (it was a team effort in this regard). The lyrics (written by Mike) could be used in a discourse analysis textbook talking about incoherence, though, because it's literally nonsense when taken as a whole, and the name "Abacab" comes from the pattern the song went in at one point. I hate the radio edit of this thing because it takes out the lengthy "jam session" at the end which starts out as mainly Tony Banks fiddling around on his keyboard with a few interspersed bits of guitar by Mike, but the best part is at the end where Mike whips out a guitar solo as Tony pads it with Hammondesque chords.
Another Collins song about relationship struggles. But "No Reply At All," with music by all three and lyrics by Phil, is something of a bop musically, being the first Genesis track to use the Phenix Horns (which is closer associated with Phil's solo work) and also had an interesting technique by Tony Banks on the keyboards. His playing sounds like it was put through a sequencer (and part of it may well have been). As poorly as this song was received when it was first released, I rather like it. It's one of those weird paradox songs Genesis put out in the 80s and early 90s, where the lyrics are kinda heavy but the music is bouncy and upbeat.
"Me and Sarah Jane" is kinda weird and trippy, not gonna lie, but in a good way. It is the only track on the album written specifically by Tony Banks, and it's a love song about an imaginary girlfriend. I kid you not. I've heard various contexts proposed for this girlfriend on t3h 1nt@rw3bz, ranging from the narrator being homeless to being a soldier during WW2, but I can't for the life of me find anything from Tony himself. Maybe he wanted it left ambiguous. Crap if I know.
"Keep It Dark" is a different bit of Banksian lyrical trippiness, with the music written by all three members this time. This is interesting musically, written in 6/4, and the music is in C-major key but it sounds very dark because of the background music being low music. But the real sell point is the lyrics, where the story is told of a man who has been to the future and seen a utopian future but is told (by some unknown force) to "keep it dark" by making up a story of being abducted by thieves under the pretense that he was rich, which it turns out he wasn't. It's kinda minimalistic by Genesis standards, and the falsetto is a bit weird, but I still think it's okay.
What is it with Tony Banks and writing trippy lyrics to lengthy epics? He literally does this on *every* album in the 80s! On Abacab, this takes the form of "Dodo/Lurker," which like "Domino" from Invisible Touch is a two-parter, but unlike the same, the parts are lyrically unrelated, and the first part rather than the second has more lyrical content. A bombastic keyboard opening (which repeats itself at the end of "Dodo"), constant key changes, guitar with phaser, and overall a more progressive sound than most of the album's material are the markers of this. The "Lurker" section is actually pretty short, taking up just the last two minutes of this but being quite epic. Overall, my favourite track on the album.
"Who Dunnit?" is a bop. While the lyrics (penned by Phil) are repetitive almost to the point of being annoying (having them vocoded later in the track redeems them a little near the end), Tony's distorted keyboard (which he apparently he got by rapidly changing the presets as he played) and the gated reverb sound on the drums really make this one. Not my favourite track on the album but it's kinda fun.
"Man On The Corner" was Phil's solo contribution, and it foreshadows his social issues tracks on later albums as it is about homelessness. (These are mostly on his own albums, but also consider "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" about drug abuse and to a lesser extent "Anything She Does" about porn, both on Invisible Touch, and then later "Jesus He Knows Me" on We Can't Dance.) The drums seem to be offbeat relative to the rest of the music (not out of sync, just the downbeats where you'd expect the upbeats and vice versa), which makes it a bit jarring. It's not a bad song, has great drumming, and points to something which, as I said when reviewing ...But Seriously, isn't talked about enough, but this has more oomph than "Another Day In Paradise." (It still can't hold a candle to "Avarice" by Christian hardcore punk band Earth Groans, but that's another story for another time )
Mike Rutherford writing a song with depressing lyrics? Well, it isn't *entirely* without precedent, even at this point - remember, he wrote the lyrics for "Behind The Lines" on Duke - he'd later do "Throwing It All Away." But "Like It Or Not" was entirely Mike's baby, and it has almost a jazzy feel with the 6/8 shuffle and the chord structure, punctuated by sort guitar solos. Phil goes pretty vocally, and Phil's drumming is great.
In spite of its slow start, "Another Record" is actually a pretty upbeat track, although in true Rutherfordian fashion it is kinda depressing lyrically. (The music was a team effort but Mike wrote the lyrics.) It's about a washed-up rocker who is apparently wandering the streets, but gets joy from hearing records. This might be the most present I've ever heard Mike's background vocals. (He did show up on "Man of Our Times" too, which he also wrote wholesale.)
Feelings about this album have been mixed, but I actually like it. It's no Duke, it's no Invisible Touch (although it did have fewer tracks that I *didn't* care much for - zero, if I'm being honest!) but it's good.
Ranking the tracks:
1. Dodo/Lurker
2. Like It Or Not
3. Me And Sarah Jane
4. Abacab
5. Man On The Corner
6. Another Record
7. Keep It Dark
8. Like It Or Not
9. Who Dunnit?
Doing a "best of" for 80s Genesis would be a fair bit harder than doing one for 80s Phil solo. I always did prefer Genesis. One album remains, and that's Genesis' 1983 self-titled album!
"Abacab" is Genesis' first self-produced album with engineer Hugh Padgham on board, who in the same year had produced Phil Collins' debut solo album "Face Value." I had heard this was one of Genesis' weaker albums post-Gabriel, so I had some reservations about this one, but I ended up quite liking it. The band opted to go primarily with collective tracks this time around, cutting back the member-written tracks from two each on Duke to one each here.
The title track is the first track; apparently Phil doesn't particularly care for it, but I kinda like it, at least musically (it was a team effort in this regard). The lyrics (written by Mike) could be used in a discourse analysis textbook talking about incoherence, though, because it's literally nonsense when taken as a whole, and the name "Abacab" comes from the pattern the song went in at one point. I hate the radio edit of this thing because it takes out the lengthy "jam session" at the end which starts out as mainly Tony Banks fiddling around on his keyboard with a few interspersed bits of guitar by Mike, but the best part is at the end where Mike whips out a guitar solo as Tony pads it with Hammondesque chords.
Another Collins song about relationship struggles. But "No Reply At All," with music by all three and lyrics by Phil, is something of a bop musically, being the first Genesis track to use the Phenix Horns (which is closer associated with Phil's solo work) and also had an interesting technique by Tony Banks on the keyboards. His playing sounds like it was put through a sequencer (and part of it may well have been). As poorly as this song was received when it was first released, I rather like it. It's one of those weird paradox songs Genesis put out in the 80s and early 90s, where the lyrics are kinda heavy but the music is bouncy and upbeat.
"Me and Sarah Jane" is kinda weird and trippy, not gonna lie, but in a good way. It is the only track on the album written specifically by Tony Banks, and it's a love song about an imaginary girlfriend. I kid you not. I've heard various contexts proposed for this girlfriend on t3h 1nt@rw3bz, ranging from the narrator being homeless to being a soldier during WW2, but I can't for the life of me find anything from Tony himself. Maybe he wanted it left ambiguous. Crap if I know.
"Keep It Dark" is a different bit of Banksian lyrical trippiness, with the music written by all three members this time. This is interesting musically, written in 6/4, and the music is in C-major key but it sounds very dark because of the background music being low music. But the real sell point is the lyrics, where the story is told of a man who has been to the future and seen a utopian future but is told (by some unknown force) to "keep it dark" by making up a story of being abducted by thieves under the pretense that he was rich, which it turns out he wasn't. It's kinda minimalistic by Genesis standards, and the falsetto is a bit weird, but I still think it's okay.
What is it with Tony Banks and writing trippy lyrics to lengthy epics? He literally does this on *every* album in the 80s! On Abacab, this takes the form of "Dodo/Lurker," which like "Domino" from Invisible Touch is a two-parter, but unlike the same, the parts are lyrically unrelated, and the first part rather than the second has more lyrical content. A bombastic keyboard opening (which repeats itself at the end of "Dodo"), constant key changes, guitar with phaser, and overall a more progressive sound than most of the album's material are the markers of this. The "Lurker" section is actually pretty short, taking up just the last two minutes of this but being quite epic. Overall, my favourite track on the album.
"Who Dunnit?" is a bop. While the lyrics (penned by Phil) are repetitive almost to the point of being annoying (having them vocoded later in the track redeems them a little near the end), Tony's distorted keyboard (which he apparently he got by rapidly changing the presets as he played) and the gated reverb sound on the drums really make this one. Not my favourite track on the album but it's kinda fun.
"Man On The Corner" was Phil's solo contribution, and it foreshadows his social issues tracks on later albums as it is about homelessness. (These are mostly on his own albums, but also consider "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" about drug abuse and to a lesser extent "Anything She Does" about porn, both on Invisible Touch, and then later "Jesus He Knows Me" on We Can't Dance.) The drums seem to be offbeat relative to the rest of the music (not out of sync, just the downbeats where you'd expect the upbeats and vice versa), which makes it a bit jarring. It's not a bad song, has great drumming, and points to something which, as I said when reviewing ...But Seriously, isn't talked about enough, but this has more oomph than "Another Day In Paradise." (It still can't hold a candle to "Avarice" by Christian hardcore punk band Earth Groans, but that's another story for another time )
Mike Rutherford writing a song with depressing lyrics? Well, it isn't *entirely* without precedent, even at this point - remember, he wrote the lyrics for "Behind The Lines" on Duke - he'd later do "Throwing It All Away." But "Like It Or Not" was entirely Mike's baby, and it has almost a jazzy feel with the 6/8 shuffle and the chord structure, punctuated by sort guitar solos. Phil goes pretty vocally, and Phil's drumming is great.
In spite of its slow start, "Another Record" is actually a pretty upbeat track, although in true Rutherfordian fashion it is kinda depressing lyrically. (The music was a team effort but Mike wrote the lyrics.) It's about a washed-up rocker who is apparently wandering the streets, but gets joy from hearing records. This might be the most present I've ever heard Mike's background vocals. (He did show up on "Man of Our Times" too, which he also wrote wholesale.)
Feelings about this album have been mixed, but I actually like it. It's no Duke, it's no Invisible Touch (although it did have fewer tracks that I *didn't* care much for - zero, if I'm being honest!) but it's good.
Ranking the tracks:
1. Dodo/Lurker
2. Like It Or Not
3. Me And Sarah Jane
4. Abacab
5. Man On The Corner
6. Another Record
7. Keep It Dark
8. Like It Or Not
9. Who Dunnit?
Doing a "best of" for 80s Genesis would be a fair bit harder than doing one for 80s Phil solo. I always did prefer Genesis. One album remains, and that's Genesis' 1983 self-titled album!
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