It's basically a slightly more commercialized and stripped down Wind and Wuthering. By this point, Genesis were becoming stagnant because Rutherford and Banks were basically the only songwriters left, and they had been there since day one: it was probably best that they changed musical directions with the next album, Duke, by giving Collins more to do. I don't mind Genesis going mainstream, but this album was just too romantic and mellow for my taste. I prefer the opposite kind of mainstream: upbeat, powerful, aggressive, bombastic. At its best it's intriguingly atmospheric...and not much more. It's Wind and Wuthering meets singer-songwriter mediocrity. The definition of an average album. Most of the tracks are forgettable, but I do enjoy Follow You Follow Me.

Despite losing key band members, this album has such a lovely ambiance with great use of keyboard chords and wonderful storyline songs.

I really like all of the genesis catalog except three albums -- ATTWT is one of those. I like it, but it has this transitional "not sure what to do" feel to it, which makes sense following steve hackett's departure (and the reason behind the album title). This is another autumnal genesis album, the second of three, coming in with a late-summer gust ("down and out") and ending at the cusp of winter with an eye toward the hope of next spring ("follow you follow me"). There are few lyrics on this album i remember because the choruses rarely resonate. This album's all about the progression of many ideas and not the emphasis of any single idea, except for their first big hit, the languid, ebbing "follow you follow me" and "robbery, assault & battery"-charging "scenes from a night's dream". "snowbound"'s chorus comes close, but has such a listless delivery that it doesn't hold attention well.

I agree, it did have a certain quality to it.

Full of feeling,you can easily enjoy the music and its magical aspect.