Genesis
by Genesis

Like most of the albums of Genesis' pop phase, this one is quite inconsistent. The good songs can stand up to the band's prog staples, but the bad songs are lightyears behind even the worst songs on Nursery Crime through A Trick of the Tail.

"Mama" is one of Genesis' best tracks. It's eerie, energetic, and atmospheric. It combines the best of Collins' solo career with the best of Genesis' keyboard-driven acrobatics. Simply outstanding. "That's All" is certainly good enough to be on the radio, even if it's not mind blowing. "Home By the Sea" is another outstanding track: both parts are great, and the song is both catchy and proggy. Great keys, melodies, and singing. After that, the album tanks pretty hard: most of the other songs are below average throwaways. "Illegal Alien" is fun, though.

My problem with this album is Genesis attempting to please the masses and maintain their loyal prog fan base. Side 1 works - Mama, That's All, Home by the Sea does a fine job of walking this tightrope of styles, Side 2 fails. By the time I finish with side 1 I usually don't waste time listening to the rest of the album. BTW -- Illegal Alien makes me cringe in light of today's politically correct society, but even then it was bordering on insulting, and that's coming from someone who thinks we have become too politically correct. (Edited)

The trouble with this album is that the first side is fantastic (among the best stuff they did in their pop-phase) while the second half is at it's best passable and at it's worst hard to listen to. Silver Rainbow really is every bit as bad as it sounds. You got everything you want on the first half: a dark and atmospheric, still incredibly memorable opnener in 'Mama', a well made pop song in 'That's All' and an incredible prog-suite in the 'Home by the Sea's. Best thing you got on the second side is Just a Job to Do, an above average pop-song. (Edited)

From paladisiac TOP 100 COMMENTER 12/09/2011 17:20 | #32462 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

"mama" shreds with sort of an "i don't care anymore" attitude and is a great opener to an otherwise half-pop / half-"prog"-shoutout album ("nu prog" in the sense of Duke/Abacab), and is a definite precursor to what would become invisible touch. i didn't hear this album until i bought a cassette of it in college and LOVED it. IMO, this is a very good pop album. Read these hits: "mama", "that's all", "illegal alien", "taking it all too hard" and "just a job to do". Five hits across nine tracks. And two of those tracks are the more proggy pieces, "home by the sea" and "second home by the sea", which in some ways eclipse the "domino" two-parter on invisible touch. In fact, this could've easily taken off the way invisible touch did. Poppy genesis catches flack for being so shallow, simple and daffy compared to their 70s prog era, not to mention being taken over by phil collins, but the only track on this album i think is near daffy is "illegal alien", a track i still like despite of, and because of, its goofiness. "just a job to do" tries to reprise the "mama"-grit.

A very top-heavy Genesis album, as the first side features songs like Mama, That's All, and Home by the Sea, which are some of the best of the band's three-piece era. The second never comes close to reaching those highs, though there are a couple decent pop tracks scattered throughout it. You can tell that Collins' was really coming into his own as a singer, as, in terms of vocals, this may be his best album with Genesis. The instrumentation is mostly solid all throughout, though it becomes a little too cheesy in parts, and the lyrics probably aren't quite up to previous Genesis standards. I'd say this album is pretty much on par with the previous record Abacab, though the highs here are certainly higher. Definitely worth your time to check out the first half of this one, maybe give the second half a listen or two if you're feeling adventurous.