Should Genesis have dissolved following the departure of Phil
\nCollins in 1996?<\/p>\n
Many times over the band’s almost three-decade run, they’ve
\nfound themselves having to prove that they can survive losing a key
\nmember. When Peter Gabriel left the band in 1975, Genesis was
\ndeclared dead by the cynics – until Collins filled the position
\n(and quite well, thank you). There were concerns when Steve Hackett
\nleft; the remaining members answered the claims of their demise
\nagain with
\n…And Then There Were Three<\/i>, the album that gave Genesis
\ntheir first radio hit.<\/p>\n
But the first post-Collins album,
\nCalling All Stations<\/i>, is almost concrete proof that the
\nremaining members’ hearts just aren’t into the music anymore.<\/p>\n
You could make a case that new singer Ray Wilson isn’t as strong
\nof a vocalist as either Gabriel or Collins was, but I’m willing to
\nlet such a point slide. He’s filling some very big shoes in the
\ngroup, and to expect him to perform at such a high level on the
\nfirst shot is asking a lot… too much, in fact.<\/p>\n
Besides, if the material he’s given to sing isn’t up to par,
\nthen all expectations are thrown out the window. Fact is, many of
\nthe songs on
\nCalling All Stations<\/i> are written poorly, and do not do
\njustice to the vocalist, no matter who it would have been. The
\ntitle track is a plodding beast that should have taken a bullet
\nbetween the eyes; the first thing I want to hear on a group’s
\nrebirth is
\nnot<\/i> a funeral dirge.<\/p>\n
The first single, “Congo,” gets off to a promising start, but
\nlike its predecessor, quickly gets bogged down — it almost seems
\nthat remaining members Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks padded the
\nmusic side as a safety net. Too bad that by doing so they cut off
\nWilson’s potential contributions.<\/p>\n
But this is not to say that
\nCalling All Stations<\/i> is a complete failure. “Not About Us,”
\ndespite having a vocal track I wish had more muscle, is a beautiful
\nsong about love gone bad — and, boy, this was not the best choice
\nto listen to for Valentine’s Day. A follow-up song, “If That’s What
\nYou Need,” seems to answer the problems the subject is having with
\nhis love in “Not About Us”; it reaffirms that he will be there for
\nher, even if they don’t remain a married couple. Kind of a lesson
\nwe all can learn in there.<\/p>\n
“Shipwrecked” and “Alien Afternoon” both show the talents this
\nnew version of Genesis has when they cut through the questions and
\ndoubts and just get down to the
\nmusic<\/i>… if only there were more moments like this on
\nCalling All Stations<\/i>.<\/p>\n
The band’s penchant for long-winded songs hasn’t gone away; “The
\nDividing Line” and “One Man’s Fool” would have been a lot more
\neffective had they been shorter. (In Genesis’ defense, they’ve been
\ndoing this long before Wilson joined the band, so this isn’t a new
\ngripe… but one would have thought they’d have wised up by
\nnow.)<\/p>\n
Whatever your opinion of the new Genesis, one thing cannot be
\ndenied: Collins’ presence is sorely missed here. Whether Wilson
\nwill step up and become a more involved contributor to the music
\nwe’ll see as time passes — if it’s not too late. But Collins
\nequalled popular appeal, something this album has been lacking
\nsince it hit the bins… and stayed there.<\/p>\n
\nCalling All Stations<\/i> is a transition album for Genesis, and
\nshould be approached as such. But with a few exceptions, this might
\nbe a call you’d be better off letting the machine get.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5883],"rating":[11204],"class_list":["post-35899","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-genesis","rating-rating-c-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35899"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35899"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}