Genesis (Remastered)

It is basically when Tony Banks, Phil Collins, and Mike Rutherford began submitting only group-written songs for the Genesis albums. That's also why this one was so successful. "Mama" kicks off the album with the now-iconic Linn Drum Machine pattern and Tony's eerie keyboard drones. The maniacal laugh Phil does throughout the song was something he picked up from "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash! "That's All" was one of the band's biggest hits to date, while "Home By the Sea" and it's near-instrumental partner became fan-favorites, and staples of Genesis live shows. "Illegal Alien" would wreak with controversy if it were released today. "Taking It All Too Hard" has a great drum and keyboard sound, while "Just A Job To Do" is another of Genesis songs that tell stories, this one about a hitman for hire and his victims. "Silver Rainbow" has a fantastic beat and drum machine pattern; it's usually a forgotten track. Closing Genesis' self-titled album is "It's Gonna Get Better", which fades in and out with an orchestral piece being played backwards, one of Tony's clever ideas. The song has soulful vocals from Collins, and the record ends on a high note. My mom had this album in CD format from it's original release, and it was this album that introduced me to Genesis at a young age. Thanks Mom!

Perfection (the game) being on the album cover is an accurate pun description. This album is Perfection. Heck, ‘Mama’ is one of the best songs ever written, and ‘That’s All’, ‘Home by the Sea’, and ‘It’s Gonna Get Better’ keep the perfection flowing throughout the whole album. I definitely recommend that you buy it if you have a mature taste in music.

I absolutely hate that iTunes is removing all original content and replacing it with “remastered” versions. Anyone who knows the original version also knows that it doesn’t sound like this!

Well, first of all, I absolutely hate Mama. It tries to be scary. It fails. And the lyrics aren’t really about anything, it just sounds like Phil crying for his mama. It is kind of catchy, though, which I hate to admit. That’s All is my favorite song on the album. It is just a great pop song which, like Mama, isn’t really about anything, but it’s such a good song that I can overlook that. I like Home By The Sea and Second Home By The Sea, which reminds me a bit of The Cinema Show. The second half of the album isn’t as strong as the first half and they almost venture into ‘Who Dunnit?’ territory with Illegal Alien . As much as I hate the lyrics and the silly video for it, I do kind of enjoy the music for Illegal Alien. The best of the rest is Just A Job To Do and Taking It All Too Hard. Other than Mama I find this to be a rather lightweight and harmlessly enjoyable album. Still not one of my favorite Genesis albums, though.

This is the last album they did I really think is a classic. The next three (Invisible Touch, We Can’t Dance and Calling All Stations) are good but this is the last great record to date in my opinion.

It has a unique sound

Not sure I have ever quite gotten that this was supposed to be Genesis new take on their progressive roots. Other than Home By the Sea and Second Home by the Sea I do not see it. Mama is different and still holds up, I like the agressive sound of of Just a Job I Do but the song does not hold up and Illegal Alien is a crime. Disappointing to me that song was a crowd favorite, it is schlock.

Better than what came after......

Had this one on cassette. Played it until it got warbley. This release continued Genesis' move to pop music and away from progressive rock, but there was still enough of the old Genesis in it to make it really interesting. It contains the single “Illegal Alien” which by today’s standards is a pretty racist song, but back then, people didn’t think of it that way. The rest of the album is strong enough without it. And for my money, “It’s Gonna Get Better” is one of Phil Collins' best vocal moments on the record, but is dying for some killer harmony vocals at the end. Why they didn’t do it, I don’t know.

A lot of the Phil Collins era of Genesis is hugely underrated, mostly because they went from a Prog Rock band to a band that made Pop songs more. This album is the first to start that kind of trend in my opinion, but it's by no means bad. Actually, it's completely the opposite. The hit songs are dark, moody, and good (Mama, That's All), and the non-hits are amazing as well (Just A Job To Do, Silver Rainbow, both parts of Home By The Sea). Genesis may have been more of a pop rock band when this came out, but there are a lot of great musical moments on this as well as the rest of the Collins era Genesis albums. Remaster is great too (Home By The Sea in particular sounds amazing). Buy it now!