Best Genesis Album?

They were generally excellent from Trespass to Duke, with And Then There Were Three... being slightly under the bar, though the high points on that album were fairly high.

The best of Abacab is very good as well, but after that, there are only a handful of songs I can connect with.

I voted Nursery Cryme ---> Selling England, then Trick and Wind & Wuthering. I love TLLDOB and Duke, but poll says five, so there you go.

In any case, Genesis had about as long a run of consistent, high-quality work as any band or individual artist. Only a few were in their league or better.

 

Oops--totally forgot Nursery Cryme! That would probably just edge in before ATTWT for me.

 

No love for Burning Rope?

 

I like that one too.

 

there's only two songs I don't love on the album, and I still like them

 

foxtrot

 

Good to see ATTWT getting propped up, but ABACAB is really the one that needs to be reappraised. It stands up remarkably well for an eighties record, not that there's anything wrong with an eighties record. Nothing sonically embarrassing or gratuitous. They were in the final stages of trying to prove that they can adapt to more of a punk/new wave/pop aesthetic. Think Hugh deserves a lot of credit here too.

Yeah, there a few weak moments, Just Another Record and Like It or Not aren't great, but are perfectly pleasant. Ton'y prophet sounds and playing are inspired not sounding like anyone or even him. Phil's single headed toms and compressed drum sound come into focus and make for a great drum attack, and in the process he amazingly reinvents his drum vocabulary. Mike finally arrives at his role in the band as a guitarist. Great tones and processed guitar, understated and great parts playing.

We all know the standout moments on ABACAB, and they are indeed great. I have a strong preference for earlier Genesis but there are enough times when I'd rather hear Keep it Dark, Me and Sarah Jane or Dodo. I love Keep It Dark, how they move around harmonically over a fairly consistent pedal tone with that angular guitar hook and glorious chorus..... bliss. Simon's cover of that song is pretty good too.

 

It's funny how these things turn out, and how varied opinions are ...
For me Trick of the tail is really inconsistent, really good high points with Dance on a volcano, ripple and los endos, but just not really a solid/complete album for me.
While And then there were three (again just to me) is a more consistent album, but still with great high points with Down and Out, Undertow, Snowbound, Burning Rope, Deep In the Motherlode and Follow You Follow Me .... but virtually nobody votes for it, seemingly because it has a couple of slower songs on it.
Nursery cryme is magnificent with two of their best tracks ever in Musical Box and Return Of the Giant Hogweed but is getting out run by quite a way.
Yet Selling England by the pound is just streaking away and the second track (wardrobe) is one of the most trite, novelty pop songs they ever did. Yes it does have some fantastic songs on it ....
Bizarre to me

 

I think Phil has said his favorite is a tie between The Lamb and Invisible Touch!

 

Pretty telling for me that Trespass, their second album, has twice as many votes for it as And Then There Were Three, as of today. I will admit it's better than their first album.

 

Who voted for We Can't Dance? Stop taking the Mick and take the poll seriously

Trespass has always sounded like a poor man's Moody Blues to me so not surprised of its poor showing.

 

I'm still surprised at the love for Duke on this site. How it's beating-out Abacab is a mystery to me as I don't think it is half as entertaining.

 

Trick of the Tail
The Lamb
Wind and Wuthering
And Then There Were Three
Trespass

 

I love Abacab, most of it very good, some of it great. I’d like to add the title track to your list of great tracks, that and Me and Sarah Jane are probably my favorites on the album (I do have a soft spot for No Reply At All though).

 

Different strokes for different folks.

I can say the same with some of the other albums. Imo, I don't think they ever made an album where all songs on it are great. Always had a stinker or 2.

 

I generally agree, but I think Foxtrot and Nursery Cryme are stinker-free. Abacab has 2-3 stinkers, but the good songs are really strong. Duke has some good songs too, just for me they mostly don't reach the heights achieved on the best from Abacab.

 

Yea, the Duke suite ( I think it contained the first 3 songs, Turn it On and the last 2?) pretty much makes the album. But they probably couldn't release it that way, so they had fill it in with other songs.

 

I think Tony once said something to the effect of they never had their "Dark Side of the Moon" there is no clear masterpiece landmark Genesis album

 

Absolutely! No question those should be added. The heavy part of the song ABACAB where Phil is shouting "you want it, you've got it, you've got to go" followed by the unison melodic hook is a moment of beauty. We all know Sarah Jane is Tony at his best, my favourite composer. Love the Roland Vp-330 vocoder parts in that one and thee swirling synth arpeggiations. My god, how did they write and produce so much quality music.

 

I'd extend the stinker free list to include Trespass and The Lamb

 

I hate that I only got one vote and everyone else got five.

So in addition to ATOTT add one vote to:
Nursery Cryme
Foxtrot
Selling England By The Pound
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

People, when you create a poll, ALLOW PEOPLE TO CHANGE THEIR VOTES.

 

It would be impossible to choose one landmark album when the entire 70s run would be a candidate - especially between Nursery Cryme and W&W, almost everything is gold to me.

 

For me it is their most consistent and solid album, just awesomeness from start to finish.

 

Isn't that just automatic? IDK, I do a lot of polls and they always allow voters to change their votes. Maybe that's how it's set up on default - if that is the case, it means the creator would have to set it as 'not to allow voters to change' which I don't feel is right - I'm with you, people change their minds don't they and ought to have the option.

 

They're two different bands, aren't they? Of the early, Gabriel-led group, for me it's Lamb, but for the later pop oriented Phil Collins-fronted group, it's a tough call. Invisible Touch is my favorite of that configuration, though I have lots of love for Duke and Abacab. I listened to those a lot in high school around the same time I was exploring everything else in the world of music, so they're kind of locked in with that sense of discovery.