Genesis Album Poll: “Trespass” (1970)

Tracklisting:

1. Looking For Someone (7:08)
2. White Mountain (6:43)
3. Visions Of Angels (6:53)
4. Stagnation (8:49)
5. Dusk (4:14)
6. The Knife (8:56)

Personnel:

Peter Gabriel - vocals, flute, accordion, percussion
Anthony Phillips - 12-string guitar, electric guitar, dulcimer, backing vocals
Tony Banks - organ, piano, Mellotron, 12-string guitar, backing vocals
Mike Rutherford - 12-string guitar, bass guitar, nylon-strung guitar, cello, backing vocals
John Mayhew - drums, percussion, backing vocals

Additional information:



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Trespass is certainly an interesting album. It’s not a favorite of mine, because I felt some of it does feel awfully clunky and you can definitely feel the band is trying to find their way. I hated that Anthony Phillips left after this album because I do really enjoy his contributions. I’d rate this album with the second option, because it still has this magical quality to some of the music.

 

Sure, Trespass isn't as developed as their stuff with Hackett but as a record of what Genesis were writing in 1969-70 (Visions of Angels was actually written in 1968) it's a decent effort for such a relatively inexperienced band.

I gave it A Pretty Solid Effort but in Stagnation and The Knife it contains 2 Genesis classics. Looking For Someone is great too. The other 3 tracks are arguably the weakest moments on the album but that's not to say they are bad songs. I never saw the band live with Gabriel on vocals and there's precious little footage from this period commonly available. That's a shame as it was during this period they were doing songs that never made it to record and it would be great to have more stuff from this line up.

 

Solid effort and worth recommending, but this album represents a young band still developing. I like it a lot but there aren't even any tunes off this record they played in concert past 72 or 73 - aside from a brief passage of Stagnation.

Its pretty much for diehard fans, but I'd never call it one of their worst. Its just...different.

 

Had to go with 'one of their worst'. That's probably harsh but Nursery Cryme-Lamb is a sequence that I completely adore, yet I never revisit Trespass except once ever few years to heat 'The Knife'. That's fewer plays than I'd give even to other of my lesser favourites from the band's later period.

 

It did take me a while to get into the album but I do enjoy listening to it. Definitely not on the level they'd achieve a year later but even at their young age (19-20?) they put out an album with solid musicianship and writing, for the most part. "Dusk" is a fantastic piece of music and probably my favorite. I also like "White Mountain" a lot.

 

I always feel weird saying that the "Hackett era is my favorite" because though its true it almost feels like or could possibly be seen as an Anthony Phillips "diss" but its NOT! I really like Ant and what he brought to this record (and I like a fair bit of his solo stuff as well), but I can't help but think they didn't really totally become "GENESIS" until Phil and Steve joined and then they were more or less able to stay at that peak until Steve quit.

So the album is definitely good (no doubt about it), and I always enjoy it when listening, but they're just not quite there yet. Not that Phillips brought less to the table than Hackett, he just brought something different - a more assertive songwriting voice for one thing, while Steve's greatest impact was what he brought as a player/soundscapist. OTOH in the drum department its no contest - Mayhew wasn't a bad drummer taken on his own terms, but compared to Phil - well he kind of was, to be honest. Plus according to them Ant and Peter had to tell him exactly what to play as he wasn't a good/creative enough drummer to come up with his own parts (at least not to their satisfaction anyway). So replacing him with Phil was almost like starting a whole new band - his effect on their sound was so great - plus they finally got some quality harmony/backing vocals into the mix.

So Trespass is good, maybe even very good, but unfortunately it has to live under the shadow of what followed.

Sorry, Ant.

 

They played 'White Mountain' at probably every show during the '76 tour with Bruford (IIRC at his request)

 

Side note who does the vocals on "Dusk" aside from PG?

 

Love this album, I actually prefer it over Nursery Cryme. Stagnation is their first masterpiece. It's crazy the growth the band had between FGTR to this.

 

Solid effort.

 

Well yes and no. A lot of that growth wasn't documented. They recorded FGTR circa summer '68 and Trespass circa summer '70. They weren't even a proper band when they made FGTR - just two pairs of aspiring songwriters for others. In between the albums (2 years - a VERY long time between albums back then) they locked themselves in a cottage for something like 4-6 months practicing 12-16 hours a day every day only some weeks taking one day off) rehearsing, writing, honing their playing abilities, learning to work together as a proper band. In fact they wrote so much during that time that there's at least one album's worth of discarded material that was either demo'd (some of which came out on the Archive 67-75 box) demo'd but lost, or not recorded at all.

It does seem like a pretty massive growth spurt, but I'm sure if they had recorded/released an album in between (they certainly had more than enough material written) the jump from FGTR to Trespass could be put into its proper context and I'm sure would make a lot more sense.

 

When I first heard this album I pretty much dismissed it as rather crude and naive, a product of a young yet musically- talented group still finding their feet. It's taken decades but it's really grown on me over the years and it's now probably in my top 5 favourite albums of theirs. Perhaps my opinion of what sounded dated and crude has changed over the years?

 

I love Trespass, I like the texture of it, the slightly soft sound gives it a certain magic. Perhaps the most ethereal Genesis album, with its Visions of Angels and other heavenly sound effects and mystical themes. All the tracks are good.

Tim

 

I love this album. I think its essential but i can understand that for some people it falls short. I will spin it today.

 

Genesis fully developed their sound on Trespass. I disagree with you on a couple points first point Trespass is a essential album nothing on it is clunky a superb effort all around. Second point Anthony Phillips is a competent guitarist but Steve Hackett is much more talented and fit Genesis much better imho. The songwriting is very strong also a top progressive album from 1970.

 

I voted 'Not Bad' but, really, there is nothing to distinguish this album from those of all the other prog also-rans released in that year. As a band they sound barely professional, with Banks standing out from the rest as a competent musician.

They badly needed the muscle that Collins and Hackett provided.

Two years later, they were coming out with stuff like Get 'Em Out By Friday. That represents astonishing progress.

 

Not bad. I've always liked The Knife.

 

I’m not sure if I agree that Hackett is ‘more talented’ because Phillips had his own style that was just as distinctive as Hackett. Phillips was much more than a ‘competent’ guitarist and his solo albums prove this. Of course, Hackett is one of my favorite players and I prefer him over Phillips, but this doesn’t mean that Phillips lacks talent. I strongly disagree with you there. Go check out Phillips’ The Geese and the Ghost. A great album IMHO.

 

Solid/not bad. Some very good tunes on here, some weaker ones. The album suffers from the songs and production all being a bit "samey," but they were so young and this was a big transition from the debut to Nursery Cryme.

Bingo.

 

Brilliant opening and closing songs, and nice ones in the middle. Not my favorite, but one of their best albums.

 

Side one is a favorite.

 

One of my favorite Genesis albums--its only competition for absolute favorite is A Trick of the Tail. Unlike most folks, I think "The Knife" is actually its biggest flaw, as it seems like a more crude version of the sort of thing they would do far better on subsequent albums. The real strengths for me on this album are the haunting, candle-lit atmospheres, particularly in tracks like "Visions of Angels" (an absolute masterpiece, IMHO), "Stagnation," and "Dusk." No one else ever quite achieved this particular atmosphere--aspects of the first two PFM albums and (much later in time) the debut album by White Willow come somewhat close, but I don't think the particular atmosphere of Trespass would be possible to recreate--it has a peculiar magic that I absolutely love.

 

Yup, this is where I'm at pretty much to a tee.

 

I love this one... but my voting would be between "solid" and "essential". I went with "solid".

It IS gorgeous, however.

 

Agreed 100%. Never been real keen on The Knife but I love the rest of it. I do think the "Genesis Live" Knife works better.