An ...And Then There Were Three... Review

From Circus Magazine issue #184, June 22, 1978.

From Circus Magazine issue #184, June 22, 1978.
by Charley Waters.

Remarkably, Genesis has absorbed two personnel departures - singer Peter Gabriel 3 LPs ago, and now guitarist Steve Hackett - replaced neither, and gone on as a trio, sacrificing neither direction nor quality. ATTWT may indeed be more commercially accessible and familiar-sounding, the current single, "Follow You/Me" being a good example. Also, it can be said that the group still has basically two types of songs in its repertoire:hard, almost ominous pieces like "Down & Out" and softer, more melodic songs such as "Say It's Alright Joe".

Genesis continues to create a magical, mystical sound that sets them apart from the numerous similar but usually inferior European Art-Rock ensembles. Tony Banks is most responsible for this. The keyboard-rich arrangements center on his soft creamy tones, and he is a master at turning the mechanical into the lyrical, even the pastoral, with his battery of devices. Banks couldn't axhieve the effect, however, without the restraint of guitarist/bassist Mike Rutherford, whose parts are often more felt than heard. There's a marvelous passage at the end of "Burning Rope", where a descending line from the guitarist's electric 12-string suggests menace and then choas before it gives way to Banks' majestic synth, which gradually gains volume and shifts the mood to sheer glory and celebration - a remarkable case of colorful composition and smart execution.

Phil Collins, one of the few rock drummers who can actually be *melodic*, unfortunately still has shortcomings as a vocalist. Possessing a pleasantly smoky and plaintive timbre, he can nonetheless be awkward and unconvincing. He is not expansive or breathtaking, and Genesis' music often calls for such qualities, such as in "Undertow".

Curiously, ATTWT chooses grittier, less crisp engineering (David Hentschel continues to work with the three), perhaps a deliberate counterbalance to its almost unbelievably clear and lifelike predecessor, the live Seconds Out. The dense, somewhat cluttered result, however, doesn't do crucial.