Genesis: We Can't Dance - 1991
The eighties were over (thank goodness) and Genesis got together again five years after their previous album and delivered another album (this time a double) to annoy their seventies fanbase (if indeed any of them had still remained with them, which was doubtful). It would be Phil Collins' last album with Genesis.
It was duly criticised by long-time fans and music reviewers alike, dismissing it as bland, poppy, pap, a Collins solo album in disguise...the usual stuff. They had a point, of course, and it regularly finishes bottom in those irritating "Genesis best to worst" lists that many people love creating. I have never gone down that route, actually, as my opinions often change and also I find it pretty futile. I just take an album as I hear it. There is a warmer, deeper sound to this album as opposed to those early eighties ones, which instantly endears it to me.
No Son Of Mine is a lengthy Collins ballad blessed with a killer hooky chorus that made it a hit. As I have said many times, as a non-Genesis or Collins fan, I can freely admit to liking it. The same is true (even more so) of the next track, the exceptionally catchy Jesus He Knows Me. Driving The Last Spike is a long (ten minutes) but attractive Collins ballad telling of 19th century Irish navvies working on the railways. It was a surprising subject choice for Collins, who was more used to describing relationship problems than dealing with stuff usually in the domain of Steeleye Span or Mark Knopfler. Although the big production overwhelms the lyrics at times, I still like it.
I Can't Dance was a hit single and it had a chunky funkiness to it that made it appealing. It is a million miles away from the seventies prog band that Genesis once were. Funnily enough, it reminds me in places of ex-singer Peter Gabriel's subsequent solo work in its rhythmic sound. The promotional pictures to accompany the single saw the group dressed in Talking Heads-style big suits.
Never A Time sounds like a Collins ballad, but it was actually a Mike Rutherford song - he liked a bit of maudlin stuff too, didn't he? It, unsurprisingly, sounds like Mike & The Mechanics. Very much the sound of 1991. Rutherford continues with the groovy vibe of Dreaming While You Sleep. It has a very Collins-esque percussion sound (those funny programmed bleeping noises) and his voice makes it sound like his song but that should not detract from the fact that is a most impressive, atmospheric number. Again, it brings to mind Peter Gabriel in its world music sounds at times.
On to the second half of the album, then. Collins laudably laments the state of the world on the Sting-esque Tell Me Why (the first gulf war and world famine), but he predictably took flak for it just as he did when he sung of the homeless' plight on Another Day In Paradise. Personally, I think if Collins wants to comment on important issues then he has every right to do so. Bollocks to what people say.
Collins turns Tony Banks' Living Forever into his own song. It is another mightily appealing one, however. As with the previous album, I have no objection to this one either. Sure, it's not really my thing like Bowie, Springsteen, Dylan, The Stones or The Clash are but I like it - so what if true Genesis fans don't. I like Pink Floyd's The Division Bell too in much the same way. There's a great bassline on this song, by the way. Collins' laid-back and emotionally-yearning Hold On To My Heart is a quality late-night offering that would have suited his solo albums. It's not a Genesis song, it's a Collins one, isn't it?
Rutherford's powerful Way Of The World is subtly grinding and bassy with more Gabriel influences. Since I Lost You is a heartbreaking song Collins wrote for Eric Clapton concerning the loss of his son. Fair play to him for coming up with something so sensitive. The final track, Fading Lights, is a ten minute Tony Banks song that sounds like a Collins number. It has a quiet, understated beauty to it, along with some solid instrumental breaks. In the long run, I am never going to choose this album to play as a matter of personal choice over much other material, but if any of it turns up in a random play session, I will enjoy it. It's a good album. That's it. I'm not sure how I have got through all these Genesis albums but I have, surprising myself in the process.
