GENESIS

Look, I think most readers will realise by now that Genesis weren't really my thing and there is no real way that this will get too many airings but I am certainly not blind to some of its good points, however. It is like a movie that I may watch once, think is ok, acknowledge its credibility, but not watch again.

Among all the many artists whose work I have reviewed remains the hulking spectre of Genesis - a group who had two distinct phases, neither of whom I really liked at all. For whatever reasons, I never got it going with these ex-public schoolboys and what I always viewed as a particularly pretentious form of prog rock. I didn't go for their Phil Collins-led poppier phase much either. As far as prog rock goes, I prefer Jethro Tull, East Of Eden, Atomic Rooster, Wishbone Ash - all artists at the rockier or folkier end of the genre. Although Genesis were rockier than, say the keyboard-dominated giants ELP or Yes, there was just something about their lyrical oddness and perceived intellectual smugness that rubbed me up the wrong way. Oh, and, as was often the case, I hated with a vengeance the boys at my school who liked them, boys who invariably got A+ in Mathematics, Latin and Chemistry. I went on to like singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel's solo work, however, so here I am giving him and his old proggy mates a chance. I apologise in advance to Genesis followers for whom these albums mean so much for my possible negativity but I am trying to be open minded in dealing with the work of a group who I have always hated. Maybe time has mellowed my feelings - let's find out.

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