Genesis: Wind & Wuthering(1976)
Back coverTony Banks - Keyboards
Phil Collins - Vocals, Drums, Percussion
Steve Hackett - Guitars, Kalimba, Autoharp
Mike Rutherford - Bass, Bass Pedals, Guitars
Eleventh Earl of Mar (Banks, Hackett, Rutherford)
One for the Vine (Banks)
Your Own Special Way (Rutherford)
Wot Gorilla? (Collins, Banks)
All in a Mouse's Night (Banks)
Blood on the Rooftops (Hackett, Collins)
"Unquiet Slumber for the Sleepers..." (Hackett, Rutherford)
"...In That Quiet Earth" (Banks, Collins, Hackett, Rutherford)
Afterglow (Banks)
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This album is much like the sophomore efforts from many bands. With the debut album, you have to grab your audience from the start, keep their attention, show them what you can do, and prove that you are worthy. Following the loss of lead singer and founding member Peter Gabriel, that is exactly what Genesis had to do with
A Trick of the Tail, and they did an admirable job. This album, then, allowed them a bit of breathing room in that they'd established themselves and could now, to some extent, stretch out a little bit. But they also had to provide a follow-up which was at least comparable to the debut, otherwise the debut would be seen as a fluke, a one-off. Most Genesis fans agree that
Wind & Wuthering is a worthy successor to
A Trick of the Tail (and many even prefer it). These two albums are more alike than any two since
Nursery Cryme and
Foxtrot, and for one obvious reason: They are the two albums which feature the four-piece lineup of Banks, Collins, Hackett, and Rutherford.
As was pointed out upthread, the instrumental-to-vocal ratio on this album is pretty high, probably the highest of any Genesis album. There are three bona fide instrumental tracks, and of course the instrumental sections on four of the other six songs. Track 3, "Wot Gorilla?", was primarily Phil's composition, based on a riff from Tony's "One for the Vine" and likely inspired by Phil's recent work with jazz-fusion band Brand X.
Tracks 7 and 8 were originally a single piece, but according to Tony they were split so as to give Steve more writing credits. As the most prolific writer in the band, Tony seemed aware that his name would dominate the credits, now that tracks were credited to individuals and no longer to "Genesis". Steve, on the other hand, was never a huge contributor in terms of writing. This is partly due, however, to the democratic process within the band. It is known that there were pieces submitted by Steve that were not particularly popular with the rest of the band, and it can be assumed that there were pieces he submitted which were voted down altogether. Also, Steve has cited this as one of the reasons why he left Genesis.
It is interesting, then, that this album and
A Trick of the Tail both start with Steve playing what would become classic hook lines. His sinister "Eleventh Earl of Mar" riff opens this album just as his 7/8 "Dance on a Volcano" hook opened the previous one. All previous Genesis albums opened either with Tony's keyboards or Peter singing
a capella. (The sole exception was
Nursery Cryme , which began with Tony and Mike together playing an F# riff actually written by Anthony Phillips before he left the band.) It is almost as though the band was embarassed by how little spotlight was given to Steve during this time, and did what they could to help him out. There is more lead guitar from Steve on this album than on
A Trick of the Tail, and Steve appears in the writing credits a bit more. Then there is his beautiful acoustic guitar solo which serves as the intro to "Blood on the Rooftops", a song that he and Phil wrote together. In the end, however, Steve felt stifled by working in Genesis, and after finishing out the
Wind & Wuthering tour, he announced his resignation from the band. And then there were three.
Topic: Genesis Discography (Read 54777 times)
