Genesis: Duke (1980)
Tony Banks - Keyboards, 12-String Guitar, Background Vocals
Phil Collins - Vocals, Drums, Percussion, Drum Machine
Mike Rutherford - Basses, Guitars, Background Vocals
Behind the Lines
(Banks, Collins, Rutherford)Duchess
(Banks, Collins, Rutherford)Guide Vocal
(Banks)Man of Our Times
(Rutherford)Misunderstanding
(Collins)Heathaze
(Banks)Turn It On Again
(Banks, Collins, Rutherford)Alone Tonight
(Rutherford)Cul-De-Sac
(Banks)Please Don't Ask
(Collins)Duke's Travels
(Banks, Collins, Rutherford)Duke's End
(Banks, Collins, Rutherford)----------
After the
...and then there were three... tour, Phil's (first) marriage was falling apart, so he took an official leave from the band to try to save it. During this time, Tony and Mike both released their first solo albums,
A Curious Feeling and
Smallcreep's Day, respectively. Although Tony would go on to create more solo albums, form various bands and other partnerships, and even compose film scores and orchestral music,
A Curious Feeling is still regarded as one of his best works. Much of it sounds not unlike Genesis during this time, primarily because he uses a lot of the same keyboards and keyboard patches. Mike's solo catalogue (outside his work with Mike + The Mechanics) is less extensive, consisting only of
Smallcreep's Day and
Acting Very Strange, but his first outing is considered the better of the two.
Phil eventually lost the fight to save his marriage. Tony and Mike were still finishing up their solo albums, so Phil took some time to work on his first solo album as well,
Face Value. When Genesis reconvened in 1979, they were the same three people, but a different band. For one thing, Phil had worked out a lot of his emotional issues while writing
Face Value, and during this process, he had become a more proflic songwriter, much more an equal to Tony and Mike, who had always been the stronger writers within the band.
Because each of them had spent most of their recent compositions on their solo albums, they came to group with very little already written, just a few songs and ideas apiece. This meant that the music for
Duke was more of a group effort, and it shows.
Duke is regarded by most Genesis fans as one of their best albums. Many staunch Peter Gabriel supporters and latter-day Genesis detractors even admit that this is a very strong album. The progressive elements which had been all but lost on
...and then there were three... were back. Still somewhat stripped down, and not as evident as during the Gabriel era, but definitely present.
They ended up with a 30-minute piece of music in six movements, six more songs, and two which didn't make the final cut (but which would appear as B-sides of singles from this album). The "Duke Suite" consisted of "Behind the Lines", "Duchess", "Guide Vocal", "Turn It On Again", "Duke's Travels", and "Duke's End". The original idea was to have the suite in its entirety on Side One of the LP and the remaining songs on Side Two. Fearing the inevitable comparisons to their earlier epic "Supper's Ready", they decided to break up the suite, opening the album with the first three pieces, opening Side Two with "Turn It On Again", and closing the album with the last two pieces. The other songs were arranged so that they could loosely fit into a larger narrative following the outline of the "Duke" story, but they are not part of the original story concept.
This arrangement also meant that for the fourth time in eight albums, the album was "bookended" -- musical themes which opened the album reappear at (or near) the end. "Aisle of Plenty" from
Selling England by the Pound is a reprise of "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight". "Los Endos" from
A Trick of the Tail brings back riffs from "Dance on a Volcano", "Squonk", and "It's Yourself" (which did not appear on the album). "...In That Quiet Earth" from
Wind & Wuthering ends with the riff from "Eleventh Earl of Mar" which opens the album. Also, and probably not entirely a coincidence, each of these reprises follows an instrumental or extended instrumental part of a song.
The "Duke Suite" was played in its original form (the six parts strung together) during the ensuing tour. According to Phil's spoken intro, "Duke"'s name is Albert.
"Turn It On Again" started with one of Mike's riffs, worked out on guitar, but it was originally much slower, with more of a heavy, driving beat to it. (Think "I Can't Dance" but in 13). The others liked the riff, but had trouble working with it, and Phil suggested that they speed it up. This allowed him to add a standard 4/4 backbeat rhythm, with an extra beat every three measures, making the song both simpler and deceptively complex at the same time.
"Cul-De-Sac" is something like a younger sibling to "Firth of Fifth". After a single sung line by Phil, Tony breaks into an extended piano solo which serves as an introduction to song proper. It's not as long, and not on an acoustic grand piano, but the parallels are still pretty clear.
Other Notes:
"Man of Our Times" contains, I think, Phil's heaviest drumming in Genesis to date. Getting his aggressions out on "In the Air Tonight" (from his
Face Value) allowed him to finally find his voice on the drums, so to speak.
"Heathaze" is one of my favorite Genesis songs, an absolutely sublime, understated (and underrated) song by Tony. But what catches my ear every time is Mike's fretless bass, which is phenomenal.
The two songs which were not included on
Duke were "Evidence of Autumn" and "Open Door". I like "Open Door" a lot, and "Evidence of Autumn" isn't bad either, if a bit cheesier, but they're both mellow songs, and between Phil's heartache songs, Tony's "Heathaze" and Mike's "Alone Tonight", the album was already leaning pretty heavily toward the mellow side. Overall, it made sense to cut them. What remains is a much more balanced album which starts and ends with strong, upbeat songs. "Evidence of Autumn" became the B-side to "Misunderstanding" and "Open Door" was the B-side to "Duchess".
This album constantly fights it out with the two 1976 albums for my favorite Genesis album. It usually wins. After getting my first CD player for my birthday in 1982, this was the first CD I bought.
Topic: Genesis Discography (Read 55035 times)
