b o b

For a long while, I thought Duke had come out before And Then There Were Three instead of after it, as it seems to have more in common with the two post-Gabriel albums with Hackett still around than it does with the band's later pop albums. It was interesting to read in Sean's review (below) that many of the songs on this album started off as a conceptual suite - I always thought Duke was supposed to be a concept album, but couldn't figure out how some of the songs fit into the story (because they weren't meant to). Still, over the years my brain has made up a plot that covers the whole thing: the divorce of two pop stars known as Duke and Duchess. You can tell that poppier times are ahead for Genesis, but starting the album off with the combination of "Behind the Lines", "Duchess" and "Guide Vocal", each flowing into the next without a break, and the whole block featuring instrumental breaks and conceptual lyrics... well, that seems like a pretty big nod back to the band's proggy past. As if to confirm it, the album ends with the lengthy, energetic instrumental workout of "Duke's Travels" and "Duke's End", which conclude by reprising of the opening musical and lyrical themes of "Behind the Lines" and "Guide Vocal". Granted, things go pop in between. There are the hits "Misunderstanding" and "Turn it On Again", which are both pretty good songs (especially the latter). And there are a couple "relationship trouble" ballads in "Alone Tonight" and "Please Don't Ask". Hmmm, an album that mixes prog and pop and is based on the early Genesis sound... hey, could this be Genesis' neoprog album? Something about the production on this album put me off the first time I heard it. It's a little bass heavy, the drums sound kind of flat and muffled and the whole thing sounds distant. I'm not doing a very good job of describing it, but the first time I heard the album it sounded very alien to me. I'm used to it now though, so much so that I can't really remember what sounded so odd. Overall, I rank Duke pretty highly in the Genesis catalog. It's their last one that I'd rate as very good, that I can listen to from start to finish without wanting to skip any tracks. Certainly a big step up from And Then There Were Three. review by Bob Eichler — 2-26-05 —

c o n r a d

Does the listenable Genesis catalogue cease at And Then There Were Three or Duke? It took me a lot of listening to convince myself that I enjoyed some of And Then There Were Three, so for many years I decided that was the place to stop. Many years later, a friend of mine encouraged me to check out Duke, and after a number of listens I have convinced myself that I enjoy some of this album too. When the first three blaring digital chords of "Behind the Lines" hit me, I was sure for a moment that I was in for a full blown pop album. But then there was a catch in the rhythm. The sort of catch that makes listening interesting, but makes anybody trying to dance break their legs. And then some of the chord changes were not what I would expect. I realised that the instrumentation was Genesis-pop, but the music still had a bit of Genesis-prog. In other words, it's lamb dressed up as mutton. The highlight on this album for me is the eight-minute-plus, mostly-instrumental "Duke's Travels". This is the spirit of "Cinema Show" captured in a cyborg-digital body. "Duchess" is also a strong song, though malicious wags will point out that the lyrics describe a musical career that started off being about the music, became a struggle to maintain fame, and ended in a loss of recognition. I would never point out such irony (partly because I believe such implicit criticisms would be a little unfair). Despite a number of interesting moments and the rather likeable pop tune "Turn It On Again", I still find this album hard to get excited about. There is a certain sameness about it; very little jumps out, and what does doesn't usually thrill me. For me this album is no worse than And Then There Were Three, but that's not saying much, and the last must-have purchase remains A Trick of the Tail. review by Conrad Leviston — 2-8-05 —

s e a n

This review will have to be accepted as the contrarian piece that it is; of all of Genesis' many albums, Duke is my favorite. Originally conceived to have one side-long suite and another side of songs, the concept was scrapped when it was realized that the non-concept side would have been too weak. Instead the side-long "Duke Suite", which had been performed in concert, was split apart into "Behind the Lines", "Duchess", "Guide Vocals", "Turn it on Again" and the closing two tracks. What it all was supposed to mean I cannot say. One theory is that it looked at stardom from various angles; "Duchess" from the point of the star, "Guide Vocals" the agent, "Turn it on Again" the obsessed fan. Whatever the purpose, if any actually existed, it's really not important to the enjoyment of the album. What I like about the album is that it's almost an incompetent stab at pop. This sounds like an insult, but I really mean it in a nice way. It's like the band was turning towards more commercial music, but they still threw all these left foot elements in, like a long semi-ambient intro, or the main meter of the song being alternating bars of 6 and 7, or the song being about the inevitability of death, and so on. The result is material that is innately interesting instead of banal and typical. A big part of the album is the vocal performance of Phil Collins; he is more assured than ever on this release, and hadn't yet started all that annoying scat singing. He's emotive, but not whiny. I used to skip "Misunderstanding" like nobody's business, but now I think it's a fun bubblegum tune. The album shows how each member of the band was pulling their weight at that point. You can tell a Mike song from a Tony song from a Phil song. The themes are as strong as ever, even if they're mostly no longer showing off the chops. Having no particular prejudice for the prog or the pop eras, I thus end up preferring this album over any other; for what it is, I consider it their most fully realized material. review by Sean McFee — 2-5-05 —

j o e

After the departure of guitarist Steve Hackett, Genesis began slowly but surely turning away from the prog rock that had defined them throughout the 70s, moving instead towards the tighter, more concise format of the pop song. Duke saw the band balancing between and integrating the two like never before, but with more than enough equilibrium to keep them from hurtling off the tight-rope. In fact, Duke is more assured and better recorded than the band's previous And Then There Were Three, which though an underrated album, sounded more transitional, like they were still in the process of searching for a new direction while drawing their reserves from their proven formula. Many of the tracks on Duke represent top-flight syntheses of prog rock and pop. The album's two, solid lead-offs are sterling examples showing where the band was at the time. On "Behind the Lines," there's a lengthy, fanfare instrumental section that opens up the song countered by the more subdued, very much pop verses. "Duchess," the eternal tale of the rise and fall of the musical artist, is more protracted than the usual pop tune length, but capped off with a driving rhythm throughout and an instantly accessible, sing-along chorus. While we're talking about it, "Duchess" is probably one of the best instances in this genre of using a drum machine. For once, it sounds like an organic and necessary element of the song. Rutherford's enigmatic "Man of Our Times" is one of my favorite tracks on the album, and is very successful at combining the angular keys one might more expect from a prog tune (in fact, very reminiscent of his "Moonshine" off of Smallcreep's Day) with an anthemic rock chorus. For me, however, the greatest example of these hybrids is "Turn It on Again." This was the very first song I ever heard from Genesis, at the tender age of 7; the video played regularly on a television program I used to watch named Video Concert Hall (a precursor to MTV). Along with Rush's "Subdivisions," this is one of those songs that represents as perfect a realization of prog-laced pop as you can get: taking prog rock essences — the odd meters, symphonic chords, and lyrics that aren't exactly "Love Me Do" — and somehow parlaying all of these into catchy hooks and a non-intrusive beat, while keeping it all within a 4-minute or so time frame. Remaining songs lean further towards one end of the scale or the other. Towards the proggier end of the continuum, Banks' "Heathaze" was introduced to me when I was 15, at a summer pool party by a classmate, of all places, and was one of two songs (he also played me "Entangled") that turned me onto exploring old Genesis. At the time, Genesis were riding high on the success of Invisible Touch, and I was struck by the contrast — in fact, I initially asked my friend if this was one of those old Genesis songs from when Peter Gabriel was in the band. I couldn't get over how much more depth and beauty I felt it had than what I was hearing from them concurrently on the radio. The highlight of this album for any old school fan, of course, will be the fantastic "Duke's End." This was the band's last truly outstanding instrumental workout, culminating with an explosive, climactic reprise of the earlier "Guide Vocal," with the vocals of Collins at once furious and vulnerable. In fact, special kudos should be given to Collins, who particularly excels throughout the album. His vocal work is excellent, and his assertive, confident drumming gives these songs some muscle to carry them over the bland, wimpy brand of pop song that the band would sadly later wallow in. As for the songs that lean more into standard pop sans prog, these are more variable for me. I don't really like "Misunderstanding," can stand "Alone Tonight," and am largely indifferent to "Please Don't Ask." However, gladly none of these are anywhere near the levels of banal pop music that the band would choose and, infuriatingly, be proud of, in the years to come. While the lesser quality of the pure-pop tracks prevents me from calling it a 5-star classic, I would definitely call Duke Genesis' last well-above-average album (as I would call their next, Abacab, their last passable one). It's also one of the few by them that I still play regularly nowadays. review by Joe McGlinchey — 2-13-05 —