GENESIS “DUKE” W”TURN IT ON AGAIN” GREAT

GENESIS “DUKE”  (U.S. Atlantic, SD-16014) 1980 CLUB EDITION Jacket VG++ with mild surface, foxing, corner crease. Original generic inner sleeve included. Vinyl VG++ W/ light production marks on track A1 and light marks on tracks B1 and B2, great shape, good gloss.

Duke is the first album where Phil Collins’ confidence as a vocalist truly becomes noticeable. Suddenly not only does he sound at the forefront of the arrangements, but his vocals are the main focal point of nearly half the songs here, and truthfully his voice sounds great on most of the album. Additionally, Collins began to emerge as a capable songwriter here, particularly with the old-school pop/rock flavored “Misunderstanding,” which became their second international smash hit. Some of the pop-oriented stuff on here is weak (“Alone Tonight” especially), but other polished, catchy numbers like “Turn It On Again” and “Man of Our Times” cemented Genesis’ new penchant for pop, and while they lost a lot of old fans they gained a much greater amount of new ones.

Still, fans of the progressive days (like me) can still get down to Duke because it contains a mini-suite that harkens back to their old sound, albeit in a much more streamlined way. Originally conceived as a long epic about the character “Duke,” the concept album idea was scrapped and the suite was broken up into six songs: “Behind the Lines,” “Duchess,” “Guide Vocal,” “Turn It On Again,” “Duke’s Travels” and “Duke’s End.” These final two, which close the album, are loaded with tricky arrangements and brilliant musical progressions that effectively play like a final farewell to their proggy roots before further shedding that skin on Abacab a year later.

Total length: 54:59