Genesis "pop" era is amazing too!

[Eclips]

Genesis prog (from Trespass through Wind, with the next two albums until Duke) is my favorite band together with Pink Floyd. But the "so-called" pop-era, which comprises their 80's and 90's albums, is AMAZING too!

I have ignored those albums so much, but I'm really into Abacab (which is still very quirky and crazy), the self-titled, Invisible Touch, We Can't Dance and....yeah!...Calling all Stations too. All of them still have long songs, just not as complex and intricate as before, but still full with passion, AWESOME rhythm sections, chord progressions and atmosphere.

It does not even make sense to divide between pop and prog eras, ALL albums have elements of both, but the songwriting is so creative that it does not need such genre boundaries. And this applies to a lot of bands, if we ignore the "genre" stuff, and just focus on the music, new horizons appear to us.

In a nutshell, all their discography is great. So, the purpose of this topic is to warn the prog lovers that they be missing some GREAT music after their 1980 album Duke.

[Jimi Dean Barrett]

Calling All Stations however. I really wanted to like it. But it's a bit of a slog. Huge shame that's how their story ended. I'd have liked them to have at least one last stab at it. But yeah, I do love me some 80's Genesis. At the time I hated hearing Invisible Touch. Now, I'm more favourable to it. Land of Confusion is incredible. And yes, Abacab! I had a job interview in 1999 (I can't tell you the exact date. Memories not that good) and while the Interviewer was telling me of my duties... Her voice got softer and fainter as all I could think of was that keyboard riff from Lurker! De do dah duf dah. Biddile id da duf dah.
Obviously, didn't get the job.

[Eclips]

Calling All Stations however. I really wanted to like it. But it's a bit of a slog. Huge shame that's how their story ended. I'd have liked them to have at least one last stab at it. But yeah, I do love me some 80's Genesis. At the time I hated hearing Invisible Touch. Now, I'm more favourable to it. Land of Confusion is incredible. And yes, Abacab! I had a job interview in 1999 (I can't tell you the exact date. Memories not that good) and while the Interviewer was telling me of my duties... Her voice got softer and fainter as all I could think of was that keyboard riff from Lurker! De do dah duf dah. Biddile id da duf dah.
Obviously, didn't get the job.

Calling all Stations was indeed the one I took longer to start enjoying it (I still think the debut, From Genesis to Revelation, is their worst). I could not stand the sequence of 4 slow songs from Shipwrecked through If That's What You Need. IMO this latter one is the album's weaker one. I started to love Alien Afternoon much more though.

Then I realised that the album finally gets really interesting from The Dividing Line on. This one has amazing drumming and crazy syncopation. Uncertain Weather, though another slow song, has an intriguing atmosphere. Small Talk has a cool Sledgehammer vibe from Gabriel solo career.
The last two songs are masterpieces.
There Must be Some Other Way has a futuristic sinister atmosphere through it that blows me away, and one of my favorite Tony Banks keyboard solos. One Man"s Fool is amazing too. These two and Dividing Line are some of the best stuff post Duke.
After getting more and more impressed by the album's second half, I could get more into it as a whole.

I also love the opening title track and I think Congo is fun.

[Jimi Dean Barrett]

But you'd agree they should have tried again after that album? I think the problem was playing huge arenas with a new singer. I'm not talking pubs, but smaller venues to rebuild. The American 1997 tour got cancelled. I think the size of the venues mattered. Genesis in arenas with Phil? Sell out shows. Genesis in arenas with Ray Wilson? Yeah, he didn't stand a chance!

[Eclips]

But you'd agree they should have tried again after that album? I think the problem was playing huge arenas with a new singer. I'm not talking pubs, but smaller venues to rebuild. The American 1997 tour got cancelled. I think the size of the venues mattered. Genesis in arenas with Phil? Sell out shows. Genesis in arenas with Ray Wilson? Yeah, he didn't stand a chance!

I absolutely agree! I was actually going to comment on that in my first post, but I somehow forgot haha

I think a new studio album with Ray would sound great, and could provide a true return to the proggier 70's with a darker atmosphere if they made a second album along the lines of songs like CAS's title track, The Dividing Line and There Must be other Way.

IMO it would sound great, and they would have a chance of fixing the mistakes found on CAS by properly finishing the new songs with codas and also develop them more. Most of the songs on CAS seem unfinished, and almost of them have fadeouts!

[Syth]

Self-titled and Abacab are my favorite ones by far.