abacab

 


abacab was released in 1981

Track Listing:
1. Abacab
2. No Reply at All
3. Me and Sarah Jane
4. Keep It Dark
5. Dodo/Lurker
6. Who Dunnit?
7. Man on the Corner
8. Like It or Not
9. Another Record

Genre: Pop

Fresh off the heels of Collin's solo album which churned out his biggest hit ever, Genesis return with a very similar in style album.  (The band insists they all worked together and that they're great friends, they didn't just let Collins dictate everything)

abacab is their first full pop album, and it shows it right of the bat.  The title track uses some very dated sounding keys and guitars to sing about abacab?  The song itself is okay, if middling.  The energy is high, but it definitely overstays its welcome, cut out 3 minutes and this would be a solid song.

Unfortunately that energy doesnt keep up.  Songs like Me and Sarah Jane, Man on the Corner, and Like it or Not are slower less punchy songs.

They also seem to be playing around with disco sounds?  No Reply at All is practically a disco song and man is it terrible.  I do not care for the horns or the whip/clap sound. I'm glad this is the only one here that could be called disco.

Abacab definitely feels like a quintessential 80s album.  It sounds super dated in a way that Duke or even Wind and Wuthering didn't.  I appreciate they're experimenting with new for the time sounds, but it did not age well.

If you can get past that (and its a big if) there's some decent music here.  Keep it Dark is decent (except Collins saying "Oh, keep it dark" is cringe inducing), abacab is decent, and Dodo is pretty good (if a bit disjointed).

Unlike the last two albums though, there's no standout track.  Maybe the title track was expected to carry the torch there, but its just not memorable enough.  No Reply at All maybe, but again its just doesn't do enough to break out.  Probably could have been Who Dunnit? if it wasn't so stupid.

What this album keeps making me think about it how much better everyone else does this sound in a couple of years.  King Crimson masters this on Three of a Perfect Pair (Man with an Open Heart is basically Who Dunnit done right).  Yes with 90125 and Rush with Grace Under Pressure have similar synth heavy sounds.  EVERYONE moves in this direction.  Genesis just does it earlier and not quite as well.  

Overall though, aside from Who Dunnit? unfortunately, this albume feels forgettable.  Oh, sure, the songs have moments, but they still have a tendency to meander.  

2 red, no green (although a few couls get there if they were more focused).  An altogether OKAY album.

3/5

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Better Life

Image
  The Better Life was released in 2000 Track Listing: 1. Kryptonite 2. Loser 3. Duck and Run 4. Not Enough 5. Be Like That 6. Life of My Own 7. Better Life 8. Down Poison 9. By My Side 10. Smack 11. So I Need You Genre: Post Grunge / Hard Rock I'm pretty sure everyone had a copy of this album, Kryptonite was a massive hit and played constantly.   I bought this album from one of those "buy 5 get 10" album deals where they sell you 5 CDs for like 30$ each and then "give" you 10 more.  Either way it's a decent album, if a little simplistic.  The guitars are nothing special, although they honestly nailed the tone for post grunge.   One of the standout elements here are they lyrics.  They're more of the storytelling approach more common to country and I think it makes it a stronger album because of it.  But, Kryptonite is lyrically terrible.  Honestly, who signed off on that? Also, Smack is just not good.  The riff just doesn't hit well...
Read more

Nursery Cryme

Image
  Nursery Cryme  came our in 1971 Track Listing 1. The Musical Box 2. For Absent Friends 3. The Return of the Giant Hogweed 4. Seven Stones 5. Harold the Barrel 6. Harlequin 7. The Fountain of Salmacis Genre - Progressive Rock And the classic lineup is here.  This group would go on to release 4 albums before Peter Gabriel called it quits.  I'm not super familiar with this album so mostly going in blind here.  I dont have super high hopes since my main complaint about Tresspass is how it feels like bedtime music and this one's name is a play on words for nursery rhyme. The Musical Box - Starts off sleepy, the guitar work is immaculate, just boring.  We finally pick up around the 4 minute mark and it gets much faster paced.  They chose to do a back and forth fade with the guitar solo which I dont like, but overall its excellent.  Cut the first 3 minutes off and this might be my favorite Genesis song so far.  For Absent Friends - I think this em...
Read more

Selling England by the Pound

Image
  Selling England by the Pound was released in 1973. Track Listing: 1. Dancing with the Moonlit Knight 2. I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) 3. Firth of Fifth 4. More Fool Me 5. The Battle of Epping Forest 6. After the Ordeal 7. The Cinema Show 8. Aisle of Plenty Genre: Progressive Rock And here we have it, the peak of Genesis's prog rock era.  Yes I know The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is next.  I said what I said. This one feels like a natural progression of Foxtrot/Nursery Cryme.  They've kept a lot of the heaviness from Foxtrot and interspersed some of the stupid shit  whimsy from Nursery Cryme.  The start of I Know What I Like and the middle of Thr Battle of Epping Forest are great examples of that. Unfortunately, their penchant for nap time music is still there.  Parts of I Know What I Like and the entirety of More Fool To Me are just boring.  I'm glad they keep Gabriel in the forefront, that helps a bit, but they still bring the flow of ...
Read more