Genesis - WInd & Wuthering (1976)

Dan:

Wind & Wuthering was the second of two albums issued by Genesis in 1976. Like Trick of the Tail, W&W was recorded by a quartet, with Phil Collins handling the vocal responsibilities vacated by Peter Gabriel. The new drama surrounding this album was conflict over songwriting credits and the pending departure of guitarist Steve Hackett - W&W would be Hackett's last as a member of Genesis. Hackett's solo career had already begun with the release of Voyage of the Acolyte the preceding year, so his departure was not a surprise.

It's common to read interpretations of the music on W&W that are reflective of the tensions within the band. Certainly, Hackett was unhappy that he shared writing credits on only four of the nine cuts and none of his individual songs were included. In addition, there isn't much guitar featured; Tony Banks' synthesizers had taken over as the lead melodic voice. How could a such a great band not self-destruct and produce an album full of flaws related to ego conflicts? If you only read about the album, instead of listening to it, you might expect an aural disaster. The rather dismal album cover might reinforce low expectations.

Fortunately, W&W again shows the resilience of Genesis in rising to the occasion and producing another great album. Except for "Wot Gorilla," side 1 of the LP flows nicely with two strong numbers - "Eleventh Earl of Mar" and "One for the Vine" - setting up the pop-like hit "Your Own Special Way." I like all of these songs and don't find the absence of Hackett solos to be a problem. Side 2 continues in the same vein, highlighted by "Blood on the Rooftops," penned by Collins and Hackett, and the closing "Afterglow," written by Banks. Thematically, much of the English ennui from Selling England by the Pound is revisited, as the protagonists in the songs lament social decay and the plight of common men and women. But it's still beautiful in part because it's honest and sad. 

A few years ago, Steve and I did a sonic comparison of the original CD, a remastered CD, and a late LP pressing. As I expected, the LP won. There are details and nuances heard on the LP that the CDs do not render, and the digital versions especially do not favor synthesizers. I'm happy to have both a rip of the remastered CD and the old vinyl copy.

Steve:

While overall Wind & Wuthering fails to match A Trick of the Tail in quality, it does feature tracks that foreshadow some of my favorite aspects of their first two post-Hackett albums, And Then There Were Three and Duke. "Eleventh Earl of Mar", the album opener, is the best example of this. The keyboards are dominant and layered, the chord changes are rapid and complex, and Mike Rutherford keeps right up with Banks with his contrapuntal bass lines and quick-strummed rhythm guitar. Phil Collins gives all this potential confusion plenty of rhythmic drive. Steve Hackett can only occasionally be heard in the background, except for a bridge section in the middle that he contributed himself. While I'm sure it was painful at the time, I doubt that any of the parties involved still have regrets about his decision to leave the band; as I mentioned in the Trick of the Tail review, he had plenty of talent to hack it (ha ha) on his own, which he did, with a still-thriving solo career.

Not that Hackett doesn't provide some key moments on this album. In addition to "Blood on the Rooftops", which Dan wrote about above, his compositional and instrumental touch is definitely felt on the penultimate track, the instrumental "Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers.... In That Quiet Earth", my favorite track on the album. After a long opening atmospheric section sounding like gathering storm clouds, Hackett delivers soaring guitar melodies over a racing 9/8 pulse, before the piece crashes back down to Earth with a nasty, slow 4/4 beat and syncopated power chords (I almost called it funky, but "Genesis" and "funky" just don't belong together in the same sentence - safer to keep it inside this parenthetical phrase).  

I also have to praise "Afterglow", proving Tony Banks' prowess with uncomplicated, sincere and resonant love songs, a style he would return to in subsequent years. Concluding the album with that song, fading in after the tumult of "Unquiet Slumbers...", was an inspired choice, inasmuch as "Afterglow" describes the aftermath of a disaster, but uses that premise to emphasize how the experience only intensifies our love and care for what and who really matter to us. Nice. It came out so well that they would conclude their next album with "Follow You, Follow Me", another gentle love song, which became their first big hit single. 

The rest is history. Genesis and especially Phil Collins became so omnipresent on the charts in the 1980s that I recall reading an interview with Phil in which he said something to the effect of, "Even I was getting sick of hearing me everywhere."