Genesis: Duke

Genesis: Duke (1980)

"Duke" is the tenth studio album from Genesis, and the album that I sort of briefly jump ship from. It's not that I don't like the album, it's just not one that I find myself going back to all that often. Though listening to it today, I can't imagine why. There is some really fantastic music on this album. 

By the time they got to "Duke", Genesis had become a three-piece in the studio, and it seems that maybe Phil had a little more control over the music, as there are hints of his solo material showing up here. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing. In fact, "Misunderstanding" is a fantastic song, penned by Phil Collins. Still, there's enough of Tony and Mike here to make this album a definite Genesis disc.

The album kicks off with "Behind the Lines", "Duchess", and "Guide Vocal", an opening that may be a bit subdued, but really fantastic. In fact, these three tracks make up part of the story of Duke, though the band decided not to track them together, so as to allow for singles. Thus, "Turn It On Again", "Duke's Travels", and "Duke's End" were placed elsewhere on the album. Had they been sequence together, I feel the album would have finished much higher in my ranking of Genesis studio albums.

I must also mention "Alone Again", which I think may be at least among the most beautiful of Phil's vocals, throughout his entire career. How this one wasn't a bigger hit completely baffles me. Especially in a world where the band quite often pulled out "Illegal Alien" (at least in part).

I enjoy "Duke" whenever I do pull it out, but generally my tastes go elsewhere. Still, this is a great album, and one that could definitely use a bit more attention from time to time.