Genesis - Wind & Wuthering. 1976 England

If you've ever spent any time on a progressive rock chat board, then you'll know that Genesis gets a lot of ink. I mean a lot. As if there never were any other progressive rock bands in the world except Genesis, Yes, and a handful of others. I've spent a lifetime collecting and reporting a different world than that. But Genesis remains one of my favorites as well. If you were to come along today and learn about progressive rock for the first time, Genesis would get mentioned early and one would be directed properly to their early albums. Strangely, for those of my generation, Genesis were an AOR/pop band. As if they didn't exist before 1977. And I started listening to the radio intently in... 1977! Such was the state of commercial radio back then. It wasn't until I got to college (1983) where I met more like-minded guys, that I learned Genesis were a prog band. Our resident assistant let me borrow Trespass through Foxtrot, and my education of Genesis began.

I bring all of this up in a Wind & Wuthering review, because this was their last stand for prog rock. Much debate (as noted in sentence #1) has occurred around whether or not this album was the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning (appropriate phrasing for a number of reasons...). Based on my own personal experience, I have hard data that it was the end of the beginning. I never heard this album until I started buying for myself all the "prog" Genesis albums. Even though there is the one pop number 'Your Own Special Way', its placement here is about as relevant as 'I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)'. And I never heard it on the radio either. But I sure as shite heard 'Follow You Follow Me' nine million times. And that was before 1979...

Was Steve Hackett the secret ingredient that held it all together? The superficial data says yes. The reality is probably no. He just would have been the guitarist in the pop group known as Genesis. Have you heard Cured? You'll get a funny feeling. Point made. As for W&W, I find most of the material here very strong - up there with some of their best works. It's not as consistent, and I don't consider it a first division record, but close. The Unquiet/Quiet sequence is stunning though.

Ownership: LP: 1976 ATCO. Single sleeve. My first copy was the latest in-print US commodity run that I purchased in 1986. I replaced that with a commodity CD in the mid 90s that lasted me until 2020. Now that I'm crate digging for LPs I used to own - it got a bit crazy. The first one I found was at an antique mall - an early US pressing. It wasn't perfect, but a nice VG+. Then at a subsequent record show I found a beautiful 80s press similar to what I first owned. That should be my final copy I figured. But nope, one year later (2021) I found this original US copy in a local store still in shrink with the hype sticker and in the same NM shape as the other. So now I'm done. Maybe. Wait until I find the original UK copy... Insanity I tell you.

1986; 8/13/06; 9/30/19; 3/28/23 (new entry)