Your favorite GENESIS studio albums (pick three)

    Quote from Backdrifter

    Excellent choices. On a different day I might have NC or SEBTP as the 3rd choice but Lamb and Abacab are fixed as my top 2.

    Thanks! I know for many fans "Abacab" is their least-favorite. In my case it was the "new" album when I discovered the band, and as is often the case one's first exposure to a band remains strong many years later. The songs are really quite strong as well. "Me & Sarah Jane", "Keep It Dark", "Dodo/Lurker" is still my favorite 3-in-a-row from any Genesis album, a sequence I'll often cue-up in my car on short trips around town.


    "The Lamb" came much later in my Genesis explorations. It was a "slow grower" for me, but it grew strong & steadily. A few years ago I had the chance to learn and perform the entire album, and that only strengthened my appreciation for every song!


    Some sequence of SEBTP, Foxtrot, WW, TatT, "shapes" would be my "next tier" of most-listened to Genesis albums.

    Interesting poll and comments. My favourite Genesis album (and favourite by anyone) has been A Trick of the Tail (it really can be described as 'all killer no filler') since its release in 1976, a great year for music and sun.

    I voted for Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, and Selling England by the Pound. I know these are in sequence, but for me they are my favourites. However, my choices could easily change by the week. I could probably pick Trick, Trespass, or The Lamb in place of Selling England or Foxtrot (Nursery Cryme is always in my top 3).


    My favourite era is 1970-1977, so many strong albums in this period it's very difficult for me to pick three. After that it gets easier to pick weaker albums, although that's not me bashing their latter output; I enjoy Invisible Touch and Abacab, for example, still listen to them frequently in full without skipping any songs. :)

    A relatively late grower for me is Genesis. Of course side 1 is ridiculously strong but there's something a little off-kilter/atmospheric/exotic about the whole second side that kind of atypical for them. I don't think it'll ever be in my top 3 but it's starting to get the same listenableness as Abacab for me.

    The last studio album I bought was Duke so the list doesn't reflect my taste.


    Ripples @ 89

    A Trick of the Tail @ 94

    Hairless Heart @ 98 (wish they would have played this more often)

    Afterglow @ 103 (really!)

    Many too many @ 129 (a favourite)


    I always think you can tell how good a song is when it is just played on piano, recently discovered Elpidia Giardina on YouTube. I'd like to see Tony just playing like her.


    Same with Rick Wakeman's piano tribute to Bowie (Space Oddity/Life on Mars).

    HBTS/SHBTS at 84 and 83.


    :?:8|


    Robbery, Assault & Battery at 38? The song is OK but... same with Get 'Em Out By Friday. 26?


    Nice to see a few of my favourites near the top though, such as DTLS, Abacab, Dodo/Lurker & No Reply At All (that ranking is another suprise).

    A good discussion piece of an article but some properly odd rankings in there. Illegal Alien and Shiprecked (from that awful album that should have got lost in a shipwreck) ahead of Silent Sorrow?! Anything She Does ahead of The Waiting Room?! And bloody Congo ahead of the Waiting Room come to that.


    Afterglow outside the top 100 but Evidence of Autumn inside the top 50.


    Los Endos trumped by No Reply At All, which is at number 10 for heaven's sake.


    Whoever came up with this list certainly has a very individual understanding of what constitutes good material from Genesis, although at least the higher numbers are largely occupied by material from the Calling All Codswallop era.


    Once inside the top 10 they're not far off the mark. Perhaps the Ketamine was wearing off that point.


    Anyway, definitely an interesting discussion piece.

    • Official Post

    I'm not really a fan of those lists but I do appreciate a few links in their article to our website :)

    It's silly enough when mags do top 10s, 20s, 50s etc. It's even sillier doing a rating of EVERY track, interesting though the idea is. And of course it's going to trigger a degree of red-faced spluttering which is at least entertaining.


    I'm especially liking that No Reply is that high. I've always really liked it and find it a much better track than many fans give it credit for, though of course the horns cause a certain amount of automatic door-slamming from some fans regardless of what else is going on in the song. That said, I probably wouldn't put it as high as 10 but for me it does deserve a relatively high ranking.


    Scenes and Friday being as high as they are is my main "whaaaat?!" moment and yes it'd be good to see the boldness of No Reply's rating matched by a higher placing for The Waiting Room but this sort of list is never going to match the ones in our heads.

    Abandon all reason

    Thrilled to see Dancing with the Moonlit Knight so high on the list, as it's probably my favourite Genesis song. The solo is one of the best things any guitarist has ever done, IMO.


    Supper's Ready at no.1 is obvious but still can't really argue as it's a masterpiece. Haven't seen the whole list, and as people have said, these things are always polarising, although I don't envy these guys with the task of ranking all Genesis songs.


    No Reply At All is a very good song but shouldn't be above Dance on a Volcano IMO (one of their best ever tunes), and I'd personally have Watcher of the Skies, One For The Vine, and Looking For Someone in the Top 10 (All of them are lower than No Reply, Domino, and Turn It On Again; umm, what? Each to their own, but that's a bit crazy!).

    Quote from Squonk_Watcher

    Thrilled to see Dancing with the Moonlit Knight so high on the list, as it's probably my favourite Genesis song. The solo is one of the best things any guitarist has ever done, IMO.


    Supper's Ready at no.1 is obvious but still can't really argue as it's a masterpiece. Haven't seen the whole list, and as people have said, these things are always polarising, although I don't envy these guys with the task of ranking all Genesis songs.


    No Reply At All is a very good song but shouldn't be above Dance on a Volcano IMO (one of their best ever tunes), and I'd personally have Watcher of the Skies, One For The Vine, and Looking For Someone in the Top 10 (All of them are lower than No Reply, Domino, and Turn It On Again; umm, what? Each to their own, but that's a bit crazy!).

    As you say, each to their own. Personally I'm happy with No Reply, Domino and TIOA being above Vine and Volcano but Looking and Watcher could be higher than they are. I think there's a strong case for WOTS being top 10 but a surprising number of fans don't rate it.


    Yes Knight's high placing is thoroughly merited. Those 8 minutes brilliantly distil pretty much everything good about PG-era Genesis. It's a thing of folky jazzy rocky proggy beauty.

    Abandon all reason

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    Quote

    Yes Knight's high placing is thoroughly merited. Those 8 minutes brilliantly distil pretty much everything good about PG-era Genesis. It's a thing of folky jazzy rocky proggy beauty

    I find the track gets overlooked a lot by Cinema Show and Fifth of Fifth, which I of course love, but honestly could take DWtMLK over those two depending on my mood of the day! And nicely said!

    it's probably heresy, but Supper's Ready has never been a big favourite of mine (although I like parts of it), and I doubt it would be in my top 20 (maybe even lower!).


    This list is like that compiled for Marillion tracks, when Hogarth songs are at the top and Fish era material scrapes the bottom. Marillion were a great band with Fish, but I lost interest when he left. Saw them live in the early 80s, fantastic.

    Quote from KeithC

    it's probably heresy, but Supper's Ready has never been a big favourite of mine (although I like parts of it), and I doubt it would be in my top 20 (maybe even lower!).

    Yes, be heretical! You're not alone. SR is in my top 20 but I agree it's strong in parts. Given how they developed it it's impressively linked and flowing, and Apocalypse is simply one of the best pieces of rock music ever made. The build, break and ascension (share his peace...) in Sanctuary Man is a favourite Genesis moment of mine. Outside those it's the overall shape that works. But I rarely listen to it - I'm far more likely to play Duchess, NYC, Moonlit or M&SJ on any given day.


    The 82 live version is stupendous. They were giving the PG-era stuff a real edge by that point and it towers over the glossy shiny oomph-lacking SO version.

    Abandon all reason

    Quote from CountingOutTime

    180 Genesis songs ranked by Ultimate Classic Rock. https://ultimateclassicrock.com/genesis-songs-ranked/

    i gave it a read yesterday. when i saw the carpet crawlers in the 79th position or so, i was like "what the hell...?". but it was the 1999 version.


    afterglow is very low. to be honest, it's not one of my favourite genesis songs, but i would have ranked it a bit higher. anyway, there's an interesting comment about afterglow in that article: apparently, it's been the third most played genesis song. i guess the first and second are turn it on again and i know what i like.


    that list is very subjective, but to me it makes slightly more sense than the ratings (from 1 to 5 stars) given to every song on the uncut special magazine. it seems like they gave them tossing the dice or something. :rolleyes: