Rank the albums!

    Quote from Christian

    .... I understand. Abacab is simply too strong to hear it in one go

    Well no, that really isn't my problem with Abacab and I happen to disagree with you assessment of that album being the most adventurous, to me that would be the Lamb which I find much bolder, musically, lyrically and in terms of steering the band away from known territories and as Phil said, is simply too much music sometimes, to absorb in one go. Abacab's material is imo simply too weak, there are 3 to 4 songs top which have some sort of relevance in the Genesis' songbook. I really cannot be bothered with stuff like the title track, NRAA, Whodunnit, LION and Another record. Don't get me wrong: I applaud the change of direction and if they had merged the best songs on Abacab and Shapes it would have been an incredibly strong album but as it is, I feel that Abacab is important because it laid down the new course and the incredible energy it exudes, not because of the songs per se. To me at least.

    Edited once, last by Fabrizio ().

    Quote from Noni

    Just to point out. Are you folks playing the entire albums or just tracks:?:

    I generally make a point of listening to albums in their entirety. If I have to interrupt an album midway through, I will usually pick up from where I left off and continue listening afterwards.


    There might be the odd album where I skip a song, and there may be the odd occasion where I just want to hear a couple of songs, but for the most part, if I put on a CD, I'm in for the duration.

    Hi everyone - old Talking Shop member on a nostalgia trip here.


    I've loved the 'first' five albums equally since the Seventies (never bothered to listen to FGTR):


    Trespass

    Nursery Cryme

    Foxtrot

    Selling England By The Pound

    The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway


    I'm also awfully fond of the other two (A Trick of the Tail and Wind and Wuthering), and still listen to all of them a few times a year - mostly the big five, which are the band's definitive body of work AFAIC: adventurous, otherworldly, staggering stuff that's head and shoulders above the rest.


    Those seven studio albums plus Genesis Live and Seconds Out sum up Genesis for me. I liked ATTWT at the time, and didn't mind a few bits of Duke, Abacab, Genesis and even I Can't Dance (hated the other two with a passion), but it was really a different band by then, and I haven't heard any of the post-Hackett albums in eons.


    Oh, and I do tend to listen to those from start to finish, unless I feel a craving for a specific song... and I'm on Y*utube :)

    • Official Post

    Please also check our album poll - pick your three favorite Genesis albums


    Your favorite GENESIS studio albums (pick three)

    Not easy and not a reflection on artistic merit, but based on what I tend to enjoy returning to most (for whatever reasons) and how I feel today I would go with:


    Duke

    A Trick Of The Tail

    We Cant Dance

    Abacab

    Invisible Touch

    The Lamb

    Selling England

    Wind & Wuthering

    Foxtrot

    Genesis

    And Then There Were Three

    Nursery Cryme

    Calling All Stations

    Trespass

    From Genesis To Revelation

    Yikes! This is, of course, subject to change:


    1) Selling England by The Pound

    2) Duke

    3) Foxtrot

    4) A Trick of the Tail

    5) Abacab

    6) The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

    7) And Then There Were Three

    8 ) Wind and Wuthering

    9) Genesis

    10) Invisible Touch

    11) Nursery Crime

    12) We Can't Dance

    13) Trespass

    14) From Genesis to Revelation

    15) Calling All Stations

    Big boost for NC there, which bar the odd exception was doing quite badly. Doesn't seem to be much love for it on this board, which surprises me.

    Abandon all reason

    • Official Post
    Quote from Backdrifter

    Big boost for NC there, which bar the odd exception was doing quite badly. Doesn't seem to be much love for it on this board, which surprises me.

    I have ranked the albums by the percentage of songs I skip. On Nursery Cryme, there are none. Foxtrot has Watcher which has become too pompous for me, Wind & Wuthering has the dreadful Your Own Special Way...


    At the other end of the ranking, while I like a number of songs on Trespass, I only like them one at a time. So when I'd enjoy Looking For Someone I'd skip much of the rest, but the same could happen with The Knife (and skip the rest) or White Mountain (and ... you get the picture).


    The albums in between are, well, in between.


    Plus, Nursery Cryme got the mixture of fast/slow and loud/quiet right, I think. It'd work just fine as a setlist, albeit a short one.

    Lamb

    Selling England

    Foxtrot

    Wind and Wuthering

    Abacab

    Nursery Cryme

    Trick

    Trespass

    Invisible Touch

    We Can't Dance

    Three

    Duke

    Genesis

    Revelation

    Calling All Stations

    Selling England by the Pound

    A Trick of the Tail

    Foxtrot

    The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

    Nursery Cryme

    Wind and Wuthering

    Abacab

    Duke

    Trespass

    And Then There Were Three

    We Can’t Dance

    Genesis

    Invisible Touch

    Calling All Stations

    From Genesis to Revelation


    Note: If I included live albums both Three Sides Live and Seconds Out would crack the top 5.

    1. Selling England By The Pound

    2. Wind & Wuthering

    3. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

    4. A Trick Of The Tail

    5. Foxtrot

    6. We Can't Dance

    7. Duke

    8. Abacab

    9. Nursery Cryme

    10. Invisible Touch

    11. Trespass

    12. And Then There Were Three

    13. Genesis

    14. Calling All Stations

    15. From Genesis To Revelation

    1. Trespass

    2. We Can't Dance

    3. Invisible Touch

    4. A Trick Of The Tail

    5. Calling All Stations

    6. Wind & Wuthering

    7. From Genesis To Revelation

    8. Abacab

    9. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

    10. Nursery Cryme

    11. Selling England By The Pound

    12. Foxtrot

    13. Genesis

    14. Duke

    15. And Then There Were Three

    No!

    The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

    Trick of the Tail

    Selling England by the Pound

    Foxtrot

    Wind and Wuthering

    Trespass

    Nursery Cryme

    From Genesis to Revelation

    And Then There Were Three

    Duke

    Calling All Stations

    Abacab

    Invisible Touch

    Genesis

    We Can't Dance

    3 tiers. Albums within a tier are equivalent for me. But you could make a straight 1-15 list like this and I could live with it.


    1-6 (tier 1)

    Calling All Stations

    Trick Of The Tail

    Abacab

    Lamb

    Duke

    Trespass


    7-14 (tier 2)

    Nursery Crime

    Genesis

    We Can't Dance

    Foxtrot

    Wind and Wuthering

    ATTWT

    IT

    Selling England


    15

    FGTR

    • Official Post
    Quote from Backdrifter

    Agreed, and in fact Len's top 3

    is solid.


    Quote from thewatcher

    Nice! Love to see love for these underappreciated gems.

    Thanks guys. The hardest part is ranking those middle albums. As for the top, I was thinking a lot about it, Sides 1 and 2 of the Lamb (from LLDOB to Chamber of 32 Doors), might be their strongest set of songs in their catalog. Sides 3 and 4, while still very good, weaken the totality of the album a little. Otherwise it might be a solid #1 or 2 for me. I just think Nursery Cryme is fantastic, a solid rock album. And Abacab is wonderful in a quirky 80’s way.