Genesis: "And Then There Were Three"

I sort of remember being half-way dissapointed when this came out...probably becauseI was pissed that Steve Hackett had left the band. It was bad enough that Peter Gabriel had absconded, but I thought they still had something going, especially with the more prog oriented songs that I loved so much.

So "And Then There Were Three" got a lukewarm reaction, even though I do recall playing it quite often. About half of the album is filled with the kind of sappy love songs that characterized the band's later work as well as Phil Collin's solo career. The only one here that I think hits saccharine rock bottom here is "Snowbound". The others really aren't all that bad.

But the other half, the pseudo-prog songs, is actually quite good. The opener, "Down and Out" is solid...you know you're listening to Genesis before the first chorus comes around. Collins has always been a very good singer within the context of the band's sound...On this and some of the other songs he is a dead-on ringer for Peter Gabriel, and I don't think he's trying.

Phil also tries to inject some humor into the usually dead-serious prog genre, with "Ballad of Big", the story of a cattle rustler with a hot temper. "Scenes from a Night's Deam" also has a playful air about it, both lyrically and musically.

"Deep in the Motherlode" is another heavy prog outing, probably the most "proggy" on the album. This is the kind of stuff I've always wanted from Genesis, but unfortuanately they drifted away from it somewhat after this album. "Duke" may have shared a few similar elements with this version of the trio's music, but with the success of "Misunderstanding" it was inevitable that they would veer towards more mainstream sounds (though they did revisit the "good old days" in a powerful way with "Driving the Last Spike" from "We Can't Dance").

So basically "And Then There Were Three" marks the end of an era and ushers in a new sound for Genesis, one that would send them to the top of the charts and cement their reputation as primarilly a pop act. And a good one, even us old school fans have to admit.