October 23, 1970 - Genesis and Trespass

My third release from October 1970 came out on the 23rd, the second album by English band Genesis titled "Trespass". But who are Genesis? They are a five-piece progressive rock band from Surrey, England, but their debut album released in 1969 had a much more pop feel. I do not have their first album and so my Genesis collection begins with "Trespass" which has 4 out of 5 original members. Original drummer John Silver left the band to go to school in the U.S. and was replaced with new drummer John Mayhew. Along with Mayhew are bassist Mike Rutherford, keyboardist Tony Banks, guitarist Anthony Phillips and lead singer Peter Gabriel, who also plays some flute. Phillips and Rutherford both play twelve-string guitars a bit on this album which gives them a bit of a different sound. Let's check them out!

Side 1 opens with "Looking For Someone", with Gabriel singing the title right away. He has a pretty good voice and we hear organ in the background and some decent guitar licks by Phillips. Around the 3-minute mark it speeds up with some cool organ by Banks and then slows down again as we hear Gabriel play some cool flute. Banks plays piano as well.and after 5 minutes we're into another new section, showing Genesis' progressive nature already. Mayhew plays some solid drums and there's a cool instrumental bit with organ and bass. They slowly build into solid ending as Genesis show they are no longer making the pop music of their debut album. Track 2 is called "White Mountain" which has a slow acoustic guitar opening. Phillips plays some great twelve-string acoustic guitar to back Gabriel's singing as Banks' organ takes over on lead with some cool stuff. After another verse we hear Gabriel play some slow flute that sounds very haunting before they return to the cool organ riff from earlier. The end of the song has Gabriel humming along with the band as they jam out to finish the song. Side 1 concludes with "Visions Of Angels", which starts with a beautiful piano riff. Rutherford plays the twelve-string on this song while Phillips leads on electric guitar. Gabriel sings beautifully as well and there's a short chorus with a cool organ riff. After another verse there's a cool instrumental bit with more solid drumming by Mayhew, a cool piano riff and wordless vocals by Gabriel. They return to the beautiful opening riff and one more verse before playing the chorus several times. It ends with more wordless vocals as some more great piano by Banks and Rutherford back on bass play out the side.

Side 2 begins with "Stagnation" which opens with a soft acoustic riff and piano. Gabriel sings quietly to fit the mood of the song as Banks takes lead with a cool Mellotron bit. Phillips carries the tune with a fast guitar riff and Banks switches over to organ to play a solo on that! Gabriel's flute signals the start of a new acoustic part. Banks organ eventually speeds up starting a new riff (lots of different interweaving sections on this one) and Gabriel's singing is much improved as he yells more in this part. He also plays a cool flute little solo, and the rest of the band joins him to jam out the end of the song. Track 5, titled "Dusk" is carried by a slow cool acoustic guitar riff. Gabriel sings at first but in the chorus all the band members sing together, but they all sound far away. After the 2nd verse Gabriel plays another cool flute solo, Phillips plays a cool guitar interlude, and the flute brings it back to a third and final verse. The album's closer "The Knife" has a much more upbeat feel than the rest of the songs on the album. It's driven by a marching organ riff and some cool distorted guitar and bass. Gabriel sings some very quick lyrics in the verse, and his slightly distorted voice in the chorus sounds fantastic. The chorus has some more excellent organ by Banks and the second time around Phillips plays some cool guitar as well. This leads to a pretty good guitar solo and cool part where the guitar mimics the organ riff. Some slow bass from Rutherford segues into a new part with a cool flute interlude. Background vocals slowly build until it sounds like a riot, a woman screams, and Phillips and Rutherford go off for a wicked guitar and bass bit. There's a guitar solo and Phillips keeps up the awesome riffs by starting a new part that also has some great organ. They bring it back to the opening organ riff, before we hear a classic rock and roll flourish ending. Definitely my favourite song off the record and a fantastic way to end it.

That is the end of "Trespass", a very progressive album, that is soft and poetic for the most part, but definitely has some great rockin' bits as well. I look forward to hearing where Genesis will go from here. Another new band joins my library next month, see you then!