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Abacab

Genesis - Abacab Audio CD

A fair review of the Genesis "Abacab" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Genesis reviews here, or go back to the Genesis tabs.

Band: Genesis
Title: Abacab
Rating:

Release Date: 1994-11-29
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Abacab 2: No Reply at All 3: Me and Sarah Jane 4: Keep It Dark 5: Dodo/Lurker 6: Who Dunnit? 7: Man on the Corner 8: Like It or Not 9: Another Record

Innovation meets quality and taste
It has been much maligned by the old guard as a sellout and a blatant pop album. Abacab is without any doubt one of the most brilliant albums of the band's entire career, and a pivotal one. In reality, Abacab represents a departure only in a way - by shedding layers of complexity that have characterized the classic Genesis sound. This has been a gradual transition, starting from Wind & Wuthering and culminating in Abacab, which represents Genesis boiled down to their essential elements.

Abacab remains a true Genesis album in most aspects - if not in symphonic structure and solo development, then in songwriting - it is Genesis to the core. Songs like Me and Sarah Jane, Keep It Dark, Dodo/Lurker, Like It Or Not are essentially Genesis-type songs, while Ababab, No Reply At All, Man On The Corner, represent more recent innovations in arrangement and songwriting. The title track is a true masterpiece, it's a group jam, almost fusion, played with feeling and precision, without sacrificing the heavy atmospherics. This is as close as the band ever comes to improvization, and it's 100% successful. Man On The Corner is kind of a reprise from Duke, complete with the drum machine, sparse orchestration and sobering contemporary subject matter. No Reply At All is another masterpiece, whether you hate it or love it. The addition or horns comes from Phil Collins' own recent experiments on his Face Value album, and the way they are arranged is nothing short of brilliant - they enhance the song by adding texture, color and counterpoint, mixing perfectly with keyboards. Tony Banks plays some complex figures using his trademark "overlapping" technique, which goes back to "The Lamb" or maybe further back. Me & Sarah Jane is a classic Banks-style song with tight symphonic structures and multiple key and meter changes. Whodunnit is Genesis at their most mischievous, it's a fun tune, that's all it's meant to be, that's all it is, and it fits perfectly on the album. It also reflects some of the New Wave sounds heard at the time, some quite silly, like the B52's and Devo, minus the cynicism, which the good-natured Genesis guys couldn't manage if they tried. Of course Dodo/Lurker is arguably the most brilliant piece of the album, and a staple in concerts for years to come. The song's raw rock/reggae energy is balanced with dissonant chords, riddle-like lyrics, changing rhythms, and powerful orchestration (if that isn't progressive, then what is?). Tony Banks manages to lay down probably the most memorable and most stunning synth riff, if not solo, in his entire career. Same can be said of Mike's melodic solo at the end of the title track. This is his defining moment as a lead guitarist, just as Steve Hackett's was the solo in Firth Of Fifth (I am not making any comparisons here).

If Abacab "deconstructed" the original Genesis sound, the following few albums attempted to "reconstruct" it, and unfortunately failed in varying degrees. But around the time of Abacab, everything seems possible, fresh, new and exciting. It was an experiment which succeeded.

Well you know.....
Since most albums nowadays are not only remastered (with extra songs included), remixed. . etc to the point of hearing the artist stomach roar with gas, I created my own version of this album:

1. Abacab (I usually skip this song. . . how many times can you listen to this tune and get tired of it).
2. No Reply At All
3. Me and Sarah Jane (actually, I eliminated it, though I do like it, it tends to bore me after while, although I like to hear the faded drum machine.
4. Keep it Dark
5. Paperlate (yes I included it since they didn't)
6. Dodo/Lurker (a fav of mine, kinda funky tune)
7. Whodunit (stupid but interesting song)
8. Man on the Corner
9. You Might Recall (my ultimate fav Genesis tune that wasn't apart of the original line up but I put it here anyway)
10. Like It or Not (I also eliminated this song in place of the previous tune, although I do like it too).
11. Another Record

Well this is my take on this album if it was up to me. . . . maybe this will give the people at Atlantic or even Genesis. . . something to think about. . . as if they will actually read this. . . then again u never know.

the weakest album they made in the 80's
I never understood the appeal of this one. Abacab is an average album tucked between two masterpieces (Duke and Genesis). The songwriting is pretty weak in several areas. Plus the obvious commercial approach is apparent in the way the album sounds.

The title song is almost unbearable, and overlong to the extreme. The robotic vocals aren't appealing to me in the least. "No Reply At All" has some obnoxious jazzy sounds, and "Dodo/Lurker" is another overlong, unmemorable song with a musical part near the end that makes me feel embarrassed for listening to it.

Only the final three songs are good if you ask me. Luckily Genesis bounced back with a highly enjoyable album after this one. Not to mention you have a bunch of Genesis albums from the 70's that are *all* worth owning, including both the Collins and Peter Gabriel albums.

If this is your first introduction to the band, well, it was a bad one, and if you're looking for a good starting point with the band, get "A Trick of the Tail". A very solid album that one is.

holds up
I'm a huge fan of older Genesis and not such a big fan of Phil's adult contemporary leanings of the later years. . but this album stands as solid as it did back in 1981. . . maybe even more so. The songs stand up. . . the hits of course, and even the lesser known songs, like "Dodo", "Who Dunnit", "Keep It Dark", etc. The production is outstanding. . . clean and confident. The band just delivers on this one, and every song is as good as the next. . . no clunkers. This may have been the gateway to the Phil dominated Genesis of the 80's, but to me it is when they reached the post-Gabriel Zenith. Great record. . . 25 years later it still sounds great.

The album that rightfully made Genesis superstars in the US still classic 25 years on

The Abacab album was Genesis' first studio album to be self-produced and was their first collaboration with engineer Hugh Padgham (whom worked with former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel and fellow rockers The Police by this point) whom singer/drummer Phil Collins had successfully collaborated with on his US Top 10 Multi-Platinum solo debut entitled Face Value. Genesis released their eleventh studio album entitled Abacab in September of 1981.
Also, during the period between Duke and Abacab, Genesis built their own recording studio The Farm in Surrey, England and Abacab was the first album to be recorded at the band's own studio.
The album Abacab showcased the band writing all but three songs together as a band which was something they had not done since Peter Gabriel left (they did start the collaborating again as a group idea on 1980's Duke).
The lone solo songwriting credit for keyboard player Tony Banks on Abacab was the excellent and proggish "Me and Sarah Jane". Also, guitarist and bass player Mike Rutherford had one of his best pieces "Like it or Not". The album also contains Phil's atmospheric Top 40 hit "Man On the Corner" which its lyric theme predated the concept of Phil's solo hit "Another Day in Paradise" by eight years about America's dirty secret, homeless people.
Now for the songs that all three Genesis members wrote together starting with the 7 minute opening Top 40 charting title cut which is an awesome rocker which turns into a killer 3 and a half instrumental jam at song's end. We follow that with the US Top 30 hit "No Reply at All" which featured the Earth Wind and Fire horn section (who Phil used on his Face Value album that same year). Other highlights are the British hit "Keep it Dark" which is a silly but great song, the seven and a half minute prog-rocker "Dodo"/"Lurker" medley, the silly "Who Dunnit" and the classic finale "Another Record".
The Abacab album turned out to be Genesis' first US Top 10 album and first Platinum seller for the band. To date, it is over the three million copies sold bracket in the US.
I first bought this CD on a whim in August of 1997 when I bought the remastered edition (my very first Genesis album in fact) and it is hands down one of the best efforts of the three piece era efforts.
Highly recommended!.

You can see a complete list of all Genesis discography, or go back to the Genesis tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.