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Calling All Stations

Genesis - Calling All Stations Audio CD

A fair review of the Genesis "Calling All Stations" 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: Calling All Stations
Rating:

Release Date: 2007-11-20
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Calling All Stations 2: Congo 3: Shipwrecked 4: Alien Afternoon 5: Not About Us 6: If That's What You Need 7: Dividing Line 8: Uncertain Weather 9: Small Talk 10: There Must Be Some Other Way 11: One Man's Fool 12: Calling All Stations [Dolby Digital Surround] 13: Congo [Dolby Digital Surround Sound][Multimedia Track] 14: Shipwrecked [Dolby Digital Surround Sound][Multimedia Track] 15: Alien Afternoon [Dolby Digital Surround Soun] 16: Not About Us [Dolby Digital Surround Sound][Multimedia Track] 17: If That's What You Need [Dolby Digital Surro] 18: Dividing Line [Dolby Digital Surround Sound][Multimedia Track] 19: Uncertain Weather [Dolby Digital Surround So] 20: Small Talk [Dolby Digital Surround Sound][Multimedia Track] 21: There Must Be Some Other Way [Dolby Digital] 22: One Man's Fool [Dolby Digital Surround Sound] 23: Congo [Dolby Digital Surround Sound][*][Multimedia Track] 24: Shipwrecked [Dolby Digital Surround Sound] 25: Not About Us [Dolby Digital Surround Sound][Multimedia Track] 26: Calling All Stations EPK 1998 [Dolby Digital] 27: Calling All Stations [Dolby Digital Surround] 28: There Must Be Some Other Way/The Dividing Line [DTS Surround Soun 29: [Bonus Material] [DTS Surround Sound] [Dolby Digital Surround]

Don't Dismiss Calling All Stations
It was an unmitigated commercial flop. The virtually unknown, and woefully under-appreciated tip of the Genesis tail is "Calling All Stations" the bands first and only "post-Phil" studio album. A tour promoting the album was 86'd halfway through in Europe and cancelled altogether in the States. That's a real shame, because musically it stands up to the very best of Genesis. It contains (IMHO) one of the best cuts ever for the band in "Uncertain Weather" a moving song about an unknown soldier in an old photograph. The final cut "One Man's Fool" is an eerie condemnation of terrorism, describing a vivid 9/11 scene. Not so strange, except the album was released in September of 1997, almost exactly 4 years before the fateful day. If you are American this track will give you chills.

Like "We Can't Dance" "Calling All Stations" features cuts that harken back to the Genesis of old, along with those obviously tagged for radio play (Not About Us, If That's What You Need), as well as the `Mike and Mechanicsish' "Don't Talk Back" All fine for this Genesis fan, but, in the end, radio audiences failed to embrace the somewhat curious choice of Ray Wilson to replace Phil Collins. That coupled with the even more curious choice of "Shipwrecked" as the first release- arguably the weakest cut on the album, and certainly the least `Genesis-sounding' track, proved to be a lethal concoction rendering Calling All Stations dead on arrival. The die-hard Genesis fan wonders what the album would have accomplished commercially had Collins handled the vocals, and aided songwriting (and more importantly wonders how much better it would have sounded). Wilson's voice is often stretched, and his limits are exposed. Many of the songs were probably written with the belief Phil would be singing them- perhaps even some outtakes from We Can't Dance. It could be, though, that the shadow of "We Can't Dance's" unbelievable multi-platinum commercial success was just too big to emerge from, and that the album was doomed regardless of the quality of the music, or whether or not Phil was at the mic. If you are a Neo-Genesis fan that enjoys the album cuts from We Can't Dance and Invisible Touch and you have not given Calling All Stations a whirl, find it and give it some spins. If you are an old fan that knows what "And Then There Were Three" means, you have the album somewhere so dig it up, blow off the dust, and give it a few dozen run-throughs. There is a lot of good stuff here!
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Love This Album
Keyboard player here who admires the work of Tony Banks. Big Genesis fan. I haven't researched this album, but I'm sure Tony probably wrote most? Own every album they have ever produced, and can't count the number of times I've seen them in concert.

This is a great album and too bad it didn't hit the charts in a big way. Not your classic "Genesis", but I love all of the music here. You can pick up traces of their classic style in a lot of the songs. Ray is great and perfect for the vocals here, but sure would like to hear what Collins would have done with the music also.

Not sure why they didn't play more of these in live concerts.

Would certainly recommend this album to anyone who likes the music of Genesis!

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Good, but not great

I am only giving three stars because Genesis can make better albums than this regardless of who is singing. I have to say that this album is a good listen, it may not be Peter Gabriel or Phil Collins singing, but at least it isn't terrible, the 90's churned out worse stuff that's for sure.

Genesis Keep Plugging Away
On the other hand I had no clue this album even existed until this point. As I am sure a number of reviewers have pointed out one has to give Genesis credit for plugging away into the 1990's even after,again losing yet another lead vocalist. And I must admit it speaking strictly in terms of material this album actually is a lot more interesting in many ways from We Can't Dance,the bands final album with Phil Collins. The music presented here basically melds elements of 90's alternative rock with Genesis's classic sound. But really the overall sound,again doesn't deviate much from the Genesis/Mike+The Mechanics sound of the mid to late 1980's. Many of these songs are quite good-the memorable "Shipwrecked" (a deserved hit) and songs like "Alien Afternoon" and "If That's What You Need" which show the band hasn't lost it's progressive chops one bit. Drummers Nir Zidkyahu and Nick D. Virgilio don't sounds a lot like Phil Collins but they certainly make their mark-taking inventive turns with the exception of the last song "One Man's Fool",which almost qualifies as a Phil Collin's ripoff in the drumming department. The alternative rock side of it isn't strong in the instrumental area even though some songs have harsher guitars now and then but they come mostly in the lead vocals of Ray Wilson. For 1997 I suppose he thought a good way to maintain Genesis's commercial integrity. But fact is he kind of sounds like a lot of other alt-rock vocalists of the era-breathy,distant and lacking in vocal range. But I find it interesting how Ray's more contemporary singing style blends with Genesis's sound,which truthfully is still very similar to their 80's "proggy pop/rock" style. Truth is though alternative rock singing was never my personal favorite vocal style in the world (largely as I was OD'd on it from radio in this era) but this album is full of music that is quite strong and,to be honest I bet if Phil Collins (or even Peter Gabriel) sang on this album it's commercial fate would surely have been better. But somehow I don't think it's over for Genesis as a studio band. We'll all just have to see.

Refreshing and Surprisingly Good!
They chose wisely in Ray Wilson and Nir Zidkyahu because the sound is extremely what you might expect of Genesis had they continued into the 80's without going all ridiculously pop on us. With the departure of Phil Collins, although he is back touring with the band now, Genesis needed to hire a new vocalist and a new drummer. What is great on this album is that there are no tracks even remotely similar to Invisible Touch, Jesus He Knows Me, or That's All, perhaps the most commercial and the most flavorless musical pieces the band has ever written. The tracks here are rather unique for a Genesis release, although if you like it, I encourage you to go listen to Tony Bank's Strictly Inc, released two years earlier in 1995. There are A LOT of similarities between these two albums which leaves me to think that Bank's did more of the writing on this one than Mike Rutherford. Regardless, both are solid works in the history of the band and members thereof. Also, check out the last CD from the Genesis 1983-1998 box set; the last 3 tracks - Anything Now, Sign Your Life Away, Run Out of Time - are extras that were not released on Calling All Stations. These are as good, if not better, than some of the tracks on the actual album! It is so unfortunate that Wilson was not retained, but the age gap between him and the other two probably had a lot to do with it. Understandable. At least they had the heart to put out one more album that was surprisingly good and refreshing. I hope you like it, and with copies around selling for 93 cents, I am sure you will find it to be worth well beyond what you paid.

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.