![Abacab [2007 Remaster] album cover](http://images.emusic.com/music/images/album/117/496/11749607/600x600.jpg)
Abacab is probably the best combination of Genesis' ability to write pop tunes that still satisfied the older prog rock fans. Later albums tended to lean more towards pop and less towards the eccentricities of their progressive rock roots.
This one doesn't have the megahits on it.... but since American radio sorta ruined those for me... I find that this record has their songwriting intact and their instrumentation at it's peak. And that 80's defining sound. So this is actually a pretty great Genesis record too. "Abacab" and "Keep It Dark" are good places to start... too bad you can't individually download "Abacab"
...some numbers sound really close to a Collins solo album. The opening track is the one that I wanted the rest of the album to sound like. In "Abacab," you can ignore the nonsense lyrics and consider Collins's vocals as another instrument, and let the music swirl over you. It's too bad there's only one other song like it on the record ("Dodo"). Still, you can have fun shouting along with "Like It or Not." As for the rest, if you like your drums and synthesizers up front in the mix, you will find something to enjoy.
It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-contained artifact. The great records certainly feel that way. But albums are more permeable than solid, their motivations, executions and inspirations informed by, and often stolen from, their peers and forbearers. It all sounds awfully formal, but it's not. It's the very nature of music — of art, even. The Six Degrees features examine the relationships between classic records and five… more »
