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Progland was founded by John Gabbard in 2005. It's purpose has been to provide you, the music community with the latest music and dvd reviews. It will continue to be your link to the most popular music reviews in the progressive world.

 

Genesis - Trespass

Reviewed by: Ryle Shermatz
Genre: Prog Rock
Country: England
Language: English
Length: 42:35
Release Date: March 2, 1993-Re-release/ 7-1970
Label:
Virgin/Charisma
Band Members: Peter Gabriel / lead voice, flute, accordion, tambourine and bass drum Anthony Phillips / acoustic 12-string, lead electric, dulcimer, voices
  Anthony Banks / organ, piano, Mellotron, guitar, voices Michael Rutherford / acoustic 12-string, electric bass, nylon, cello, voices
  John Mayhew / drums, percussion, voices
     
Track Listing: 1.)- Looking For Someone (7:06)  
  2.)- White Mountain (6:42)  
  3.)- Visions Of Angels (6:50)  
  4.)-Stagnation (8:48)  
  5.)- Dusk (4:13)  
  6.)-The Knife (8:56)  
   
     
The Review

SUNLIGHT OF PAST DAYS

Let's rewind WAY back to the now distant year 1970 and rediscover an underappreciated gem from the dawn times of progressive rock, Genesis' second LP "Trespass." Still very much in the process of finding themselves musically, "Trespass" captured the band at a unique moment of their evolution. Initial listening suggests that much of the trail was blazed here for the artistic direction that they would expand upon in their succeeding epics like "The Musical Box," "Supper's Ready" and "Selling England by the Pound," all rightly acclaimed as milestones. Without disrespecting those monuments of the prog-rock canon, I say that (and I suspect I'm not alone here), "Trespass" exceeds them as a singular work of crystalline delicacy, almost trance-like in places, evoking a mood of contemplative reflection that the band never quite recaptured. Although the sound is recognizably Genesis, it has an autumnal quality lending it special poignancy that truly puts it in a class all its own.

Readers should be alerted up front that this is NOT the trio Genesis that became the commercial blockbusters of the 1980's with Phil Collins at the helm. Only keyboardist Banks and bassist/guitarist Rutherford from that outfit were present when "Trespass" was recorded. In fact, "Trespass" was the final band recording of the original group of schoolmates who came together as a songwriting collective and ultimately (under the early tutelage of 1960's impresario Jonathan King) formed Genesis, releasing a 1969 debut LP most frequently known as "From Genesis to Revelation." (These songs have been reissued in multiple packages over the years. Perhaps the best for liner notes & bonus tracks is the "Rock Roots" English collection LP released in the '70's to capitalize on the band's later-career successes.)

"From Genesis to Revelation" is perhaps best characterized as "cute," and I hasten to add that I offer that as a description with no condescension intended at all. Looking at the early photos of the band and hearing the VERY young Peter Gabriel singing you just can't help but marvel at how wet behind the ears they really were. Even with all the conflicting advice they surely must have received from Jon King and the "suits" at Decca (their first record label), they still showed a lot of promise, even though they were clearly floundering for direction. "Genesis to Revelation" is a pleasant, but not particularly memorable pop album of its day. Stylistically I would say it's perhaps closest in sound to the Moody Blues, with orchestration dubbed in occasionally to further invite that comparison.

"Trespass" found them under new management and recording for the legendary Charisma label, who (along with Virgin Records) were rapidly establishing themselves as the premier patrons and ringmasters of the up and coming progressive rock wave that Genesis turned out to be on the leading edge of. With empathic management, a good producer (important prog scenester John Anthony) and the studio experience of their first record under their belt, Genesis was at last ready to take wing.

And so "Trespass" kicks off with the arresting "Looking for Someone," beginning abruptly with Peter mournfully rasping the title verse over Tony Bank's slow organ chords. As the acoustic guitars unobtrusively enter & build the mix, Peter enlarges his lyrics of self-discovery through painful life experience, "keep on a straight line, I don't believe I can…" Instrumental breaks feature the twin acoustic guitarists jauntily chording away as Bank's nimble organ skips out a little bagatelle over the top. This track breaks completely with all the Bee Gees/Moody Blues retreads offered on their previous record, and quickly re-establishes the band as a more adventurous and instrumentally dexterous group than their previous work hinted.

With only six tracks it's tempting to descend into a track-by-track critique of "Trespass," but let me focus our attention instead on what I believe to be the most important. Let's zero in on what I believe to be the TOWERING centerpiece of this record, track #4 (first song on side two for those of us with LP's), "Stagnation."

By the way, those of us who have hung on to our LP's of this album get the lyric sheet which includes the following text preceding the lyrics to "Stagnation:" "To Thomas S. Eiselberg, a very rich man, who was wise enough to spend all his fortunes in burying himself many miles beneath the ground. As the only surviving member of the human race, he inherited the whole world."

Our musical appreciation of "Stagnation" is not significantly degraded for not having this text in the CD package, but our overall understanding of the artists' intentions ARE diminished. I'll spare you my full-length rant about this, but WHY can't this stuff be included in the CD reissue? To be sure, some labels understand this and get their reissues right, but it's especially annoying when it happens to a personal favorite like "Trespass."

For me, "Stagnation" is the place where Genesis REALLY emerged as a pioneering force in this (at the time) new thing we have since come to know as progressive rock. Without slagging all the creative muscle shown in the preceding tracks, it all pales somewhat beside the otherworldly grandeur of this ambitious little mini-opera. "Stagnation" starts humbly enough with those twin acoustics of Phillips & Rutherford amiably ambling along to lead us into Peter's narrative, "Here today the red sky tells his tale, but the only listening eyes are mine…"

After the first verse the guitars dissolve into ethereal chords as Banks' organ echoes them and leads us down to a stately piano/guitar duet resolving to a churning acoustic guitar/organ "jam" (I'd almost rather not use that word-it suggests that the band was on auto pilot and without focus or direction). A sweeping organ arpeggio by Banks halts the section abruptly, transitioning to Peter's flute floating us back to the next vocal section, "Wait, there still is time for washing in the pool…" Here we begin to get some Mellotron along with those acoustic guitars, segueing to Peter's probably deliberately sonically distorted monologue, "And will I wait forever, beside the silent mirror, and fish for bitter minnows, amongst the weeds and slimy water…" The lush guitars/Mellotron continue for a full cycle until drummer Mahew re-enters to kick everything up to the grand finale; the memorable closing theme with Peter wailing Thomas S. Eiselberg's last request, "I want a drink, to take all the dust and the dirt from my throat, to wash out the filth that is deep in my guts." Things calm momentarily as the percussion recedes, and Peter's flute again takes up the stagnation theme introduced a moment previously. The guitars chime in alongside, and quickly Mahew's drums roll us back into the spectral choral outro, "and let us drink-and let us smile-and let us go." I must say, hearing those ghostly voices anew even after decades of familiarity, they still rattle me hard with their deadpan execution and shivery implications. For those of us with a mind properly attuned, this is strong stuff indeed.

I'll admit I do a serious disservice to the concluding tracks, "Dusk" and of course the studio version of the band's great early concert rave-up "The Knife" by not singing their praises in the same detail as I did "Stagnation." While I don't believe either shines as brilliantly as "Stagnation," they definitely muster some high-intensity photons all by themselves. "Dusk" is a beautiful little piece of acoustic rock chamber music, again featuring the same shadowy chorus used so effectively in "Stagnation." I presume these voices were Phillips & Mayhew's because we never heard them again in Genesis music after "Trespass." "The Knife" is the well-known jackboot-stomping fascist alert opening with Tony Bank's opening minor-to-major key organ riff igniting the full electric band really, for the first time on the album.

"Trespass" I would realize in hindsight, was Genesis still in a formative stage; after its release Phillips & Mahew left to be replaced by the drummer (Phil Collins) and guitarist (Steve Hackett) who would stabilize their line up for several years and win them fan allegiance in the gladiatorial arenas of concert halls worldwide. I might be willing to admit that my fierce attraction to "Trespass" is at least partly due to its unique line-up, except (as should be abundantly obvious) it continues to impress me as an especially lofty peak in a body of work boasting several. Let me just poke the hive a little by saying that the only other Genesis release this consistently strong was their "swan song," the tepidly received "We Can't Dance." But that will have to be another review.

PS: One closing recommendation to any who pick up and enjoy "Trespass:" you should also seek out Mike Rutherford's 1979 solo release, "Smallcreep's Day." This was Mike's first solo release and it reunited him with Anthony Phillips (strangely, Ant was now playing keyboards, and very nicely too I should add). "Trespass" can't be attributed to Rutherford's influence alone, but many of the fully-ripened melodic and arrangement flourishes it exhibited are on full display here as well, including an incredible turn as guest lead vocalist by the mysterious Noel McCalla, who I never heard from again. I believe it has been reissued on CD, available through Amazon, and "Trespass" enthusiasts unfamiliar with it should buy and enjoy it without hesitation.

GRADE: A

 

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