Grasshopper

P.S. Congratulations to NickGhostDrake: for once I see that the judgment on the album (2) does not influence that on the review (5). It’s too easy to dismiss something just because you don’t agree, and that happens way too often here.

Well yes, I love them, but not unconditionally as Mr_Iko claims. After this album, I find very little that is noteworthy: the level stays decent for a while ("And then there were three" and "Duke"), and then there’s a complete sellout to commercialism (from "Abacab" onwards), so goodbye Genesis!

P.S. The author of "Genesis story," an accurate biography of Genesis by Gammalibri, supports my thesis regarding the two controversial albums, while Scaruffi, in his online music encyclopedia, supports yours. I believe neither can be labeled as abominable: as with all viewpoints, one can agree or disagree.

Dear Mr_Iko-Biko, here we play the game of misunderstanding: I am careful not to claim that ALL Genesis albums are masterpieces... Deep down, I don’t think very differently from you, it’s just that in my opinion, you cut off the series of masterpieces too soon: there are still two left, and they are "A Trick of the Tail" and "Wind and Wuthering" (for which an appropriate review is on its way). Point and that's it. After that, the decline is there, and it’s undeniable: albums like "Abacab" and "Invisible Touch" offend the name Genesis. This is my opinion, and there’s nothing abhorrent or forced about it.

Mr_Iko, you are really being too categorical: no one here dreams of saying that the entire oeuvre of Genesis is an endless sequence of masterpieces, but only that this series does not stop with Peter Gabriel's departure. In my opinion (and I am not alone), both this album and the following one (Wind and Wuthering) are worthy, at least musically, of the masterpieces from the early '70s. This is obviously debatable, but it’s not an absurdity to be dismissed with disdain. That a collapse will happen later (indeed it will) is clear: just listen to albums like "Abacab" or "Invisible Touch."

Calm down, calm down... Here there is no one who fears the deadly wrath of vanamente and bends to its desires and whims. It was simply pointed out to me, a bit insistently but without insults, that I was favoring the descriptive part a bit too much. This was true, and also intentional: my aim was and remains to introduce valuable records especially to those who have never heard them. I just realized that this can also be done with a bit more creativity.

It's quite drastic to claim that the Genesis ended after this album: for at least two other albums ("A Trick of the Tail" and "Wind and Wuthering"), the quality remained excellent, even though some of the magic of this album (and the previous "Selling England by the Pound," which I believe is even superior) faded to make room for a very Banksian twilight melancholy, especially in "Wind and Wuthering." In my opinion, the vertical collapse of Genesis occurs with "And Then There Were Three" (and so I agree with Pagliarulo, except for the ruthless "1" in the review, which instead seems good and very passionate to me). I wouldn't sharply cut off the Genesis story at the peak of creativity. In the histories of bands, there are also descending arcs, and the one of Genesis (except for certain abominations present in "Abacab") seems rather respectable to me.

Dear vain one, am I dreaming or am I awake? If what I see is truly a 5 and not an S, I’ll send you a kiss on the forehead, pop a bottle of sparkling wine, and also thank you for those criticisms that at first had somewhat annoyed me, but that evidently helped make me a bit less didactic.

Thank you for the clarifications, especially regarding little Johannes: mine was just a hypothesis, complete with a question mark. As a classical music fanatic, I liked imagining it was indeed him, but alas... Too bad. As for the canzonetta form, I meant that it's an apparent conversion, behind which experimentation has never stopped. Regarding "La cura," it's a matter of taste. Finally, I am not a Battiatian, at least not 100%, although I have immense respect for our cultural heritage, both musical and otherwise.

Congratulations on your precocity, Francesco 2: listening to "Selling England by the Pound" (one of my absolute top 10 albums) at the age of 6 is stuff for a little Amadeus. For example, at 8 I was listening to De André and Guccini, but mainly to hear the swear words, and (just think about it) it wasn't until I was around 14 that I got tired of Renato Zero!
As for Peter Gabriel IV, I agree 90%: to me, that unmistakable chalky, gritty sound doesn’t need a stylus, but it has also been excellently rendered on CD. In "Plays Live" (which I wholeheartedly recommend along with you), this somewhat gets lost (not only in "Shock the Monkey") in favor of greater fullness and clarity of sound. Since the material for "Plays Live" comes from tours in the USA and Canada, it’s possible that this slight shift towards a more standard sound is intentional.