Genesis
We Can't Dance

THE REVIEW

In 1991, Genesis released what would be their last studio album with Phil Collins on vocals. The name of the work is "We Can't Dance".
Well, I must admit that I really understand very little about music, so I certainly won't start commenting on the album from a "technical" perspective, but rather based on the emotions it evoked while I was listening to it.

Having said that, the CD starts with the first song, titled "No Son of Mine," centered around the sad story of a boy who, tired of the heavy atmosphere at home, decides to run away, leaving everything and everyone behind. However, when he returns to try to reconcile with his father, he is told "You are no son, you are no son of mine", "Tu non sei, tu non sei mio figlio".
The piece is beautiful, at times almost moving, and Phil gives an extraordinary vocal performance. Immediately after, we have what, like the previous piece, will become a hit: it is "Jesus He Knows Me", a song with an ironic and sarcastic meaning, poking fun at "television preachers". Very catchy.
The third piece is titled "Driving the Last Spike", and it tells the story of a worker employed in the construction of the English railways in the 1800s, explaining the inhumane conditions he and his colleagues were subjected to. The track is long (about 10 minutes) and varied, and the Collins-Banks-Rutherford trio delivers a truly great performance, certainly far from the grandeur of the "Gabriel" era, but still convincing.
In fourth position on the album, we have "I Can't Dance", another rather ironic track, this time aimed at models and advertising.

The fifth "composition" is perhaps the worst of the album, and it is titled "Never a Time". Boring and banal, at times it seems like a duplicate of "Throwing It All Away" from the previous album, "Invisible Touch".
Next, we have "Dreaming While You Sleep", an intense and moving piece, where the protagonist is a man who, while driving his car, fails to see a woman crossing the road in the dark and rain and hits her directly, but instead of stopping to help, he flees.
This is a little gem that, in the live version performed on "The Way We Walk Tour", becomes even more beautiful. Then there's "Tell Me Why", a song addressing the issues of less fortunate populations.
Following "Living Forever", a very curious piece, featuring an interesting solo by Tony Banks at the end.
The next "Hold On My Heart" is a composition with a clear romantic intent. I still haven't figured out what it's about, from some phrases, it seems to be about unrequited love, but I may be wrong.
The tenth song on the CD is "Way of the World", another filler: it is catchy, but it certainly doesn't leave a mark (in fact, it wasn't released as a single, nor performed live). Then follows "Since I Lost You", a very sad ballad, dedicated to the loss of Eric Clapton's son, a friend of Phil (almost impossible to listen to without being brought to tears), and finally the best track of the album, Fading Lights.
It starts with the rhythm programmed by the drum machine and with Phil Collins offering a splendid vocal performance, but then the second part begins, with a long and highly spectacular solo by Tony, eventually returning to the initial part, with which the song (and the album) concludes.

What can I say, in my opinion, "We Can't Dance" is the best work of the Genesis "trio formation", showcasing a partial return to earlier sounds without losing sight of the charts.
I liked it a lot, did you?