"In March 1980 'Duke' became the
second album Genesis released as a trio with the line-up consisting of
Tony Banks (keyboards), Phil Collins (vocals, drums) and Mike Rutherford
(bass, guitar). This album began their development towards more
accessible pop and rock music – not without any success: For the first
time a Genesis album climbed to the top of the UK charts, and 'Misunderstanding' turned out quite a successful single in the USA.
"When the tour with which the promoted their previous album, 'And Then There Were Three',
had ended Genesis took a creative break. Up to that time they had been
ceaselessly either recording albums or playing concerts so that this was
the first longer pause for the band. The three musicians chose
different ways to spend their free time. While Phil tried to save his
first marriage and even moved to Canada for a time, Mike and Tony busied
themselves recording their first solo albums, 'Smallcreep's Day' and 'A Curious Feeling'
respectively. When he realized that his marriage could not be saved he
returned to England and recorded the demos in his house that would later
become his successful debut 'Face Value'. To take his mind of things he buried himself in work. In late 1979 he got together with Mike and Tony again.
"Large parts of 'Duke' were written at Phil's. While everybody had brought in songs they had written individually for the band, on 'Duke'
they wanted to make the song-writing a group effort. One reason for
this was that Mike and Tony had used the songs they had written for
their respective solo albums so they came to the new album empty-handed.
Phil, on the other hand, had a couple of finished songs and presented 'Misunderstanding' and 'Please Don't Ask' as his contributions to 'Duke'. The best songs (in the reviewer’s opinion) on 'Duke' were collaborations, though, and the band were very happy with them. Tony has even described 'Duke' as his favourite Genesis album.
"In the end they booked studio time at Polar studios in Stockholm,
Sweden, from October to December 1979 to record the tenth Genesis album.
Their executive producer for the last time was David Hentschel; he also
sings backing vocals on some songs.
"A closer look at 'Duke' reveals that the album is sort of divided into two parts. First there is the so-called 'Duke' suite consisting of 'Behind The Lines', 'Duchess', 'Guide Vocal', 'Turn It On Again', 'Duke's Travels' and 'Duke's End'.
It was written by the whole group. All these songs were supposedly once
part of a big longtrack made up in the best tradition of 'Supper's Ready'
of a series of song fragments. However, there does not seem to be a 'bigger picture' behind the songs, and it is uncertain whether there
ever was an underlying concept. The other group consists of half a dozen
songs written by individual members of the band (coincidentally, each
brought two songs). As a result the credits are distributed very evenly.
"Genesis introduced a new sound hitherto unknown in the band, not least
to the instrumentation: Tony Banks frequently restricts himself to the
piano and does without weird synthesizer sounds and long solos. It is
mainly his Yamaha CP-80 E-piano that puts its stamp on the whole album.
Mike Rutherford plays some excellent, clear bass lines and unobtrusive
yet effective guitar work.
"Phil Collins undergoes his biggest musical development on 'Duke': Not only is he a composer in his own right but his expressive vocals really come through on 'Duke'. Said Tony: 'only on 'Duke' did he become a real singer.' (C&V, S.219). He particularly excels in emotional ballads, performing songs like 'Alone Tonight' or 'Please Don't Ask'
with a emotion and fragility unheard of before. This may well be
connected to his private problems at the time. The drum work is
revolutionized, too: the drums move to the fore again, and Collins
experiments a lot with very earthy rhythms that are quite close to world
music. Plus, 'Duke' is the first album on which Genesis used a drum machine.
"'Duke' leaves a very coherent impression, there is far less patchwork on it than on its predecessor 'And Then There Were Three'.
The atmosphere is cool, almost sterile, an effect that is underlined
both by the occasionally minimalistic music and the artwork by French
artist Lionel Koechlin. It has this Albert character traipsing through a
mainly white world that reminds one of 'The Little Prince'. 'Duke'
is also a rather thoughtful album; its lyrics cover the rise and fall
of careers in the show business, loneliness and missed opportunities.
"[...] With their tenth studio album Genesis begin a new era: the equally
revered and hated pop era. Genesis sound modern and purified on 'Duke'; on 'Abacab' they would go far down that road. There is, however, lots of music left for friends of the progressive era. Songs like 'Behind The Lines', 'Duke's Travels' or 'Heathaze' are equally popular in either camp. The catchy melodies and the high level of musical proficiency make 'Duke' one of the few albums in Genesis’ discography that unites fans of all generations.
"Every song on 'Duke' shows that Genesis have adapted to the new situation as a trio. Their first album as a trio, 'And Then There Were Three', sounded like a loose collection of songs. 'Duke' is more coherent and atmospheric by far.
"'Duke' is not least an important
cornerstone on Genesis’ way to the pop olymp generating their first
commercial successes. It is also Phil Collins’ breakthrough as a
full-fledged band member and songwriter – perhaps that is what
encouraged him to embark on his unique solo career." (Sebastien Wilken, tr. Martin Klinkhardt. From the Genesis News website. See here.)
A1. Behind The Lines
A2. Duchess
A3. Guide Vocal
A4. Man Of Our Times
A5. Misunderstanding
A6. Heathaze
B1. Turn It On Again
B2. Alone Tonight
B3. Cul-De-Sac
B4. Please Don't Ask
B5. Duke's Travels
B6. Duke's End
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