Abacab

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Genesis

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Why The 80's Are So Great Musically... For This (460 items)
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Genesis - Who Dunnit

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Dodo / Lurker

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Genesis-Abacab.

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Description: Phil Collins was sharpening his pop chops, from his first solo offering to this, the first Genesis album to break the hallowed million-copy mark stateside. But Abacab wasn't entirely about charting Top 40 singles ("No Reply At All," "Man on the Corner," and the title track); it still exhibited some late-stage evidence of a trio courting the art-rock muse that had graced its past ("Who Dunnit," "Dodo," "Keep It Dark"). However, by 1983's eponymous follow-up, the hit factory that was Genesis in the mid- to late-1980s was operating full steam ahead, and the angel Gabriel's spectre h Phil Collins was sharpening his pop chops, from his first solo offering to this, the first Genesis album to break the hallowed million-copy mark stateside. But Abacab wasn't entirely about charting Top 40 singles ("No Reply At All," "Man on the Corner," and the title track); it still exhibited some late-stage evidence of a trio courting the art-rock muse that had graced its past ("Who Dunnit," "Dodo," "Keep It Dark"). However, by 1983's eponymous follow-up, the hit factory that was Genesis in the mid- to late-1980s was operating full steam ahead, and the angel Gabriel's spectre had all but vanished. Then, there were truly only three.

The group initially wrote an album's worth of material which they subsequently discarded because they saw themselves as becoming, in Mike Rutherford's words, "a caricature of ourselves". In what he saw as a major turning point for the group, they made a decision to throw out any songs which sounded like anything they had done before.
The album continued the band's sharp stylistic shift towards post punk, new wave music and also a radio-friendly pop music sound. Influences of Brian Eno (Phil Collins had played on his albums frequently), Talking Heads and Peter Gabriel`s solo material are evident. "No Reply At All" features the Earth, Wind & Fire horn section (as did Collins' solo album Face Value earlier in 1981).
Genesis produced Abacab solely by themselves. Engineer Hugh Padgham, who had assisted Collins on Face Value, continued to work on Genesis and Collins recordings through the end of the 1980s.
The album takes its name from an early arrangement of the title track. Rutherford said on the US radio show In the Studio with Redbeard (which spotlighted Duke and Abacab in one episode): "There were three bits of music in 'Abacab', and we referred to them as 'section a', 'section b', and 'section c'... and at different times, they were in different order. We'd start with 'section a' and then have 'section c'... and at one point in time, it spelled Abacab. On the final version, it's not that at all, it's like 'Accaabbaac'."
Three songs from the Abacab sessions—"Paperlate", "You Might Recall", and "Me & Virgil"—were issued on the 3 X 3 EP. They were also issued on the non-UK releases of 1982's Three Sides Live. Two other songs from the sessions, "Naminanu" and "Submarine", appeared as B-sides on the "Abacab" singles, but were originally intended to be part of "Dodo/Lurker", where the order would have been "Naminanu/Dodo/Lurker/Submarine".[citation needed]
The keyboard sound on "Who Dunnit?" is the result of Banks constantly changing the presets on his Prophet synthesizer as he plays. Live performances of this song featured the novelty of Rutherford playing drums alongside Chester Thompson (although Collins played drums on the studio version, as usual.)
"No Reply at All" was performed live by Phish as a tribute to Genesis at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 2010 induction ceremony. ... (more)

Manufacturer: Atlantic / Wea
Release date: 14 September 1981
EAN: 0075678269325 UPC: 075678269325

Tags: Rock (1), Genesis (1), Prog Rock (1), 1981 (1), Own On Vinyl And CD (1)

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Still More Favourite Songs: Vol. 1 (200 music items)

"Written by: Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, and Phil Collins"

Nero rated this 10/10 3 years, 2 months ago

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Albums Heard in 2019 (274 music items)

"July 21st Year: 1981 Genre: Pop Rock Who Dunnit?"

Dino Jones added this to a list 5 years, 4 months ago

Songs That Made Me Cry (36 music items)

""It's been a long been a long long time Since I held anybody, since I loved anyone. Ooh, it's been a long been a long long long time But if I'm right or if I'm wrong, does it matter anyway?" Another one of those songs that just hits me right in the feels. Recall driving on a winding country road listening to this as the sun was setting...and later in my car while on my lunch break singing my little heart out. November & December 2018 "