Wind & Wuthering

During the year since their last release, Genesis had not only transitioned to Phil Collins as vocalist, but they also found time to tour America and record their next album. Wind & Wuthering picks up where their previous album left off, though offering a little more empathy to their past spirit; and in particular the Selling England By The Pound album. The lively "Eleventh Earl of Mar" opens; it's a rocker, but the gentle break is stuffed with detail. "All in a Mouse's Night" is similar, again driven by Mike Rutherford's bass pedals. He also offers the single, "Your Own Special Way" b/w "It's Yourself." It's a simple song with the obvious hook in the chorus, and Phil Collins's multi-tracked vocals right up front in the mix; no wonder it broke into the Top 50 on the UK charts. Yet the album also is heavy on instrumentals as well: three by count, and four if you include the lengthy middle section in "One for the Vine." Steve Hackett, always undermixed on Genesis records, makes his mark here with both a largess of writing credits and his nylon-string guitar. "Blood on the Rooftops" and "Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers…" break the mold, and certainly as a result of the guitarist's contribution. "…In That Quiet Earth" offers more of the band's instrumental fire, segueing ever so effortlessly into Tony Banks's down-tempo "Afterglow." The album is painstakingly detailed both in arrangement and in instrumentation, particularly on the second side, that endears it as one of Genesis' most enduring and musical records. It was similarly successful on the charts, making a Top 10 appearance in the UK, but just missing the Top 30 in the US. The band again embarked on a massive world tour in support of the album, this time with American Chester Thompson assisting Collins on drums.