This will be another short post. But this is my formal apology to the band Genesis, for I have greatly underestimated their work. I listened to a Genesis album for the first time about two months ago. Before this, I had known of the later hits such as “Misunderstanding” or “Follow You Follow Me,” but despite being a prog rock fan I had not listened to any Genesis album in full, also knowing the band had two distinct eras: a prog era led by Peter Gabriel and the later “pop” era led by Phil Collins.

So about two months ago, I finally listened to a Genesis album in full, listening to Selling England by the Pound. I thought it was OK, but I thought the album’s bits of greatness in tracks like “I Know What I Like” and “The Cinema Show” evened out with overlong clunkers of “Dancing with the Moonlit Knight” and “The Battle of Epping Forest.” Shortly after this I listened to the album preceding that one, Foxtrot. This one I thought was more consistent, and yet again liked, but also thought that it didn’t really reach a greatness I see in tracks by other prog bands like King Crimson’s “Starless,” Yes’ “Close to the Edge,” or Pink Floyd’s “Dogs”.”

I was willing to see the band out, though, and I listened to the last album of the Peter Gabriel era, The Lamb Dies Down on Broadway. This one I couldn’t really tell what I thought, so I promised myself I’d relisten. Boy am I glad I did that. On relisten, Lamb just clicked with me. The experimentation musically on display is fascinating, especially with how easy it is to listen to comparably to other prog bands. This started the revelation that led to this apology. I can’t stop listening to Genesis now. I listened to a later album, Duke, from the Phil Collins era, to see if I’d like the poppier stuff or if I thought the band would fall off past a point. Needless to say, I loved that one too. That one is interesting because while I would still lean to call it pop music, there is still a significant amount of prog elements, to create almost “progressive pop” if you will. It’s a gorgeous sound that is incredibly unique and I cannot recommend enough.

To loop this back, after Duke, I relistened to Selling England, and that album clicked so hard, I’m wondering how the hell I could have ever thought “Moonlit Knight” was not a great song. In fact, I’m listening to this album as I write this post!

To close, I’d like to recommend you listen to Genesis: especially Selling England, Lamb, and Duke. These albums are filled with such a unique sound and such fun experimentation that even if they don’t click on first or second listen, they are worth going back to anyways. Maybe you’ll discover some new favorites. This is only my second blog post on this blog, so I don’t know how well this promise will age, but I’d like to try to write one post every day, even if rather short like today’s (I was busy, OK?). I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing, because to me it’s fun to just yap into the void about something I love. Have a wonderful rest of your day, and listen to Genesis!