And Then There Were Three – Jeff Clutterbuck

A Trick of the Tail – Peter Gabriel >
Wind & Wuthering – Peter Gabriel – Steve Hackett >
…And Then There Were Three…

That one was for all you math whizzes out there, so here’s the
simple explanation for everyone else: Genesis by 1978 was missing
both frontman Peter Gabriel and guitarist Steve Hackett, resulting
in this effort from the three remaining members of the band. Phil
Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford try valiantly, but in the
end three just isn’t enough.

That “edgy” aspect Genesis had to their previous recordings is
almost completey absent on
…And The There Were Three… It’s natural to expect that
seeing as how the departures of Gabriel and Hackett were bound to
hurt to the band rather than help it, but that still doesn’t excuse
the band from recording some bad music. This album is drenched with
synthesizers, from start to finish. Attempted epics such as
“Burning Rope” suffer as a result; becoming roughly 7 minutes of
aimless noodling.

…And The There Were Three… is truly dichotic in its
nature; at this point I can’t tell whether Genesis wanted to move
in the direction they would later take, or if art-rock was still
the preferred style. There is plenty of evidence for both present.
Exhibit A: “Follow You Follow Me.” This is pure pop, nothing else,
and Genesis pulls it off well. A slow paced, but touching ballad
with some effective vocals from Collins, “Follow You Follow Me” is
the best track on the album, as well as the bands first “real” hit
single. One can actually hear a bit of rock and roll during “Ballad
of Big,” I especially like the group vocal effort.

However there is the other side of the coin; “Burning Rope” and
“The Lady Lies.” I offer these two numbers up as early Genesis
still raising its head. To be honest, the band would have come up
with a good track had they combined the vocals of “The Lady Lies”
with the comparatively stronger melody of “Burning Rope,” but alas
that is not the case. Now, as always, there are exceptions to the
rule. “Scenes From A Nights Dream” is only about three minutes, but
the wonderfully visual lyrics and intense keyboards make this a
mini-prog rock effort, and an effective one at that.

Let’s get this out of the way; I like Phil Collins as vocalist.
He’s got a tremendous sense of melody, and had a stronger “timbre”
to his vocals than Peter Gabriel. However, Gabriel totally embraced
the idea of art-rock; he created characters and made them come
alive. A Phil Collins performance is the same performance you can
hear on every single song of his. In the end, how much you like a
later day Genesis album depends on how much you like Phil’s
voice.

The major difference between
…And The There Were Three… and later albums such as
Abacab and
Invisible Touch is simple; those albums were good, and this
one is not. At this point in time, Genesis did not know where to go
with their sound, and that misdirection is plainly evident on this
album.