Anyone who reads this knows I'm a big fan of old Genesis, and will remind anyone who'll listen how different the Gabriel era (or even Hackett era) output is from anything made in the 80's or thereafter. A recent kick on their stuff lead me to realize that a) I've never actually heard their first (largely ill-regarded) album front to back b) they have a three-song EP that I'd never even heard of. Let's remedy the latter.
This was released between Wind and Wuthering and And then there were Three, and fittingly this is a perfect link between the surprisingly good post-Gabriel-pre-Hackett-departure albums and the limp stuff that they made once it was just Phil, Mike and Tony. Match of the Day (coincidentally the first song I listened to after the US loss to Ghana) has a flippant pop bounce and sarcastic disdain for British culture, making it sound like early Bowie, late 60's Kinks, or even Genesis's own Harold the Barrel. Pigeons is cute, but sounds exactly like what it is: a Trick of the Tail / Wind and Wuthering B-side.
At least Inside and Out has the decency to descend into an extended raveup for its last 3 minutes. But like tracks like Abacab, Behind the Lines and Dodo/Lurker that would follow, this sounds like a college band trying to Genesis-up an otherwise uninspiring pop song, knowing only that in such sections you need to have an organ, be complex, be slightly repetitive, and go on for at least 3 minutes. They even go so far as to basically rip off Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats' burbling riff in the opening bits.
Anyway, this is long. I'm relishing getting to write about Genesis, and having only 3 tracks really lets me get my hands dirty. I don't see any reason to listen to this instead of Trick or W&W, or even the best tracks off Duke or Abacab. Maybe Inside and Out? But I doubt it 2/5.
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