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Genesis – Calling All Stations
Calling All Stations
Congo
Shipwrecked
Alien Afternoon
Not About Us
If That is What You Want
The Dividing Line
Unsure Climate
Small Discuss
There Should Be Some Different Means
One Man’s Idiot
Ray Wilson succeeded Phil Collins and fronted Genesis from 1996 till 1998. He recorded vocals on their final album, 1998’s Calling All Stations, earlier than parting methods with them after the tour later that yr.
Wilson’s place might have been a thankless one, and the response to Calling All Stations strengthened that. Critics described the album as uninspired and lacklustre, with performances from the musicians that have been workmanlike and songs that have been mediocre at finest. However it offered properly in Europe, as did the supporting tour. Within the US it was a distinct story: The album tanked, and the tour was cancelled amid reviews of poor ticket gross sales.
With the good thing about hindsight, some would possibly disagree with the unique opinions. Tony Banks definitely does, and expressed irritation that the album was ignored by 2014’s Sum Of The Elements documentary. As for Wilson, he thinks the band’s legacy might have been higher served if a mooted second album had been recorded.
“After I signed my contract to affix the band, it was for 2 albums,” he stated in 2016. “It was at all times the concept to do the primary after which go from there, however Mike Rutherford modified his thoughts.
“I feel he felt he didn’t have the stamina to do one other one. Hastily you’re confronted with going from 15 million albums gross sales to 2 and a half, and I feel he couldn’t discover it in himself to do the following one.”
Each week, Album of the Week Membership listens to and discusses the album in query, votes on how good it’s, and publishes our findings, with the intention of giving folks dependable opinions and the broader rock group the prospect to contribute.
Different albums launched in September 1997
- Indoor Residing – Superchunk
- Abrasive – Puddle of Mudd
- S.C.I.E.N.C.E. – Incubus
- Troublizing – Ric Ocasek
- Marchin’ Already – Ocean Color Scene
- Marigold Sky – Corridor & Oate
- Barely Authorized – The Hives
- The Huge Image – Elton John
- Falling into Infinity – Dream Theater
- Gone From Hazard – Joan Baez
- The Hangover – Gilby Clarke
- Bridges To Babylon – The Rolling Stones
- Levitate – The Fall
- City Hymns – The Verve
- With a Twist – Todd Rundgren
- Peace and Noise – Patti Smith
- Time Out of Thoughts – Bob Dylan
What they stated…
“The final word downside right here is the standard one: the dearth of respectable materials past a number of nice if generic FM-rock tunes like Shipwrecked and Not About Us. Name any station you need, gents, the world would not want a Mike and the Mechanics artrock album.” (Rolling Stone)
“The issue with Genesis’ first album since Phil Collins’ departure is not new frontman Ray Wilson. Certainly, Wilson’s nameless effectivity is properly matched to constitution members Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford’s idea-starved new compositions and uneventful instrumental tracks. At finest, Calling All Stations provides pale echoes of Genesis’ extra distinctive prior work; at worst, it is an uncomfortable reminder of the passionless complacency that killed prog rock again within the ’70s.” (Entertainment Weekly)
“Trademark turns into travesty. With Collins gone, Banks and Rutherford signed on a chesty new singer, Ray Wilson, picked up a studio drummer and remade Genesis as a muscle-headed bar-band imitation of its cheesiest self. The title tune wonders: ‘Can anyone inform me, inform me precisely the place I’m/I’ve misplaced all sense of path.’ Ain’t it the reality.” (Blender)
What you stated…
John Davidson: The dying breath from a as soon as nice band.
I used to be by no means a fan of their pop period, however they nonetheless produced a good variety of respectable tunes even when I fell out of affection with their albums after Hackett bowed out.
Sadly there’s actually nothing to say about this album that is not vital.
The songwriting is sub-par. Even the stronger songs like Calling All Stations and There Should Be Some Different Means appear lower than totally fashioned.
Ray Wilson was a poor match for the music. Not that he is not an honest singer, however Genesis have at all times benefited from the charisma of their frontman greater than their vocal performances. Wilson can belt out the rockers however he sounds restrained and muted on many of the songs with out managing to seek out any nuance or emotional connection.
David Longdon (sadly now deceased) was within the body for this album at one level earlier than he went on to affix Huge Huge Prepare (and together with Nick D’Virgilio, was the catalyst for his or her late-career renaissance). However given how poor the songwriting is I worry even his skills would have been wasted.
Hell, even Nick D’Virgilo who performed performed drums on a number of tracks on (and later sang for Spock’s Beard when Neal Morse left) would have been a more sensible choice.
The manufacturing is muddied and overwhelmed by a gentle synth noise that places a distance between the tune and the viewers. Perhaps it was a unconscious need to cover the truth that the songs simply aren’t ok.
The musicianship, notably the drumming, simply is not on show, which is astonishing – bordering on prison – given the expertise concerned.
As I kind this assessment I am listening to We Cannot Dance (an album I do not notably like tbh) and it’s evening and day higher than Calling All Stations.
For all of the pop sensibilities displayed in the course of the Banks/Collins/Rutherford interval they nonetheless made fascinating music.
As a fan of the Nineteen Seventies Genesis I can not even see the by line that will get us from Wind And Wuthering to Calling All Stations.
Keep away from.
T.C. Grantham: Following Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel would’ve been a problem for any singer. However Ray Wilson does a commendable job. Quite neatly, the band determined to not copy what that they had executed with Collins on the earlier 3-4 albums. As a substitute, they resolve to go extra in the direction of their prog rock roots with lengthier songs and a darker sound.
The rationale folks put this album down is as a result of they have been anticipating one other pop masterpiece. Should you have been a fan of Invisible Contact and We Can’t Dance, you’ll hate this album. However if you happen to’re a fan of their earlier progressive albums, you’ll really feel proper at residence. General, it’s not a nasty album. It’s simply not what folks have been anticipating.
Highlights: Calling All Stations, Congo, Shipwrecked, Not About Us, The Dividing Line, Unsure Climate, If That’s What You Want.
Gary Claydon: The largest downside with Calling All Stations is the unimaginative, mundane songwriting. Even when a chink of sunshine seems, such because the title monitor or the start of Alien Afternoon (a monitor desperately crying out for a half-decent guitar solo) it quickly disappears into repetitive monotony.
Should you’re a fan of the Collins-era Genesis you will most likely be disillusioned with Calling All Stations. Say what you’ll about their 80s pop-rock however they did give you some memorably hooky gems. Nothing right here comes near capturing that.
Should you’re a fan of the traditional ’70s Genesis, you will most likely be disillusioned with Calling All Stations. There is no such thing as a discernable hyperlink between the 2. The one, remotely prog-like aspect to this album is the size of the tracks – which merely makes them overly lengthy, sub-standard pop-rock.
At a push, you may attribute a melancholic vibe to the proceedings however, even then, the uninteresting, uninspired lyrics come throughout extra like a few middle-aged blokes moaning about their lives with a definite air of self-pity somewhat than something significant or emotive.
I really feel sorry for Ray Wilson. He is a reasonably succesful vocalist however is given little to work with right here.
The blurb introducing this week’s album claims it has moments which can be akin to Genesis’s “biggest moments”. Musical appreciation is a extremely subjective factor and as such, there is no such thing as a proper or unsuitable. Nonetheless, I’ll state with absolute certainty that nothing on Calling All Station comes inside one million miles of the band’s “biggest moments”. Nothing. What a waste of 67 minutes.
Dale Munday: First time hear for me, and the final. If this had been launched below a pseudonym, or as a Mike and the Mechanics album, it might have utterly disappeared way back. I genuinely cannot discover a redeeming characteristic on this boring, plodding dreck. An entire travesty of the Genesis identify, even contemplating the Phil Collins pap. Clearly they have been a spent drive by this time with little or at finest, few concepts as this incarnation .
Alejandro Bravo: It has some good moments, however some filler tunes too.
Derek Baker: The final remaster with all of the bonus cuts wasn’t too unhealthy really. Something Now and The Dividing Line are sturdy tunes.
Invoice Griffin: My downside with this album is not Phil’s absence, it is the absence of a whole tune. Nearly each single one fades out when it’s apparent the band saved enjoying. They thus sound incomplete.
I do have a problem with Wilson although; Peter and Phil have been clearly British. That was an enormous a part of the enchantment for me. I would not know Ray was Scottish if I hadn’t been informed. He sings with no discernable accent in any respect. He would possibly as properly be an American.
I do not hate this album, I am simply unhappy with it and have not performed it because it was new.
I do hate the quilt. It is simply unhealthy, simply the worst of their profession.
I additionally assume Chester Thompson and Daryl Stuermer ought to have been made full members of the band at this level. I consider that might have been the fitting factor to do, made the recordings higher and given the album extra credibility.
Keith Jenkin: The largest difficulty for me is that that is branded as a Genesis album. It is admittedly a mildly fascinating grownup rock album, however actually it ought to have been marketed as a Rutherford / Banks affair as to my ears the music bears little resemblance to both the stuff Genesis made with Peter Gabriel on vocals or certainly their newer stuff with Phil Collins fronting the band.
Let’s be trustworthy right here, most Genesis followers would by no means have gone close to this one primarily based on listening to the music prematurely with out understanding who it was by. I’ve tried a number of occasions to get one thing extra from the report, however in the end I do know I solely have it within the assortment as a result of I’m a Genesis completist. Had this report not been labelled as such it might lengthy since have gone to the charity store.
Nick Thompson: Love this album. Title monitor is certainly one of my favorite tunes.
Ovidiu Virgil Draganescu: A really Good album. Higher than these pop albums influenced by Phil Collins. Extra profound, extra prog, darker.
Adriano Gazza: I do love this album and it has some nice songs. The title monitor, If That’s What You Want, Congo, Not About Us and There Should Be Some Different Way are all wonderful. I’ve at all times been drawn to missed albums and I might advocate this, because it’s nice enjoying and Ray’s vocals are actually good too.
Tony Rockall: It will get unfairly slated. I did not personal a replica till a number of years in the past. I used to be in a second-hand music store in Studying doing a little bit of crate diving when I discovered it. Because it was solely a few quid I assumed I would give it a go. Bloody glad I did. I feel it is superb certainly.
Leo Trimming: If this album didn’t have the ‘Genesis’ identify on, it might have lengthy been forgotten. It’s OK, however nowhere close to one of the best albums by this band.
Philip Qvist: I’m not an enormous fan of the Genesis 70s Prog period, however I did take pleasure in Duke and Abacab, whereas the ultimate three albums from the so-called Phil Collins period had their moments – sadly each good and unhealthy. In brief, Genesis are a type of bands the place a Best Hits album, and possibly a reside report of their earlier songs, will suffice for me.
So with all of that in thoughts, how do I charge Calling All Stations? I see many critics gave it 1 or 2 stars when it was launched, which I assumed was harsh, to place it mildly. The title monitor is my standout tune, whereas Congo sounds so a lot better now than when it was launched because the lead single within the mid-90s. So it’s nowhere close to the unhealthy album that typical knowledge would have us to consider it to be.
That each one stated, it is not a fantastic album both – removed from it. It seems like Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks wished to distance themselves as a lot as doable from the “Phil Period” – and created an inconsistent report. You’ll be forgiven for pondering that this was a Mike + The Mechanics album.
Singer Ray Wilson does an honest sufficient job, however Calling All Stations simply has blandness written throughout it. If that they had culled at the least 4 songs from it and saved it shorter, the album might have stood a greater likelihood – however alas, it wasn’t to be.
The third monitor is named Shipwrecked, and I could not consider a extra applicable tune to explain this album. It is not a complete catastrophe nevertheless it is not nice both – 5/10.
Mark Herrington: I’d by no means heard this earlier than and was anticipating good issues .
Nonetheless, for essentially the most half this simply drifted alongside in a reasonably mundane tempo, and was fairly boring. Two tracks have been definitely worth the effort: Calling All Stations and The Dividing Line, which have been tougher and extra menacing to hearken to. I appreciated the vocalist, Ray Wilson ], who did his finest to inject some vitality into the proceedings.
Aside from the aforementioned tracks nothing was memorable or contained respectable hooks. I didn’t discover a lot in the way in which of prog leanings right here both, although some tracks have been overlong for the fabric. Not nice – 5/10 from me.
Nigel Mawdsley: I contemplate myself as a ‘biggest hits’ Genesis fan and really hardly ever hearken to a full album during from the Peter Gabriel or Phil Collins eras.
In 1997 a good friend taped me a replica of Calling All Stations and I’ve to confess that I assumed that the album was wonderful.
Presumably the title monitor is the weakest tune on it, it is nonetheless good, however the UK singles Congo, Shipwrecked and Not About Us all deserved to chart (albeit minor hits).
It’s a disgrace {that a} second album wasn’t executed with Ray Wilson, though that remark might dismay some hardcore followers. Having stated that, two of my buddies who’re mega Genesis followers, who sat in reverse camps (Gabriel v Collins), cherished this album.
Evan Sanders: Ugh. I had one way or the other blocked this album out of my reminiscence, and I hoped that I might discover a hidden gem by listening to it once more this week. The issue is that there is not something memorable on it, and it would not come shut the solo work that the Genesis members had launched within the years earlier than. Ray Wilson’s singing is serviceable, and he’s hampered by the fabric. I am curious how he sounded after they took the album on tour, with a set record of traditional Genesis songs alongside the brand new ones. Sadly, this album sees Genesis exit with a whimper, not a bang. 3/10.
Rod Smith: Gone again to this so many occasions with an open thoughts and it by no means fails to disappoint. My understanding is that they tried to get Fish to affix the band when Phil left. That will have been a much better selection.
Gus Schultz: Not an album I might hearken to, nevertheless it’s not horrible. It’s higher than most of their mid 80s and onward stuff. There was an excessive amount of Phil Collins happening again then for my tastes. I can hear a little bit of the sooner Genesis on it in addition to a number of the later stuff as properly. There’s a lack of respectable drumming as a result of Phil’s absence however general I don’t know if I might say it’s their worst. I’m simply not a large enough Genesis fan to make that decision however that being stated it’s probably one thing I’ll by no means hearken to once more.
Mike Canoe: Calling All Stations is not one of the best Peter Gabriel album however at a time his recorded output was slowing down, it was nice to…
Wait, what? Peter Gabriel had nothing to do with this album?
OK, Calling All Stations sounds like a Peter Gabriel album that might be slotted between 1992′ Us and 2002’s Up.
Loads of the similarity, in fact, comes from new singer, Ray Gillen, who seems like a gruffer Gabriel to me. Nonetheless, even the music and themes appear to reflect what Gabriel was doing in his solo profession – however not along with his time with Genesis. Alien Afternoon has bits that remind me of Digging In The Dust and Shipwrecked and Small Discuss resemble Gabriel’s extra private ballads. The booming percussion of The Dividing Line brings to thoughts the total energy percussion of Peter Gabriel’s third album, Soften.
For what it’s, it isn’t unhealthy – which, admittedly, is a fairly backhanded praise. My foremost criticism is that the album performs it very secure. I do not know that any model of Genesis would have made a dent within the teen pop/nu metallic/slick nation of the late ’90s so Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford ought to have gone for broke and let their prog flag fly. Jazz Odyssey, anybody?
It additionally looks like possibly they might have addressed the proverbial elephant within the room with a little bit humour – possibly identify the album And Then There Had been Two (and a New Man). Some acknowledgement on their half that this was a Genesis lineup like no different.
However it’s simple to do armchair evaluation in hindsight. Genesis have been a massively profitable band (and model with excessive business expectations) basically launching a comeback after being gone for greater than half the last decade – and with a brand new singer no much less. The next yr, the as soon as mighty Van Halen would uncover what a problem that might be. Typically the third time isn’t the appeal.
Greg Schwepe: As an enormous Genesis fan, I didn’t scream or cry out in agony after they launched “Calling All Stations” with a brand new vocalist (Ray Wilson) after Phil Collins left. I merely thought, “Gee Genesis, why trouble at this level?” As soon as once more you had a longtime band changing a longtime lead vocalist (Collins), who took over from the unique vocalist (Gabriel) and the primary alternative (Collins) made the band much more widespread. I by no means bothered to hearken to the album; simply wasn’t . For the report, I did the identical factor with Van Halen and Van Halen III. Identical state of affairs!
So, whereas I had by no means listened to the Calling All Stations album previous to this week’s assessment, I had heard Congo, which was included on a Genesis compilation album launched together with their first reunion tour. And properly, I appreciated it. However once more, little interest in testing your entire album.
However after listening to the album lastly for the primary time… not a nasty album! However hey, they need to’ve simply known as the band one thing else. Like “No Phil/Fill” or one thing. If I’d have executed a blind listening take a look at and performed the album in its entirety, I might’ve stated “wow, I like this album…who’s it by the way in which?” I like Ray Wilson’s vocals, just like the songs, principally the type of music I gravitate to. Simply didn’t must name it Genesis! Undecided what they have been attempting to do right here. It’s not like Wilson is a clone of Phil Collins’s voice. Really, at occasions he sounds a little bit like Paul Carrack, which makes this sound like Mike + The Mechanics.
To be trustworthy, had this been a brand-new band and I purchased this, this may’ve been on a gentle rotation amongst my CDs. I’ll say in the direction of the tail finish of the album the songs beginning sounding a little bit alike of their construction, they didn’t appear to face out to me as a lot as the primary three tracks, Calling All Stations, Congo and Shipwrecked.
I do assume it’s type of humorous listening to the drum sound, in that the drummers used on the album had paid consideration to Phil Collins’ drumming fashion. Additionally marvel if Mike and Tony informed them; “yeah, go forward and sound like Phil if you’d like!”
7 out of 10 on this one for me on this “Genesis In Identify Solely” album.
Closing rating: 5.03 (102 votes forged, whole rating 514)
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