Give it a chance!
This album has been out for three years, and nearly every review it gets(with the exception of two reviews), "Calling all Stations" gets virtually no slack whatsoever. I first heard about the album in it's promotion debut, and in '98 I bought it. Songs like CALLING ALL STATIONS, and THE DIVIDING LINE that have strong hard rock guitars, hard beating drums, and heavy beating keyboards, take my breath away. Congo(which only got it's music video played once)(thanks alot, MTV) has the best mellow percussion and heavy synth sound since..... I can't even remember. There must be some other way, has one of the best keyboard solos, combined with guitar, bass, and drum sound I've heard in a long time. What I'm trying to say is, this album is awesome, and remember: Peter Gabriel made good albums in the 60's and early 70's,. Phil Collins made good albums in the late 70's, 80's, and very early 90's. Ray Wilson made a good album in the 90's and I will be the first to say I hope he will make more good albums in the 2000's. Peace!
Underrated and Underapprecited
This album is the final creation by the band known as Genesis, and though its hard to see them go, it least it was done on a good note (sort of.) This album was not very well recieved by critics or the public, probably because everyone thinks Phil Collins WAS the band. Not so. In fact, Collins' departure was actually a boon the group's musical stylings, since he was leading them in a cheesy synth pop direction, far different from their native prog rock. With Collins out of the band, the songwriting team of Banks/Rutherford was free to do as they pleased, and not being in a position where record sales were vital to earn them a living, they took advantage of this opportunity. Now comes Ray Wilson, perhaps the best thing to happen to the band since... well I dunno. Anyway, he has a warm, emotional voice that makes the delivery of the often embarrasing lyrics not as bad as it might be. Musically, the album is an interesting progressive pop-rock collection, containing mostly accessible songs with progressive undertones. Banks steals the show here, mostly, because of the massive, dark synth atmospheres always brooding behind Wilson's powerful voice. Rutherfords guitar playing is good, but he never really reaches the grandeur that Hackett once did. And though there is an assortment of different drummers, the percussion sections are crisp and powerful, and accompany the huge walls of synth perfectly. Though not the band's greatest acheivement, it is certainly the best thing they have done since Wind and Wuthering.
best in years
Phil Collins has never been a good singer, his wavering nasil voice was an annoying step down from Peter Gabriels (even though he was a good drummer) so Genesis did a good job by finding a replacement vocalist for Collins who sounded like Gabriel in Ian Wilson. On top of that Tony and Mike used two excellent drummers as additional musitions on this album. This works quite well for the 3 standout tracks on this album Alien Afternoon, The Dividing Line and One Mans Fool. Even though the rest of this albums filler the combo of Wilsons strong rasp and the drumming make this Genesises best album in years.
Dreadful Lyrics, horrible lead vocals, Mediocre music
This CD caught my eye in my collection the other day. I wondered why the remainder of Genesis hadn't made a new CD since. I haven't heard the music from this CD in a long time, so I popped it in and listened. Quickly, I was reminded why there haven't been any Genesis releases since.First, lead vocalist Ray Wilson sings without any range or distinction. He sounds like a lounge act trying to cover songs originally meant Phil Collins.
Second, the lyrics are dreadfully plan and overly simplistic. No meaningful metaphors are present anywhere on the CD. Besides that, the songs use word "it" in their lyrics so often, Genesis should've use "it" as the album title. Note: if you can't describe what you are talking about without consistently referring to your subject as "it", you prolly shouldn't be writing a song about "it".
Third, the music itself is unimaginative. The drums and guitar work feel like an imitation by some upstart garage band made up of Genesis fans excited about their brand new keyboard.
This CD gets a Skip-"It" rating, especially if you are a Genesis fan.
Please......
Ok, well, I had been a Genesis fan since the 70's. I am one of those that didn't feel that Phil Collins WAS Genesis. I still don't. Tony Banks can sing. Mike Rutherford can sing. They don't have hard rock voices, but they can sing. They didn't need Ray Wilson. I have not heard this album. All I had to hear was the Wilson live version of "Turn It On Again" to turn it off and never turn it on ever again. This may be cliche by now, but it is the first time I have said it, and I haven't read anyone else's review, so I have never heard it. I don't think that they need to bring Phil back per se... just have faith in themselves and do it. Bring in someone from the Prog rock days maybe. Until then, I can't bare to listen to the Wilson Genesis again. Sorry.
Ant Phillips, fine. Steve Hackett, okay. Peter Gabriel, well, it obviously wasn't the fatal blow everyone thought at the time. But the exit of Phil Collins is surely the final straw and new vocalist Ray Wilson is destined for the trivia books. That said, the never-say-die adage applies here. Genesis has brand-name loyalty on its side. --Jeff Bateman
