People like to split Genesis into Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins eras, but the truth is that Genesis should be split into Steve Hackett vs Tony Banks. Hackett’s departure from Genesis was the final nail in the Genesis prog-coffin and it’s when the band started shifting from prog to pop.

The composition shift becomes obvious when you compare The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Trick of the Tail and Wind & Wuthering with albums like …And Then There Were Three, ABACAB and Duke. The former group, consisting of a “Gabriel” album + the first two “Collins” albums, sound very similar; enough so that I’ve seen people mistakenly associate Trick of the Tail and Wind & Wuthering with Gabriel despite being voiced by Phil Collins. This is because Hackett’s guitar was still present and Gabriel, planning for the possibility of his departure, had been singing with Collins backing him, so the vocal shift wasn’t as obvious.

Meanwhile, the latter group (…and Then There Were Three, ABACAB and Duke) came after Hackett’s departure and are much more synth driven. Furthermore, they begin to shift to a more pop-driven sound as Tony Banks’ synths take over and no longer need to share the soundstage with Hackett’s guitar.

As such, the Gabriel-Collins debate is misframed and should instead be Hackett-Banks.

That said, I thoroughly enjoy most of Genesis’ releases, even including Invisible Touch and We Can’t Dance (though I’ve never tried to listen to From Genesis to Revelation or Calling All Stations). Treat Hackett and Banks’ albums like separate bands that just coincidentally happen to share the same name and band members, and you’ll enjoy them way more.

Blew me away