Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Genesis
Label: Virgin Records
Released: 1970
Rating: 4.5/5
With “Trespass”, their first prog album, the band took a huge leap forward from the previous record and showed that, despite the members’ youth, they were one of the most mature groups of the day. Or rather: the music they started making from this album on, up to around the mid-seventies, was their “golden” era, when they were practically unstoppable and few bands could match the polish, complexity and intelligence of their compositions. So here’s a band that was way ahead of its time even this early, young as they were, and that still stirs up debate today. Despite their age, their music sounded like it came from some legendary, forgotten, primeval era of Celtic tales and legends. And “Trespass” was also the first step on their way up to becoming music legends.
The brilliant singer and occasional flutist Peter Gabriel, still misunderstood by most today, became the central figure of the band on “Trespass”. With his striking interpretations of the lyrics and unforgettable, original stage performances, which even included a whole range of costumes, he became the soul of the group, a kind of Lennon of Genesis, a personality “larger than life”.
Guitarist Anthony Phillips, with his romantic, Celtic-flavored solos and folk-rock-minded acoustic guitar, brought a whiff of some mystical English countryside into the songs. And a dark, mysterious atmosphere too. It was exactly these combinations that dominated their music in the “golden,” or classic, era, when the band made progressive rock history and created most of their best work.
Banks’s massive Hammond organ and superb use of the Mellotron added the most mystery and drama. The mix of these three elements was crucial in making the band recognizable and setting them completely apart from every other rock group of the time. Swapping drummer John Silver from the first album for John Mayhew was a considerable step forward, even though Mayhew didn’t stay in the band for long either. He gave them a much more rock-oriented rhythm line than his predecessor. If anyone happens to know where Mayhew disappeared to, I’d be very grateful for the info.
Mike Rutherford had already come up with his distinctive, melodic style of bass playing, and even though he’s often forgotten today among all the brilliant musicians in this band, I can say he was surely one of the more original bassists of the time.
“Trespass” opens with the dramatic and romantic epic “Looking For Someone”, or more precisely with Gabriel’s dramatic call expressing loneliness. The sonic backdrop of Banks’s organ and Mellotron ratchets up the climax of the whole song, as the dark mood blends with the optimistic. Phillips’s inventive and at times mournful riffs and the superb rhythm work of Rutherford and Mayhew crank up the tension in the last part of the song. And Gabriel’s melancholic, dramatic vocals are of course what turn the whole thing into an immortal classic for all time.
Even more dramatic and tense, downright tragic, is the epic “White Mountain”, which tells the story of a lone wolf from the novel White Fang. It’s easy to picture snowy mountains with a lonely wolf running across them, hunted by wild hunters. Gabriel’s melancholic and at times furious vocals, almost accusing humankind over the tragic fate of a noble animal, never leave you cold. The many folk elements and the Mellotron fit this tense, “wintry” mood perfectly.
“Visions” of Angels is another dramatic epic, a bit brighter in the chorus, although the lyrics are once again full of Gabriel’s sarcasm aimed at humankind, which has denied the God within and swapped him for false, material idols. Banks shines on organ and Mellotron again, and Mayhew surprises with his excellent drumming. Phillips’s acoustic guitar stays consistent throughout.
“Stagnation” is a song full of different motifs and moods. The intro is bright and positive, opened by Phillips’s acoustic guitar and Banks’s Mellotron backdrop. The best part of the song comes in the middle, when the whole mood settles down completely and a calm, almost transcendental rhythm follows on the acoustic guitar, where Gabriel comes in with the lines “and each will find a home, and there will still be time, for love in my friend…”. That’s followed by an onslaught of organ, Mellotron, drums and guitar, and then a melodic, calm section returns on flute with a harmonized, upbeat chorus. Overall, this song is the centerpiece of the album and best reflects its mystical, mysterious spirit, with Gabriel’s lyrics full of humankind’s eternal conflict and its personal battle between good and evil.
“Dusk”, with backing vocals in the chorus, is a very beautiful song that calms the album’s mood down a bit and serves as a kind of preparation for the closing finale. It’s built on Phillips’s melodic acoustic guitar, Gabriel’s flute and Banks’s Mellotron, plus the vocal harmonies already mentioned.
“The Knife”, the final drama about the brutality of the institutions of control, is not only one of the best songs on this album but also one of their “heaviest” compositions ever. It’s also the least mystical, most down-to-earth song on the record. It reflects the spirit of most of the band members at the time, for whom music meant, among other things, an escape from a fossilized British system that offered artists like them little prospects in life. This song was the obligatory closer of their concerts for a long time. Anthony Phillips, who mostly plays acoustic guitar on the album, goes electric here with plenty of raw riffs and an excellent solo in the middle section, full of three-part harmonies, practically calling for a clash of the forces of darkness and light; of control and freedom. In my opinion it’s also his best work with the band, or rather the best showcase of his exceptional musical talent. His successor Steve Hackett learned a lot from him. The tempo is fast, one of the fastest they ever did, and drummer Mayhew shows he was no slouch and has remained widely overlooked, unlike his successor Phil Collins, who became one of the best-known music icons. Gabriel’s sarcastic critique of British society and the repression of the regime was just one of his many settlings of scores with humankind’s “narrow-mindedness”. With its epic compositions, the album shines from start to finish.
As I mentioned earlier, the original, brilliant guitarist Anthony Phillips left the band after this album, officially because of poor health, unofficially, and by his own account, because of severe stage fright. He did go on to start a solo career later and made some superb symphonic prog rock albums. His first album, “The Geese And The Ghost” (1977), is a must-listen for all fans of early Genesis, as stylistically it’s the closest thing to “Trespass”. For Genesis, two very important changes followed, which shaped the “classic” Genesis and finally put them at the very top of the genre alongside the greatest, bringing two immortal icons to rock (and pop) music.
“Trespass” is an excellent album, practically a classic, marking the start of the classic, progressive Genesis, and precisely because it was followed by albums where each one was long known to be better than the last, it has been somewhat unfairly overlooked by fans today.
Lineup
Peter Gabriel – vocals, flute, accordion, tambourine and bass drum
Anthony Phillips – acoustic 12-string guitar, electric guitar, dulcimer, backing vocals
Anthony Banks – organ, piano, Mellotron, guitar, backing vocals
Michael Rutherford – bass guitar, acoustic 12-string guitar, nylon, cello, backing vocals
John Mayhew – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Production
John Anthony
Track list
1. Looking For Someone (7:06)
2. White Mountain (6:42)
3. Visions Of Angels (6:50)
4. Stagnation (8:48)
5. Dusk (4:13)
6. The Knife (8:56)
Running time: 42:35
