Genesis - Abacab (1981) [1994, Digitally Remastered] {Gold Standard Collector's Edition}

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Genesis - Abacab (1981) [1994, Digitally Remastered] {Gold Standard Collector's Edition}

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"Abacab" is the 11th studio album by English rock band Genesis, released on 18 September 1981 in the United Kingdom by Charisma Records and 24 September 1981 in the United States by Atlantic Records. After their 1980 tour in support of their previous album Duke, the band took a break before they reconvened in 1981 to write and record a new album. Abacab is the first Genesis album recorded at The Farm, a recording studio bought by the group in Chiddingfold, Surrey. It marked the band's development from their progressive roots into more accessible and pop-oriented songs, and their conscious decision to write songs unlike their previous albums. "Abacab" received a mostly positive reception from critics and was a commercial success for the band, reaching #1 on the UK Albums Chart and #7 on the US Billboard 200. Genesis released four singles from the album, the most successful being "Abacab" and "No Reply at All". The album continued to sell, and was certified double platinum in 1988 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for two million copies sold in the US. Genesis supported the album with their tour of North America and Europe in 1981 which formed most of their 1982 live album Three Sides Live.

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Genesis - Abacab (1981) [1994, Digitally Remastered] {Gold Standard Collector's Edition}

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"Duke" showcased a new Genesis - a sleek, hard, stylish trio that truly sounded like a different band from its first incarnation - but Abacab was where this new incarnation of the band came into its own. Working with producer Hugh Padgham, the group escalated the innovations of Duke, increasing the pop hooks, working them seamlessly into the artiest rock here. And even if the brash, glorious pop of "No Reply at All" - powered by the percolating horns of Earth, Wind & Fire, yet polished into a precise piece of nearly new wave pop by Padgham - suggests otherwise, this is still art rock at its core, or at least album-oriented rock, as the band works serious syncopations and instrumental forays into a sound that's as bright, bold, and jagged as the modernist artwork on the cover. They dabble in other genres, lacing "Me and Sarah Jane" with a reggae beat, for instance, which often adds dimension to their sound, as when "Dodo" rides a hard funk beat and greasy organ synths yet doesn't become obvious; it turns inward, requiring active listening. Truly, only "No Reply at All," the rampaging title track (possibly their hardest-rocking song to date), and the sleek and spooky "Man on the Corner" (which hides a real melancholy heart underneath its glistening surface) are immediate and accessible - although the Mockney jokes of "Who Dunnit?" could count, it's too much of a geeky novelty to be pop. The rest of Abacab is truly modern art rock, their last album that could bear that tag comfortably.

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Genesis - Abacab (1981) [1994, Digitally Remastered] {Gold Standard Collector's Edition}

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Genesis - Abacab (1981) [1994, Digitally Remastered] {Gold Standard Collector's Edition}

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