So get down, down here beside me

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts

23/10/83 : Genesis - Genesis


This is an interesting one because I bought the 12 inch version of "Mama" when it came out (and I still really like it) and I very nearly bought the album on many an occasion, but never quite did - I think part of the problem is that none of the proceeding singles were quite as good, so my enthusiasm waned with time.  But I'm still expecting to quite like it though.

And yeah, I do - but it's a bit unfortunate that it starts with "Mama", so I found my enthusiasm waning with time.  But not as much as I was expecting - it's got a pretty clean sound throughout and you can hear it being the stepping stone from some of their earlier stuff to the arena pop/rock of Invisible Touch.  I'm not entirely convinced by Phil's accent or some of the lyrics on "Illegal Alien", but I like to think his heart was in the right place.  I like the album cover too - simple but intriguing and very recognisable.  But this is another album we've never owned, bringing us back down to 50% on 5/10

We're at #4 in the charts on their third week into an 36 week run with it having debuted at #1.  Unlike a lot of the other albums we've seen recently, it didn't entirely disappear from view after its first run, with six more visits to the top 100 - with it last being seen in August '87.  Above it in the charts were Culture Club, The Jam and Lionel and the highest new entry in the charts this week was Nick Heyward's North Of A Miracle at #10 - and there's a man I don't think about very often these days, but I do still like "Love Plus One" and "Fantastic Day".  The next highest new entry is down at #27, which wouldn't normally merit a mention - but it's Soul Mining from The The, which is a fine album well ahead of its time, so I'll give it a name check!

Wikipedia has more on the album than I was expecting (165 milliPeppers) going into great detail on the synths used, the drumming styles and the story behind each track.  The critics generally liked it (including a surprisingly positive write-up from Kerrang!) and it did better than I was expecting globally with it getting to #1 or #2 in a lot of European countries and #9 in the US, selling over 4 million copies over there.

"Customers also listened to" Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel and Yes - I can see the links there.  I enjoyed listening to this though - "Mama" is still the top track for me, but the rest of it was an interesting and enjoyable listen.

16/10/83 - Dull, dull songs
30/10/83 - One of the best of the best ofs

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