I must have dreamed a thousand dreams - been haunted by a million screams

Continuing my trip back through the 1986 album charts

13/07/86 : Invisible Touch - Genesis



Having said that the last album reminded me of Genesis, we now catch up with the real thing - I know the singles from it and didn't mind them in a "they just about get away it" kinda way, but I'm interested to hear what the album sounds like.

Well, the first thing to say is that if I was wondering who bought Robert Palmer and Steve Winwood's albums, then I really need to be asking the same here, particularly given how much more successful it was. And I've no really idea why that was because there's nothing hateful here, but it's all feeling a bit forced and desperate compared to the other two - you don't really get the impression they're enjoying what they're doing. I can't help liking "Land Of Confusion" though and "Throwing It All Away" has some nice bits to it but "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" did not need to be nearly nine minutes long and telling me that "Domino" is in two parts doesn't let them get away with nearly eleven minutes of it. I didn't hate this, but I can't say I really enjoyed it or even appreciated it either - quite how it did so well is a complete mystery to me.

We're at #6 in the charts this week on their fifth week of an impressive 77 week run with it having spent its first three weeks at the top of the chart. It also managed another nineteen weeks in the chart across seven further runs, with it last being seen for a single random week in '92. The top five this week were Madonna, Wham! (a new entry), Eurythmics , Queen and Rod Stewart and the next highest new entry was Now! - Summer (#7) - there really was no angle they weren't prepared to take, was there?

Wikipedia has a decent amount on the album (228 milliPeppers) but a lot of it goes into unnecessary detail about what Phil Collins thought about a particular drum machine. It's their thirteenth album and the critics were somewhat mixed on it, with quite a few stating it was really a Phil Collins solo album in disguise. It did reasonably well commercially I guess, making the top ten in most places (but only #26 in Spain) and getting to #1 in Canada and New Zealand and #3 in the US, shifting SIX MILLION copies over there.

"Customers also listened to" Peter Gabriel, Mr Mister, The Cars and Men At Work - a somewhat strange mix, I'd suggest. And this is a somewhat strange album, if only for its incredible success - I've no clue what was going on.

06/07/86 - A pleasant trip down memory lane
20/07/86 - Mystifyingly popular

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