Genesis- Invisible Touch

This is why punk happened. I'm not talking about the U.K. or the U.S.A. Or the Ramones or Sex Pistols. I'm talking about me listening to one too many records like this and slowly realizing enough was enough and moving on to less mainstream and more interesting music.

I bought Invisible Touch the day it came out. Before 5 of the songs were all over the radio. Before Michelob made "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" into a commercial and started a trend that two decades later is as commonplace as MTV videos were back in 1986.

You couldn't escape Phil Collins if you were a kid in the 80's and it was his solo material that first turned me on to Genesis. While I fear that Hello, I Must Be Going and No Jacket Required are going to emerge from my trunk of cassettes for future postings, I can at least breathe easily knowing that my tastes in music began to shift shortly after buying this record. It was gradual, but there was light at the end of the tunnel.

So what's wrong with Invisible Touch? Nothing really. It's a fine album if you like mid-80's Phil Collins with a dose of experimentation that mostly comes from some unexpected musical breaks and programmed drums. But it's just so damn poppy. And not in a good way. Side one is loaded with hits: "Invisible Touch," "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight," "Land Of Confusion," and "In Too Deep." Side two has "Throwing It All Away." On the second side they try to get back to their prog roots by including a couple extended songs, one of which has multiple parts just like any true prog rock staple. But they still come off sounding as slick as the hits.

In recent years I've gone back and tried to listen to early pre-Phil Collins led Genesis records. In doing so I came to appreciate The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. But after getting into that record it makes it so much harder to understand how an album like Invisible Touch can come about just 10+ years later. Okay, in interest of fairness, the same can be said of Peter Gabriel's So, but Gabriel made art. At this point Genesis was more about product.

It makes me wonder. Did Genesis want Phil Collins to bring his poppy songs in so they could create something similar to his solo albums, although with more synths and less jazz? Or did Phil force this sound on them? There must have been some division within the group. After this one, they only lasted long enough to make one more record together.

But for me and my rapidly changing musical tastes, Invisible Touch was enough.