I find looking for vinyl in charity shops a very depressing experience. Oxfam and the like seem to be dumping grounds for dead people's records and I don't like to think of my collection eventually languishing alongside endless unwanted copies of "The Sound of Bread".
Anyway, sometime this spring I found myself leafing through the usual selection of Perry Como, James last and Dean Martin records and was surprised to find this copy of "Abacab" for about £2. I'm not a massive Genesis fan but the surprise of finding
something half decent led to an impulse purchase.
Another reason for buying this record was that I had just read Phil Collins's autobiography and wanted to hear a little of the music he talked about in the book. I was familiar with most of the band's later hits, but this phase where they crossed from prog rock to pop was new to me.
The title track opens with a pulsing synth bassline and is augmented by an organ and stabs from a Prophet 5. This intro suggests this isn't a conventional 'band in a room' recoding and there may actually be something of worth on here. This song is catchy in places and ticks along quite nicely. As I remember, "Abacab" is a nonsensical phrase that was an invention of the band. So essentially I've just spent seven minutes of my life listening to a song about nothing.
One thing I've learned from listening to various podcasts and reading Phil Collins' autobiography is that he was a bit obsessed by using horn sections in the eighties. "No Reply at All" features horns, guitar and some strangely incongruous TR-808 claps. The song is OK but it seems to stutter along and doesn't ever really get going. "Me and Sarah Jane" uses the CR-78 for percussion for the first minute or so before the acoustic drums come back in. The chords on this track are initially reminiscent of The Beatles before things go off the rails in a confused ball of reggae and prog rock.
For whatever reason I hate the opening riff to "Keep It Dark". I can't put my finger on why I don't like this track but it offends my ears. "Dodo/Lurker" instantly screams 'prog rock' before it too slips into a vague reggae groove that takes too long to end. "Who Dunnit?" is an awful slice of repetitive album filler that is best left ignored. "Man on the Corner" heralds the sound of Phil Collins as a solo artist and "Like it or Not" is palatable without being good. Things close with "Another Record" which is a bit vanilla and passes by without making much impression. At least it only cost me two pounds. 1/5
