From Beginning to End - The Albums of Genesis Quiz

In 1967, two pairs of schoolboys from Charterhouse School in Surrey, Tony Banks and Peter Gabriel, and Anthony Phillips and Mike Rutherford, having played in different bands up to that point, came together to record a demo tape of songs that they had written. This tape ended up in the hands of Charterhouse old boy Jonathan King, who had achieved a measure of success up to that point in the music industry as both a singer-songwriter and producer. Having listened to the demo tape, King, liking what he had heard, offered the group a chance to record some songs professionally. This led to him getting them a one-album deal with Decca Records, with the group, to whom King gave the name Genesis, going into the studio in August 1968.

"From Genesis to Revelation" was planned as a pseudo concept album of linked songs telling a loose story running from the Book of Genesis at the beginning to the Book of Revelation at the end. The album was eventually released in March 1969, and failed to chart, ultimately selling just 649 copies, with many music shops putting it in their religious music section, as the cover artwork featured no description of the content beyond the title. The failure of the album saw the group, who were still at school, elect to split and continue their education. Jonathan King retained the rights to the album and, once Genesis had begun to become successful in the early 1970s, began to reissue it periodically under different names.

Although the failure of "From Genesis to Revelation" led to the members of Genesis to return to their education, by the late summer of 1969 they had all left Charterhouse and elected to attempt to go professional with music. Having split from Jonathan King, who had influenced the content of their first album towards his own musical preferences, the group decided to go their own way with their writing. During this period, they also began touring; it was during a residency at Ronnie Scott's club in London that they were spotted by producer John Anthony, who persuaded his boss, Tony Stratton Smith, the head of Charisma Records, to sign them. With a good degree of material already written, Genesis headed into the studio to record a new album.

The album that ultimately became "Trespass" was heavily influenced by a number of bands, including King Crimson and The Beatles. Because much of the material had already been played extensively by the group while they toured before being signed to Charisma, they felt little need to do any arranging or refining while in the studio. Unlike their previous effort, "Trespass" began to show a move into a more progressive sound, epitomised by the album's final track, "The Knife", which became a staple of Genesis' gigs for a number of years. "Trespass" eventually sold 6,000 copies, ten times what their first album had, and went to Number One in Belgium, while at the same time garnering a number of positive reviews.

Almost immediately following the release of their second album, Genesis found themselves in need of a new lead guitarist, following Anthony Phillips' decision to leave the group. At the same time, the remaining three founders decided that they were also in need of a drummer, having decided to replace John Mayhew. In August 1970, a drummer named Phil Collins answered their advert in "Melody Maker" and was recruited not only for his skill with the sticks, but also as he could also serve as a backing vocalist.

In December, the group then spotted an ad in the same publication for a guitarist looking to join a band, with Steve Hackett joining in January 1971. Although for the first half of the year, the new line-up continued touring, by the summer they decided to take some time to write and record new material. Although the new five-piece were apprehensive about the process of writing together, by August they had worked out enough new material to enter the studio.

The album that emerged was "Nursery Cryme", with its highlight being "The Musical Box", the ten-and-a half minute opener, which was one of the first Genesis tracks to tell a specific story from beginning to end, a format that they often came back to. Rapidly becoming a live favourite, "The Musical Box" was also the start of Peter Gabriel wearing various costumes and masks during performances when, during a gig in Dublin in September 1972, he left the stage during the song's instrumental break, reappearing wearing his wife's red dress and a fox head mask. The album also featured "For Absent Friends", which was the first Genesis track that Phil Collins provided lead vocals for. Although "Nursery Cryme" was released in November 1971, lack of promotion from the record company saw it only eventually reach the UK album chart in 1974.

Although Genesis had achieved significant success in Europe, with "Trespass" getting to number one in Belgium, and "Nursery Cryme" reaching the Top 20 in Italy, commercial success in the UK eluded them, even in spite of the number of live gigs they had performed. While on the tour to promote "Nursery Cryme" during 1971, the group had also begun writing more new material for their next planned album. The punishing schedule almost led new guitarist Steve Hackett to depart; he was persuaded by the other members of the band to stay, with them eventually entering the studio in August 1972 to start recording. The process proved to be fraught, as they went through two producers, and were forced to have a break in recording during the middle of August, during which they did a tour of Italy, before returning to work on the album.

The culmination of the work in the studio during August and September 1972 was "Foxtrot". While side one of the album was of a similar format to their previous efforts, almost the entirety of side two was taken up by "Supper's Ready", a 23-minute piece consisting of seven different parts following a theme of good versus evil. The track ultimately grew from an initial piece that bore similarities to work they had previously done to something increasingly ambitious, with Tony Banks stating that parts of "Supper's Ready" were amongst the best pieces the group had written during Peter Gabriel's time as the lead singer. "Foxtrot" was released in September 1972, and proved to be the group's breakthrough in the UK, reaching number 12 in the album chart; it also reached the top of the chart in Italy, following the previous success of "Trespass" reaching number one in Belgium.

Following the completion in May 1973 of the tour that supported the release of "Foxtrot", Genesis found themselves under a degree of pressure to release another album, which the record company, Charisma, sought as a way to capitalise on the band's increasing popularity. Because they had been so busy with touring, the group had had little opportunity to focus on writing new material. Writing was a collaborative process for the five members, but such was the pressure that the record company allowed them two to three months to write and rehearse before getting them into the studio. Although under time pressures, by August 1973, the group felt they had enough material to be able to go into the studio and record. Peter Gabriel came up with the idea to theme the album along the lines of looking at "Englishness in a different way", which also led to the album's title.

"Selling England By The Pound" was a slogan adopted by the Labour Party, and was used as the title to indicate a loss of English folk culture, combined with increasing American influences, which a number of the tracks on the album were written to illustrate. One of the tracks on the album ultimately became "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)", which was released as a single in April 1974, and became the first Genesis track to make an impression in the UK singles chart, eventually reaching number 21. "Selling England By The Pound" itself was released in October 1973, and became the group's best-selling album to date, reaching number three in the UK, at the same time gaining praise from both the music press and fellow musicians, not least when John Lennon indicated a liking for it in a radio interview.

Following the conclusion of their touring commitments for their previous album, Genesis settled down to begin work on what was intended to be their sixth studio effort. Given that all five members of the group were by now experienced writers, each with their own ideas that they wanted to see included, they decided for the first time to try and do a double album, taking the view that they had built up enough of a following by then to be able to put out that much new material in one go. Additionally, they were minded to have a try at doing a genuine concept album, which they had wanted to do for some time. Mike Rutherford initially suggested using the novel "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery as the basis of the planned effort, but this was rejected as being "too twee". Instead, the band elected to use an idea that Peter Gabriel had come up with of a troubled youth named Rael, who embarks on a journey of self-discovery through a series of strange incidents and characters.

"The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway", as the new album eventually became, was less of the kind of collaborative effort than the group's previous albums, as Peter Gabriel, having devised the concept, took it upon himself to write most of the lyrics, leaving the music to his bandmates. At the time, Peter Gabriel was having a number of personal issues, not least of which was the difficult birth of his daughter. The complexity of the album saw it ultimately rushed to completion in order to make the planned tour dates to promote it - indeed, given the plan was to play the entire album during the show, the fact that the album hadn't yet been released when the tour started proved difficult. Nevertheless, it achieved commercial success, becoming the group's highest charting effort in the US, as well as reaching the Top Ten in the UK. But, it was during the tour that Peter Gabriel announced to the group his intention to depart once their commitments had finished, leaving the band to begin a search for a new vocalist.

Following the conclusion of the tour for "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway", at the end of which vocalist Peter Gabriel had left, the remaining members of Genesis came to the decision to continue working together, with Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford especially keen to get new material down to show that, even without their vocalist, the band could carry on. However, they were in need of finding a new front man, which led to a series of auditions. With none of the potential candidates meeting their approval, Phil Collins, who had regularly sung backing vocals, and even performed as the lead on one or two previous tracks, reluctantly agreed to step forward and become the group's new singer. With a new leading man in place, and with a number of tracks ready musically, the group set about writing lyrics for their new material before, in October 1975, they went into the studio.

In spite of the upheaval, the four remaining members of the group found the process of writing and producing "A Trick of the Tail" fairly straightforward, while the structure of the album, following the complexity of their previous effort, was significantly simpler - in addition, none of the eight tracks was longer than eight minutes, with two ("Dance on a Volcano" and "Los Endos") becoming staples of Genesis' live set for several years to come. However, with Phil Collins now up front as the vocalist, the band needed to recruit a drummer for the tour planned to promote the album, with Collins eventually selecting former Yes and King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford to fill the role. The tour proved significantly successful, with Collins showing himself as a markedly different kind of front man to Gabriel. "A Trick of the Tail" ultimately reached number three in the UK, and broke the top 40 in the US, with the tour significantly raising the group's profile.

The success of their previous album, the first with Phil Collins as the front man, provided a degree of confidence for Genesis when they sat down to start work on the follow-up. With the change in the line-up came the start of a change in the content; up to this point, the group had produced a lot of music that had a background in fastastical themes. By now, they had built up a strong following, which allowed them to begin writing music that the members of the band enjoyed themselves, rather than feeling a need to continually please all of their fans. Much of the writing had already been done, with the group taking around six weeks to complete and rehearse what they had done, before moving into the studio. It was around this time that Steve Hackett began suggesting ideas, both for inclusion on the album, and they way the work was credited, which were not used. As a result, having already released a solo album, the lead guitarist began to look away from Genesis.

"Wind & Wuthering" was the first album the group had made outside of the UK, as it was recorded in the Netherlands. Recorded and mixed during September and October 1976, the album was released in December, eventually reaching number seven in the UK album chart - however, the 100,000 copies it sold in its first week of release should have put it at number one, but its release close to Christmas meant record shops struggled to get their sales figures in for the data to make up the chart in time. The album also received significant critical praise, with some comparing it to "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" in terms of scope. In May 1977, the group subsequently released "Spot the Pigeon", an EP of three songs recorded for "Wind & Wuthering" but not included on the album that reached number 14 on the UK singles chart. However, this proved to be the final release with the group as a four-piece as, at the conclusion of the tour supporting the album, Steve Hackett announced his departure from Genesis.

In 1977, Genesis once again found themselves having to deal with the departure of one of their number as, following Peter Gabriel leaving the group two years previously, Steve Hackett now left at the end of the tour supporting their previous album. However, the three remaining members of the band elected to carry on, and, unlike with Gabriel, decided not to bring in anyone new, with Mike Rutherford choosing to deal with all of the guitar work from this point onwards. In September 1977, the group went into the studio with new material ready to record their ninth album. Unlike previous albums, the material that the group found themselves working on did not include any of the long pieces they had become known for, as there was a conscious decision to write shorter tracks, allowing for more ideas to be included on the album. The bulk of the material on the album was written by Rutherford or Tony Banks, as Phil Collins, with a growing family, did not have much time to contribute to the writing process. The new album was recorded across September and October 1977, and was ultimately released in March 1978.

Playing off the departures that they had gone through, the group gave their new album the title "...And Then There Were Three...". The longest track on the album was "Burning Rope", at a comparatively short seven minutes, while the album was closed out by "Follow You, Follow Me". This was done deliberately as the song, a romantic track Rutherford wrote for his wife, was intended to end the album on a lighter note compared to the quite heavy material that made up the bulk of it. The song was also released as the album's lead single, and marked a major change in how the group were perceived. Reaching number seven in the UK singles chart, their most successful to date, the group acknowledged that the romantic nature of the track led to them picking up an entire new group of fans. The album itself reach a high of number three in the UK album chart, and number 14 in the US. The tour accompanying the album also saw the formation of Genesis' touring band as it would be until the early 1990s, with the addition of Chester Thompson on drums (who had joined the group on the previous tour) and Daryl Stuermer joining Rutherford on guitar and bass.

Following the conclusion of the tour supporting "...And Then There Were Three...", Genesis elected to go on an extended hiatus, in order to allow Phil Collins to deal with the problems in his marriage at the time. During this period, both Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford had recorded solo albums while Collins, having been unable to save his relationship with his wife, had written a large amount of material that would ultimately lead to his first solo album.

Despite this however, towards the end of 1979 the trio regrouped to begin work on a new Genesis album. Unlike previous efforts, they arrived with very little already written, and so much of the process was worked out when they came together through playing and then noting what was good and what wasn't. The group later admitted that writing in this way was more enjoyable than how they had previously worked, setting a pattern for how they would subsequently create new material. Work on the recording began in November 1979 and went through to the end of the year.

"Duke" was released in March 1980, and became the first Genesis album to reach number one in the UK. Although, as with the previous album, there was no single extended track, there had been a plan during the writing process for the inclusion of a so-called "Duke Suite", running for 30 minutes, made up of six of the tracks that would have been put into a specific order. However, because they wanted to avoid comparison with "Supper's Ready" from "Foxtrot", as well as wanting to be able to release parts as singles, the group decided against it. Both "Turn It On Again" and "Duchess" were released as singles, while the entire 30 minutes were played live in sequence as part of the album's tour. In addition to the album's commercial success, "Duke" achieved significant critical praise, particularly in comparison to their previous effort.

Following the conclusion of the tour supporting their previous album, the three members of Genesis reconvened in November 1980 to begin work on their next album. Unlike their previous efforts however, they had the luxury of their own private space to both write and record, having purchased a set of buildings in Surrey to serve as their studio. During the period that they were working, Phil Collins' first solo album was released to huge commercial and critical success; however, the bond between Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford meant that they quickly returned to their easy relationship in the studio. The new album was written and recorded over the course of four months in mid 1981, with so much completed in their new environment that they had enough material to put out a double album. Eventually, a significant amount was cut that they felt sounded similar to previous efforts, with the new album ultimately being released in September 1981.

The title of the album came from the first track - during the writing process, the trio labelled different parts of the song as sections A, B and C, before putting each section in a different order. At one point, the structure of the song was laid out to spell ABACAB, which led to the title of both the track, and ultimately the album. As with previous efforts, there was no exceptionally long piece included on "Abacab", with only the track "Dodo / Lurker" by Tony Banks resembling some of their previous work, being split into two sections. With the amount of material that had been produced for the album, the group were subsequently able to put out a second EP of three songs that had not been included - "3X3" came out in May 1982, and peaked at number 10 in the UK singles chart, while "Abacab" was the second successive Genesis album to hit the top spot in the UK.

Following tours in 1982 to support both "Abacab" and their live album "Three Sides Live", the three members of Genesis took time out to concentrate on their solo work for a while. As a result, it was the spring of 1983 before they returned to the studio to start on their next album, almost two years after the release of their previous effort.

Unlike albums they had done before, the three group members did much of the writing in the studio itself, using their own studio in Surrey, across days of jam sessions from which they picked elements out to then expand on. All three found this the most fun way of working, and considered that some of their strongest material had come about this way, as opposed to developing music and lyrics independently which each would bring in. It was this collaborative effort that also led to the title of the album being decided upon; unable to decide on another name, the three decided to call the new album "Genesis", to emphasise the collaborative nature of the material on it.

"Genesis" was a further example of a move away from the group's prog rock roots to music that was more straightforward and accessible to a general audience. However, the album did include the longest piece the group had produced for some time, with the 11-minute, two part "Home By The Sea", which showed that, despite the effort to move to a more "radio-friendly" sound, the storytelling nature of their writing was still in evidence. The album's first single, "Mama", also showed that the group could produce increasingly marketable records that could make an impact on the chart. "Genesis" was the group's third straight number one album in the UK, while the album also made an impression in the US - it reached a high of number 9 on the album chart, with "That's All" becoming their first top ten hit in the Billboard chart, reaching number six.

It was October 1985 before Genesis finally returned to the studio. The period following the end of the tour to support their previous album had seen all three go to work on different solo projects, with Phil Collins releasing his third album, Mike Rutherford forming a new group that became Mike and the Mechanics, and Tony Banks working on a number of film scores before releasing a solo album of some of this work.

The work that the three began to do for their new album mirrored the process they had used for "Genesis", entering the studio with nothing already written down, and instead improvising and taking the best parts to work into songs. This generally led to the music being laid down before any lyrics were written, with each member of the group then sitting down to write the words for particular songs. A significant amount of material was produced in this way, more so than the previous album, which led to a longer time required to select the strongest material to include on it.

"Invisible Touch" was named for the lead track on the album, and was released in June 1986, almost three years after the last album had come out. To lead it off, the title track was released in May, and became the first Genesis single to reach the top of the singles chart, when it topped the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1986 for one week, only to be knocked off the top by "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel. "Invisible Touch" was also the fourth consecutive album to reach number one in the UK, while the subsequent tour ran until 1987 and ended with four consecutive sold out dates at Wembley Stadium in London. However, critical praise was lacking, with some degree of criticism of the material that appeared to them to be going too far in a "radio-friendly" direction.

In 1987, Genesis concluded their world tour supporting "Invisible Touch" before once again going into a hiatus. This time however, the period of inactivity lasted more than three years, the longest they had been apart, during which time both Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford expected to hear that Phil Collins, who was continuing to have major solo success, would decide to leave the group. However, he committed to doing more as a group and, following the completion of his own solo tour in 1991, the three reconvened to begin work on the first album in nearly five years.

As previously, they entered the studio with nothing written down, choosing instead to jam and improvise material they would then work on later. Through this process, they came up with fifteen tracks, which they considered putting into a double album. However, by this point more people were choosing compact disc rather than vinyl, which allowed them the additional time to include more without the need for a double album (although it was released this way on vinyl). A total of 12 tracks were ultimately selected, which included a pair of ten-minute pieces alongside a number that would be released as singles.

"We Can't Dance", so named to make fun of the prevalence of dance music in the chart at the time, and the fact that the three members of Genesis were men approaching middle-age, was released in November 1991, and once again reached number one in the UK album chart. The second single to be released, "I Can't Dance", also gave rise to the "I Can't Dance" dance - in the video, the chorus is accompanied by the three group members, dressed all in black, marching across the screen stiff armed and legged, in a manner Collins explained as something he noticed while at stage school, when people would use the same hand and foot when tap dancing, showing they were unable to coordinate. The commercial success of the album was matched by critical praise for a number of the tracks, which were described as a return to a "less pop-oriented" direction. The tour in support of the album lasted to the end of 1992, and also led to the release of a two-volume live album titled "The Way We Walk".

After the conclusion of the tour supporting "We Can't Dance", Genesis went into another hiatus, with all three members going to work on solo projects. However, in the summer of 1995, when discussion turned to regrouping to work on another album, Phil Collins decided to leave, with the announcement made in early 1996. Despite this, both Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford decided to do some writing together to see whether they could continue as Genesis. Pleased with the results of this work, they then started a process of recruiting a new singer (both were aware of their own limitations as vocalists), ultimately selecting Ray Wilson, the lead singer of Stiltskin. Having selected their new vocalist, the group went into the studio in early 1997 to record, with the album completed in June.

"Calling All Stations" was released in September 1997, the first Genesis album not to feature Phil Collins since 1970. The period in which he had been the lead singer had led to an expansion of the group's fan base, some of whom did not warm to the new sound. The album peaked at number two in the UK, the first Genesis album since "...And Then There Were Three..." not to reach the top spot, while the highest charting single, "Congo", only reached number 29. Critical response was also mixed, with some praise for Ray Wilson's vocals, but criticism of the make up of the album itself. Although the group did a major European tour in support of the album, the North American leg was cancelled due to poor sales. The lack of success of "Calling All Stations" ultimately led to Genesis returning to hiatus as a recording outfit, their last studio output coming in 1999 with a re-recording of "The Carpet Crawlers" from "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway", which featured all five of the group's members from that album.