Review Summary: Genesis' first album as a trio is all over the place, firing in all directions but still hitting the mark very often.
Genesis’ music is often split in two categories. On one hand, you have the pioneering progressive music which can be heard through the Peter Gabriel-led incarnation of the group and which briefly continued as Phil Collins took over vocal duties. On the other side, you have the more commercially successful pop music which was the result of the band being brought down to a trio after the departures of Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett.
But somewhere in there, Genesis has three albums which don’t comfortably fit into either category: From Genesis to Revelation, …And Then There Were Three and Calling All Stations. About all of these albums have received divided or poor reviews for different reasons: From Genesis to Revelation starred a young and inexperienced band led by a producer who failed to exploit their talent properly, Calling All Stations featured a creatively bankrupt band desperately trying to prove they were relevant after Phil Collins left the band… so what’s the story with 1979’s And Then There Were Three?
This album was released at a tough moment for the band, as guitar virtuoso Steve Hackett was the latest person to quit. In a move many fans call questionable in retrospect, the remaining trio chose not to replace him and bassist Mike Rutherford chose to take over guitar duties. For older fans of the band, this change was immediately felt, as the album is not as guitar-heavy than previous albums due to Rutherford being better at bass than guitar. It’s clear that Genesis’ musical vision was starting to drift somewhere else with this release, but the final destination remained unknown. This absence of a clear goal could either be regarded as frustrating or fascinating, for the album itself is still filled to the brim with great sounding music, even though very little of it is cohesive.
The overall album mood is all over the place: the tone can either be confrontational (Down and Out), sorrowful (Undertow, Snowbound, Say It’s Alright Joe) or simply exuberant (Deep In The Motherlode, Burning Rope, The Lady Lies). No two songs share the same theme either, which also dictates the lack of cohesiveness: one song could send the listener back in the Wild West, the very next song would address the haunting story of a man frozen in ice witnessing the beauty of winter. Some would consider this absence of consistency a minus, but for this album’s case, the individual songs themselves remain engaging on their own terms so it’s not as big a problem.
The music of And Then They Were Three strived to achieve a more concise feel as song lengths are definitely shorter in average than past albums, but it doesn’t feel the band oversimplified things. The album’s often decried as the birth point of pop Genesis, but previous albums had “I Know What I Like”, “A Trick of the Tail” and even “Your Own Special Way”, this one in particular would be poppier than about anything on here. Sure, there would be pure pop compositions on here, but there’s still a larger focus on progressive rock tracks and other tracks that fall somewhere in between.
On the more progressive side of things stand compositions like Down And Out, featuring a monster 5/4 groove that prophesizes the pop direction Genesis would take in later albums with its lyrics about old businessmen being replaced by younger, hip people, while maintaining the complex songwriting from previous albums. Burning Rope is one of the requisite Genesis epics, undergoing many different movements and moods and also featuring one of Rutherford’s rare guitar solos. He’ll never be mistaken for Steve Hackett for sure, but the solo remains elegant enough in its simplicity and it works. The Lady Lies is the most complex composition in here and it’s enhanced very well by its sleazy bar atmosphere, telling about the dangers of a romantic relationship.
The simpler pop moments work at their best whenever Genesis goes softer, which they do often on this release. Undertow makes the album reach an early emotional climax, with a still relatively muted, yet emotive Phil Collins asking you what you’d do in the final day of your life. Would you just surrender to despair or fight for a better future? Snowbound is the most guitar-centric cut of the album and probably the most beautiful moment of the album, featuring a rare appearance of the acoustic guitar and Tony Banks’ synthesizers sparse, yet beautiful flute patch. It recalls Genesis’ early pastoral roots mostly displayed in Trespass. The arrangements are very simple, yet solemn, beautiful and uplifting despite the pessimistic nature of the story told.
The more upbeat compositions are slightly hit-and-miss. Ballad of Big suffers from a dearth of ideas, conveying an epic cowboy story but the song itself only revolves around 2 musical motifs and gets old quickly. Deep in the Motherlode treads similar waters but fares way better, featuring much more twists music-wise in this very triumphant ode to the American gold rush. This song would be the album’s best candidate to illustrate how good the rhythm section of Rutherford and Collins is. Scenes From a Night’s Dream somehow manages to sound out of place on an album that doesn’t stick to any theme, this upbeat rocker doesn’t play to Genesis’ strengths as a band and sound too quirky, even for their standards.
Finally, we have Follow You, Follow Me. Many Genesis fans consider this song as treason and consider it their sellout moment, but I wouldn’t say it’s worse than either Ballad of Big or Scenes From a Night’s Dream. It’s very catchy and pleasant, featuring a really nice sounding muted guitar line that acts as the backbone of the piece and acts as its signature element. It was accused of being a very simple love song, but again, Your Own Special Way from Wind & Wuthering also was all that, but without the same energy or enthusiasm. This early pure pop statement would remain one of their best pop compositions for years to come.
We all know how the rest of the story goes. Follow You, Follow Me was Genesis’ first major hit and was the key to the survival of the remaining trio, as they would complete their transition as pop artists with future albums. But in their wake, they still left behind a really fine album despite its overall lack of direction. It’s not lacking in quality progressive music and its more pop moments are not to be disrespected either. And Then There Were Three might not work out as an album by itself, but it’s still an excellent compilation of music and shouldn’t be overlooked.
