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Thread: Genesis - Duke

  1. #1
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    Genesis - Duke

    Pulled this one out for a listen for the first time in a long time tonight. I still thoroughly love this album. To me it is the perfect mix of “old” progressive Genesis and “newer” more commercial Genesis. To my ears this one has held up very well over the years. One of my all time favorites for sure.

    Steve Sly

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    Member since March 2004 mozo-pg's Avatar
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    I agree, a real nice gem of an album but I'm not a huge fan of their pop music. One reason I still enjoy it is that I haven't overplayed it into the grave. My last enjoyable Genesis album.

    Duke's End/Travels is truly/sincerely, magnificent.
    What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)

  3. #3
    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    I love this album. The "Guide Vocal" reprise towards the end of "Duke's Travels" is one of the finest moments of their career IMO. And some of those 'forgotten' tracks like "Cul-De-Sac" and "Heathaze" are really solid tunes! I even really like "Please Don't Ask". Terrific album.
    Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.

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    Member Paulrus's Avatar
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    Side one is very strong and has a great flow to it, even including "Misunderstanding" (At least the other hit single had the decency to be in proggy time sig! ).

    And of course the closers "Duke's End"/"Duke's Travel" kick ass. One gets the sense that by this time Genesis could crank out that stuff in their sleep.

    That said, I've tried many times and just can't get into the attempts at non-prog songs. "Heathaze" and "Cul de Sac" sound like outtakes from Tony's solo album, and "Please Don't Ask" puts me to sleep. Sorry, Mike. I think they got better at that sort of thing after this album.

    I will give this one high marks for a clear and powerful production job. A HUGE improvement over "...And Then There Were 3".

    Finally, a special nod to the 2007 reissue which includes the cool 1980 Lyceum concert film.

  5. #5
    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paulrus View Post
    "Please Don't Ask" puts me to sleep. Sorry, Mike.
    I'm guessing you meant "Alone Tonight"?
    Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.

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  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Progatron View Post
    I love this album. The "Guide Vocal" reprise towards the end of "Duke's Travels" is one of the finest moments of their career IMO. And some of those 'forgotten' tracks like "Cul-De-Sac" and "Heathaze" are really solid tunes! I even really like "Please Don't Ask". Terrific album.
    Spot on with your thoughts. One of their best;even "Misunderstanding" doesn't seem out of place on this release,and i think PC has one of his best vocal performances during the entire album.

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    Not a Genesis album I take out too often, but when I do it's always very enjoyable. I usually will reach for Three Sides Live before any Genesis from Duke on. No poor tracks here. The closest is probably Alone Tonight, which isn't that bad either. Besides the usual kudos for Duke's Travel, Duke's End, Behind the Lines and the two hits, Heathaze is a great track. Banks' other solo tracks are also very good. PC's Please Don't Ask is excellent but almost too personal. As mentioned previously by Paulrus, the production is so much better then the previous album. He also mentioned the 2007 reissue with the live set, I'm gonna have to get that.

  8. #8
    Studmuffin Scott Bails's Avatar
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    One of my absolute faves. The "Duke Suite" is as good as anything they've ever done, and the shorter songs, except for "Misunderstanding," all work well, too IMO. Never really warmed to "Misunderstanding" - it just doesn't flow with the rest of the album for me. Tony's warm keyboards don't appear on this one, it seems.

    Love the digital piano sound that Tony uses, too. It took me a while to "get it," but now I can't imagine many of these songs without it - especially "Duchess."
    Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally

  9. #9
    My favorite by the 3 man band, and a real classic. It is ALWAYS in my van. "Behind The Lines" is perfect!

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    Member bill g's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Progatron View Post
    I love this album. The "Guide Vocal" reprise towards the end of "Duke's Travels" is one of the finest moments of their career IMO. And some of those 'forgotten' tracks like "Cul-De-Sac" and "Heathaze" are really solid tunes! I even really like "Please Don't Ask". Terrific album.
    I agree that it is a solid album. And the slow tunes you mentioned (heathaze, guide vocal, please dont ask), along with Alone Tonight blow away the slow songs on We Cant Dance, in my opinion. And the b-side Evidence of Autumn is my favorite of all from those sessions. Simply sublime. Too good for a b-side. Should have been saved for Abacab, since it doesn't really fit on Duke. I love Tony's intro to Behind The Lines, and Dukes Travels/End.

  11. #11
    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bill g View Post
    . And the b-side Evidence of Autumn is my favorite of all from those sessions. Simply sublime. Too good for a b-side.
    Well, one thing we all seem to agree on here at PE is that Genesis too often relegated quality tracks to b-side status. "Open Door" is another nice one, although not nearly as good as "Evidence Of Autumn".

    I agree with all the praise for "Behind The Lines". That and "Duchess" make for a very powerful one-two punch album opener.
    Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Progatron View Post
    Well, one thing we all seem to agree on here at PE is that Genesis too often relegated quality tracks to b-side status. "Open Door" is another nice one, although not nearly as good as "Evidence Of Autumn".

    I agree with all the praise for "Behind The Lines". That and "Duchess" make for a very powerful one-two punch album opener.
    I remember after "Calling All Stations" tanked, Tony Banks talking in an interview about how the song "Duchess" had become the story of the band.

    Steve Sly

  13. #13
    I *love* my own version of the album, which omits Man of Our Times and Alone Tonight, and swapping in Evidence of Autumn.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Scott Bails View Post
    Love the digital piano sound that Tony uses, too.
    Hardly “digital” (there were no digital pianos in 1980) the Yamaha CP70 was an actual, physical piano (with strings) that was electrically amplified via transducers (like an electric guitar).

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_grand_piano

    -------------
    MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")

    "Parece cosa de maligno. Los pianos no estallan por casualidad." --Gabriel Garcia Marquez

    N.P.:“Desprendimiento”-Iconoclasta/De todos uno

  15. #15
    Member Digital_Man's Avatar
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    Very solid album and I don't think anything they did after this tops it(I'm sure many on here would agree with that). High points for me are "duchess" and "Dukes travels/Dukes End", "turn it on again" and "cul de sac" but I like the whole album. One song I didn't care for much initially but grew on me is "man of our times." I guess it was the odd drumming that turned me off at first.

  16. #16
    Beautiful album, for me it was such a relief after ATTWT. It felt focused and passionate all the way through, whereas the previous album felt kind of listless and uncertain to me. "Duke" is super sharp, and the writing and playing is terrific all the way through. I enjoyed the remix on its own merits when it came out; haven't A/B'd with the original to see if any heresy had taken place, but I enjoyed hearing it, so why tempt fate?

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    MAN. OF. OUR. TIMES. that's all. great album.

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    Quote Originally Posted by iguana View Post
    that's all.
    No, not on this album. That's on another Genesis album.

  19. #19
    This one came out at a special time in my life so it holds very good memories... Sure misunderstanding was ... but overall it held it's own... Abacab was the one that made me say... "What were they thinking?" By "shapes" it was all over for me.. Also echo the above statements regarding the "suite"... some fine moments on that track..

  20. #20
    Studmuffin Scott Bails's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Digital_Man View Post
    One song I didn't care for much initially but grew on me is "man of our times." I guess it was the odd drumming that turned me off at first.
    Yeah, that was a skipper for me for a long time, too. Then it just "clicked." Love it now. For me, I think it was the guitar riff that was rather jarring.
    Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally

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    I like everything that followed to some degree...but this is the last one where I have few quibbles. Before I heard most of the earlier ones (I did hear SEBTP but was too young to appreciate it then...), this was my favourite...a sign of things to come with my taste in their music. I loved the dynamic intro of 'Behind The Lines', what a joy to hear that on the reunion shows.

    'Duke's Travels'/'Duke's End' is a thing of marvel, with some of their best ever ensemble playing and that 'Guide Vocal' reprise as mentioned, is goosebump inducing. This is what is often missing from the later albums...only 'Fading Lights' really delivers that same thing for me.

    I do remain underwhelmed by 'Misunderstanding' and 'Alone Tonight'...not bad songs but still not up to par for me. 'Please Don't Ask' is a good song but it must have seemed out of place at the time. 'Evidence Of Autumn' is pure class, but I feel it's similar in feel to 'Heathaze'. Some may have preferred 'Autumn'.

    'Man Of Our Times' is a great track, one of the heaviest Genesis songs with those huge drums and dense chords. I'm not sure it was ever played live...unlike 'Abacab', only about half of 'Duke' seems to have been.

  22. #22
    Member lazland's Avatar
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    One of their finest, and up their with the best of the Gabriel era, IMO.

    A classic album, no doubt.

  23. #23
    Funny, MoOT was always my favorite song on the album by a good margin. I always liked the wall of chords over a bass pedal thing though.

  24. #24
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    First Genesis LP I bought as a kid, soon after it came out. I played side 1 to the death. Funny enough, I have never "upgraded" this one to CD so I haven't listened in many many years. I'm sure I would still like it.

    I agree it was a huge improvement over ATTW3, which I bought soon after because I enjoyed Duke so much. Just no songs on that one...

    I very much enjoyed Abacab too, though that was clearly a new and different thing. Duke still had a lot of the old Genesis in it. Abacab next to nothing.

  25. #25
    I only have one beef with this album. That's how noisy it is. So massive on the ambience it's hard to listen to all the way through.
    And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make.

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