Genesis - Duke

Release Year: 1980

Track List:
1. Behind the Lines (5:31)
2. Duchess (6:37)
3. Guide Vocal (1.21)
4. Man of Our Times (5.35)
5. Misunderstanding (3.16)
6  Heathaze (5.00)
7. Turn It On Again (3:52)
8. Alone Tonight (3.58)
9. Cul-de-sac (5.05)
10. Please Don't Ask (4.02)
11. Duke's Travels (8.41)
12. Duke's End (2.10)

When I was 19, life was still pretty confusing for me emotionally. I had always depended on music to carry me through my difficult days. In 1980, I was just a young adult facing a hard world and having no idea just how bad it would get. I remember when I had rough days, laying on my bed and pushing PLAY, and all the pain and sorrow would melt away into this bliss. Like most other Prog I listened to back in my youth, the music just carried me away on waves of beauty and fantasy. Other people might reach for drugs or alcohol or sex or whatever to medicate their angst, but for me, it was music, and Duke was an album that made the big bad world melt away. It was my escape, my balm, my therapy.
So, I recently decided to buy Duke in its CD format and relive the magic that I tried to remember was there. Now here I am, floating on this vast sea of beauty again, and all the comfort I felt all those years ago has come back into an old brain that almost forgot. I knew there was a reason why Duke was my favorite Genesis album, but I couldn't remember why... until now.

I'm very sensitive to keyboards, and Tony Banks is definitely one of the greats. It's his amazing ability to utilize the diversity of multiple keyboard systems to find the right sound. He has the ability to take me immediately "off planet". One note is all it takes for my seratonin level to spike! It's the keyboards that definitely carry this album, along with the intensity of the drums and Phil Collin's amazing vocals, and way back there, you hear it... the thump, thump, thump of an incredible bass. Mike Rutherford is too under-rated, which is a shame.

Here's my track-by-track analysis (which I have also posted at www.progressiveears.com in a Genesis - Duke thread):

Behind the Lines - I heard this track on the internet recently, and I smiled, remembering the pomposity of the opening lines, bars, movement. (Sorry, I don't know the technical terms for music, I just know when a note instantly makes me feel good.) Listening to it on the album in its full, remastered glory, I am still smiling. What I love most is how the instrumental track smoothly seguays (sp?) into the vocal part, seamlessly, and then Phil starts pounding away on the drums. At the end of the song, Tony starts in... oh God, is that not an orgasmic little piano or whatever he's playing? So sweet and delicate next to the bopping notes (is that a drum or also keys?)...

Duchess - ... moving seamlessly into the next song, it sounds like raindrops, and then we hear the snare drum, and the tone changes, and Phil bursts into vocals. I never cared too much for the lyrics of this song. It's the music that carries this tune, and the tone of Phil's voice. I find the lyrics very sad. I remember feeling that way at 19 and now that I am MUCH older, they hit a little too close to home. A lifetime wasted struggling, dreaming... anyway, sorry, didn't mean to get maudlin. Anyway, so, here's our little raindrops again...

Guide Vocal - ... into bittersweetness. A ballad whose lyrics I've never understood, but I like it. It's like a little bridge from soft Duchess into the harder Man of Our Times.

Man of Our Times - An awesome song! It's so complicated, I can barely separate out the instruments, other than the obvious drums. The guitar is very subtle, yet it's THERE, holding down the melody. Once again, lyrics that confound me, but Phil's voice is deeper and... dare I say... sexier.

Misunderstanding - Then suddenly... THUNK! The whole mood stops cold, and we are launched into a totally different vibe. Phil had to interrupt the beauty with a She-Done-Me-Wrong song. Now, I don't HATE this song. Far from it. I actually understand (no pun) what this song is all about... broken hearts and disappointment and failed expectations. At 19, I had no idea relationships were so complicated. Surprise! That being said, I can put aside the lyrics and appreciate it as a peppy, poppy tune. Unfortunately, it was put in the wrong spot, and perhaps even the wrong album.

Heathaze - And just as suddenly, we are sent back to our sweet, little cloud, floating on air, the weight of the world slipping away again. It's incredible that such a gentle, little song could have so much impact. The depth of emotion in the tone of the music, and the way Phil switches from a soft voice to a rough voice and back again... it totally fits with the mood of the album. I remember being lost in the melody at 19, dreaming of being on the darkened moors of Yorkshire, like in my own Bronte novel. (Pardong me for being a girl!)

Turn It On Again - Believe it or not, this jolt is not as bad as Misunderstanding, at least to my ears. Tony's keys help to soften the blow immensely. but still, the lyrics are a far cry from the tone of the album. As a stand-alone song, I absolutely love it! The beat, the instrumentation... it's a Genesis song you can actually dance to! Just as its unfortunate stepbrother, though, it doesn't quite fit in the spot.

Alone Tonight - And THUNK, here we go, back to bittersweetness. This is such a sad, desperate song, but I don't dislike it. It's just a bit of a downer right after the upbeat Turn It On Again. I love the sweet organ (or whatever instrument Tony is playing during the chorus), and of course, I'm very empathetic to the lyrics. I don't like the way it fades off in the end, though, especially without blending into...

Cul-de-Sac - ... the most delicious track, Tony-wise! As a Keys Girl, I really appreciate the diversity of Tony's work and consider him one of the great Keyboard Gods of Prog! The mood is back, and I really love it. Once again, befuddlement over the lyrics, but the music is very strong, and the keys set the tone, and here we softly move into...

Please Don't Ask - ... another heartbreak song. This one, however, holds so much emotion in the lyrics, that we almost forget the intricacy of the music, the suble keys, the amazingly funky lead guitar (can you hear it? Subtle in the background) and some excellent bass work there, too. But this is Phil's song all over, with words that make you want to cry. I didn't understand the song when I was young, but now in my dotage, I understand broken love very much. Ignoring the lyrics, you can really FEEL the low notes in the music. You know this is a serious song. This song fits musically with the mood of the album, unlike Misunderstanding, and therefore, it passes my approval.

Duke's Travels - Wow, wow, wow, what a beautiful, dazzling piece of work, once again carrying you away on imaginary waves... and then the drums come in, almost like thunder, and the keys come in like a storm chaser. What an amazing song! Very climactic to the album! Phil's powerful drums just keep carrying you away, like you are caught in a rapids, and Tony's just tinkling like hard raindrops. This is clearly the most Proggy of all the tunes on this album. You are definitely traveling somewhere, so the title is aptly named. And so, we go faster and faster down this river of sound... Tony and Phil, Tony and Phil, Tony and Phil, back and forth, and if you listen closely, Mike is just beating the shit of that bass guitar, and it's all flowing together, faster and faster... and then Phil's vocals come in, repeating the words from Guide Vocal, and it starts to slooooow down, sweetly, softly, the thunder moving away...

Duke's End - ... into a sudden, quick, fast reprise of Behind the Lines and a soft background of Turn It On Again, turning into a crescendo that abruptly ends, like a sudden orgasm that leaves you breathless for a few seconds and then the feeling subsides.

And that is Duke. A fantasyland, a warm blanket on a cold Alaskan winter's night, a comfort zone, a little niche I often crawled into so many years ago. I had forgotten all about it, other than a few drifting memories, until now. Duke is a beautiful place, and I'm glad I rediscovered it. Now I remember why it's my favorite Genesis album!