Calling All Stations (2007 Remaster)

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  I very excited and hopeful about this new version of Genesis and this new album (which was their final studio album). Phil Collins announced he was officially leaving the band in 1996 to fully focus on his solo career. Tony Banks and Rutherford vowed to continue on using the Genesis name with Ray Wilson as their new lead singer. Wilson would be the third lead singer in the band's history following Collins who followed Peter Gabriel. Wilson didn't have big shoes to fill, he had huge shows to fill! Fans would not accept Wilson as the new lead singer at all. The North American Tour for this album was canceled due to low ticket sales. I had front row seats to a show that never ended up happening. I loved this album but it was a critical and commercial dud. From the first second of the opening title track I knew this was still Genesis. The title track is very somber and introspective, some would even say depressing. I like those songs at times. Banks and Rutherford once said it is about some trapped in outer space thinking about their life and rall of their regrets. There were a few other good songs on the album too like Shipwrecked, Not About Us, and There Must Be Some Other Way. For some reason they decided to make Congo the first single. It is very corny and boring. To me it's for sure the worst song on the album, and maybe even the worst song in the history of Genesis. This was 1997, where sadly at the time, legends like Genesis weren't getting new songs and videos easily played on the radio and MTV and VH1. It was the era of grunge and "alternative music". A lot of the legends were now getting viewed as "uncool" and past their prime by the trendy music media and MTV. A song like Congo didn't help matters. I've discussed this album with a couple of actual critics and music historians online. One of them always tells me they think this album would have done better "if it was called something else" after the departure of Collins. It couldn't have done any worse, but sadly I don't think anything could have helped. Phil Collins would return for a reunion tour in 2007 and then again earlier this decade. No songs from this album were played on those tours. Wilson and this album seem to be not even in the band's history canon. Genesis got into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. Collins will be a Hall Of Famer as a solo artist this year. Peter Gabriel got into the Hall Of Fame as a solo artist in 2014.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_mz4IqY-E8&list=RDD_mz4IqY-E8&start_radio=1