Review of Genesis album Turn It On Again - The Hits
It’s finally happened. After a long separation and the establishment of successful solo careers, Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins — with the rest of the rock history-defining band known as Genesis — are together again, if only for one song. The group’s new compilation Turn it On Again…The Hits contains the newly recorded gem, a remake of the classic Carpet Crawlers originally found on the equally memorable album The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. Although the artists did not actually meet to record the reprise — the work is a result of separate studio visits pieced together — Gabriel, Collins, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Steve Hackett appear to have remained good friends. It was this friendship, after all, that led the quintet to form the ensemble in 1967. Despite Genesis’ popularity in the early years, when Gabriel still headed up the vocal department, the post-1975 fan numbers and chart-topping notoriety was first achieved with Collins at the helm. For more than 20 years, Collins mixed infectious pop melodies with the complexity of the first band’s recordings — to the roar of international audiences. Since 1997, Rutherford and Co. have had a new front man, Ray Wilson. Turn it On Again…The Hits honors the long career of a band with a relatively high turnover. A changing of the guard has never hurt them and, in fact, continues to catapult them to new heights.