Trick of the Tail marked Genesis' first album without Peter Gabriel, and first with Phil Collins at the vocal helm. 1977's Wind & Wuthering sees the band even more settled into their new habitat, with Collins sounding more at home with his new role and the band writing very lush,complex, and mysterious progressive rock material, in what is arguably their final "all prog" release, save for moments on the follow-ups And Then There Were Three and Duke. Wind & Wuthering also marks guitarist Steve Hackett's finale with the band before he moved on to his solo career, and it also happens to have some of his best playing and largest amount of written contributions of any of the albums he appeared on with the band. This remaster features a splendid new mix, and a bonus DVD with a 5.1 mix of the whole album, new interviews with the band, and some shoddy bootleg videos of the band lip-synching on the Mike Douglas Show and on Japanese TV from 1977.
There's some stunning pieces on this one that warrant this album being included on the short list of Genesis' greatest releases. "Eleventh Earl of Mar" is a dark prog rock monster complete with fantasy tinged lyrics, Hackett's forceful guitart lines, plenty of textured keyboards from Tony Banks, plus some wonderful drum work from Collins, who also turns in a great vocal as well. The near 10-minute "One For the Vine" is a symphonic gem with pastoral elements, and the more acoustic "Your Own Special Way" turned out to be the album's single, an early sign of the melodic radio oriented material the band would later write plenty of. "Wot Gorilla? " is a short instrumental with a fusion feel, somewhat like a second cousin to "Los Endos", with Banks' keyboard melodies and Collins' jazzy drums leading the charge. Phil's charming vocals are the highlight on the very British sounding piece "All in a Mouse's Night", which contains some quirky lyrics about a small family and their cat dealing with their new tenant, a renegade mouse. Musically, this is a very symphonic number, with huge walls of sound from Banks and some soaring guitar passages from Hackett. The guitarist is featured on his song "Blood on the Rooftops", which kicks off with some gorgeous classical guitar before Collins' soothing vocals and Banks' Mellotron creep into the mix. This mysterious yet majestic piece really showed what kind of material Hackett could bring to the table, but alas the band had little room for it at this point which was the main reason why he left the band after their tour of the album.
Mike Rutherford and Hackett combined to come up with the haunting instrumental piece "Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers... ", a brief yet chilling piece with folkish acoustic guitars and creepy keyboard sounds, which segues right into "...In That Quiet Earth". This instrumental does a 180 and sees the band all charged up, especially Hackett and Collins, who fire up plenty of raging guitar blasts and fusion based drum fills. Rutherford's bass is rumbling below the surface, and Banks' spacey keys provide the texture on this one. About the mid-way point, Hackett and Rutherford rip into some heavy rock riffs, and Banks' explodes with some wild Moog synthesizer forays. Just an all around great piece. After the bombast of that one, Genesis settles into the album finale, the melodic and dreamy "Afterglow", a tune written by Banks that features perhaps Collins' best and most emotional vocal on the album. Swirling keyboards, ringing guitar patterns, and laid back rhythms make up the musical tapestries on this one, carried to soaring heights by Banks' haunting melodies and Collins' inspired vocal performance.
The bonus material on this one are not as essential as what you get with Trick of the Tail, but for fanatics of the band you get the seldom seen Mike Douglas Show appearance from 1977 where they performed parts of two tracks, lip-synched of course, as well as a stage performance from Japanese TV that same year, also playing to a soundtrack. The video quality is terrible, but it's neat to see this footage, probably shot mere months before Hackett left the band. Photographs of the 1977 tour program are also included (boy, they made some cool programs back then didn't they?) for the enthusiast. Overall, this is a great package and presentation for Wind & Wuthering. For those of you that thought Genesis crumbled after Peter Gabriel left the band, give this one another try. It remains one of the gems in the Genesis discography.
Track Listing
1. Eleventh Earl of Mar
2. One for the Vine
3. Your Own Special Way
4. Wot Gorilla?
5. All in a Mouse's Night
6. Blood on the Rooftops
7. Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers...
8. ...In That Quiet Earth
9. Afterglow
10. Eleventh Earl of Mar-5.1 Sound Mix [DVD]
11. One for the Vine- 5.1 Sound Mix [DVD]
12. Your Own Special Way-5.1 Sound Mix [DVD]
13. Wot Gorilla? 5.1 Sound Mix -[DVD]
14. All in a Mouse's Night 5.1 Sound Mix -[DVD]
15. Blood on the Rooftops 5.1 Sound Mix -[DVD]
16. Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers... -5.1 Sound Mix [DVD]
17. ...In That Quiet Earth -5.1 Sound Mix [DVD]
18. Afterglow -5.1 Sound Mix [DVD]
19. Reissue Interviews 2007 (DVD)
20. US Television Bootleg Video-Mike Douglas Show 1977 (DVD)
21. Japanese Television Bootleg Video 1977 (DVD)
22. World Tour Program 1977
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