Genesis - Trespass
Virgin
Progressive Rock
6 songs (42:45)
Release year: 1970
Genesis, Virgin
Reviewed by Thomas
Archive review

Genesis didn't turn any heads, raise any eyebrows or scare anyone away with their lackluster debut From Genesis to Revelation. In fact, their debut album is so different from the path they ended up on, that this, Trespass, is looked upon as the band's first album. An album far and away from From Genesis to Revelation, even though it was released only one mere year after. Foreshadowing the path that would lead the way to a whole different world of success, classicdom and a place among the greatest progressive rock bands of all time. Trespass was John Mayhew's first and last involvement with Genesis, and guitarist, Anthony Phillips, who also appeared on their debut left due to stage fright after this one. With a soft, progressive and both psychedelic and folk-flavoured approach, Peter Gabriel and the guys enlightened a path with more opportunities that they could ever imagine. And even though this is coloured a bit by early beginner-mistakes, especially found in the not-so-sharp lyrics, and the sometimes lackluster song-writing, it's far more enjoyable and exciting than their first outing. It's well proven that on the way to success and such a dominant position that this band has within the universe of music, one have to make mistakes. Where From Genesis to Revelation was a result of label and producer pressure, Trespass is a result of the inventive minds that would soon claim their position within prog rock beginning to unfold. With only six songs clocking in for over 40 minutes this screams epicness and adventourous song-writing.

Quality however isn't always as distinct as one would like. Even though the spark is there through the whole album, only half of the songs will trigger a flame. Especially opener Looing For Someone and Visions of Angels could have been more deliberately written as the vocal lines, chords and general structure is very predictable and well, boring. The elements are there, but aren't quite handled in the right way to create a real timeless epic album of say Lamb Lies Down on Broadway or even Foxtrot's proportions. So to say, the real joy of listening to this album doesn't really show until the briliant Stagnation and the fan favourite The Knife whihch might just be one of the most aggressive songs the band ever did. Those of you who like your prog rock a little heavy, the year taken into consideration, should love this. Distorted guitars that are almost abscent on the rest of the album, speedy transitions and sometimes even galloping riffs and drums wrapped into a dark and murky atmosphere pretty much does it for me and kept the song in my head for ages. The desperation in Gabriel's voice showed that he could do more than soft and light vocals. The guitar-solo in the middle of the song is a great addition which makes me wonder why the band didn't do more of this on this particular album. The other songs are far more keyboard driven than The Knife, which instantly makes them less interesting in my book, even though they are clearly breathing some fresh air into some of the material.

There's a genuine naive charm spread over the entire album that keeps me from docking this more points. A young shaky Peter Gabriel as well as simplistic production, and enthusiastic yet rarely fully mature song-writing has it's qualities, as the bricks seems to fit on a couple of the songs here. This album's main problem is that, like i mentiond above, that it's far to keyboard-driven. They tend to drown the guitars completely, and forces you to listen really hard in order to find any proper interaction at all which is very annoying and mainly why this album gathers tons of dust in comparison to their other works. There are moments where glimpses of stardom shines through though, and even though the songs vary greatly in quality, one can hear elements here that would later be included on later, largely successful records. The lone fact that Genesis could move from the merely average From Genesis to Revelation, to this in only one year takes skill and talent, and more and more people would keep an eye on these young guns. It takes heart to weave magic, and they certainly did with some of the songs on Trespass, found their way and became masters in the art of prog rock. On to Foxtrot

Killing Songs :
Stagnation, The Knife
Thomas quoted 73 / 100
Other albums by Genesis that we have reviewed:
Genesis - From Genesis to Revelation reviewed by Thomas and quoted 65 / 100
Genesis - Selling England By The Pound reviewed by Goat and quoted CLASSIC
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