1982 Genesis – Abacab
By 1978, Genesis had lost many of their members. The band became just a trio that included Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, and Tony Banks. Phil briefly moved to Vancouver in a vain attempt to try and save his marriage, after which he and his wife divorced and moved back to England.
Phil had begun working on a solo album in 1980. He donated one of the songs he had written to the next Genesis album, Misunderstanding. He based his song somewhat on a Beach Boys tune, Sail On Sailor.
Several different takes and videos were created for the single, including an early version that used slightly different music. The single became the band’s second top forty single in the US when it reached #14 on the Hot 100 but failed to reach the top forty in the UK. Surprisingly, the song reached #1 in Canada!
In 1981, Phil completed and released his first solo album, Face Value. It contained the international hit In The Air Tonight (which reached the top three in at least ten countries) as well as two more top twenty singles in the UK. The best he could manage in the US was two singles that stalled at #19. The album did, however, help reboot Genesis’ career the next year.
The band began releasing songs from the album Abacab in September 1981. The song title may sound strange, and I always wondered about the name of the song. It turns out that the recording was a pastiche of three different melodies, one from each of the members of the trio. The song pieces were referred to as section A, section B, and section C, and putting them together led to sequences like ABACAB.
The band released the title song in the UK in September and it reached the top ten. The record did not reach the US Hot 100 until the last week of 1981 but peaked at #26 on the chart early the next year.
A few more minor hits from the album followed but the big hit in 1982 became Phil’s solo single You Can’t Hurry Love, which topped the UK chart and reached #10 in the US late in the year.
In 1984, the band briefly separated so everybody could work on solo records.
Their most successful US album in the eighties came in 1986 with the release of Invisible Touch, which contained five consecutive top-five singles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_(band)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_discography#1980s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abacab_(song)
I have collected older articles about Lost or Forgotten Oldies in my books.
Please visit my author page on Amazon where I sell my paperbacks, eBooks, and audiobooks.
You can even read the books for free if you have Kindle Unlimited!
What Was Left In 