Listopia: From Abacab to Wot Gorilla? – Collins-Era Genesis Ranked

Album tracks only. No B-sides, live versions, demos, bonus tracks or non-album singles. Long multi-part pieces are treated as single songs.


Collins-Era Genesis Tier Rankings

A Tier – Essential Genesis

Duchess(Duke, 1980)
One of the finest Collins-era achievements: mysterious, emotional, cinematic, and still recognizably Genesis without clinging to the Gabriel past.

Dance on a Volcano(A Trick of the Tail, 1976)
A thunderous opening statement for the post-Gabriel band. Nervous, complex, confident, and far better than it had any right to be.

Los Endos(A Trick of the Tail, 1976)
Genesis flexing the instrumental muscles without sounding academic. A thrilling closer and one of the great Collins-era stage pieces.

One for the Vine(Wind & Wuthering, 1976)
Tony Banks at his most grand and storybook-melancholic. Long, ambitious, and ornate, but emotionally grounded enough to justify the sprawl.

Behind the Lines(Duke, 1980)
A spectacular engine-room opener. The groove, the pomp, the precision – this is Genesis entering the 80s with its shoulders squared.

Turn It On Again(Duke, 1980)
Odd-meter art rock disguised as a radio hit. One of their smartest pop transformations.

Domino(Invisible Touch, 1986)
Late-period Genesis proving they could still think big. Dramatic, uneasy, and much more substantial than most of Invisible Touch.

Home by the Sea / Second Home by the Sea – (Genesis, 1983)
A great haunted-house Genesis track: accessible, eerie, and theatrical without turning into costume drama. The instrumental continuation arguably makes the whole idea matter. Moody, propulsive, and a strong reminder that they could still stretch out.

Fading Lights(We Can’t Dance, 1991)
The final true Genesis epic. It has the weight of goodbye even before you consciously know that’s what it is.

Ripples…(A Trick of the Tail, 1976)
Beautiful, wistful, and quietly devastating. Genesis doing pastoral melancholy with real grace.

Entangled(A Trick of the Tail, 1976)
A strange, suspended dream of a song. Delicate, unsettling, and one of the best examples of the early Collins era’s haunted softness.

Mama(Genesis, 1983)
Dark, ugly, theatrical, and deeply effective. Phil’s vocal performance is almost deranged in the best possible way.

Tonight, Tonight, Tonight(Invisible Touch, 1986)
Overlong in single terms, but hypnotic in album terms. One of the few Invisible Touch tracks that still feels dangerous.

Blood on the Rooftops(Wind & Wuthering, 1976)
An underrated gem: weary, British, literate, and beautifully arranged. Steve Hackett’s shadow leaves with style.


B Tier – Excellent / Near-Essential

Squonk(A Trick of the Tail, 1976)
Heavy, lumbering, and oddly lovable. Genesis trying to be mythic and muscular at the same time.

Mad Man Moon(A Trick of the Tail, 1976)
A lovely Banks ballad-epic with ornate piano and a real sense of faded magic. Slightly precious, but beautifully so.

Afterglow(Wind & Wuthering, 1976)
Simple by Genesis standards, but emotionally huge. One of their great communal, arms-raised endings.

Eleventh Earl of Mar(Wind & Wuthering, 1976)
A strong opener with plenty of old Genesis drama still intact. Maybe not quite transcendent, but thoroughly convincing.

Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers…(Wind & Wuthering, 1976)
A short atmospheric piece that works beautifully as a portal. More mood than song, but the mood is first-rate.

…In That Quiet Earth(Wind & Wuthering, 1976)
A sharp, energetic instrumental with real bite. It feels like the band briefly remembering it can still sprint through a maze.

Down and Out(And Then There Were Three, 1978)
A jagged, aggressive opener that gives And Then There Were Three badly needed teeth. Awkward in places, but exciting.

Undertow(And Then There Were Three, 1978)
One of the emotional high points of And Then There Were Three. Big, yearning, and much better than the album’s reputation suggests.

Burning Rope(And Then There Were Three, 1978)
A grand Banks construction with a noble sweep. Maybe a little formal, but it has genuine scale.

Deep in the Motherlode(And Then There Were Three, 1978)
A sturdy, driving track with American frontier energy filtered through very English prog machinery.

Follow You Follow Me(And Then There Were Three, 1978)
Soft, simple, and historically crucial. It opened the pop door without completely embarrassing the band.

Guide Vocal(Duke, 1980)
Tiny but powerful. A miniature emotional thesis statement for Duke.

Heathaze(Duke, 1980)
Gorgeous melancholy from the Banks corner. A bit chilly, but that chill is part of the charm.

Duke’s Travels / Duke’s End(Duke, 1980)
Big instrumental drama with some real fire. It carries the old prog banner into the new decade respectably. A satisfying reprise and curtain call. Not deep on its own, but it lands with real force in context.

Abacab(Abacab, 1981)
Lean, modern, and intentionally stripped down. Genesis shedding old skin, even if not everyone enjoyed watching the molting process.

Me and Sarah Jane(Abacab, 1981)
Quirky, intricate, and sneaky-good. Tony Banks smuggles a little art-rock eccentricity into the new Genesis framework.

Dodo / Lurker(Abacab, 1981)
One of the last truly weird Genesis epics. Angular, cold, and much more interesting than the band’s pop-era caricature.

Land of Confusion(Invisible Touch, 1986)
A strong, punchy social-commentary single. The video may dominate memory, but the song itself has muscle.

No Son of Mine(We Can’t Dance, 1991)
A late-career dramatic success. Heavy, serious, and convincing without trying to recreate the 70s.

Driving the Last Spike(We Can’t Dance, 1981)
The best long-form narrative on We Can’t Dance. Earnest, expansive, and surprisingly moving.


C Tier – Strong / Worth Keeping

A Trick of the Tail(A Trick of the Tail, 1976)
Charming and whimsical, though a little lightweight compared with the album’s giants. Still, it has a lovely post-Gabriel confidence.

Your Own Special Way(Wind & Wuthering, 1976)
Soft-rock Genesis before soft-rock Genesis fully took over. Pretty, sincere, and a little too comfortable.

Wot Gorilla?(Wind & Wuthering, 1976)
A fun instrumental workout, though it feels more like connective tissue than a major statement.

Many Too Many(And Then There Were Three, 1978)
A polished ballad with genuine sadness. Not revolutionary, but very well crafted.

Say It’s Alright Joe(And Then There Were Three, 1978)
An odd, smoky character piece. It doesn’t entirely land, but it has atmosphere and a strange after-hours charm.

The Lady Lies(And Then There Were Three, 1978)
A theatrical Banks story-song that still has some old Genesis bite. Slightly stiff, but engaging.

Misunderstanding(Duke, 1980)
A very effective pop song, even if it sounds more like Phil’s solo future knocking loudly at the door.

Alone Tonight(Duke, 1980)
A good Rutherford ballad: plainspoken, melodic, and emotionally direct. Not essential, but easy to like.

Cul-de-sac(Duke, 1980)
A strong Banks deep cut with dramatic movement and a sense of consequence. Slightly overlooked.

Please Don’t Ask(Duke, 1980)
Phil’s divorce pain begins entering the Genesis bloodstream. More personal than grand, but affecting.

No Reply at All(Abacab, 1981)
Genesis with horns should probably be illegal on paper, but this works better than expected.

Keep It Dark(Abacab, 1981)
Strange, clipped, and rhythmically interesting. One of the better examples of their early-80s art-pop experiments.

Man on the Corner(Abacab, 1981)
A stark, moody Collins piece that benefits from restraint. Slightly thin, but emotionally clear.

Another Record(Abacab, 1981)
A low-key closer that feels like the band shrugging in rhythm. Not great, but oddly likable.

That’s All(Genesis, 1983)
A clean, clever pop single. It is lightweight Genesis, but it is extremely well-built lightweight Genesis.

Taking It All Too Hard(Genesis, 1983)
Smooth, adult, and tuneful. A good song, though the edges have been thoroughly sanded.

Silver Rainbow(Genesis, 1983)
A strange, underrated track with a slippery mood. Not quite top-tier, but more interesting than its reputation.

It’s Gonna Get Better(Genesis, 1983)
A strong closer with real warmth and atmosphere. Slightly repetitive, but it earns its optimism.

Invisible Touch(Invisible Touch, 1986)
Pure pop product, but annoyingly undeniable. The title track is not deep Genesis, but it is precision-engineered.

Throwing It All Away(Invisible Touch, 1986)
A gentle, effective ballad. More Phil than Genesis, but it has a strong melody and emotional simplicity.

The Brazilian(Invisible Touch, 1986)
A sleek instrumental with good atmosphere. It doesn’t fully explode, but it adds welcome texture to Invisible Touch.

Jesus He Knows Me(We Can’t Dance, 1991)
Sharp satire and a strong late-period single. Maybe a little broad, but the target deserves it.

Dreaming While You Sleep(We Can’t Dance, 1991)
One of the more serious and atmospheric We Can’t Dance tracks. A bit heavy-handed, but effective.


D Tier – Defensible, but Flawed

Robbery, Assault and Battery(A Trick of the Tail, 1976)
Phil does his best with the theatrical crime-caper routine, but it feels like leftover Gabriel-era clothing that doesn’t quite fit.

All in a Mouse’s Night(Wind & Wuthering, 1976)
Clever in concept, somewhat clunky in execution. A little too much nursery-room prog theater.

Scenes from a Night’s Dream(And Then There Were Three, 1978)
Not terrible, but oddly slight. Genesis doing whimsy without enough magic in the tank.

Ballad of Big(And Then There Were Three, 1978)
A strange Western pastiche that never quite earns its swagger. Memorable, but not necessarily for the right reasons.

Snowbound(And Then There Were Three, 1978)
Pretty but pale. It drifts by pleasantly, then melts almost immediately.

Man of Our Times(Duke, 1980)
Heavy and dramatic, but also blunt and somewhat graceless. Genesis with steel-toed boots.

Like It or Not(Abacab, 1981)
A decent Rutherford song that feels trapped between album track and minor solo-demo energy.

Just a Job to Do – (Genesis, 1983)
Efficient and punchy, but oddly anonymous. It moves well without leaving much behind.

In Too Deep(Invisible Touch, 1986)
A polished ballad, but dangerously close to adult-contemporary wallpaper. Effective, yet not very Genesis.

Anything She Does(Invisible Touch, 1986)
Bright, frantic, and disposable. It has energy, but not much dignity.

I Can’t Dance(We Can’t Dance, 1991)
As a joke, it works. As a Genesis song, it stands there in sunglasses and refuses to explain itself.

Never a Time(We Can’t Dance, 1991)
Smooth but bland. It sounds like the band trying to manufacture emotional weight from very soft materials.

Tell Me Why(We Can’t Dance, 1991)
Well-intentioned, but lyrically and musically too obvious. Genesis doing conscience-pop with a heavy marker.

Living Forever(We Can’t Dance, 1991)
Musically decent, lyrically awkward. It has some instrumental life, but the song itself feels undercooked.

Way of the World(We Can’t Dance, 1991)
Pleasant enough, but generic. It vanishes almost as soon as it ends.

Since I Lost You(We Can’t Dance, 1991)
Sincere and tasteful, but extremely subdued. More commemorative than compelling as a Genesis track.


F Tier – Weak / Skippable

Illegal Alien(Genesis, 1983)
A bad idea with a catchy chorus attached. Unfortunately, the catchiness does not acquit the crime.

Who Dunnit?(Abacab, 1981)
Irritating, but at least intentionally irritating. A novelty experiment that escaped containment.

Hold on My Heart(We Can’t Dance, 1991)
Soft, beige, and almost aggressively uneventful. Less Genesis than lobby music with excellent production values.


Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*