Artist: GENESIS
Album: GENESIS REMASTERED (CD)

Year: 1983/ 2008
Media type: CD

Genesis is an eponymous album by Genesis and is their twelfth studio album, recorded and released in 1983. Most fans, as well as the band themselves, refer to this album as the "Mama" album. In some cases, notably amongst the Genesis online community, it has been referred to as the "Shapes" album because of the front cover artwork.

Building on the advancements of Abacab, Genesis (so named for the fact that all three band members composed every song on it together for the first time), was a further example of Genesis' evolution in the 1980s. The album also marked the beginning of Hugh Padgham's formal production assistance after engineering Abacab.

The drum machine, used to startling effect on lead-single "Mama", was central to the song's atmosphere, and was responsible for further opening up songwriting possibilities within the band. One of their most uncommercial releases, "Mama," a song about a young boy's obsession with a prostitute, became Genesis' biggest UK hit, reaching #4 upon release, although the song tanked on the US singles chart.

Further successes "That's All" (which became the band's first US Top 10 hit), "Illegal Alien" and "Taking It All Too Hard" ensured that Genesis was well-received upon its release and it consequently reached UK # 1, while making #9 in the US and eventually selling over four million copies there alone.

Among fans, the album has a generally favourable, yet still mixed reputation.

A SACD / DVD double disc set (including new 5.1 and Stereo mixes) was released in October 2007 in Europe and as a CD and DVD double disc set in the US and Canada a month later.

All songs by Tony Banks/Phil Collins/Mike Rutherford.

TRACKLIST:

01 "Mama" - 6:52
02 "That's All" - 4:26
03 "Home By The Sea" - 5:07
04 "Second Home By The Sea" - 6:07
05 "Illegal Alien" - 5:15
06 "Taking It All Too Hard" - 3:58
07 "Just A Job To Do" - 4:47
08 "Silver Rainbow" - 4:30
09 "It's Gonna Get Better" - 5:14

LINE-UP:

Phil Collins - vocals, drums, percussion
Tony Banks - keyboards, background vocals
Mike Rutherford - guitars, bass guitar, background vocals