Genesis was formed in 1967 and over the decades had many different eras that were dictated by the songwriting direction of the musicians who were part of the band at the time. The first one that lasted until 1975, had Peter Gabriel as the vocalist and was mainly focused on Progressive Rock music mixed with the theatrical side of the live concert. The second one, that turned out to be the most successful one commercially had the drummer Phil Collins occupying the vocals. That era marked the beginning of the evolution of the Genesis as a band that mixed Pop with Progressive Rock.
Phil Collins was part of the 12 Genesis studio albums, four as the band’s drummer and eight as the drummer and vocalist. Even though a musician tends to like almost everything he has recorded, there is one album of the group that Collins said it is probably his least favorite one.
The Genesis album that Phil Collins said is probably his least favorite one
Peter Gabriel decided to leave the band in 1975, but the rest of the band continued the same. But only for the next two albums “A Trick of the Tail” (1976) and “Wind & Wuthering” (1976). The only difference on those two albums was that Phil Collins was the band’s lead vocalist besides continuing playing the drums.
But in 1977, the guitarist Steve Hackett decided that was time to leave as well. Then the group became a trio with Phil Collins, Tony Banks (Keyboards) and Mike Rutherford. Before that Mike was only the band’s bassist and then also started playing the guitar.
With that line-up, the band released in 1978 the album titled “…And Then There Were Three…”. A perfect name for their situation at that era. Even though it was an album that marked the beginning of that successful part of their careers, Phil Collins is not a big fan of the album. He said that an interview with Mario Giammetti for the book “Genesis: 1975 to 2021 – The Phil Collins Years”.
“This is probably my least favourite record. But maybe that’s just because it wasn’t a particularly happy period in my life. I contributed little bits. But the songs were kind of short, a little inconsequential.”
“I felt, apart from ‘Follow You Follow Me’ which I thought was great. I remember writing some lyrics for different things. But certainly not the kind of lyrics I would go on to write a couple of years later [on Genesis’s next album, Duke], which were much more personal.”
Phil Collins continued:
“I suppose there are a couple of lyrics in there that I might have written based on personal experiences. But I was still writing some fantasy things, based on what the Genesis history was. As opposed to what I would become. I was always more direct, while Genesis were always more ‘round the houses’ storytellers,” Phil Collins said.
As the musician noted, the last track of the album is “Follow You Follow Me” and remains as one of the band’s biggest hits. The song became their first top 10 hit in the United Kingdom. In the United States they didn’t appear among the Top 10, but among the Top 40.
Collins was glad that the an American band he admires liked one of the songs
In 1976, the American drummer Chester Thompson joined Genesis as their touring drummer. He told Collins that the hit “Follow You Follow Me” used to be played all the time on the Weather Report tour bus. Thompson was a member of the Jazz Fusion group from 1975 to 1977. The band had other praised musicians like Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul and Alphonso Johnson.
Collins recalled that story in an interview for the Box Set “Genesis 1976-1982” (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) released in 2007. “It’s just another step on that ladder (the album), you know. That made us a bigger band that we were before. You know, playing to more people, more interest, playing more on the radio. (Also) suddenly a few girls in the audience.”
“When Chester Thompson joined the live band playing drums he said that on the Weather Report bus they always used to play that song (‘Follow You Follow Me’). I thought: ‘All right! God, we’ve done something right. If Weather Report like it. If Wayne Shorter and Josef Zawinul often listen to this and say ‘This English stuff is cool’. I thought we’ve done something right,'” Phil Collins said.