Discover the Thrilling Soundscapes of Genesis’ Calling All Stations: An Album Review You Can’t Miss!
Genesis – Calling All Stations(Image credit: Virgin)
Calling All Stations
Congo
Shipwrecked
Alien Afternoon
Not About Us
If That’s What You Need
The Dividing Line
Uncertain Weather
Small Talk
There Must Be Some Other Way
One Man’s Fool
Ray Wilson succeeded Phil Collins and fronted Genesis from 1996 until 1998. He recorded vocals on their last album, 1998âs Calling All Stations, before parting ways with them after the tour later that year. Wilson’s position may have been a thankless one, and the reaction to Calling All Stations reinforced that. Critics described the album as uninspired and lacklustre, with performances from the musicians that were workmanlike and songs that were mediocre at best. But it sold well in Europe, as did the supporting tour. In the US it was a different story: The album tanked, and the tour was cancelled amid reports of poor ticket sales.  With the benefit of hindsight, some might disagree with the original reviews. Tony Banks certainly does, and expressed irritation that the album was ignored by 2014’s Sum Of The Parts documentary. As for Wilson, he thinks the band’s legacy may have been better served if a mooted second album had been recorded.
âWhen I signed my contract to join the band, it was for two albums,” he said in 2016. “It was always the idea to do the first and then go from there, but Mike Rutherford changed his mind.
âI think he felt he didnât have the stamina to do another one. All of a sudden youâre faced with going from 15 million albums sales to two and a half, and I think he couldnât find it in himself to do the next one.”
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Other albums released in September 1997
Indoor Living – Superchunk
Abrasive – Puddle of Mudd
S.C.I.E.N.C.E. – Incubus
Troublizing – Ric Ocasek
Marchin’ Already – Ocean Colour Scene
Marigold Sky – Hall & Oates
Barely Legal – The Hives
The Big Picture – Elton John
Falling into Infinity – Dream Theater
Gone From Danger – Joan Baez
The Hangover – Gilby Clarke
Bridges To Babylon – The Rolling Stones
Levitate – The Fall
Urban Hymns – The Verve
With a Twist – Todd Rundgren
Peace and Noise – Patti Smith
Time Out of Mind – Bob Dylan
What they said…
“The ultimate problem here is the usual one: the dearth of decent material beyond a few pleasant if generic FM-rock tunes like Shipwrecked and Not About Us. Call any station you want, gentlemen, the world doesn’t need a Mike and the Mechanics artrock album.” (Rolling Stone)
“The problem with Genesis’ first album since Phil Collins’ departure isn’t new frontman Ray Wilson. Indeed, Wilson’s anonymous efficiency is well matched to charter members Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford’s idea-starved new compositions and uneventful instrumental tracks. At best, Calling All Stations offers pale echoes of Genesis’ more distinctive prior work; at worst, it’s an uncomfortable reminder of the passionless complacency that killed prog rock back in the ’70s.” (Entertainment Weekly)
“Trademark turns into travesty. With Collins gone, Banks and Rutherford signed on a chesty new singer, Ray Wilson, picked up a studio drummer and remade Genesis as a muscle-headed bar-band imitation of its cheesiest self. The title song wonders: ‘Can anybody tell me, tell me exactly where I am/Iâve lost all sense of direction.’ Ainât it the truth.” (Blender)
What you said…
John Davidson: The dying breath from a once great band.I was never a fan of their pop era, but they still produced a fair number of decent tunes even if I fell out of love with their albums after Hackett bowed out.Sadly there’s really nothing to say about this album that isn’t critical.The songwriting is sub-par. Even the stronger songs like Calling All Stations and There Must Be Some Other Way seem less than fully formed.Ray Wilson was a poor fit for the music. Not that he isn’t a decent singer, but Genesis have always benefited from the charisma of their frontman more than their vocal performances. Wilson can belt out the rockers but he sounds restrained and muted on most of the songs without managing to find any nuance or emotional connection.David Longdon (sadly now deceased) was in the frame for this album at one point before he went on to join Big…
T.C. Grantham: Following Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel wouldâve been a challenge for any singer. But Ray Wilson does a commendable job. Rather smartly, the band decided not to copy what they had done with Collins on the previous 3-4 albums. Instead, they decide to go more towards their prog rock roots with lengthier songs and a darker sound.The reason people put this album down is because they were expecting another pop masterpiece. If you were a fan of Invisible Touch and We Canât Dance, youâll hate this album. But if youâre a fan of their earlier progressive albums, youâll feel right at home. Overall, itâs not a bad album…
Gary Claydon: The biggest problem with Calling All Stations is the unimaginative, mundane songwriting. Even when a chink of light appears, such as the title track or the beginning of Alien Afternoon (a track desperately crying out for a half-decent guitar solo) it soon disappears into repetitive monotony.If you’re a fan of the Collins-era Genesis you’ll probably be disappointed with Calling All Stations. Say what you will about their 80s pop-rock but they did come up with some memorably hooky gems. Nothing here comes close to capturing that.If you’re a fan of the classic ’70s Genesis, you’ll probably be disappointed with…
At a push, you could attribute a melancholic vibe to the proceedings but, even then, the dull, uninspired lyrics come across more like a couple of middle-aged blokes moaning about their lives with a distinct air of self-pity rather than anything meaningful or emotive.I feel sorry for Ray Wilson. He’s a fairly capable vocalist but is given little to work with here.The blurb introducing this week’s album claims it has moments that are comparable to Genesis’s “greatest are a complete song. Almost every single one fades out when it is obvious the band kept playing. They thus sound incomplete.I do have an issue with Wilson though; Peter and Phil were obviously British. That was a huge part of the appeal for me. I wouldn’t know Ray was Scottish if I hadn’t been told. He sings with no discernable accent at all. He might as well be an American.I don’t hate this album, I’m just unsatisfied with it and haven’t played it since it…
I do hate the cover. It’s just bad, easily the worst of their career.I also think Chester Thompson and Daryl Stuermer should have been made full members of the band at this point. I believe that would have been the right thing to do, made the recordings better and given the album more credibility.
Keith Jenkin: The biggest issue for me is that this is branded as a Genesis album. It’s admittedly a mildly interesting adult rock album, but really it should have been marketed as a Rutherford / Banks affair as to my ears the music bears little resemblance to either the stuff Genesis made with Peter Gabriel on vocals or indeed their more recent stuff with Phil Collins fronting the band.Let’s be honest here, most Genesis fans would never have gone near this one based on hearing the music in advance without knowing who it was by. I’ve tried several times to get something more from the record, but ultimately I know I only have it in the collection because…
Nick Thompson: Love this album. Title track is one of my favourite tunes.
Ovidiu Virgil Draganescu: A very Good album. Better than those pop albums influenced by Phil Collins. More profound, more prog, darker.
Adriano Gazza: I do love this album and it has some great songs. The title track, If Thatâs What You Need, Congo, Not About Us and There Must Be Some Other Way are all excellent. Iâve always been drawn to overlooked albums and I would recommend this, as itâs great playing and Rayâs vocals are really good too.
Tony Rockall: It gets unfairly slated. I didn’t own a copy until a few years ago. I was in a second-hand music shop in Reading doing a bit of crate diving when I found it. As it was only a couple of quid I thought I’d give it a go. Bloody glad I…
Leo Trimming: If this album didnât have the âGenesisâ name on, it would have long been forgotten. Itâs OK, but nowhere near the best albums by this band.
Philip Qvist: I am not a huge fan of the Genesis 70s Prog era, but I did enjoy Duke and Abacab, while the final three albums from the so-called Phil Collins era had their moments – unfortunately both good and bad. In short, Genesis are one of those bands where a Greatest Hits album, and maybe a live record of their earlier songs, will suffice for me.So with all of that in mind, how do I rate Calling All Stations? I see many critics gave it 1 or 2 stars when it was released, which I thought was harsh, to put it mildly. The title track is my standout song, while Congo sounds so much better now than when it was released as the lead single in the mid-90s. So it is nowhere near the bad album that conventional wisdom would have us to believe it to be.That all said, it isn’t a great album either – far from it. It sounds like Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks wanted to distance themselves as much as possible from the “Phil Era” – and created an inconsistent record. You would be forgiven for thinking that this was a Mike + The Mechanics album.Singer Ray Wilson does a decent enough job, but Calling All Stations just has blandness written all over it. If they had culled at least four songs from it and kept it shorter, the album may have stood…
Kevin Herrera: Ugh. I had somehow blocked this album out of my memory, and I was hoping that I would find a hidden gem by listening to it again this week. The problem is that there isn’t anything memorable on it, and it doesn’t come close the solo work that the Genesis members had released in the years before. Ray Wilson’s singing is serviceable, and he is hampered by the material. I’m curious how he sounded when they took the album on tour, with a set list of classic Genesis songs alongside the new ones. Sadly, this album sees Genesis go out with a whimper, not a bang. 3/10.
Rod Smith: Gone back to this so many times with an open mind and it never fails to disappoint. My understanding is they tried to get Fish to join the band when Phil left. That would have been a far better choice.
Gus Schultz: Not an album I would listen to, but itâs not terrible. Itâs better than most of their mid 80s and onward stuff. There was too much Phil Collins going on back then for my tastes. I can hear a little of the earlier Genesis on it as well as some of the later stuff as well. There is a lack of decent drumming due to Philâs absence but overall I donât know if I would say it is their worst. Iâm just…
Mike Canoe: Calling All Stations isn’t the best Peter Gabriel album but at a time his recorded output was slowing down, it was great to…Wait, what? Peter Gabriel had nothing to do with this album?OK, Calling All Stations sounds like a Peter Gabriel album that could be slotted between 1992′ Us and 2002’s Up.A lot of the similarity, of course, comes from new singer, Ray Gillen, who sounds like a gruffer Gabriel to me. However, even the music and themes seem to mirror what Gabriel was doing in his solo career – but not with his time with Genesis. Alien Afternoon has bits that remind me of Digging In The Dirt and Shipwrecked…
Greg Schwepe: As a big Genesis fan, I did not scream or cry out in agony when they released âCalling All Stationsâ with a new vocalist (Ray Wilson) after Phil Collins left. I simply thought, âGee Genesis, why bother at this point?â Once again you had an established band replacing a longtime lead vocalist (Collins), who took over from the original vocalist (Gabriel) and the first replacement (Collins) made the band even more popular. I never bothered to listen to the album; just wasnât interested. For the record, I did the same…
So, while I had never listened to the Calling All Stations album prior to this weekâs review, I had heard Congo, which was included on a Genesis compilation album released in conjunction with their first reunion tour. And well, I liked it. But again, no interest in checking out the entire album.But after listening to the album finally for the first time⊠not a bad album! But hey, they shouldâve just called the band something else. Like âNo Phil/Fillâ or something. If Iâd have done a blind listening test and played the album in its entirety, I wouldâve said âwow, I like this albumâŠwho is it by the way?â I like Ray Wilsonâs vocals, like the songs, basically the kind of music I gravitate to. Just didnât need…
Final score: 5.03 (102 votes cast, total score 514)Join the Album Of The Week Club on Facebook to join in. The history of rock, one album at a time.
