Invisible Touch (1986)

Artist: Genesis
Release Year: 1986

Rating: 5/10

Track Listing: 1) Invisible Touch; 2) Tonight, Tonight; Tonight; 3) Land of Confusion; 4) In Too Deep; 5) Anything She Does; 6) Domino; 7) Throwing It All Away; 8) The Brazilian.

Well, I guess that release year just about tells you all you need to know.  The art-pop subtleties are gone, and in a flurry of synths and drum machines, Genesis now take their place among the sterile adult pop acts of the mid-Eighties.  Hearing Genesis play this kind of music may not be as bad as hearing it from a bunch of other bands, but that still doesn't mean I want to hear this kind of music at all.

Right from the opening synth riff in the title track, we're made aware that the warmth and personality we once knew are long gone.  It's as mid-80s as it gets: catchy at the start, but aggressive and in-your-face as it continues, before committing the mortal sin that forever dooms a song in my eyes: the upward key change at the end!  I've ranted about this trope at length and would happily write a full essay on why I hate it so much, but that's for another day.

There are some good moments.  "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" has a sense of danger that makes things interesting, although we eventually bog down in a sea of synths, drum machines, and a guitar tone that sounds more like TV static than anything.  At least Phil's usual exemplary real drumming comes in near the end.  I really love all the smooth twists and turns of "Throwing It All Away" - not to mention the cool riff and the different segments that flow together so well.  All the class and warmth of this song means it will always be a favorite of mine.  And "Land of Confusion" is source of inner conflict for me.  The thing sounds aggressively preachy, like the melody itself is shaming me for not effecting the kind of change these millionaire pop stars are demanding from us peons…and are those freaking MIDI sounds sprinkled in?  Yet, the song is an absolute rager throughout, and I can't dismiss it.  It's good.

But of course, I can't find as much to like for all the material on here.  "In Too Deep" is the tepid radio hit that makes adequate slow-dance music and nothing else, while "Domino" is a mess that doesn't begin to justify its length.  It smacks of the same problem they had in the Duke era: taking a pop song and stretching it to prog length to try to retain their old gravitas.  Unfortunately, that has about the same effect as trying to stretch a piece of bubblegum: it doesn't result in any more substance, and in fact it just aerates the product and kills the flavor.  And I can't even remember "Anything She Does", so never mind that one.  Finally, "The Brazilian" alternates between buzzing synths and even more annoying percussion.  It's all just so plastic.  

Sure, the world could see this coming since Duke, but at least that era's songs had some kind of nuance to them.  Here, it's just product, product, and more product.  The songs aren't that much different from before in terms of structure and melody-- play any one of these on an acoustic guitar and it will probably sound fine.  Not great, mind you, but fine.  It's the production, though, that makes me feel like I'm drowning in a sea of plastic and sterility, and slogging through that for 45 minutes is a bigger chore than an album should be.