1982 Vinyl Box Set " In 1977, after the ‘Wind & Wuthering’ album, guitarist Steve Hackett left, feeling that he was not getting his fair share of music recorded. The others understood but that wasn’t the way Genesis operated. Phil Collins came out from behind the drum kit to be the new singer. The critics wrote them off and mourned the passing of an era. “People look back on that first era with a rosy glow and there was a lot of great music but we weren’t selling many records,” says Tony Banks. “Our next album, ’A Trick Of The Tail’, doubled our sales.” “Once we were down to a three piece with Phil as a fully participating songwriter we started writing everything in the studio,” says Tony.
And the songs tended to be more spontaneous. It seemed to bring out the best in us, individually and collectively.” ‘Duke’ was Genesis’ first Number One album in the UK, reaching Number 11 in America and giving them their first Top 20 single there with ‘Misunderstanding’, a songwriting debut for Phil Collins that led to his famous parallel solo career. “‘Abacab’ was for me a real pleasure to do,” says Mike Rutherford. “It was always an adventure we faced without any preconceived ideas. It was, ‘Here we go, hope it works and let’s see which way it takes us’. And Phil’s voice had developed. He’d gone from being a drummer who sang to being a great singer.”
