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Wind & Wuthering is the eighth studio album by British rock band Genesis, originally released in December 1976.[1]

Tony Banks has said Wind & Wuthering is one of his two favourite Genesis albums.[2] Steve Hackett has also stated that he is "very fond" of this album,[2] the last Genesis studio album he plays on.

Contents[]

 [hide*1 Titles

Titles[edit][]

The album's title derives from two pieces: The "Wind" comes from "The House of the Four Winds" (a Chinese restaurant in Manhattan), the title given by Hackett to a piece that later became the quiet bridge for "Eleventh Earl of Mar"; the "Wuthering" alludes to the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. The titles of tracks 7 and 8 are derived from the novel's closing paragraph:

I lingered round them, under that benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth.

"Eleventh Earl of Mar" refers to the historical figure of John Erskine, 11th Earl of Mar by one reckoning. The first line of the song ('The sun had been up for a couple of hours, covered the ground with a layer of gold') is the first line of the novel The Flight of the Heron by D. K. Broster.

"Afterglow" was composed by Tony Banks, who described it as a spontaneous piece that was written in about the same amount of time as it takes to play it and somewhat resembles "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"; it became a staple on Genesis tours for over 10 years, from the 1977 Wind & Wuthering Tour until the 1986/7 Invisible Touch Tour.[3] It was played as part of the 2007 Turn It On Again: The Tour, as part of a medley that also included "In The Cage", "The Cinema Show", and "Duke's Travels."[4] A Moog Taurus bass pedal is used to create a drone effect on which much of the song is structured.[citation needed]

Reception[edit][]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [5]
Q [6]
Rolling Stone (favorable)[7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide [8]

Rolling Stone gave the album a positive review, praising Genesis for being both more experimental and more steeped in conventional rock than theirprogressive rock contemporaries. They made particular note of "Your Own Special Way", calling it "a first-rate pop song".[7]

In a retrospective review, Allmusic similarly made note of "Your Own Special Way", calling it "the first [Genesis tune] that could qualify as a love song". They described it as "working the same English eccentric ground that was the group's stock in trade since Trespass" and said it is "a standard Genesis record, but quite a good one in that regard.[5]

In another retrospective review, Andy Fyfe writing for Q praised "One for the Vine" as one of Genesis's "moments of impressive songwriting", but also added that "little of the band's output has aged well".[6]

According to Billboard, at the end of 1977 a poll of more than 10,000 radio listeners in Greece voted Wind & Wuthering the fourth best album of the year.[9]

Track listing[edit][]

Side one
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Eleventh Earl of Mar"   Tony Banks, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford 7:43
2. "One for the Vine"   Banks 10:00
3. "Your Own Special Way"   Rutherford 6:17
4. "Wot Gorilla?"   Phil Collins, Banks 3:20
Side two
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "All in a Mouse's Night"   Banks 6:39
2. "Blood on the Rooftops"   Hackett, Collins 5:27
3. "Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers…"   Hackett, Rutherford 2:19
4. "…In That Quiet Earth"   Banks, Collins, Hackett, Rutherford 4:54
5. "Afterglow"   Banks 4:14

Original North American Atco Records pressings of the album banded "Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers..." and "... In That Quiet Earth" together as a single track. The running time for the combined track on these pressings is listed as 7:12.

2007 SACD/CD/DVD Release[edit][]

A new version of Wind & Wuthering was released in the UK and Japan on 2 April 2007. It was released in the US and Canada as part of the Genesis 1976-1982 box set on 15 May 2007. This includes the entire album in remixed stereo, the entire album in surround sound, and related video tracks.

  • Disc 1, in the European and Japanese releases, is a hybrid SACD/CD. The stereo layer includes the remixed tracks, and the SACD layer is a multichannel surround sound remix.[10]
  • Disc 1, in the Canadian and US releases, is a standard CD, containing the stereo remixes. No SACD layer is included.[11]
  • Disc 2, in all releases, is a DVD containing both audio and video tracks. This includes three audio mixes of the album: DTS 5.1 surround soundDolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and Dolby Digitalstereo.[12] The DTS surround sound is a slightly compressed version of the surround sound on the SACD,[11] and the Dolby surround sound is of slightly inferior quality to the DTS.[13]
  • Disc 2 also includes the following video tracks:
  1. Band interview about this album (2007).
  2. Genesis on The Mike Douglas Show (US television), 1977 (sourced from bootleg video). Songs include "Your Own Special Way" and "Afterglow".
  3. Japanese television appearance, 1977 (sourced from bootleg video). Songs include "Eleventh Earl of Mar", "One For the Vine", and "Your Own Special Way".
  4. World Tour Program, from 1977 tour (13-page gallery).

Chart performance[edit][]

Wind & Wuthering reached number 7 in the UK where it remained on the charts for 22 weeks, and No.26 in the US. In the US, "Your Own Special Way" became the band's first charting single with Collins as lead vocalist, at No. 62 in the US, and gained FM airplay.

Personnel[edit][]

  • Tony Banks – acoustic & electric pianos, synthesizers (ARP 2600 & Pro-Soloist, Roland RS-202 String), mellotron, Hammond T-102 organ
  • Phil Collins – lead & backing vocals, drums, percussion
  • Steve Hackett – electric guitar, classical guitar, 12-string guitar, kalimbaautoharp
  • Mike Rutherford – bass guitars (4, 6 & 8 strings), bass pedals, 12-string guitar, electric guitar, backing vocals

Production[edit][]

Original release

  • Produced By David Hentschel & Genesis
  • Recorded & Engineered By David Hentschel
  • Assistant Engineers: Pierre Geoffroy Chateau, Nick Bradford

2007 reissue

  • 5.1 surround sound mix and new stereo mix by Nick Davis
  • Mixed at The FarmSurrey in 2006
  • Remastered by Tony Cousins at Metropolis Mastering
  • DVD authoring by Ray Shulman (for isonics)

Tour[edit][]

Genesis toured in support of Wind & Wuthering between January and July 1977. This tour marked the debut of Chester Thompson as their touring drummer and final tour with guitarist Steve Hackett. The tour was documented on the Seconds Out album.

Setlist[edit][]

  1. "Squonk"
  2. "One For the Vine"
  3. "Robbery, Assault and Battery"
  4. "Your Own Special Way" (performed on UK shows in January 1977 and the whole of the North American leg in February and March 1977)
  5. "Lilywhite Lilith"/"The Waiting Room"/"Wot Gorilla" (performed at London's Rainbow Theatre show on 1 January 1977)
  6. "All in a Mouse's Night" (performed on UK shows in January 1977)
  7. "Inside and Out" (performed on South American and second European legs replacing "Your Own Special Way")
  8. "Firth of Fifth"
  9. "The Carpet Crawlers"
  10. "...In That Quiet Earth'"
  11. "Afterglow"
  12. "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)"
  13. "Eleventh Earl of Mar"
  14. "Supper's Ready"
  15. "Dance on a Volcano"
  16. "Drum Duet" (replacing the instrumental coda of "Dance on a Volcano")
  17. "Los Endos"

Encore:

  1. "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway"
  2. "The Musical Box" (closing section)
  3. " The Knife (Earl's court)

Personnel[edit][]

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