Wind & Wuthering

By mid-1976, Genesis had survived the departure of original frontman Peter Gabriel, with drummer Phil Collins taking over lead vocals, and produced the critically and commercially successful album A Trick of the Tail and supporting tour. When they started work on a new album, keyboardist Tony Banks recalled a considerable amount of music had been written before the recording stage. Bassist and rhythm guitarist Mike Rutherford said it took an estimated six weeks to write the album. He pointed out the band wished to distance themselves from writing songs that were inspired by fantasy, something that their past albums "were full of". The band recorded quickly, and finished the basic tracks for the album in twelve days. Further work on the album was completed in October at Trident Studios in London; the album was mixed there in three weeks. plus the wind alluded to on "Your Own Special Way". The album's sleeve was designed and illustrated by Colin Elgie and Hipgnosis. Upon hearing the album's title Elgie liked its visual title and immediately thought of Heathcliff, a prominent character from Wuthering Heights, and English moorland. He had remembered a scene from the Middle Ages film The War Lord (1965) which featured Charlton Heston standing beside a tree and the birds in it take flight. The cover is a watercolour by Elgie which took around three weeks to complete. He looked back on his design and wished to use "a hint more colour, less monochromatic". == Songs ==

Side one "Eleventh Earl of Mar" refers to the historical figure of John Erskine, Earl of Mar, a Scottish Jacobite. Its working title was "Scottish". "One for the Vine" was a track that Banks wrote during the writing sessions for A Trick of the Tail. He spent a year working on the song until he "got it right". His aim was to piece together a variety of instrumental parts into a complete song without repeating a section. The song became a live favourite, and regularly featured in the band's setlist for several years. "Your Own Special Way" is an acoustic ballad written by Rutherford in open tuning, as it brought in his influences of jazz fusion and Weather Report. Rutherford said its main theme is from the middle instrumental section from "One for the Vine", and that Collins suggested playing it in a "fast, jazzy rhythm" that built on the success of "Los Endos" from the previous album. According to Hackett, the song was a love song originally. He explained, "When I heard the other lyrics on the album, there was a bit of a romantic tinge anyway, so I decided to go right the other way and make it as cynical as possible." It also addresses some political issues, which Genesis had previously stayed away from. Banks and Rutherford both claimed it was Hackett's best song as a member of the group. "Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers..." and "...In That Quiet Earth" are two linked instrumental tracks. The first one was based on a bass pedals sequence by Rutherford with Hackett adding other chords with the guitar; the second one has two sections, with the first one based on a chord sequence by Hackett and second on a riff by Rutherford, then the other members added improvisations and variations on them. The titles refer to the last paragraph of the novel which inspired the album's title – Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë, which Banks had spotted in the book and thought the first title suited its mellow atmosphere. Banks said the song "is about a reaction to a disaster and the realisation of what's important to you, in a slightly cataclysmic way [... I] made the chorus the essence of what the person is actually thinking". A Moog Taurus, a foot-operated analog synthesiser, was used to create a drone effect. It was a staple on Genesis tours for over forty years. Unreleased material The group rehearsed Hackett's "Please Don't Touch" for Wind & Wuthering, but decided not to record it after Collins felt he "couldn't get behind" the song. The group picked "Wot Gorilla?" in its place. Spot the Pigeon reached No. 14 in the UK. == Release ==

Wind & Wuthering was released in the UK on 17 December 1976. == Critical reception ==

When recording finished, Banks expressed some concern that the album would be too "heavy" and "difficult" for people on their first listen, but he knew fans would give the material a chance. He noted the three tracks recorded during the album's sessions that were ultimately left off were "quite simple" and this meant the album had a heavier and more adventurous theme overall. Hackett and Banks have named it as one of their favourite of all Genesis records. Wind & Wuthering turned out to be favourable with several critics at the time of release. In a positive review for Record Mirror, David Brown opened with "The grey misty, autumn cover gives away the mood of this album, with its mellow tones and airy songs". He believed the band's new following after the success of A Trick of the Tail would not be disappointed. He thought the album is "remarkably well-paced – the music flows ... in an almost undisturbed stream ... subtle instrumentals cleverly link the songs together". Barbara Sharone had multiple sessions listening to the album for Sounds. She found the album too dense to appreciate with just one listen, and "less immediate but more substantial" than A Trick of the Tail. Genesis seemed to her more relaxed and self-confident, and "One for the Vine" was for her "Genesis' finest moment". Rolling Stone gave the album a positive review, praising Genesis for being more experimental and steeped in conventional rock than their progressive rock contemporaries. They made particular note of "Your Own Special Way", calling it "a first-rate pop song". Stephen Lavers for National RockStar named the album the best from Genesis at the time of its release and their most ambitious work since The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Circus magazine described the album as "flawless" with "the most mature orchestration to date" from the band. Bruce Malamut for Crawdaddy! said the "Unquiet Slumbers" suite was "majestic" with its "colourful sound textures". The album continued to receive praise from retrospective critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine made note of "Your Own Special Way", calling it "the poppiest tune the group had cut and also the first that could qualify as a love song". His reaction to Wind & Wuthering as a whole was mild, and he summarised it as being in "the same English eccentric ground that was the group's stock in trade since Trespass". Andy Fyfe, writing for Q, named "One for the Vine" one of Genesis' "moments of impressive songwriting". == Tour ==

on tour with Genesis to promote Wind & Wuthering, shortly before he left the band Following the album's release, Genesis embarked on a world tour covering Europe, North America, and their first dates in South America. The tour marked the first time Chester Thompson was hired as their touring drummer; Thompson replaced Bill Bruford who played drums on the A Trick of the Tail tour. The tour received enthusiastic responses from crowds. Collins recognised a growth in the size of their audience in some cities they visited in the US. The tour began on 1 January 1977 with a sold-out UK leg, beginning with three nights at London's Rainbow Theatre where over 80,000 applications were made for the 8,000 available tickets. By the middle of the tour, Hackett had become frustrated with the band, having lost interest in touring, and wanted to make a solo record. After the tour finished, and partway through mixing the live album Seconds Out, he decided to quit Genesis. == Reissues ==

Wind & Wuthering was first reissued on CD in 1985 by Charisma Records. A remastered CD followed in 1994 by Virgin and Atlantic Records. In 2007, the album was released in a new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mix individually and as part of the Genesis 1976–1982 studio album box set engineered by Nick Davis and Tony Cousins. == Track listing ==

Taken from the sleeve notes: Genesis • Phil Collins – vocals, drums, cymbals, percussion • Steve Hackett – electric guitars, nylon classical guitar, 12 string guitar, kalimba, autoharp • Mike Rutherford – 4, 6, and 8 string bass guitars, electric and 12 string acoustic guitars, bass pedals • Tony Banks – Steinway grand piano, ARP 2600 synthesizer, ARP Pro Soloist synthesizer, Hammond organ, Mellotron, Roland RS-202 string synthesizer, Fender Rhodes electric piano Production • David Hentschel – production, engineer • Genesis – arrangement, production • Pierre Geoffroy Chateau – assistant engineer • Nick "Cod" Bradford – assistant engineer • Hipgnosis and Colin Elgie – sleeve design • Tex (Nibs) Read, Andy Mackrill, Paul Padun – equipment Recorded at Relight Studios, Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands. Remixed at Trident Studios, London ==Charts==