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''Duke'' is the tenth studio album by English rock band Genesis, released in March 1980 on
Charisma Records Charisma Records (also known as The Famous Charisma Label) was a British record label founded in 1969 by former journalist Tony Stratton-Smith. He had previously acted as manager for rock bands such as The Nice, the Bonzo Dog Band and Van der ...
. The album followed a period of inactivity for the band in early 1979.
Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...
moved to
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. T ...
, Canada, in an effort to salvage his failing first marriage, while Tony Banks and
Mike Rutherford Michael John Cloete Crawford Rutherford (born 2 October 1950) is an English guitarist, bassist and songwriter, co-founder of the rock band Genesis. Rutherford and keyboardist Tony Banks are the group's two continuous members. Initially servin ...
recorded solo albums. Collins returned to the UK after his marriage ended and wrote a significant amount of material, some of which was used for ''Duke'' and some was later reworked for his first solo album, ''
Face Value The face value, sometimes called nominal value, is the value of a coin, bond, stamp or paper money as printed on the coin, stamp or bill itself by the issuing authority. The face value of coins, stamps, or bill is usually its legal value. How ...
''. ''Duke'' contained a mix of individually-written songs and tracks that evolved from
jam session A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without ext ...
s in mid-1979, while recording took place at the end of the year. The break in activity rejuvenated the band, and they found the album an easy one to work on. ''Duke'' was positively received by music critics, who praised the album for bridging the band's
progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Initi ...
-oriented past, such as the closing ten-minute "Duke's Travels"/"Duke's End" suite, with their more
pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...
-oriented, commercially accessible direction, as displayed on the hit singles " Turn It On Again", "
Duchess Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...
", and " Misunderstanding". It reached No. 11 in the US, and became their first album to reach No. 1 in the UK. It has since been certified Platinum in both the UK and US.


Background

By 1978, Genesis were a trio of lead singer and drummer
Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...
, keyboardist Tony Banks and guitarist/bassist
Mike Rutherford Michael John Cloete Crawford Rutherford (born 2 October 1950) is an English guitarist, bassist and songwriter, co-founder of the rock band Genesis. Rutherford and keyboardist Tony Banks are the group's two continuous members. Initially servin ...
. They had survived the departure of original frontman
Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...
and guitarist
Steve Hackett Stephen Richard Hackett (born 12 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who gained prominence as the lead guitarist of the progressive rock band Genesis from 1971 to 1977. Hackett contributed to six Genesis ...
and released the album '' ...And Then There Were Three...'', which included the top ten single " Follow You Follow Me". The group were still touring successfully, and enjoyed the songwriting collaborations between the three of them. They decided to take a break before writing and recording a new album, which would be largely group-written in a rehearsal room, without many pre-conceived ideas. The group's touring schedule had put particular pressure on Collins, whose marriage was at risk of collapse due to him being away from home frequently. His wife, Andrea, had warned him that if he committed himself to the full ...And Then There Were Three... Tour, she would not be there when he returned. Collins, however, was convinced that Genesis were on the verge of an international breakthrough and that his work with the band would pay dividends in the future. By the end of 1978, Andrea had decided to move to
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. T ...
with their children. Realising that his marriage was more important than the band, Collins held a meeting with Banks, Rutherford and manager Tony Smith. He said he was moving to Vancouver and try and re-build the family, and that the group would have to accommodate this. In an interview for '' Sounds'', Collins said, "I went off for two months to try and sort things out ... I was never going to leave the band. It was just that if I was going to be living in Vancouver then we'd have had to organise ourselves differently." He also noted that the individual members of his side project Brand X were geographically dispersed. Banks and Rutherford suggested the band take an extended hiatus, hoping Collins would save his marriage and that the band could work with him in Vancouver. Banks recorded his solo album ''
A Curious Feeling ''A Curious Feeling'' is the debut solo album from English keyboardist Tony Banks. It was recorded at ABBA's Polar Music Studios during a brief hiatus for Banks's main group Genesis and released in 1979 on Charisma Records. It is one of only t ...
'' at
Polar Studios Polar Studios was a recording studio in Stockholm, Sweden, which operated from 1978 through 2004. The studio was formed by ABBA musicians Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson and the band's manager Stig Anderson, owner of the Polar Music recording ...
in
Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropol ...
with Genesis touring drummer
Chester Thompson Chester Cortez Thompson (born December 11, 1948) is an American drummer best known for his tenures with Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Weather Report, Santana, the progressive rock band Genesis and Phil Collins as a solo artist. Th ...
and singer Kim Beacon, while Rutherford also recorded his first solo album, '' Smallcreep's Day'', at the same studio. In April 1979, Collins returned to the UK after the attempt to salvage his marriage failed. With time to spare before working on the next Genesis album, he gigged with Brand X, and began work on demo tracks for what became his first solo album ''
Face Value The face value, sometimes called nominal value, is the value of a coin, bond, stamp or paper money as printed on the coin, stamp or bill itself by the issuing authority. The face value of coins, stamps, or bill is usually its legal value. How ...
'' at his home in Shalford,
Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
. As well as playing
piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...
and
synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
s, he had recently picked up a Roland CR-78 drum machine and become interested in the possibilities of electronic drums.


Writing and recording

In autumn 1979, Banks and Rutherford moved in with Collins in Shalford to start rehearsals on ''Duke''. Collins had written a large number of songs, but he felt many of them would not suit Genesis, while Banks and Rutherford were short of material having just recorded their solo albums. The three decided each member should contribute two of their own songs for the band to work on. Banks put forward "Heathaze" and "Cul-de-Sac", Rutherford used "Man of Our Times" and "Alone Tonight", and Collins had " Misunderstanding" and "Please Don't Ask". The remainder of the songs were written together in rehearsals. Banks later regretted not choosing Collins' "
In the Air Tonight "In the Air Tonight" is the debut solo single by English drummer and singer-songwriter Phil Collins. It was released as the lead single from Collins's debut solo album, ''Face Value'', in January 1981. Collins co-produced "In the Air Tonight" w ...
" for the album. His track "Cul-de-Sac" became a problem for Collins to get into as its overall style and lyrical content no longer interested him, and realised that he should have kept the song for his solo output. "Please Don't Ask" is a song Collins wrote during his divorce from his first wife. Biographer Ray Coleman said the song is "a searing mixture of a love letter and a lament for the loss of his children". Collins recalled Banks and Rutherford chose to include the song as it had a
Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shells ...
feel. The group found the writing process easier and more enjoyable than ''...And Then There Were Three...'', which was primarily songs written in advance individually by the members. Rutherford summarised his time writing songs for ''Duke'' as "getting back to the basic stage of ideas being worked on jointly". Banks reasoned much of the band's refreshed attitude was down to not having worked together in a while, which resulted in good ideas being put forward, something that he said had not happened for some time. Collins felt the band interacted "as a group much better ... there's definitely a side to us coming out which wasn't on the last album; the playing side". Rutherford would later describe the writing process for the album, alongside the one for '' Abacab'', as a "rethink" of Genesis' approach, refocusing their output to group writing and improvisation. In contrast to earlier Genesis albums, most tracks were short with the exception of the ten-minute "Duke's Travels"/"Duke's End" suite that closed the album. The group went to Polar Studios to record the album, starting on 12 November 1979, and recording up to the end of the year. As with several earlier albums, production duties were shared by the band and regular co-producer
David Hentschel David Hentschel (born 18 December 1952) is an English recording engineer, film score composer and music producer who engineered on George Harrison's '' All Things Must Pass'' and Elton John's ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'', as well as for such ...
. Collins used the
Roland CR-78 The Roland CompuRhythm CR-78 is a drum machine launched in 1978. Although primitive by later standards, the CR-78 represented an important advance in drum machine technology at the time, in particular by allowing users to program and store the ...
drum machine for "Duchess"; the first time he used one on a Genesis song. The cover art was drawn by French illustrator and taken from his book ''L'Alphabet d'Albert'', published in 1979. The band liked his work and decided to use it as the cover, but Collins maintained the character depicted is neither the album's titular character nor related to any song on it.


The "Duke Suite"

"Behind the Lines" was the first song arranged for the album and "
Duchess Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...
" came about from rhythms that Collins had played on his set of drum pads. In its original form, "Behind the Lines", "Duchess", "Guide Vocal", " Turn It On Again", "Duke's Travels", and "Duke's End" were one 30-minute track that told a story of a fictional character named Albert which had a working title of "Duke". The group chose this name because the fanfare melodies on "Behind the Lines" and "Duke's End" conjured an image of royalty. The band decided against sequencing the tracks this way on the album, partly to avoid comparisons to their 23-minute track " Supper's Ready" from ''
Foxtrot The foxtrot is a smooth, progressive dance characterized by long, continuous flowing movements across the dance floor. It is danced to big band (usually vocal) music. The dance is similar in its look to waltz, although the rhythm is in a tim ...
'', but also to have certain segments of the suite, such as "Duchess" and "Turn It On Again", released as singles. The six tracks were performed live on the album's supporting tour with Collins introducing it as "The Story of Albert". "Turn It On Again" was originally a short connecting piece in the middle of this medley, but the band enjoyed playing it so much, they decided to double its length and make it more of a standout track. It came from a piece that Rutherford discarded from ''Smallcreep's Day'' and a separate piece from Banks that they joined together. The group considered placing the band-written songs on side one and the individually written tracks on the other, but this was rejected. Rutherford described the final running order as "a very balanced album".


Release

''Duke'' was released in the US on 24 March 1980 and in the UK on 28 March. It was the band's greatest commercial success at the time of its release; it spent two weeks at No. 1 on the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
and peaked at No. 11 on the US ''Billboard'' 200. The album spawned three singles; "Turn It On Again" reached No. 8 in the UK and No. 58 in the US; "Duchess" reached No. 46 in the UK; "Misunderstanding" reached No. 42 in the UK and No. 14 in the US. ''Duke'' was certified Platinum by the
British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company wit ...
on 3 July 1980 and by the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and ...
on 11 March 1988.


Critical reception

''Duke'' received a mostly positive reception from music critics. In his review for ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its cov ...
'', David Fricke noted that "Turn It On Again" is "vibrant rock & roll" and thought that "Man of Our Times", "Duchess", "Duke's Travels", and "Duke's End" "possess a refreshing urgency". Fricke points out the band's losses without Gabriel and Hackett in the line-up, yet summarised ''Duke'' as "comforting: a reassurance that Genesis aren't for an exodus yet." ''Sounds'' Hugh Fielder gave the album four stars out of five, enjoying the opening of "Behind the Lines" and considering Collins's vocals to be "more convincing than ... before". He felt the first side was better than the second, and criticised some lyrics, but concluded "no Genesis fan could be disappointed". The ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' Steve Pond described the album's music as "identifiably Genesis, but it is toned-down" and a "a more confident and successful album than ''...And Then There Were Three...''". He criticised the album as inconsistent with a lack of "melodic invention" on side one, but thought "Duke's Travels" and "Duke's End" were "one of the best and most consistent pieces of music that band has made in some time". In a retrospective review,
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
's
Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, oc ...
felt ''Duke'' was the Genesis album that "leaped into the fray" of pop music but retained "a heavy dose" of progressive rock with the "Duke" suite. Erlewine thought the album comes off "a little bombastic" at times, with "Misunderstanding" and "Turn It On Again" being the two tracks that "showcase the new version of Genesis at its absolute best".


Tour

Genesis supported the album with a 78-date tour across Europe and North America, between 17 March to 30 June 1980. They were joined by drummer
Chester Thompson Chester Cortez Thompson (born December 11, 1948) is an American drummer best known for his tenures with Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Weather Report, Santana, the progressive rock band Genesis and Phil Collins as a solo artist. Th ...
and guitarist
Daryl Stuermer Daryl Mark Stuermer (born November 27, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, and producer best known for playing the guitar and bass for Genesis during live shows, and lead guitar for Phil Collins during most solo tours and albums. He has ...
. As the group had not embarked on a full scale UK tour since 1977, the tour began with a 40-date trek across the country, which saw all 108,000 available tickets sold within hours of going on sale. A 40-minute excerpt from the performance at the Lyceum Ballroom in London was broadcast on ''
The Old Grey Whistle Test ''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''Whistle Test'' or ''OGWT'') is a British television music show. The show was devised by BBC producer Rowan Ayers, commissioned by David Attenborough and aired on BBC2 from 1971 to 1988. ...
'' and released as a bonus feature on the 2007 reissue of ''Duke''. Recordings from the tour were released on '' Three Sides Live'' (1982) and '' Genesis Archive 2: 1976–1992'' (2000).


Reissues

A digitally remastered version of ''Duke'' was released on CD in 1994 on Virgin in Europe and Atlantic in the US and Canada. The CD included the album's original booklet, artwork and lyrics. It was reissued again in 2007 as part of the '' Genesis 1976–1982'' box set, which included a new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mix and a DVD of bonus features including band interviews, music videos, live performances and tour programs.


Track listing

Genesis recorded two additional songs that were left off the album, and initially released as B-sides. There were subsequently released on the North American version of the 1982 album '' Three Sides Live''.


Personnel

Genesis * Tony Banks – keyboards, backing vocals, 12-string guitar, duck *
Mike Rutherford Michael John Cloete Crawford Rutherford (born 2 October 1950) is an English guitarist, bassist and songwriter, co-founder of the rock band Genesis. Rutherford and keyboardist Tony Banks are the group's two continuous members. Initially servin ...
 – guitars, bass guitar,
bass pedals Bass pedals are an electronic musical instrument with a foot-operated pedal keyboard with a range of one or more octaves. The earliest bass pedals from the 1970s consisted of a pedalboard and analog synthesizer tone generation circuitry packaged ...
, backing vocals *
Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...
 – lead vocals, drums, drum machine, percussion, duck Production *
David Hentschel David Hentschel (born 18 December 1952) is an English recording engineer, film score composer and music producer who engineered on George Harrison's '' All Things Must Pass'' and Elton John's ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'', as well as for such ...
 – backing vocals, production, audio engineering * Genesis – production * Dave Bascombe – assistant engineering * Ray Staff – mastering * Lionel Koechlin – cover * Bill Smith – art direction * Recorded at
Polar Studios Polar Studios was a recording studio in Stockholm, Sweden, which operated from 1978 through 2004. The studio was formed by ABBA musicians Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson and the band's manager Stig Anderson, owner of the Polar Music recording ...
, Sweden * Mixed at Maison Rouge, London * Mastered at
Trident Studios Trident Studios was a British recording facility, located at 17 St Anne's Court in London's Soho district between 1968 and 1981. It was constructed in 1967 by Norman Sheffield, drummer of the 1960s group the Hunters, and his brother Barr ...
, London


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


References

Notes Citations Bibliography * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duke (Album) 1980 albums Genesis (band) albums Albums produced by David Hentschel Atlantic Records albums Charisma Records albums Albums produced by Phil Collins Albums produced by Mike Rutherford Albums produced by Tony Banks (musician) Albums recorded at Polar Studios