Genesis debuted in 1969 with "From Genesis To Revelation," and although it's a good album overall, it's tarnished somewhat by producer Jonathan King, who smothered most of the band's songs with horns & string arrangements, making them sound more like an orchestral outfit than a rock band. But with new producer John Anthony onboard, Genesis totally shifted into high gear with their second album, 1970's "Trespass," and delivered their first real masterpiece---they truly became a band with this one. "Trespass" has been somewhat overlooked by record buyers over the years, as it doesn't feature Phil Collins on drums or Steve Hackett on lead guitar, but fear not: guitarist Anthony Phillips, in his second & final album with the band, is an amazing player himself (and for further proof of this, check out his wonderful catalog of solo albums), and John Mayhew, in his only album with the group, is no Phil Collins, but his drumming here is certainly good (if it wasn't, I don't think the band would've hired him in the first place), and he gets the job done. The classic Genesis line-up with Collins & Hackett were still one album away, but the "Trespass" line-up of the band still deliver the goods in tremendous fashion. "Looking For Someone" is the incredible opener, starting with Peter Gabriel's unique voice breaking through the silence, with the rest of the band later joining in to create a rock piece filled with wonderful drama & atmosphere. "White Mountain" is appropriately titled, starting with Tony Banks' lone mellotron giving one the feeling of being in the snow-covered mountains somewhere. Then the beautiful acoustic guitars of Phillips & Mike Rutherford kick in, Gabriel starts to sing, and the band take us off on another great musical adventure. "Visions Of Angels" has a more ballady feel to it, but it's still a very strong, majestic tune. "Stagnation" is a Genesis classic, a shimmering beauty played with great virtuosity, featuring a very exuberant instrumental bridge, and passionate vocals by Gabriel. "Dusk," the quietest tune on the album, is a very lovely number, featuring a first-rate flute solo from Gabriel in the bridge. And finally, Genesis throw down the gauntlet with the ferocious "The Knife," a monster 9-minute piece about the heat of battle, with the band working like a five-headed behemoth to bring this powerful track to life. It's a fabulous, memorable rocker, the first Genesis signature tune.The classic album cover, featuring a renaissance painting with a big knife slashing across the painting, is a perfect reflection of both the album's beauty and power. "Trespass" was Genesis' first true musical statement, and a firm sign of things to come from this incredible band. :-)

Whether pre or post Gabriel, pre or post Hackett, this is remarkably overlooked as one of the real touchstones of the classic era of progressive art rock. Rock criticism has always had contempt for anything that was not completely proletariat. 3 chords and a gob of spit could get you a Village Voice rave. Thus, anything high concept or classically influenced was lambasted as pretentious, pompous, or bombastic. Sadly, they just don't make bands (or albums) like this anymore. Don't miss it.

Trespass is certainly an overlooked album in the history of Genesis. Recorded in 1970, and just after recording it, founding guitarist Anthony Phillips left the band and drummer John Mayhew were replaced with Steve Hackett and Phil Collins respectively. The production is pretty good considering the technology of it's day and being the band first real studio album.

Trespass is a album that is leaps and bounds better than their first album From Genesis To Revelation. On Trespass they have set a superb foundation for what would follow in the next several years. The standout songs are Visions Of Angels, Stagnation, Dusk, and The Knife.

Classic elements such as Tony Banks sweeping mellotrons and organ, Mike Rutherford's 12 string guitar and Peter Gabriel uniquely inflected singing and accompanying flute would establish the signature sounds for the future of Genesis' music.

There are two versions of this album availible, a remastered edition that is part of Virgin's Records catalogue and a first CD editon on MCA Records in the US and not part of Atlantic's remastered catalogue. Get the new Virgin release.

In July 1970, Genesis released it's second album, "Trespass." Like their first album, "From Genesis To Revelation," it too vanished without a trace. However, all was not lost. "Trespass" was important for three reasons:

1. It got the attention of the British Music Scene, especially in London (bands like Yes, Pink Floyd & Humble Pie were taking notice).

2. The album officially put Charisma Records on the map (even though the Nice's fourth album, "The Five Bridges Suite" was before it.

3. 'The Knife' was not only a hit but would become a stage favourite for the early years.

Just as Genesis was signed on Charisma Recors & before this album was released, Guitarist 'Ant' Phillips was not celebratory at all. Due to his stage fright, he would later resign. His lead guitar work on 'Looking For Someone' & 'The Knife' wasn't the greatest but it seem to be perfect in the right spots. John Mayhew wasn't bad either. His drumming was okay, more basic & his background vocals was decent. Mayhew would comment later on some stiff profound statements after he was fired. Genesis would find the final missing ingredients in Phil Collins (June, 1970) & Steve Hackett (Late December 1970) in their next album.

If you look closely at the album itself, you can see all 6 songs on the cover & the back. Let me describe: The couple looking out at the scenery, they're 'Looking For Someone.' The mountains in the picture ('White Mountain'). The Angel behind the couple ('Vision Of Angels'), The scene is in 'Stagnation' & the time of day is 'Dusk.' 'The Knife' in the back of the cover.

Trident Studios were kicking out execellent, well-sounding, high quality albums. Although they were using 16-track (a quantam leap forward since their first album was uning 4-track recording) the sound is very murky & somewhat cloudy. The editing is very bad on this album. That's why it gets the 3-Star rating.

Now let's go through the songs:

LOOKING FOR SOMEONE: Peter Gabriel's voice sounds more confident then he did on the first album. Right from jump, it's like he's on a mission. The song builds up until it crashes into an exciting climax.

WHITE MOUNTAIN: A pretty song. Acoustic guitars over Tony Bank's Hammond L122. Gabriel whistles through the outro while Banks makes his haunting Hammond Organ statements.

VISION OF ANGELS: Another light hearted song w/ Banks using the Mellotron MK II for the first time.

STAGNATION: This song begins w/ quiet acoustic guitars & then builds up to a loud cresendo as Banks' L122 tells the story. The loudness builds to a complete halt when Gabriel's flute quiets the noise only to build up for another cresendo.

A better version of 'Stagnation' can be heard in the 1998 Box-set, "THE GENESIS ARCHIVES 1967-75" when the 'Class of 1971' line-up were on BBC Live, 1971. The very last part of the song has the makings of a great late 60's band.

DUSK: A beautiful acoustic piece w/ great background vocals. Again, the Mellotron creeps up only to add melancholy.

THE KNIFE: The second most explosive song on the track. A song about a revolutionist on a power trip. Michael Rutherford's Fender Precision Bass sounds distorted through the whole song. As the song breaks in the middle, everyone improvises during the quiet moments, very unusual indeed. And remember, once the smoke is cleared, you'll be screaming "We are only wanting freedom!"

A better version of 'The Knife' is on the 1973 album, "Genesis Live."

If you're getting into Genesis, I highly recommend this as the starting point. If you're a regular Genesis fan & only are familiar w/ the 80's stuff, ("Duke," "Abacab," "Genesis," "Invisible Touch," "We Can't Dance") this may not be for you unless you feel daring enough to really know what Genesis really was. I took the plunge when I bought this back in 1996 was I was 18.

For the die hard fans, you might like, but for us HARD CORE GENESIS FANS (I fit in this group) this is 'our' Genesis that we know & love, when they went for broke & transformed themselves into Progressive Art Rock before they sold out to pop rock.

"Trespass" was just the beginning.

I have always had a tendency to favor early albums of bands, and Genesis is no exception. Trespass is truly the birth of the Peter Gabriel-era Genesis sound. Every song on the album is quality. But there are a few blemishes which keep this album from the pantheon of masterpieces that follow.

First of all, despite the amazing (and often overlooked) studio innovations, such as the organ solo in Stagnation which bends around like a synthesizer by manipulation of the tape pitch control, and Peter Gabriel's ring-modulated voices on The Knife, this record was poorly recorded. The acoustic guitar things sound gorgeous, but the levels were not hot enough going to tape, hence the terrible hiss on the soft sections. There are a lot of tape dropouts throughout the album. This may be due to bad quality master tape. Trident Studios normally churned out excellent-quality tracks in the 1970's, but this is quite a disappointment. There are some bad tape splices, such as the transition in Stagnation into "wait, there still is time..." and of course, the drums.

The drums are the main reason this record suffers. For starters, John Mayhew plays drums like a high-school garage band drummer, pounding out repetitive and tasteless fills on almost every other bar. His toms are tuned too low and boxy for the style of music. Those tom sounds belong on a KISS album. They overpower everything due to too much woofiness and presence. This album is mixed beautifully in places, but when it's bad, it's BAD.

Bottom line: The best parts of the record are the parts without drums. Ant Phillips is a great acoustic guitarist, the lyrics are breathtaking, Tony's organ and Mellotron are glorious, Mike's bass and guitar playing are as solid as ever, and Peter sings his heart out.

This could have been in the top ten Genesis albums had Phil Collins played the drums, and the engineer had been more careful about levels. Could have been mastered better.

Still a must-have album for any fan of early-70's creative music!!

Was there not supposed to be a remastered version of this released on Atlantic records?