Wind & Wuthering Songs Ranked
Wind & Wuthering is the eighth studio album by English progressive rock band Genesis. It was released on 17 December 1976 on Charisma Records and is their last studio album to feature guitarist Steve Hackett. Following the success of their 1976 tour to support their previous album A Trick of the Tail, the group relocated to Hilvarenbeek in the Netherlands to record a follow-up album, their first recorded outside the UK. Writing and recording caused internal friction, for Hackett felt some of his contributions were dropped in favour of material by keyboardist Tony Banks. The album received a positive response from critics and contributed to the band’s growing popularity in the US. It reached No. 7 in the UK and No. 26 in the US and sold steadily, eventually reaching Gold certification by the British Phonographic Institute and the Recording Industry Association of America. Here are all of Wind & Wuthering’s songs ranked.
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9. Afterglow
“The final track on the album great ending track to this album. The song is a straight-forward love song that proves that Genesis could still write short songs such as this and have it still be liked. And boy they were right, this song was played live ever since this album, the only times it wasn’t played was the 1992 We Can’t Dance tour and the 1998 Calling All Stations tour.”
8. …In That Quiet Earth
“Continues from the previous track (“Unquiet slumbers for the sleepers”) then you get a drum roll. Subtle bass; synth; electric lead guitar; triangle sounding instrument; solid drumming (there’s some metallic sounding percussion too). It also sounds like you hear a guitar or violin (?) being played backwards on this track. This track sounds like the kind of music you’d expect to hear playing prior to the band coming out on stage to perform.”
7. Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers…
“Instrumental. Liked this track more on second listen. Pleasant acoustic guitar (?) notes, theremin type sound, synthesiser, balalaika (?), melancholy violin sound, jingle bells and a weird, hissy kind of noise…which is perhaps brush drumsticks swooshing on the drums? Chimes/bells at the end of the track.”
See more: Genesis Albums Ranked
6. All in a Mouse’s Night
“nother Gabriel-esque ‘up’ song. Synthy with solid drumming at times…interesting textures too, like hitting a a taut steel cable at times, later, as well as a military style drumming outro. Interesting drum rhythms too. Bass is busy in this track…chunky sounding at times and very phat too. Female backing vocals at times? Lyrics are naff, perhaps. Did find the notes for “cat” and “loving couple” odd.”
5. Blood on the Rooftops
“Blood on the Rooftops featured both Hackett & Collins with writing credit, funny how these two were the only members who wanted to keep the band prog focused. The song is about an old English couple that want to live out the rest of their lives without thinking about the outside world. They hear about the violence going on in the outside world and block it out, ignoring it instead of taking in the unfortunate truth.”
See more: Genesis Songs Ranked
4. Your Own Special Way
“Your Own Special Way is by far one of my favorite ballads of all time, even though it’s the lowest point on the album, it’s still better than the other cliche ballads of the 80’s.”
3. Wot Gorilla?
“Wot Gorilla? was Collins’ track, featuring a jazzy sound influenced by his previous experience with Brand X and the jazz fusion genre as a whole. No, this is not a prequel to Who Dunnit? It may sound like it on paper but it’s an entirely different song. Tony Banks also got writing credit for this song, my best guess is that he coordinated Rutherford & Hackett’s parts to go along with Collins’ drumming.”
2. One for the Vine
“One for the Vine is a 10 minute on the dot song about a leader leading a small & simple tribe, however he leads them to death. The people of the tribe seem to view this leader as a messianic sort of figure. But as the people of the tribe are being lead to death, the leader realizes that he isn’t the true leader he’s thought to be and urges to stop. The leader goes off to think about this journey and concludes that he must lead them no matter what, even if they all die.”
1. Eleventh Earl of Mar
“Eleventh Earl of Mar is a great opener, featuring a heavier sound already. The song is about a failed Scottish rising around 1715, written by Mike Rutherford after he read a history book on it. (The band seems to write a lot of songs on both personal experiences and reading other experiences, ex: Domino, Entangled, etc.)”
