menu Home chevron_right
MUSIC VIDEOS

Genesis: Albums Ranked | Worst to Best

Classic Album Review | January 25, 2026



All of Genesis’ studio albums ranked and discussed drawing upon much research and hours of glorious listening. Which one do you think should be number one?

If you like my channel and appreciate the work that goes into my videos, please support my channel. You can –

Become a Patron! – Be part of a Classic Rock Community!
There is a fine body of work on there now. https://www.patreon.com/classicrock

Make a one-time donation!
Help me to make more videos or buy stuff to annoy my wife with and unbox on my channel: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=46G7795CU9VBA&source=url

Gift me something to unbox from my Amazon Wish List: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/1T8FFB9GS4H25?ref_=wl_share

Buy me a coffee.
All that talk is thirsty work: https://ko-fi.com/classicalbum

Like the Facebook page:
I add stuff on a daily basis: https://www.facebook.com/1968rock#

All music used in my videos come from the Free Music Archive: http://freemusicarchive.org/

#genesis #ranking #classicalbum

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Written by Classic Album Review

Comments

This post currently has 44 comments.

  1. @hunnagazunna

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    That's the great thing about music isn't it and possibly explains why some people even like punk!? I 'd put ATTWT above everything that came afterwards, and also before Trepass, Revelation, Nursery Cryme and yes, even Foxtrot. Thereafter, it depends what mood I'm in as to what album I put where. I find ATTWT the most mood-resistant album though. So top 5 is a mix of Selling England (can take or leave Epping Forest), Lamb (Waiting Room and others is just self indulgent prog for the sake of being prog and certainly not listenable. Leastways not without a fair amount of narcotics inside you). W&W gorgeous always but sometimes too sleepy perhaps and Trick always in the top 5.

  2. @philoats1738

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    I got off the bus when phil changed his singing from his plaitive folk rock yearning to his R&B shouting in 1980. So from Duke on, for me no thank you.
    (His drumming also changed by 1980 as his inner Bonham showed up and he left behind the delicate ding-ding of Selling England and the fusion quick kit of his Brand X ways)

    And Then There Were Three is the last of the singing Phil i love. For that and this was my first tour i love this album.

    But otherwise i agree with you.

  7. @robertl6591

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    Can't disagree with most of your choices. I would put The Lamb just above Selling England purely for the incredible music it contains. Nursery Cryme is also a favourite of mine with two of their iconic tracks, The Musical Box and Fountain of Salmacis.

  8. @timgainnes5534

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    Excellent review as I have only recently come to really appreciate these top 4 albums – finally seeing Hackett live this year inspired me to give Genesis a much closer listen.

  11. @tudvalstone

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    I don't care to watch these type of videos because they always try to be in some way 'politically correct' and imply that Genesis music still had value after Peter left. It did for a while, when steve was still in the band, but at a lower level. I also liked Duke at the time, but a recent listening left me disappointed with most of the tracks. The fact is all Peter era albums, including From Genesis to Revelation were more inovative and had more value than any of the post Gabriel era. In the case of FGTR, the timing has to be considered, as prog was not yet an established trend and the band was hesitating as to where they wanted to go, but half of the songs have real value, which cannot be said about any album after W&W

  12. @uberockgodornot5412

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    I'd put the Lamb at the top and swop around Invisible Touch (basically not enough of it and the best of it took giant steps live) for We Can't Dance (too much of it… Omit the final verse on Last Spike, lose Since I Lost You and Never A Time and add On the Shoreline and you have a pretty solid album).

  13. @Hasbro1107

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    My ranking:
    1) selling England
    2) foxtrot
    3) nursery cryme
    4) the lamb
    5) a trick of the tail
    6) duke
    7) wind and wuthering
    8) trespass
    9) abacab
    10) shapes
    11) and then there were three
    12) invisible touch
    13) we can’t dance
    14) from Genesis to revelation
    15) calling all stations

  14. @rogerwebb7501

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    I think ones own 'worst to best' list is very influenced by the personal 'entry-point' to the Genesis story. My own started in 1972 – the first time I saw them live (at the Great Western Festival, Bardney) – I hadn't even heard them before…..but from the opening 'Watcher of the Skies' I was hooked! I set about collecting all the previous albums (including Genesis to Revelation…still available then!), and when they toured 'Selling England by the Pound' the following year I was there….and every subsequent tour up to Duke – I bought the album, but this was the point at which we parted company!!! The list is almost mine…..but I think 'Seconds Out' is perhaps the one I still play more than the studio albums. 😊

  17. @darrencolvin

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    It’s hard to think of a band that has such a high class discography- for me all but calling all stations are fantastic albums. Not so keen on some of the ballads post Abacab. If I had to pick only one Genesis album I could keep I think Selling England by the pound would be the one.

  19. @regomahoney3044

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    I personally Split my genesis collection. As if they were different bands. 😢 PROG (early genesis) when the mood needs it to be and my much loved 1980’s I play when I want that memory road 80s buzz. Can’t we just all live together lol

  20. @hansonrhodes1

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    excellent list and very accurate. there is absolutely no doubt that Selling is the best Genesis album but also arguably the best album of the entire era. i believe my pro-Gabriel bias may have coloured my opinion of Trick of the Tail however and I am going to give it a re-listen based on your comments. thank you.

  22. @Blendem

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    I like all Genesis albums including Calling All Stations

    Calling All Stations is a phenomenal album but it should be called Mike & Mechanics Advanced Project feat: Tony Banks and Ray Wilson

    It should not be released under the name Genesis because the lead singers in Genesis are Gabriel or Collins. It’s very risky to change lead singers and upset fans but l stayed positive with Calling All Stations.

    At the end of the day I also like Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford solo stuff

  25. @BillyMcMonagle-i3b

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    The last really good Genesis album I bought is Then There were Three, never bought another album of Genesis after that, just a bit too poppy and bland, they had lost their Prog mojo,, decent enough songs, but not the Genesis I loved. Wind and Wuthering is a brilliant album, I missed Steve when he left

  26. @davescryptodays1441

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    These are personal lists of course; my biggest entry point was Abacab, around the time of release. So for sentimental reasons, as well as the boldness they had at that moment; dispensing with alot of bluster to create a stripped back / streamline sound was fairly audacious (audacious indeed to include 'Whodunnit?'). And yet how creative was it as Whodunnit churns down from it's clunky absurdity, -very quietly 'Man On The Corner' emerges. I sometimes refer to Abacab as their Andy Warhol record. Modern, bold in purpose and sound. A marmite album right? You either like or you don't – but you can't ignore it. A love all the earlier stuff – but the sweet spot for me is Duke, Abacab, Three Sides Live (the original with the 4th side studio tracks) and indeed the 'Mama' album – BUT Abacab has to be in my top 5

  29. @rinkadink66

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    Genesis to me, have always been 2 bands, with/without Gabriel (I remember the hullabaloo when the news broke), both good, but for different generations.. good video.. cheers 🍻

  31. @peterkin1010

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    One of the very few times I've disagreed with this channel. Theres no way on earth 'Calling All Stations' should bave been bottom.Maybe someone in the band wishes it was. But for me it was a stab at returning to their prog era. So much more could have been done. But apparently Mike Rutherford saw it as having to start all over again and the decision was taken to pull the plug. IMHO CAS should have been much, much higher than last. But there again it might not do for everyone to sll like the sane thing…

  36. @philstevens9914

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    Don't know if you've explored the cover band "genetics" who play only the old Gabriel stuff. Steve Hackett has toured with them in the past and they backed him on the South American legs of his last year's tour. Their live stuff from that tour is well worth a look. Also, there were 2 other live albums unmentioned. I often throw my "When in Rome" DVD. In the cage on there is great along with Home (and 2nd) home by the sea!

  37. @PeaveyPV20

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    Cant disagree with this, that calling all stations may as well have been made by a different band. Im a big genesis fan but dont own one studio album by them, i prefer the live albums

  38. @Synthetrix

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    For me personally, A Trick Of The Tail will always rank #1. The prog world thought the band was over with Peter's departure and they came roaring back with an epic and diverse album that proved them all wrong.

  40. @Condadoking

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    As a slightly younger Genesis fan, I only started listening to the early albums recently. And I don't see what all the fuss is about. Abacab was one of the first albums I ever bought, i still listen to it, and it's one of my favourite albums ever, by anyone. Played it for my girlfriend last weekend, and she was impressed enough to add it to her playlist on Spotify

  41. @KyoKusanagi-ep3kp

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    My hot take is they were absolutely right to do what they did in the Banks/Collins/Rutherford era. People need to remember, they only became a “play the hits on tour” band in 2007. They spent 1970-2000 as an ever evolving, influential and relevant band. That’s a long time. They couldn’t have just stuck to the same script as Watcher Of The Skies, it would have been hollow, they would have gotten bored as writers and been accused of repeating themselves.

    They embraced new sounds and musical trends, some of their hit singles are fantastic- Follow You, Follow Me, Turn It On Again, Mama, That’s All, Land Of Confusion, No Son Of Mine… These are fantastic songs, era defining, they aren’t to be dismissed as just “glossy pop” or whatever.

    Don’t get me wrong they didn’t always get it right, something like In Too Deep is a glossy piece of 80s balladry but yeah it’s probably a bit too slick for a band with the artistry of Genesis. It was a massive hit though and it had a big cultural impact, it was recently used in that acclaimed drama The Bear for example, which is well known for using iconic songs on its soundtrack.

    And beyond the singles they never, ever stopped with the long songs, the instrumentals, the quirky stuff. That was always there, right through into We Can’t Dance. If anything, reassessing these albums today makes me realise they deserve credit for maintaining their core sound through these ever changing decades.

    Undertow, Burning Rope, Deep In The Motherlode, The Lady Lies, Behind The Lines, Duchess, Duke’s Travels, Abacab, Me And Sarah Jane, Keep It Dark, Dodo/Lurker, Home By The Sea, Domino, The Brazilian, Driving The Last Last Spike, Fading Lights… These are not pop songs.

  42. @runepedersenDK

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    Not a bad list – but to put Touch over ATTW3 is just so absolutely wrong.
    Still a solid proggy feeling, including some 'Tron by Banks, on ATTW3, where Touch is mostly a poppy Collins-album with a Genesis-label on it (Domino is an exception, though).
    Touch is not bad, it's good pop(rock), but it loses to ATTW3 any day.
    Positive side: Some love for Trespass, often badly underrated.

  43. @jamiepastman5594

    January 25, 2026 at 7:34 am

    nothing Genesis did after Wind and Wuthering was worth a damn. and there is absolutely nothing as bad as 80’s pop Genesis, it’s absolutely awful. Without Gabriel and Hackett it’s “We Can’t Dance” 🤮🤮🤮. Honestly, who do you want to hear on guitar, Hackett or Mike (ugh) Rutherford

Comments are closed.

Related
LET’S ARGUE: Vinyl Record Terminology
Poetic Wax | April 19, 2026
Related
Answering EVERY* Question | 300,000 Subscriber Q&A
Mic The Snare | April 19, 2026
Related
Francis Rossi (Interview) The Pink Floyd Sound | Progressive Rock | ...
Classic Album Review | April 19, 2026

This area can contain widgets, menus, shortcodes and custom content. You can manage it from the Customizer, in the Second layer section.

 

 

 

Go to album
  • play_circle_filled

    92.9 : The Torch

  • play_circle_filled

    AGGRO
    'Til Deaf Do Us Part...

  • play_circle_filled

    SLACK!
    The Music That Made Gen-X

  • play_circle_filled

    KUDZU
    The Northwoods' Alt-Country & Americana

  • play_circle_filled

    BOOZHOO
    Indigenous Radio

  • play_circle_filled

    THE FLOW
    The Northwoods' Hip Hop and R&B

play_arrow skip_previous skip_next volume_down
playlist_play