Genesis: ‘Calling All Stations’ | is it really that bad?
Genesis ‘Calling All stations’ is an album that has not been well recieved, so in this video I revisit the record and ask if it is really that bad?
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#genesis #ranking #classicalbum
@ThespianProda
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
In my opinion, Ray Wilson would've been a good choice for Mike and the Mechanics.
@BPTremixplum89
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
I really enjoyed the album, all the songs were great, my favorites are Congo, The Dividing Line & One Man's Fool, it's a just shame that they never give Ray a chance to shine.. I know this is a failure of an album but I really don't care, I love it! and I have it on CD! 🙂
@thunderbird96sport
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
Miles ahead of that God awful song ‘I Can’t Dance.” Has Phil Collins sang on this, fans would embraced it. Ray Wilson was the ideal replacement for Collins, often vocally resembling PG. In retrospect, Steve Hackett should have played on this and added his creative influence.
@autumnmatthews3179
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
I really like the title song. I'm an Ultravox fan from way back and they have a similarly divisive album but I think there are some great songs on both albums. I don't like the other Genesis hits from the 90s
@robertohernandezbruno1717
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
Q hubiera pasado si este álbum lo hubiera cantado Phil o peter. No dirían lo
Mismo ……..
@AD65
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
Awful artwork
@chriskellas2902
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
I think the album sucks, and should not have been called "Genesis", more like" Banks and Rutherford" I will be donating my copy on the next trip to the thrift drop off.
@BENJ1969
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
This CD was excellent… as a coaster for jumbo travel mugs. I bought it out of brand name loyalty. I’d already liked each of Genesis previous albums increasingly to the end. So this one had little to lose. But comparatively speaking, at least in those, there still seemed some heart of their past that kept you hanging. There was none of that in this piece of dreck. I’ve given it more chances that it deserved with re-listens, randomly cranking what’s considered its better songs, but nothing catches with me. There are few albums from bands I love that I’ve referred to as complete duds. This is the top of that list.
@KyoKusanagi-ep3kp
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
It’s not a bad album. Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford are just far too brilliant as writers and musicians for it to have nothing going for it. Also it was only a flop in the States. In Europe it charted highly all over the place and went on to sell I think 2m units, most bands would be happy with that but by Genesis standards this was seen as only a middling success.
There are legit great Genesis songs on here – Calling All Stations, Congo, The Dividing Line, Uncertain Weather, There Must Be Some Other Way and One Man’s Fool are all very powerful, dramatic, atmospheric and so very much in the best traditions of Genesis.
The downsides are – it’s a bit stiff and leaden paced without Phil because well, Tony and Mike are a bit stiff. Also they should have branched out with a totally new producer to give it a whole new identity, they did it themselves with Nick Davis who just sort does what the band says. Finally, they couldn’t let go of the more commercial side (they’d been having hit singles for 20 years at this point) so the album is like a strange mix of grinding, industrial neo prog and Mike And The Mechanics… Still, there’s stuff on here I like.
Some of the b sides were good as well, particularly Run Out Of Time, which is almost destroyed by a horrible midi saxophone intro by Tony on his Korg workstation (the Trinity he was using) but develops into a very deep and interesting piece of music.
@macsnafu
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
I think it's a good album. it's not as good as the best Genesis albums, but it still has some good stuff. I agree it wasn't pop enough for 80's Genesis fans, and not prog enough for 70's fans, but since I like both eras, that wasn't a big problem for me. Although, as you say, it does seem like a missed opportunity since they didn't try to lean too hard one way or the other. I also agree Ray Wilson was an odd choice for taking over the vocals. No complaint against Ray, but someone like Fish would have been better suited for the vocals. My favorites are Not About Us and Alien Afternoon. Some of the songs are a bit weak, and some other songs that didn't make the cut, like Anything Now should have been on there instead.
@albertnash888
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
Since the album received mostly negative reviews from critics and sold poorly when it was first released, I was originally going to avoid “Calling All Stations” at all costs, but the songs sound quite good. The singles “Congo”, “Shipwrecked”, and “Not About Us” are great songs, and the title track is a nice opener. “The Dividing Line” sounds awesome and I also like “If That’s What You Need”. The other tracks will likely grow on me over time. Of course Ray Wilson did a great job singing, and the band could have easily made more albums with him had it been successful.
@AntonioGonzalez-fl2cg
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
This album set up a Dividing Line…😅
Clearly the best track on it btw.
@mor4652
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
Problem 1: Tony & Mike decided to not let Darryl Struemer & Chester Thompson become full members to round out/counter Tony's synth
Problem 2: It was self produced so, again, it led to Tony being a bit too self indulgence
Problem 3: Timing. It came out at the height of boy band & Brittany spears pop.
And I don't think Ray Wilson is the problem. It was a good idea to get a younger looking/sounding front man. If the album has come out 2 or 3 years later his look and voice would have fit in with Creed and Nickelback…I know, I know, they suck…but I'm talking commercially the album may have got more airplay and TV time
@Drchainsaw77
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
The same people who think this record is awful are the same people who think the band was destroyed by losing a guy whose songs weren't being played anyway and have no idea how the band worked internally. Ignore them.
@plasticposse768
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
I have always thought this was a good record. It was just different than the band people had come to love. I like Ray's voice and the grittier feel of the songs.
@ACMaddocks
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
"is really that bad?" Yes… sadly
@themisterchristie
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
I really liked this album. I think one other thing that hurt this version of Genesis was that Ray Wilson was an outsider. The change from Gabriel to the Collins years, Collins was part of the band before the change, where with Ray Wilson the band had to try and figure out how to work together. They really needed more time and another album or two to work things out.
@jedparker2855
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
I really like the Calling All Stations album. Ray Wilson deserves so much credit for trying to fill in the shoes of Phil Collins. While he was no Phil Collins, I think he did his ever loving best to be the lead singer for Genesis. I'm just happy that there are others out there that believe the album is good.
@Loco4Poco27
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
Great album. Ray is awesome.
@huwadams9521
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
If you like the Genesis sound of late 70s try IQ. Simply fantastic! I would start with the album Frequency.
@davidbirdsong4750
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
Congo is not bad at all, but the rest of the album invented the term – "meh".
@aaronwood8012
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
“Dividing line” is a monster – kicks ass
@aaronwood8012
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
I like the album – I wish they’d have kept the deleted tracks that were briefly released on cd single – Ray Wilson is an amazing singer and it could have been marketed better -they should have lead with a radio edit of “dividing line” and “some other way” … that would have been coming out swinging
@AlbrechtAaron
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
Ill die on the hill that the title track to this album is their best song since the duke album, its fantastic.
@KilroyWasHere83
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
1. Nothing about this album is any more prog than the last bunch of Collins era albums. It sounds like 90s grungy alt rock
2. Ray Wilson sounds absolutely nothing like Peter Gabriel
@LunarJetwoman
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
Ray Wilson in genesis ?? I think I read somewhere that van Halen offered them Gary cherone but Tony banks told him they’d definitely be able to do better
@LunarJetwoman
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
Felt like this album would have benefited from johnathon king producing it. I’ve heard he’s finding it quite tough to find gainful employment so he’s probably got the time.
@rupertbath2748
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
It wasn't Cllins voice that was nissing, it was his drumming.
@samwestonpotter
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
I thought COS was great. Better than the 2nd half of We Can’t Dance. I don’t think that Ray Wilson was given enough time to settle in. I love watching the live performances with Wilson.
@jayseereviews
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
Calling all stations is one of the best music album i've ever heard in my whole life. Don't pay attention to haters they just don't understand music.
@SUBWAYSWITCH
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
Steve Winwood should have joined GENESIS
@davidaimone5804
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
It was bad. They had the wrong front man and contrived music. Had they gone with someone completely outside of the box, say, Happy Rhodes on vocals and adding to the compositions, now THAT might have been interesting.
@bigwhig3126
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
Who cares what anyone thinks. Do You Like It? Well, I sure did! Bought the album when it came out way back when and really enjoyed it. Who needs critics to tell you what you should and shouldn't like? Maybe Sheeple do…People don't! The days of taking a chance on an album cover at a record store or relying on snobby critics for guidance are long extinct. It was a good album…Phil Collins walked and these guys still wanted to play some music. The kept on rockin'! Love the singer's voice in this album and still like the older Genesis stuff too. The life of a musician shouldn't come to a complete impasse because your singer walks away to pursue a solo career. Life goes on…but not to critics…probably the same ones that say Van Halen couldn't go on BUT THEY DID! And btw, losing lead singers happened to Genesis not once, but twice…and they still came out on top. Great Album! If anything, I WANTED TO HEAR MORE OF THEM PLAYING WITH THIS GUY!
@abacadaniel04
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
I don’t mind this album, it is what it is. 😄👍
@luornu
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
I dont think this is a bad album at all. People wouldn't give it a chance because of the absence of Phil Collins. I like to believe that the character in 'Calling All Stations' (the song) is the same one from 'Stagnation'. It's basically the same story, about someone who may be the last survivor of humanity. I like to think it's a continuation of the 'stagnation' story. So it does have continuity even from the earliest Genesis canon (obviously a theme that Tony Banks likes to return to, I think he was the writer of CAS)
@robertogorena7571
October 30, 2025 at 1:03 pm
Much better than We Can't Dance
Comments are closed.