"Abacab" by Genesis

Song#:  0865
Date:  12/26/1981
Debut:  71
Peak:  26
Weeks:  14
Genre:  Art Rock



Pop Bits:  Genesis' turn towards more radio-friendly fare ended up with the horn-laden "No Reply at All" reaching #29. This second single and title-track to the album did slightly better, but still could not get the group back into the Top 20. Although issued as the second single in the US, the track was the first released in the UK where the song reached #9, becoming their third Top 10 there.

ReduxReview:  Although I prefer "No Reply at All," this is another great jam from the album. The memorable guitar/keyboard answer/call riffs with the charging synth undercurrent really pushes the song forward. But what may have held the song back for US listeners are the abstract lyrics and that it lacks a real sing-along chorus. The song is really more of an instrumental with lyrics just tagged on almost as an afterthought. This single version above is shorter than the album version which includes a whole other instrumental break. Regardless, I've always loved it and "Abacab" is my favorite post-Gabriel Genesis album.

ReduxRating:  8/10

Trivia:  The song title comes from the arrangement of the specific sections of the song. Many pop songs have three distinct sections, typically a verse (A), a chorus (B), and a bridge (C). A pop song will commonly follow the pattern A-B-A-B-C-B (or some have no bridge so maybe just A-B-A-B-A-B). An early version of this Genesis song was patterned as A-B-A-C-A-B and so they used that pattern for their working title - "Abacab." Wanting the song to be somewhat abstract, they decided to utilize the title for the final song, even though the completed version did not follow that pattern any longer.

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