Top 10 Alert!
Song#: 3106 Date: 04/25/1987
Debut: 51
Peak: 3
Weeks: 17
Genre: Soft Rock, Adult Contemporary
Pop Bits: Genesis' album Invisible Touch would be their commercial peak reaching #3 and eventually selling over six million copies in the US alone. It was boosted by four singles that all reached the Pop Top 5. With the LP still selling well, they decided to roll the dice and issue out this fifth single. The ballad would become their second chart topper at AC while getting to #34 at Rock. The big news came via the Pop chart where the tune became the fifth Top 5 hit from the album. That result made them the first band and the first foreign artist to get five Pop Top 5 hits from one album in the US. Overall, they were the third artist to accomplish that feat following Michael Jackson (singles from 1982's Thriller) and his sister Janet. Genesis nearly could have been the second act to reach that goal and the first to do it consecutively, but Janet Jackson beat them to the punch when "Let's Wait Awhile" became the fifth Top 5 single from her Control album just a few weeks earlier. Genesis would take a break after everything from Invisible Touch wrapped up making this song the band's final one to reach the charts in the 80s. They would return in 1991 with We Can't Dance. The album would reach #4 and eventually go 4x platinum. It would feature five Pop Top 30 hits including the #7 "I Can't Dance," which would be the band's final US Top 10 hit. Phil Collins would leave the band afterwards. Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks would continue on with new lead singer Ray Wilson and issue out Calling All Stations in 1997. It was not a success in the US only reaching #54 and failing to generate any Pop chart singles. Collins would rejoin Rutherford and Banks for a tour in 2007 and made plans for another tour in 2020, although a new studio album from the core trio has yet to be recorded.
ReduxReview: This is a good soft rock ballad from the band that played well on the radio. Does it rank among their best songs? No. To me it plays like an outtake from a Phil Collins solo album. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just that the tune isn't all that special or unique. It inoffensively plods along and sounds lovely when it is on, but in the end I find it a bit forgetful. The tune is just not in the same league as some of the band's other classic tracks.
ReduxRating: 5/10
Trivia: In addition to appearing on Invisible Touch, this song was also used in the 1986 British film Mona Lisa. In the UK, the song was released as the LP's second single a couple of months following the release of the film. The fact that the song was in the film was printed on the physical UK version of the single. This fact was left off of the US version of the single. Apparently, Phil Collins had been approached to write a song for the movie and he came up with the lyrics. The song was finished off in the studio with the balance of Genesis, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks. While a soundtrack featuring the score and a couple other songs from the film was released, the Genesis track was not included. Mona Lisa starred Bob Hoskins and Cathy Tyson. It was critically well-received with Hoskins winning the BAFTA (the British equivalent of an Oscar) award for Best Actor. Hoskins was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor.
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6/10 for me, this is one song I probably would like better if it was a Phil Collins solo tune instead of it a Genesis song (I agree it feels more like a Phil Collins solo tune), I do like it better than some of Phil Collins' solo ballads like "One More Night" and "Groovy Kind Of Love" (the latter I did not like).
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