Line #42 Music/Abacab


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/abacab.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''"And there's no reply at all. There's no reply at all."'']]
3
4	->''"When they do it, you're never there.\
5	When they show it, you stop and stare.\
6	Abacab isn't anywhere.\
7	Abacab doesn't really care."''
8	-->--"[[TitleTrack Abacab]]"
9
10	''Abacab'' is the eleventh studio album by [[ProgressiveRock progressive]] and {{pop}} rock group Music/{{Genesis\|Band}}. It was released through Creator/CharismaRecords on 18 September 1981 in the United Kingdom, and through Creator/AtlanticRecords on 24 September 1981 in the United States.
11
12	After touring in 1980 to promote their album ''Music/{{Duke}}'', the band took a brief hiatus before buying a farmhouse in Surrey and converting it into a recording studio, making this the first album since ''Music/ATrickOfTheTail'' to be recorded in their native UK. The Farm would go on to record the remainder of Genesis' musical output, as well as the solo projects among the three band members.
13
14	Following the departure of their previous producer Dave Hentschel, Genesis sought Hugh Padgham -- who previously worked on Phil Collins' solo album ''Music/FaceValue'' and former frontman Music/PeterGabriel's ''Music/{{Melt}}'' -- as album engineer while the band took sole production credit for the first time. They were impressed with Padgham's "gated reverb" effect on Collins' drums in both the ''Melt'' song "Intruder" and the ''Face Value'' song "In the Air Tonight" and sought to incorporate elements of that in their album.
15
16	The album was a commercial success, being certified double platinum by the RIAA in 1988, with "Abacab" and "No Reply at All" as the two most successful singles of the album. Three of the songs left off the final cut were eventually released the following year as the ''3x3'' EP, which in turn was included in the international versions of the live album ''Three Sides Live''.
17
18	''Abacab'' was supported by four singles: the TitleTrack, "No Reply At All", "Keep It Dark", and "Man on the Corner".
19	----
20	!!Tracklist
21	[[AC:Side One]]
22	# "Abacab" (6:58)
23	# "No Reply At All" (4:33)
24	# "Me and Sarah Jane" (6:02)
25	# "Keep It Dark" (4:33)
26
27	[[AC:Side Two]]
28	[numlist:5]
29	# "Dodo/Lurker" (7:31)
30	# "Who Dunnit?" (3:22)
31	# "Man on the Corner" (4:28)
32	# "Like It or Not" (4:58)
33	# "Another Record" (4:38)
34	[/numlist]
35
36	----
37	!!Principal Members:
38
39	* Music/TonyBanks – keyboards
40	* Music/PhilCollins – drums, vocals
41	* Music/MikeRutherford – basses, guitars
42
43	----
44	!!Trope with me, you never trope with me:
45	* AlternateAlbumCover: The album features four different versions of the cover art featuring different arrangements of the color paper shreds. Going clockwise from top-left, the four arrangements are red-blue-yellow-brown, brown-yellow-red-light blue, teal-orange-red-light green, and yellow-red-brown-green.
46	* ArtifactTitle: The title "Abacab" itself was taken from a song structure which it was originally to be set to. The structure has changed, being more like "ABABCAB", but the name still stuck with the band.
47	* BoleroEffect: "Man on the Corner" starts off as a minimalist electro piece, with only a Roland TR-808 and a pair of Prophet 5 synths providing the instrumentation. On the second verse, the 808's claves are accompanied by handclaps. During the segue from the second chorus to the bridge, live drums, guitar, and bass come in.
48	* BrokenRecord: "Who Dunnit?" uses repetitive lyrics through its run.
49	* EpicRocking: While the album is still firmly in a pop-oriented direction, "Dodo/Lurker" still maintains some ProgressiveRock elements and clocks in above seven minutes. (Originally, it was planned to be even longer, with "Submarine" and "Naminanu" coming after the two movements that made it onto the album; however, this was dropped when the band dropped their plans to make ''Abacab'' a double album.) The title track also clocks in at around seven minutes in its album version.
50	* MediumAwareness: "Another Record", about an aging rocker stuck in a rut playing the old hits for longtime fans, as sung by a group of aging rockers[[note]]the band members were in or approaching their 30s when the album came out, which in music industry terms might as well be senior citizenship[[/note]] who were afraid of exactly that (hence their push to make this album as different from their conventional material as possible).
51	* MonkeyMoralityPose: The sleeve artwork for the single release of "Keep It Dark" depicts a statuette of the "say no evil, see no evil, hear no evil" monkeys in that order. The music video additionally features the band members striking the pose in the same order during the {{Title Drop}}s, with Mike Rutherford covering his mouth, Music/PhilCollins covering his eyes, and Music/TonyBanks covering his ears and grimacing.
52	* PerformanceVideo: The music videos for the TitleTrack and "Man on the Corner" depict Genesis performing the songs on a stage.
53	* RiddleMeThis: In "Dodo/Lurker":
54	-->Clothes of brass and hair of brown\
55	Seldom need to breathe, don't need no wings to fly\
56	Ooo, and a heart of stone\
57	And a fear of fire and water, who am I?
58	** Answer: [[spoiler:A nuclear submarine]]. "Hair of brown" = [[spoiler:seaweed]]. "Seldom need to breathe" = [[spoiler:unlike a diesel-engined sub, a nuclear one doesn't need oxygen as part of its power]]. "Don't need no wings to fly" = [[spoiler:submarine crews refer to its motion through the water as "flying"]]. "And a heart of stone" = [[spoiler:the fuel rods which power the reactor]]. "A fear of fire and water" because [[spoiler:leaks and fire are both feared on a submarine. Leaks for obvious reasons, and a fire needs oxygen to burn]]. This has never actually been officially confirmed to be the band's intention, but the fact that [[spoiler:the next movement was intended to be "Submarine" when ''Abacab'' was still intended to be a double album]] does carry with it a certain implication.
59	* SpecialGuest: The [[Music/EarthWindAndFire EWF Horns]] provide the horn section in "No Reply at All".
60	* WhatMeasureIsANonCute: Invoked on the opening lines of "Dodo/Lurker".
61	-->Too big to fly\
62	Dodo ugly, so dodo must die.
63	* WordSaladLyrics: Music/PhilCollins himself noted the disjointed nature of the TitleTrack's lyrics, stating that his inability to figure out what the song is about is the main reason why Genesis left it out of their 2007 and 2021 reunions' setlists (and he co-wrote it).

Context Music / Abacab