"Duke" was recorded in a difficult period,
especially for Phil Collins, he was trying to salvage his first
marriage, After his ended, Collins wrote a significant amount of material,
some of which was used for "Duke" and some was laterused on his
first solo album, " Face Value". Also Tony Banks, on October 1979,
made his solo album: "A Curious Feeling"; and Mike Rutherford
did the same with: "Smallcreep's Day", on February 1980.
Duke was the tenth studio album by Genesis,
released in March 1980. This album it´a great work of rock progressive with
experimental pieces, of individually-written songs with a lot of feeling put
that evolved from jam sessions.
It became Platinum album in both the UK and U.S.,
with hit singles as "Turn It On Again",
"Duchess", and "Misunderstanding".
On December 3, 1978 ended in Tokyo Japan the tour with
which Genesis promoted their previous album: “And Then There Were Three”;
moment in which the band took a deserved rest, because they had been
ceaselessly either recording albums or playing concerts so that this was the
first longer pause for the band, something that had come to pass personal bill,
as was the case of Phil Collins with his wife.
In late 1979 They got together again at Polar
studios in Stockholm, Sweden, to recording new songs for next album, with the
producer David Hentschel ;in December the new work was ready
to mixed and mastered in London at the beginning of the following year.
So in January, at Maison Rouge in London, the
album was mixed and structured in two parts: On Side A, they were places
the most personal songs, as: "Please don´t ask" or
""Misunderstanding"", intended for "Face Value";
while in the other, side was a long musical piece called “The Duke Suite”. Bit.ly/80GEN3
divided into six parts, or six tunes united by one same
argument. This is the way the album was structured:
Side A: (21:18):
1.Missunderstanding.(3:24)
2.Heathaze.(5:00)
3.Alone Tonight.(3:57)
4.Cul.De-Sac(5:04).
5.Please Don´t Ask.(4:02)
Note: “Man Of Our Times” was temporarily outtake; as:
“Open Door” & “Evidence O Autumn”. Then included in the final lp and
the other two songs as B sides of the singles: "Turn It On Again",
"Duchess" and "Missunderstanding".
Side B: The Duke Suite - (Parts I
to VI) - (21:47) :
I.Behind The Lines.
II.Duchess.
III.Guide Vocal.
IV.Turn It On Again.
V.Duke´s Travel.
VI.Duke´s End.
Although, They liked this early version, The band
thought that "Duke" could evolve more towards a conceptual album like
"Tommy". But the problem was the material, it had was not much; and
there was not enough time for new sessions. So they So that, they decided
reworked over the master tapes and extended “The Duke Suit” to both sides using
a new mixes, integrating the rest of the songs in it, trying to follow the same
storyline.
At this point, "Duke" was a double
album, because they used the rest of the material that had been rejected weeks
ago. But for economic reasons, this option was forgotten and two of the
songs "“Open Door” & “Evidence O Autumn” were finally removed from the
final result,so that this new version remained in one only disc. But
they were wrong to compress it so much,it should have been left in two Lp,
because the sound quality was not very good.
Finally, in March 1980 "Duke" was published;
this album became to the top of the UK charts, and “Misunderstanding” turned
out quite a successful single in the USA. But Phil could not to save his
marriage. but he gave us another great album: "Face Value",
published in February 1981.
For my taste, I prefer this early version
from "Duke" What do you think about it?.
Enjoy it. See you soon with more.
Photo: Alternate cover. Later
used on "Misunderstanding" single. March 10.1980.