...And Then There Were Three...

Background

In July 1977, the Genesis line-up of singer and drummer Phil Collins, keyboardist Tony Banks, bassist Mike Rutherford, guitarist Steve Hackett, and touring drummer Chester Thompson completed their tour in support of their eighth studio album, Wind & Wuthering. The band proceeded to edit and mix their second live album, Seconds Out, in August 1977, during which time Hackett left the band as he wished to pursue a solo career.^[3] He had enjoyed producing his first solo album Voyage of the Acolyte, disliked musical compromises in Genesis and felt more comfortable working as a solo artist. Since Genesis had now played Madison Square Garden, Hackett felt the group had run out of things to do.^[4] Hackett's departure was not made public until 8 October, when Collins, Banks, and Rutherford were promoting Seconds Out (and had finished working on …And Then There Were Three…).^[5] The trio were confident they could carry on, as they had formed the backbone of several Genesis classics, including the "Apocalypse in 9/8" section of "Supper's Ready", the instrumental part of "The Cinema Show" and the basics of A Trick of the Tail (written while Hackett was working on his first solo album).^[6]

Writing and recording

Album producer David Hentschel

Rehearsals began at Shepperton Studios for around six weeks.^[7] In September 1977, the remaining three members returned to Relight Studios in Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands to write and record their new album, the same as Wind & Wuthering.^[8][9][10] The group wished to record in a new location, but they could not find a studio that fitted their needs and did not wish to travel too far from England. Rutherford wished to remain in London, but noted recording abroad was their "one tax concession".^[9] Joining the group was audio engineer and co-producer David Hentschel who had worked on the band's past two albums. Genesis also shared production duties and are credited on the album's sleeve.^[8] According to Rutherford, the material was recorded in two weeks.^[9] The band considered auditioning new guitarists or utilising a studio guitarist for the album, but Rutherford felt confident enough in his skills to take on the lead guitar parts himself, feeling he would enjoy the challenge of doing so.^[9][6] Banks noticed recording as a three-member band was an easier and more pleasurable experience than before as each member had their clearly defined role, which reduced the risk of personnel clashes along the way.^[3][10] Rutherford became aware that with three members, the basic tracks came across as sparse and not so easy to understand until the overdubs were recorded on top of them.^[9] Following the recording, the group mixed the album at Trident Studios in London.^[8]

The album marked a change in the band's sound, moving from their progressive rock roots towards more shorter, concise songs.^[3] The motivation for this was to be able to put more musical ideas on an album, and to act as a response to the Punk / New Wave scene, where short and concise songs were standard.^[6] This decision made Collins realise it gave off the impression that the band were aiming to become "a singles band", but maintained the material remained "fundamentally the same".^[11] Rutherford in particular wanted to forge his own style and not copy Hackett's distinctive guitar tones, so the album was more dominated by Banks' keyboards, with sparser and simpler guitar parts.^[12]

Banks and Rutherford remained the more dominant songwriters with four and three songs written by them respectively, one from Banks and Collins, and three tracks written by all three members.^[13] Collins had settled down with his wife and two children in South Ealing, meaning he did not find much time to bring new compositions to the sessions.^[14] Rutherford later said he was impressed the group wrote "Follow You Follow Me", as they had had difficulty writing songs that worked within a 3-4 minute framework.^[15] The majority of the album was formed of pre-written songs, not ones developed from jams and improvisations.^[10] Collins later thought the album lacked "rich, jazzy pieces" like "Los Endos" from A Trick of the Tail with its merge of rhythm and melody,^[11] but could not contribute such ideas as it was difficult to play the drums in his flat in Ealing with his wife and two children.^[16][17] The group were still growing in popularity in the United States and did not have a hit single, which Banks later admitted was a struggling point for them.^[3] The original album track order swapped "Undertow" with "Many Too Many" and "Scenes from a Night's Dream", before it was changed as the band felt it flowed better.^[9]

Songs

"Down and Out", one of the three tracks written collectively, was written during the band's rehearsals. Thompson found its more complex time signature difficult to reproduce on stage at first as Collins could not explain the riff and rhythm which Rutherford noted merely "added to the confusion".^[9] Collins wrote the lyrics, which concern American record labels who drop artists when they are no longer in fashion; the chorus is spoken from the artists's view and the verses from the label.^[7] The band had originally planned to develop and arrange Banks's song "Undertow" further, but its basic track of guitar, drums and piano, coupled with its simple chorus, was strong enough to keep as it was. Banks plays a Yamaha electric grand piano on the track which also incorporates voice loops made by the band that were kept "low-key and subtle" in the final mix.^[9] Banks had written a two-minute introduction to the song, but recalled disagreement from the other members as there were enough keyboard parts on the album. The section was reworked and used as a part of "From the Undertow", a track on Banks's first solo album A Curious Feeling (1979).^[18] The lyrics to "Ballad of Big" were written by Collins. The introduction contains a wobbly guitar effect created by Rutherford whereby he rubbed his guitar strings with pieces of metal, giving it a "slightly Eastern strain". The end of the track has Banks and himself duelling between the Yamaha electric piano and his Roland guitar synthesiser.^[9] For "Snowbound", Collins originally recorded his drum part at a considerably faster pace before the group decided to slow them down in order to fit the style of the song.^[9] Collins and Rutherford described it as a romantic song, with its lyrics about a man who wears a snowman outfit to hide from people but while inside, becomes paranoid and finds he cannot get out.^[7] While Banks was writing "Burning Rope", he decided to shorten the track rather than stretch its arrangements into an extended piece as he wished to avoid repeating himself and drawing comparisons to his ten-minute "One for the Vine" from Wind & Wuthering.^[19] It features a lead guitar solo from Rutherford that he found was a challenge to produce in the wake of Hackett's departure, but was pleased with the final result and called it his best on the album.^[9]

The original title to "Deep in the Motherlode" was "Heavy". Rutherford uses a bottleneck slide guitar which he was inexperienced with at first to the point of placing it "on the wrong hand".^[9] "Many Too Many" features more lead guitar work from Rutherford, who felt less confident about his playing compared to the months after the album's release and had practised further. Once the basic tracks had been put down, the group were still unsure on how to finish the song and sought more arrangements to complete it, including a string sound Banks played on a Moog synthesiser. At one point, they considered using orchestral instruments for the track but they never tried it.^[9] Banks, who penned the song's lyrics, recalled an issue Collins had with singing the word "mama" in the chorus, something which Banks had to reassure him that he could sing it.^[19] "Scenes from a Night's Dream" is based on a childhood dream,^[20] itself inspired by the cartoon strip character Little Nemo which Collins had bought a book on for his brother.^[7] The song developed from a musical idea from Banks who wrote the first draft of its lyrics, but he gave up halfway through as he felt they were unsuitable. The band instead settled on a set of lyrics that Collins offered during down time while mixing at Trident Studios that brought in a different melody and more harmonies.^[9][7] "Say It's Alright Joe", written by Rutherford and the penultimate track recorded for the album, is a torch song about an alcoholic who goes into a drunken stupor. The guitarist intended the track to be a "piss-take on the Dean Martin 'set 'em up Joe' alcoholic style'", but thought it was not going to work until Banks added his keyboard overdubs and the band started mixing the track, at which point it "came to life".^[9] The introduction to "The Lady Lies" was meant to have a "strippers feel to it. Hence the title".^[9] Genesis deliberately planned to close the album on a "lighter note" as a contrast to a heavier track, so they placed "Follow You Follow Me" at the end,^[9] the album's only track written during the rehearsal stage and went through numerous guises before the group settled on a three-minute song.^[20] Hentschel was dismissive of the song, but prepared an initial mix and presented it to the staff at Atlantic Records, who recognised it as a potential hit single for the band. The song was remixed and included on the album.^[19] The lyrics were written by Rutherford and were inspired by his wife. He later said it was the easiest set of lyrics he had written, spending "about ten minutes" on it.^[15]

Sleeve design

As with their past three studio albums, the album cover and packaging was designed by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis. Thorgerson later said the cover was "trying to tell a story by the traces left by the light trails". The photograph was shot using time-lapse to represent the "comings and goings" in the album's lyrics, and over the change in personnel.^[21]

Reissues

A digitally remastered version was released on CD in 1994 on Virgin in Europe and Atlantic in the US and Canada.^[28][29][30] A SACD / DVD double disc set (including new 5.1 and Stereo mixes) was released on 2 April 2007. It was released in the US and Canada as part of the Genesis 1976–1982 box set. This includes the album in remixed stereo and surround sound, and related video tracks. The only exception is the track "Say It's Alright Joe", which was not remixed because the band was unable to locate the multitrack recordings.^[31]