THE PRESS RELEASE: “Black Moth Super Rainbow’s touring bassist Steve Reidell has remade Genesis’ 1980 album Duke in (most of) its entirety for the 40th anniversary of the album’s original release date. Reidell anticipated that Genesis would be far too busy rehearsing for their upcoming reunion tour to prepare a new reissue for the four-decade milestone, and made the decision to handle it himself at home, enlisting the help of a few friends. BMSR’s mastermind Tobacco shows up to sing Misunderstanding, the original sadboy anthem. Chicago guitar heroes Mike Lust (Tight Phantomz) and Johnny Caluya (Verma) rip some solos on a few songs. Midwest rap stalwart Auggie The 9th sings some backup vocals, and the legend Showyousuck (the other half of Air Credits, alongside Reidell) shouts a four-count to kick off Turn It On Again, a song originally penned about television, but nowadays resonates more about the world’s unhealthy love affair with the smartphone screen. Reidell’s partner Stacey Marquardt sings some additional backup and also helmed the art direction, rebuilding the Lionel Koechlin cover illustration herself with some lumber and a little paint. Various MIDI files sourced from earlier days of the internet helped navigate Reidell through some of Genesis’ historically wild time signature changes and chord progressions.”
MY TWO CENTS: Does the world really need someone — in this case, Steve Reidell of Black Moth Super Rainbow, Air Credits, The Hood Internet and others — to record a song-for-song recreation of Duke, the ’80s pop breakthrough from the three-man Genesis lineup of Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford? Of course not. But if you’re a Genesis fan, you know you want it. And even if you aren’t in the cult, it’s impossible not to appreciate the dedication, craftsmanship and unmitigated love on display in these gorgeously inspired renditions of Behind the Lines, Misunderstanding and Turn It On Again. Fingers crossed that he does ABACAB next.
