Trespass (album)

Background

In September 1969, Genesis played their first live shows as a professional band, touring the local club and university circuit. The line-up during this time was lead vocalist Peter Gabriel, guitarist Anthony Phillips, bassist Mike Rutherford, keyboardist Tony Banks, and drummer John Mayhew. In early 1970, they secured a six-week residency at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in Soho, London, during which they were spotted by Charisma Records staff, including label owner Tony Stratton-Smith, who wished to sign them.

After several months of subsequent gigs, Genesis had enough material written and, in July 1970, retreated to Trident Studios in London to record a new album. They were joined by producer and recording engineer John Anthony. The group had enough material to record two albums, but felt some songs were not strong enough. Phillips later recalled that songs "Everywhere is Here", "Grandma", "Little Leaf", "Going out to Get You", "Shepherd", "Moss", "Let Us Now Make Love" and "Pacidy" were ones that were not developed further in the studio. In the liner notes to the Genesis box set Genesis Archive 1967–75, Banks claims "Let Us Now Make Love", one of Phillips's songs, was not recorded for the album because the group thought it had the potential of a single, but following the guitarists' sudden departure following the album's completion, it was never recorded in the studio. A live version was released on the box set, performed in February 1970.

Rutherford said that Trespass was the only Genesis album where each track was contributed to by each band member equally; every other album contained songs that were written by one or two individuals, with only minor contributions from the remaining members.

Artwork

The album cover was painted by Paul Whitehead, who also did the covers for the band's next two albums. Whitehead had finished the cover and then the band added 'The Knife' to the running order. Feeling that the cover no longer fitted the mood of the album, they asked Whitehead to redo it. When Whitehead was reluctant to do so, the band members inspired him to slash the canvas with an actual knife. The whole thing was then photographed, but came out blue when reproduced due to lighting in the room.

Critical reception

Trespass was largely ignored by the music press at the time of its release. Rolling Stone printed an extremely brief but unambiguously negative review of the 1974 reissue, saying "It's spotty, poorly defined, at times innately boring, and should be avoided by all but the most rabid Genesis fans." AllMusic's later retrospective review was only slightly more forgiving, summarising that the album "is more interesting for what it points toward than what it actually does". They also commented that the guitars are so low in the mix that they are almost inaudible, leaving Banks's keyboard instruments to prominence. They considered this troublesome because Banks having a noticeable role "isn't the Genesis that everyone came to know".

Track listing

All tracks written by Anthony Phillips, Mike Rutherford, Peter Gabriel and Anthony Banks.

Personnel

Release history

Trespass was first released in the UK on the Charisma label in October 1970, and reissued on the same label in 1974. In the United States, Trespass was first issued on ABC's jazz label, Impulse!, for unknown reasons. It was reissued by the main ABC Records label in 1974; then, after MCA Records bought out ABC, it was reissued on the MCA label. In 2003, MCA was absorbed by Geffen Records, formerly Gabriel's solo label in North America. Virgin Records, who have ancillary rights to the album and all Genesis output since outside the US and Canada, is now sister to Geffen at Universal, making Trespass the only Genesis album with the same distributor worldwide.

A SACD/DVD double disc set (including new 5.1 and Stereo mixes) was released on 11 November 2008.

UK LP Releases

US LP Releases

US LP releases of Trespass list incorrect running times of 7:00 for each of the three songs on Side 1.