Genesis: Peter Gabriel (vocals, flute); Phil Collins (vocals, drums); Ray Wilson (vocals); Mike Rutherford (guitar, bass); Steve Hackett (guitar); Tony Banks (keyboards); Nir Zidkyahu (drums).

Additional personnel: Andy Richard, Gerry Hughes, Jamie Muhoberac.

Producers include: Trevor Horn, David Hentschel, Genesis, Hugh Padgham, Nick Davis.

Engineers include: David Hentschel, Hugh Padgham, Nick Davis.

Genesis: Mike Rutherford, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Steve Hackett, Tony Banks.

Recording information: 1978 - 1999.

Being a hits collection, it makes sense that TURN IT ON consists mostly of post-Peter Gabriel tunes. Phil Collins' more pop-friendly leadership brought Genesis its greatest commercial success. Despite the radio-readiness of such tunes as "Invisible Touch" and "In Too Deep," many of the Collins-led albums contain compositions that would have done Gabriel proud, like the odd-metered song that gives this collection its title (and wouldn't have seemed out of place on the brash LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY), or the creepy, eccentric "Mama."

In any event, there's no denying the innate catchiness of Collins' winning pop conventions when they're deployed in the service of such infectious compositions as the pretty "Follow You, Follow Me" or the McCartneyish "That's All." To balance things out, a couple of the original lineup's more accessible moments are included, most notably the quirky-but-catchy "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)." TURN IT ON AGAIN doesn't show the prog-rock side of Genesis, but it makes an inarguable case for them as aesthetically conscious hit-makers.

What the critics say...

Q (11/99, p.154) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...proves that behind the musical grandiloquence there were often great tunes....Collins remains the linchpin throughout....it's hard not to admire the singing drummer and wonder how he ever turned this ship around."
Mojo (Publisher) (11/99, p.129) - "...efficient pop-rock on which a thousand AOR radio stations built market share since 1981....[Genesis] do mid-tempo ballads, mid-tempo rockers....They do white funk, scary...and lighter in the air...all in the same closely defined soundworld....never [repeating] themselves..."