Music
Song of the Day: Genesis- “Just A Job To Do”
A quick look at one of the band’s overlooked classics.
Phil Collins is celebrating a birthday today, so I thought it’d be fun to take a look back at a Genesis track that’s been largely abandoned to time: 1983’s “Just A Job To Do.”
In music circles, the debate about whether Phil Collins finally started to sound like Genesis or whether they started to sound like him is one that never ends. That aside, it’s fair to say the starting point for that discussion is 1983’s self-titled record.
The record spawned five singles, but today we’re looking at one that didn’t make that cut: “Just A Job To Do”
Love him or hate him, Collins’ superpower has lied in both the immediacy of his vocals and his ability to make a really complex song sound very simple. If you just put this on while doing something else (or listen in the car), it feels like a bazillion other rock songs, let alone a bunch of other Genesis tracks or even Collins’ solo work.
Listen closely, though, and you’ll hear multiple layers of sound happening. It’s everything, all at once. What at first blush sounds like a guitar riff is actually a synthesizer, while the guitar itself is off doing its own thing. Same with the drum beat.
