This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2010)

Abacab, released in 1981, is the 11th studio album by British band Genesis. It reached No.1 in the UK, where it remained in the charts for 27 weeks.

Background and recording[link]

The group initially wrote an album's worth of material which they subsequently discarded because they saw themselves as becoming, in Mike Rutherford's words, "a caricature of ourselves." In what he saw as a major turning point for the group, they made a decision to throw out any songs which sounded like anything they had done before.^[1]

The album continues the band's sharp stylistic shift, begun on the preceding album Duke, toward a radio-friendly pop music sound. "No Reply At All" features the Earth, Wind & Fire horn section (as did Collins' solo album Face Value earlier in 1981).

Genesis produced Abacab solely by themselves. Engineer Hugh Padgham, who assisted Collins on Face Value, would continue to work on Genesis and Collins recordings through the end of the decade.

The album takes its name from an early arrangement of the title track. Rutherford said on the US radio show In the Studio with Redbeard (which spotlighted Duke and Abacab in one episode): "There were three bits of music in 'Abacab', and we referred to them as 'section a', 'section b', and 'section c'... and at different times, they were in different order. We'd start with 'section a' and then have 'section c'... and at one point in time, it spelled Abacab. On the final version, it's not that at all, it's like 'Accaabbaac'."

Three songs from the Abacab sessions—"Paperlate," "You Might Recall," and "Me & Virgil"—were issued on the 3 X 3 EP. They were also issued on the non-UK releases of 1982's Three Sides Live. Two other songs from the sessions, "Naminanu" and "Submarine", appeared as B-sides on the "Abacab" singles, but were originally intended to be part of "Dodo/Lurker", where the order would have been "Naminanu/Dodo/Lurker/Submarine".

"No Reply at All" was performed live by Phish as a tribute to Genesis at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 2010 induction ceremony.

Release[link]

The album was released with four different embossed covers simultaneously across the country, all depicting the same collage but with the paper shapes in different colours. The four different cover variants are usually identified by the colour of the largest upper shape adjacent to the title lettering; this shape being coloured navy blue, red, peach, and yellow.

Reception[link]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Rolling Stone	[3]

Rolling Stone praised the album for shedding the "ivory-tower artistry" of their previous albums, turning to sparse arrangements and "highly rhythmic interplay" and drawing inspiration from popular contemporaries such as XTC and The Police.^[3] Allmusic's retrospective review echoed this sentiment with greater emphasis, declaring "Duke showcased a new Genesis... but Abacab was where this new incarnation of the band came into its own." They also argued that although the album is far richer in pop hooks and accessibility than the band's previous works, at it its heart Abacab "is truly modern art rock."^[2]

Track listing[link]

All songs by Tony Banks, Phil Collins, and Mike Rutherford, except where noted.

Side one[link]

1. "Abacab"   – 6:56
2. "No Reply at All"   – 4:40
3. "Me and Sarah Jane" (Tony Banks)  – 6:00
4. "Keep It Dark"   – 4:32

Side two[link]

1. "Dodo/Lurker"   – 7:30
2. "Who Dunnit?"   – 3:23
3. "Man on the Corner" (Phil Collins)  – 4:27
4. "Like It or Not" (Mike Rutherford)  – 4:57
5. "Another Record"   – 4:39

B Sides and non-album tracks[link]

B-sides

1. "Naminanu" (B-side from the single "Keep It Dark") – 3:54
2. "Submarine" (B-side from the single "Man on the Corner") – 4:38

from the EP 3X3

3. "Paperlate" – 3:23
4. "You Might Recall" – 5:31
5. "Me And Virgil" – 6:18

2007 SACD/CD/DVD Release[link]

A new version of Abacab was released in the UK and Japan on 2 April 2007. It was released in the US and Canada as part of the Genesis 1976-1982 box set on 15 May 2007. This includes the entire album in remixed stereo, the entire album in surround sound, and related video tracks.

• Disc 1, in the European and Japanese releases, is a hybrid SACD/CD. The stereo layer includes the remixed tracks, and the SACD layer is a multichannel surround sound remix.^[4]
• Disc 1, in the Canadian and U.S. releases, is a standard CD, containing the stereo remixes. No SACD layer is included.^[5]
• Disc 2, in all releases, is a DVD-Video disk containing both audio and video tracks. This DVD includes three audio mixes of the album: DTS 5.1-channel surround sound, Dolby Digital 5.1-channel surround sound, and Dolby Digital stereo.^[6] The DTS surround sound is a slightly compressed version of the surround sound on the SACD,^[5] and the Dolby surround sound is of slightly inferior quality to the DTS.^[7]
• Disk 2 includes the following video tracks:

1. Band interview about this album (2006).
2. Promotional videos: "Abacab", "No Reply At All", "Keep It Dark" and "Man On The Corner".
3. World Tour program from 1981 tour (15 page gallery).

In popular culture[link]

This article may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (April 2012)

• In 1993, when the video game Mortal Kombat was ported to the Sega Genesis, the development team made a secret code in the game that spelled out "Abacabb" (with two "B"s) on the controller pad. When activated, it would enable uncensored blood (Game Informer #230 Dan Ryckert p.98). This was a deliberate reference to Genesis, one of Ed Boon's favourite bands which happened to share the same name as the console to which the code was exclusive.
• Another Sega Genesis video game has a cheat code that shares the title. 1994's Shadowrun has a secret code entered at the title screen to unlock an in-game cheat menu. The code is "Abbacab."^[8]
• In the Kimagure Orange Road manga and anime, the restaurant ABCB was named in homage to the album. (The intended pronunciation of the letters in Japanese is similar in pronunciation to "Abacab.")
• During an on-air discussion about the song, Artie Lange of The Howard Stern Show stated that when he was in high school he would sometimes use "A,B,A,C,A,B" to select answers on multiple choice exams. He claims to have usually got "about half of them right" by using this method.

Working titles for the album[link]

Before Abacab was released, many of the songs had working titles. Below is the track listing for the originally planned double album Abacab was going to be and the original song working titles and finalised song titles (in parentheses):

• Abacab 06:56
• Jangley (You Might Recall) 05:36 (Cut from album, but released as part of the 3 X 3 EP, and original American release of "Three Sides Live")
• Nationwide (No Reply At All) 04:47
• German I & II (Dodo/Lurker) 07:28
• Sub (Submarine) 04:21 (Cut from album, released as a B-Side to "Man on the Corner", Instrumental Track)
• Vocal 3/4 (Naminanu) 03:55 (Cut from album, released as a B-Side to "Keep It Dark", Instrumental Track. The song also was created from improvising in the studio.)
• Chunky (Me & Virgil) 06:24 (Cut from album, but released as part of the 3 X 3 EP, and original American release of "Three Sides Live")
• Odd (Keep It Dark) 04:36
• Spike (Me & Sarah Jane) 06:02
• Westside (Another Record) 04:42
• Weirdsynth (Who Dunnit?) 03:41
• Lonely Man (Man On The Corner) 04:30
• Don (Like It Or Not) 05:00
• Paperlate 3:39 (Cut from album, but released as part of the 3 X 3 EP, and original American release of "Three Sides Live")

Personnel[link]

• Tony Banks – keyboards
• Phil Collins – drums, percussion, vocals
• Mike Rutherford – bass, guitars

Additional personnel

• Engineered by Hugh Padgham
• Cover by Bill Smith
• EWF Horns – horns

Tour[link]

Genesis toured in support of the Abacab album between September and December 1981, beginning in Barcelona, Spain. Shows in New York and Birmingham, England comprised the Three Sides Live album released the following year. It was the first tour in which audiences booed the band due to the sudden appearance of multiple pop and punk tracks in their setlist and a lack of their earlier progressive numbers, which fans were to get used to in the eclectic years that followed.

The tour also marked the first ever appearance of the Vari-Lite automated lighting system, the development of which had been paid for by the band.

Set list[link]

1. Behind the Lines
2. Duchess
3. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
4. Dodo/Lurker*
5. Abacab*
6. The Carpet Crawlers
7. Me and Sarah Jane*
8. Misunderstanding
9. No Reply At All
10. Firth of Fifth
11. Man On The Corner*
12. Who Dunnit?*
13. In the Cage
14. The Cinema Show (closing section)/Riding the Scree (teaser)/Slippermen
15. Afterglow
16. Turn It On Again
17. Dance On a Volcano
18. Drum Duet
19. Los Endos

Encore:

1. "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)"

"Like It Or Not" was played at a few shows on the Northeast US leg. "Me and Virgil" was played at a few shows in Europe. "The Knife" was performed at the last show in Birmingham on 23 December 1981.

Personnel[link]

• Phil Collins – Lead vocals, drums, percussion
• Tony Banks – Keyboards, Vocals
• Mike Rutherford – Electric six string Guitars, bass guitar, bass pedals, vocals, drums on Who Dunnit?

with

• Daryl Stuermer – Guitars, bass guitar*
• Chester Thompson – Drums, percussion

References[link]