We Can't Dance

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We Can't Dance is an album by Genesis, recorded and released in 1991. It was their last studio album featuring vocalist/drummer Phil Collins, who would leave Genesis in 1996 to concentrate on his solo career.

We Can't Dance was Genesis' first studio album in five years, following the international success of Invisible Touch in 1986. We Can't Dance reached #1 in the UK and #4 in the US, selling several million units.

The album also spawned several hit singles, including "No Son Of Mine" , "Hold On My Heart", "I Can't Dance" and "Jesus He Knows Me", (the latter two supported by humourous videos.

Following the release of the album, Genesis would spend the majority of 1992 on the road, promoting We Can't Dance on a popular worldwide tour.

While there were nods to the band's creative past, this album is in many ways a 'kindler, gentler' version of 'Invisible Touch', and is clearly the product of a band that has aged, mellowed, and radically softened its sound. By the time it was released, five years had elapsed from when Genesis' sound seemed to perfectly capture the feel of a crucial part of the late 80's. While a song like 'Driving the Last Spike' does have some of the long-form feel of the older works, it certainly does so via an 'easy listening' production style, and while a song like 'No Son of Mine' was a radio hit, it managed to sound much more like a Collins solo song. The only song which seemed to truly speak to Genesis' past is the long form 'Fading Lights,' a song which manages to sound more etherial than 'easy listening,' and which manages to find room for the traditional Genesis keyboard solo. Elegaic yet dramatic, this song seems a farewell ode to Genesis' past. Much of the rest of the album, however, seems an attempt to combine Genesis 80's heyday with a more adult-contemporary sound, resulting in a few attempts at straight out pop, combined with a series of relatively forgettable ballads and mid-tempo tracks. In many ways resting on its laurels, the album still lead to a tour with sold out arenas, providing fans a chance to see the band before Collins departed before the recording of "Calling All Stations."

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