Songoftheday 8/30/18 - So we carry on down the road, and we live our lives haunted by all the things we say and do...
from the album We Can't Dance (1991)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #21 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 9
Today's song of the day comes from the progressive rock band turned pop hitmakers Genesis, whose We Can't Dance album had already spun off four pop hits in America with "Jesus He Knows Me", "Hold On My Heart", "No Son Of Mine", and the top ten "I Can't Dance". The fifth and final physical single from the record was the midtempo ballad "Never A Time". Written by the band of Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, and Tony Banks, who all produced it with Nick Davis, it was given a limited release, with not even a music video to promote it in America - nevertheless the quality of the song placed it nicely on radio...
"Never A Time" became Genesis' seventeenth and so far last top-40 pop hit in America in January of 1993. The song was especially big on "easy listening" stations, climbed to #4 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. Internationally, the single made it to #9 in Canada, and was a minor hit in Germany at #56. A final single from the record, "Tell Me Why", was released in Europe, and peaked at #27 in France, #37 in the Netherlands, and #40 in the UK.
With Phil going back to his solo career, the band released a pair of concert albums from their tour behind We Can't Dance called The Way We Walk and from them a live version of "Invisible Touch" returned them to the British top ten at #7 (eight notches higher than the original single). The Rutherford and Banks kept the Genesis brand going by hiring on new lead singer Ray Wilson, and recorded a new album with him, Calling All Stations. The lead single, "Congo", was a top-40 pop hit in England at #29, and also reached the top-40 in Canada (#28), Germany (#31), Switzerland (#32), and Austria (#35), but in America is missed the pop Hot 100 altogether, only slipping in at #25 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock radio airplay chart. Meanwhile, the album was their first studio release since 1974's The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway to miss the top-40 on the albums chart in the U.S. Two more minor British hits came from the record, with "Not About Us" their most recent UK chart appearance at #66. With the poor performance of the album in the States (it did manage to peak at #2 in the UK), Banks and Rutherford shut the act down for recording. In 2007, Phil reunited with Tony and Mike for a lucrative tour, but so far no new music has emerged, despite rumors otherwise.
Up tomorrow: An "artistic" new jack swing band experiences some deja vu.
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