1977–1980: ...And Then There Were Three... and Duke
By the time Seconds Out was released, Banks, Rutherford and Collins had already recorded ...And Then There Were Three..., the first Genesis album recorded as a trio, in September 1977 at Relight Studios with Hentschel as producer. It was then mixed at Trident Studios in London. In order to put across a greater number of musical ideas, the album is a collection of shorter songs. Most of its eleven songs were written individually; Banks contributed four, Rutherford three and Collins one while the remaining three were written collectively. Their new material signalled a change in the band's sound with songs becoming more pop-oriented, including the group-written track "Follow You Follow Me". Collins recalled it was the only song on the album written from scratch during rehearsals. Rutherford felt comfortable taking on lead guitar duties in addition to his usual rhythm and bass roles, although the band had considered auditioning replacement guitarists or using a session guitarist on the album. Collins later saw the album as "a very vocal, solid album" that lacked more rhythmic tracks like "Los Endos" or songs from Wind & Wuthering, as coming up with ideas on the drums while living in his flat in Ealing with his family was difficult.
...And Then There Were Three... was released in March 1978. It received some mixed reviews from critics at the time owing to the album only containing short songs, which excited new fans but disillusioned those who had been used to the band's previous work. Chris Welch wrote a positive review in Melody Maker, citing a "remarkably powerful" album. It was a commercial success and peaked at No. 3 in the UK and No. 14 in the US. "Follow You Follow Me" was released as its lead single and reached No. 7 in the UK and No. 23 in the US, their highest-charting single in both countries since their formation. Its success introduced the band to a new audience, including a larger female interest, helped by its music video airing on Top of the Pops. Its success caused some fans to accuse the group of selling out to more commercial music. A follow-up single, "Many Too Many", was less successful, for it had already appeared on the album.
In the search for a new touring guitarist, Rutherford tried out Pat Thrall and Elliot Randall, followed by Alphonso Johnson of Weather Report, but he was primarily a bassist and could not play Hackett's lead guitar parts comfortably. Johnson then suggested American guitarist Daryl Stuermer of Jean-Luc Ponty's jazz fusion group, who was more comfortable with various guitar styles. During Stuermer's rehearsal in New York City, Rutherford was satisfied with his performance after they played through "Down and Out" and "Squonk". When Stuermer was chosen, he familiarised himself with a list of 26 songs he was asked to learn by going through five per day. The ...And Then There Were Three... tour ran from March to December 1978 and visited North America, Europe and, for the first time, Japan. It cost an estimated £2 million to stage (equivalent to £11,000,000 in 2025). which included the sound system, light and laser displays and additional effects from six computer-controlled mirrors, all of which took eight hours to set up and five to dismantle. One of their shows featured a guest appearance from Gabriel, who sang "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)". In June, Genesis headlined the year's Knebworth Festival, their only UK show that year.
In December 1978, Genesis began a period of inactivity as Collins' marriage was at risk of collapse after touring had made him frequently absent from his wife and children. Following a meeting with Banks, Rutherford and Smith, Collins went to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to try and rebuild the family. He explained: "I was never going to leave the band. It was just that if I was going to be living in Vancouver then we'd have had to organise ourselves differently." Banks and Rutherford decided to put Genesis on an extended break and make their respective debut solo albums, A Curious Feeling and Smallcreep's Day, at Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. In April 1979, Collins returned to the UK after his attempt to save his marriage failed. With time to spare before working on a new Genesis album, Collins rejoined Brand X for the album Product, played the drums on former bandmate Peter Gabriel's third album and started writing his own first solo album, Face Value, at his home in Shalford, Surrey.
In 1979, Banks and Rutherford moved into Collins' home in Shalford to write and rehearse material for Duke. The three found the writing process easier and less complicated than And Then There Were Three. Rutherford reasoned that this was the case because they were "getting back to the basic stage of ideas being worked on jointly". Banks put it down to their break in activity, resulting in "good ideas ... which hasn't happened for some time". Duke continued the band's transition into writing shorter songs. Each member contributed two songs for the group to develop: Banks put forward "Heathaze" and "Cul-de-Sac", Rutherford used "Man of Our Times" and "Alone Tonight" and Collins had "Misunderstanding" and "Please Don't Ask". All three wrote the remaining five tracks, including "Duchess", the first Genesis song to feature a drum machine, specifically a Roland CR-78 imported from Japan. In its original form, the album was to contain a 30-minute track based on a fictional character named Albert, but the idea was cancelled to avoid comparisons to "Supper's Ready" from Foxtrot. In November, the band recorded Duke at Polar Studios with Hentschel reprising his role as producer. Its cover was by French illustrator Lionel Koechlin and featured the character Albert.
Released in March 1980, Duke was the band's biggest commercial success at the time of release, spending two weeks at No. 1 in the UK and peaking at No. 11 in the US. The album spawned three singles; "Turn It On Again" went to No. 8 in the UK, "Misunderstanding" reached No. 14 in the US, and "Duchess" peaked at No. 46 in the UK. Duke was supported with a UK and North American tour from April to June 1980, which began with a 40-date tour of the UK for which all 106,000 tickets were sold within hours of going on sale.
