I think Trick of the Tail was one of their better albums. I think the downfall came, not so much as a result of Gabriel leaving, but of the departure of Steve Hackett (who was still around contributing to the songwriting on “Trick”. )
I’ll agree with that; Gabriel and Hackett was a double whammy.
A Trick of the Tail and Wind and Wuthering are two of my favorite Genesis albums. Ripples is still my all-time favorite Genesis song, and I don’t think Gabriel could have pulled that one off as well as Phil did.
The change in the band really occurred because Tony and Mike wanted to get away from writing the kind of songs they did before, it’s not all on Phil Collins for the change in their sound.
Duke is still a fine album, with Between the Lines/Duchess/Guide Vocal/Duke’s Travels/Duke’s End, still being one of Genesis’ finest moments.
As far as this album goes, “That’s All” is a great song, as poppy as it may have been, and at least Tony’s keyboards sound something like old Genesis on it.
You could definitely hear ironically a lot of influence on this album rhythmically from Peter Gabriel’s solo work, especially with Phil’s work with Peter on his solo album (drumming on ‘Intruder’ and ‘No Self Control’)