At the start of Three Dates with Genesis an engaging BBC documentary from 1978 on the long-lasting prog rock outfit that eventually (well after this show aired) and improbably morphed into one of the world’s most reliable and mainstream pop acts, guitarist Mike Rutherford says, “I remember we were once described by an East Grinstead local paper as a ‘folk-blues-jazz-rock-mystical group.’”

It may be precisely that chameleonic quality that ensured the gang such success in the 1980s. This is the era of And Then There Were Three.... As the album’s title indicated, Genesis had just become a trio—Peter Gabriel had left in 1975, and Steve Hackett left while the 1977 live album Seconds Out was being mixed. Nobody involved could have had the slightest inkling that this new trio formation would prove to be the band’s most successful incarnation—by far—and also easily the longest-lasting, managing to stay together for thirty years (or twenty, depending on whom you ask).

Call me crazy, but the decision to continue as a trio was the revolutionary step, abandoning the convoluted and complex five-person lineup more befitting a pretentious, D&D-and-Tolkien-influenced, noodly prog outfit. As a trio, Genesis became leaner, and the pop sensibility of Phil Collins stepped to the fore. Keyboardist Banks always cherished his long solos, but the more innately humble Rutherford and Collins managed to rein them into a more standard pop format, famously heavily influenced by Motown and Stax (think horns)—hell, Collins would even cover the Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love” on his second solo album.

In any case, Genesis fans are in for a treat.