1976–1977: The four-man era

The group auditioned reportedly over 400 lead singers to find a replacement for Gabriel. Phil Collins, who had provided backing vocals, coached prospective replacements.[19] Eventually, the band decided to use Collins as the lead vocalist[20] for 1976's A Trick of the Tail. The new producer David Hentschel, who had served as engineer on Nursery Cryme, gave the album a clearer-sounding production. Critics noted that Collins sounded "more like Gabriel than Gabriel did".[21]

Despite the success of the album, the group remained concerned with their live shows, which now lacked Gabriel's elaborate costume changes and dramatic behaviour. Since Collins required the assistance of a second drummer while he sang, Bill Bruford, drummer for Yes and King Crimson was hired[22] for the 1976 tour. Their first live performance without Peter Gabriel was on 26 March 1976, in London, Ontario, Canada.[citation needed]

Later that year, Genesis recorded Wind & Wuthering, the first of two albums recorded at the Relight Studios in Hilvarenbeek in the Netherlands.[3] Released in December 1976,[23] the album took the second part of its title from Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights, whose last lines—"how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth"—inspired the titles of the seventh and eighth tracks.[24]

For the 1977 Genesis tour, the jazz fusion-trained Chester Thompson—a veteran of Weather Report and Frank Zappa—took on live drumming duties. Collins' approach to Genesis shows differed from the theatrical performances of Gabriel, and his interpretations of older songs were lighter and more subtle. At the 1982 Milton Keynes reunion show, Gabriel admitted that Collins sang the songs "better", though never "quite like" him.[25]

Guitarist Hackett had become increasingly disenchanted with the band by the time of Wind & Wuthering's release,[16] and he felt confined. He was the first member of the band to record a solo album, 1975's Voyage of the Acolyte, and greatly enjoyed the feelings of control over the recording process that working within a group could not provide. Hackett had asked that a quarter of Wind & Wuthering be allocated to Hackett's songs, which Collins described as "a dumb way to work in a band context".[26] While Hackett was given songwriting credits on the two instrumental tracks "Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers..."/"...In That Quiet Earth" , the Hackett/Collins' "Blood on the Rooftops" was never performed live, and his song "Please Don't Touch" (which appeared as the title track to his next solo album released in 1978) was rejected by the rest of the band, who opted for the shorter and catchier three-minute instrumental "Wot Gorilla?" which closes Side 1 of the Wind & Wuthering album. Hackett left the band following the release of the 1977 Spot the Pigeon EP while the band was in the studio mixing together the live album Seconds Out.

The acclaimed Seconds Out live album was recorded during the 1976 and 1977 tours and was to be Hackett's final release with Genesis. Rutherford took on guitar duties in the studio, and during live performances alternated guitar and bass with the session musician Daryl Stuermer.