Genesis

Genesis Archives, Vol.1: 1967-1975 - The Gabriel Years (1998)

 

Disc One
  1.Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
  2.Fly on a Windshield
  3.Broadway Melody of 1974
  4.Cuckoo Cocoon
  5.In The Cage
  6.Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
  7.Back in N.Y.C.
  8.Hairless Heart
  9.Counting Out The Time
 10.Carpet Crawlers
 11.Chamber of 32 Doors
Disc Two
  1.Lilywhite Lilith
  2.The Waiting Room
  3.Anyway
  4.Here Comes The Supernatural Anaesthetist
  5.The Lamia
  6.Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats
  7.Colony of Slipperment
  8.Ravine
  9.The Light Dies Down on Broadway
 10.Riding the Scree
 11.In The Rapids
 12.It
Disc Three
  1.Dancing With the Moonlit Knight (Live)
  2.Firth of Fifth (Live)
  3.More Fool Me (Live)
  4.Supper's Ready (Live)
  5.I Know What I Like (Live)
  6.Stagnation (Live)
  7.Twilight Alehouse
  8.Happy the Man
  9.Watcher of the Skies
Disc Four
  1.In the Wilderness
  2.Shepherd
  3.Pacidy
  4.Let Us Now Make Love
  5.Going Out to Get You
  6.Dusk
  7.Build Me a Mountain 
  8.Image Blown Out
  9.One Day
 10.Where the Sour Turns Sweet
 11.In the Beginning
 12.Magic of Time
 13.Hey!
 14.Hidden in the World of Dawn
 15.Sea Bee
 16.Mystery of Flannan Isle Lighthouse
 17.Hair on the Arms and Legs
 18.She is Beautiful
 19.Try a Little Sadness
 20.Patricia
  

After the door closed on the recording career of Genesis near the end of the century, the band did an interesting thing to reflect their brilliant career. In addition to releasing their greatest commercial hits in a single package, they also released two box sets that were mostly aimed at the devout follower. There is nothing in either one of the hefty compilations that would appeal to the masses, hence sales were never strong. It was with great pleasure, however, for the rabid listener to have in their possession these rare treasures.

This first set highlighted the early part of the career with Peter Gabriel. We have a mix of great early live material, plus unheard recordings from way back, before anyone had ever really heard of Genesis. The first two cds of this set were taken from a live concert in 1975. During that tour, the band boldly played their entire double album The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway plus maybe an encore or two. What we have here is the album reproduced live for our listening pleasure. It is a little misleading since the band reportedly added overdubs to enhance the quality, but overall it's not a bad listen considering the time of the recording and also that the band tended to focus more on theatrics.

The third CD continues with unreleased live material from the early years. The band took great care in ensuring that they would never duplicate any live material. After four live releases, they fortunately give us all new live selections for the box sets. For the collector of live material, one could substantially compile a great collection from authorized releases. Although Supper's Ready and I Know What I Like appear on Seconds Out , this is the first time that they appear with Gabriel handling the lead vocals.

The latter half of disc three and the entire disc four is a collection of early unreleased b-sides, BBC recordings and demos of songs from the band's infancy. Most were done before Phil Collins and Steve Hackett ever joined the band. There's something very special in these recordings as well, and it's pleasurable that they surface here. Genesis abruptly changed its style after their first studio release, and that's a bit of a shame. They had the makings of a great simple pop band before the theatrics and lengthy pieces took over the (albeit, good) collections. We have a great glimpse of what might have been.

Go back to the main page
Go To Next Review