The Way We Walk - Volume One: The Shorts)
1.Land of Confusion
2.No Son of Mine
3.Jesus He Knows Me
4.Throwing it All Away
5.I Can't Dance
6.Mama
7.Hold on my Heart
8.That's All
9.In Too Deep
10.Tonight, Tonight, Tonight
11.Invisible Touch
By the early 1990s, Genesis had amassed enough material—and more importantly, enough distinct audiences—to justify not one, but two live albums from their We Can’t Dance tour. It was a clever bit of segmentation, really. Having proven on their previous studio release that they could still straddle the line between long-time prog loyalists and casual chart listeners, the band chose to release two live sets: one for the hits (Volume One), and one for the deeper cuts (Volume Two). A split that, in hindsight, was both commercially shrewd and artistically deliberate.
Volume One—subtitled The Shorts—serves as a kind of unofficial greatest hits collection. At this stage in their career, Genesis had yet to issue a formal singles anthology, so this album handily filled the gap for casual fans and newcomers. Every track here had been released as a single, and all were drawn from the band’s final three studio records. There’s nothing earlier, nothing obscure, and nothing that would startle the casual listener. It’s a fair representation of the band’s live performances during this era, when setlists leaned heavily toward familiarity and airplay.
But therein lies the problem.
Most of the renditions here are, frankly, safe. They are polished, professional, and eerily close to their studio counterparts. Gone are the extended instrumental detours, the thunderous improvisations, and the sense of danger that characterized Genesis’ earlier live recordings. Stadium tours, with their echoing acoustics and visual spectacles, leave little room for musical spontaneity—and Volume One reflects that sonic homogeneity. Even fan favorites like Invisible Touch and Tonight, Tonight, Tonight are here presented not in full, but as truncated medley components—a practical decision on tour, perhaps, but something of a letdown on record.
The absence of even a smattering of earlier material is noticeable, though not entirely unexpected. The band had, by this time, fully embraced its post-Abacab identity, and while older tracks remained beloved by a certain segment of the fanbase, they were increasingly pushed aside in favor of chart performance and mass appeal. For those hoping for a few shorter ‘classics’ from the earlier era, there’s little here to savour. But, to be fair, the earlier live albums had covered much of that ground already.
Still, what Volume One lacks in depth, it compensates for in cohesion. The performances are tight, the vocals assured, and the playing—particularly from the supporting cast—is exemplary. Darryl Stuermer (guitar/bass) and Chester Thompson (drums) had by now become permanent fixtures of the Genesis live ensemble. Though technically not “official” members, they were so integral to the band’s concert dynamic that their inclusion on the album’s artwork and credits feels not only appropriate, but overdue. Few fans would argue their significance, and fewer still would imagine a Genesis tour without them.
The Way We Walk: Volume One is not a revelatory live album, but it doesn’t pretend to be. It offers a clean, polished summary of the band’s late-career singles—a kind of musical souvenir for stadium-goers and a bridge for those seeking a curated taste of Genesis without diving too deep. The real rewards, of course, would come with Volume Two.
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