Three Sides Live (1982)
U.S. album release
compact disc release
1.Turn it on Again
2.Dodo
3.Abacab
4.Behind the Lines
5.Duchess
6.Me and Sarah Jane
7.Follow You, Follow Me
8.Misunderstanding
9.In the Cage (Medley:Cinema Show,Slippermen)
10.Afterglow
11.Paperlate *
12.You Might Recall*
13.Me and Virgil*
14.Evidence of Autumn*
15.Open Door*
11.One for the Vine #
12.Fountain of Salmacious #
13.It #
14 Watcher of the Skies #
*U.S. album
*compact disc
Of all the mysteries surrounding Genesis—and there are more than a few—one of the more mundane yet perplexing concerns the title Three Sides Live. Specifically, why it was three sides live in the United States, and four elsewhere. You’d think that, in the age of digital omniscience, someone would have furnished a definitive explanation by now. They haven’t. At any rate, the CD reissue sensibly opts for the international version: four sides live, and all the better for it.
Strictly speaking, a new live album at this juncture wasn’t exactly necessary. Only three studio releases separated it from the band’s previous live outing. But Genesis were no ordinary band—and for a group that had undergone a considerable stylistic evolution in just a few years, Three Sides Live functions less as a redundant exercise and more as a litmus test of their new sound’s resilience on stage.
The bulk of the setlist is drawn from Duke and Abacab, their most recent and most commercially attuned offerings. And it must be said, the material holds up splendidly in performance. Genesis, by this point, had become a formidable live entity: tight, polished, yet never sterile. Collins had grown into his role as frontman with surprising ease, and the band’s interplay, particularly between Rutherford and Banks, was confident without ever descending into indulgence.
The high-water mark, without question, is the In the Cage medley. A recurring staple of their concerts, it’s an electrifying distillation of their prog-era grandeur—complete with segue fragments from The Cinema Show, The Colony of Slippermen, and the majestic Afterglow. Ask any Genesis aficionado to cite the quintessential live experience, and this suite would almost certainly come out on top. It’s as close to a definitive statement as the band ever issued in concert.
Now, the original U.S. release appended a fourth side of studio leftovers—tracks culled from Duke and Abacab sessions, including You Might Recall and the rather less memorable Me and Virgil. These were pleasant curios at best, and their inclusion on this framework always felt like a compromise—necessary for format, but not for substance. For completists, they remain accessible via compilations. For everyone else, their absence is no great tragedy.
Far better is the fourth live side found on the international edition—undoubtedly from an earlier tour, given the sparser audience ambiance, but no less potent for it. Indeed, the renditions here (One for the Vine chief among them) bristle with a dynamism the studio takes lacked. Stripped of polish, the songs breathe more freely, and the musicianship feels leaner, more urgent.
Genesis were always a band unusually generous with live documentation. Almost every significant track found its way onto a stage recording or anthology. This, for the listener, is no small boon. Among their live releases, Three Sides Live stands as perhaps the most balanced: a snapshot of transition, yes, but one taken with clarity and conviction. Just be sure you have the four-side version.
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