Genesis is a unique case in the world of popular music, as it began its career as a cult band and despite losing its lead singer, the charismatic Peter Gabriel, they moved on with then-drummer Phil Collins as front man, which brought them massive and unexpected success in the 80s. In this chapter of our The Many Faces series, we explore Genesis' inner world, including some of its members' rare side-projects, their collaborations, versions of some of their most iconic songs and the early-stages of the band, when they were still a bunch of teens who hardly imagined they would become one of the greatest bands of all times. The Many Faces Of Genesis is an essential album, that showcases the hidden stories behind a unique band.
Genesis' second double live LP set in less than four years was originally a kind of a hybrid work, and has appeared in several different editions. There was confusion from the start because, despite its title, Three Sides Live in its British version, as Charisma GE 2002, had four concert sides. The U.S. version, which determined the title, was made up of ten live cuts recorded on-stage in Germany in 1981, with Daryl Stuermer and Chester Thompson in the group's lineup, doing the leaner, more pop-oriented repertory that constituted the group's sound by the early '80s, off of the albums Abacab and Duke. The resulting album offered lean, crisp, and generally bracing accounts of the group's then-current sound - a mix of pop/rock highlighted by some prodigious musicianship - and a four-minute glimpse of its progressive rock past in the guise of the "In the Cage Medley," containing "Cinema Show" from Selling England by the Pound…
More Than 90 Minutes Of The Spectacular Show Of The Genesis Of The Great Frame Knebworth. This opened THE TOUR OF THE "WE CAN NOT DANCE".
Given all the overt literary references of Selling England by the Pound, along with their taste for epic suites such as "Supper's Ready," it was only a matter of time before Genesis attempted a full-fledged concept album, and 1974's The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway was a massive rock opera: the winding, wielding story of a Puerto Rican hustler name Rael making his way in New York City. Peter Gabriel made some tentative moves toward developing this story into a movie with William Friedkin but it never took off, perhaps it's just as well; even with the lengthy libretto included with the album, the story never makes sense. But just because the story is rather impenetrable doesn't mean that the album is as well, because it is a forceful, imaginative piece of work that showcases the original Genesis lineup at a peak…
Genesis 1970-1975 is a box set of five studio albums by Genesis featuring Peter Gabriel. The 7CD/6DVD box set includes newly remixed versions of the albums Trespass, Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. The band's 1969 debut album, From Genesis to Revelation, was excluded because of the band losing the rights to it. The fifth pair of discs includes B-side songs, 3 rare songs from BBC Sessions in 1970 and the never-before-released Genesis Plays Jackson soundtrack. Each bonus DVD features audio versions of the albums in 5.1 surround sound, as well as videos from each album's corresponding tour, new interviews, and photo galleries.
Foxtrot is where Genesis began to pull all of its varied inspirations into a cohesive sound – which doesn't necessarily mean that the album is streamlined, for this is a group that always was grandiose even when they were cohesive, or even when they rocked, which they truly do for the first time here…
Delivered in the wake of Phil Collins' massive success as a solo star, Invisible Touch was seen at the time as a bit of a Phil Collins solo album disguised as a Genesis album, and it's not hard to see why. Invisible Touch is, without a doubt, Genesis' poppiest album, a sleek, streamlined affair built on electronic percussion and dressed in synths that somehow seem to be programmed, not played by Tony Banks. In that sense, it does seem a bit like No Jacket Required, and the heavy emphasis on pop tunes does serve the singer, not the band, but it's not quite fair to call this a Collins album, and not just because there are two arty tunes that could have fit on its predecessor, Genesis.