Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Genesis
Label: Virgin Records
Release: 2007
Rating: 3.5/5
The old saying “money makes the world go round” crept back into my brain after I laid eyes on the latest version of “Turn It On Again – The Hits”, this time in eye-catching silver and a double-disc format that noticeably beefs up the hit selection of the previous, identically named edition. You’ve probably already guessed it’s a recycling job on the compilation released a few years back, with which Genesis promoted their most commercially successful era, one that most progressive rock lovers (i.e. the band’s traditional fans) still view with extremely mixed feelings. Besides their immortal status in the music encyclopedia, where they’re written in golden letters in both prog and pop, Genesis have long been true masters of marketing their own name too, and they know exactly how to scrape the last penny out of the pockets of those loyal fans who cherish both chapters of their musical history. After putting out a collection of hits and more commercially accessible tracks with a heavy focus on their two biggest-selling albums, “Invisible Touch” (1987) and “We Can’t Dance” (1991), back in 1999, this time they decided to cash in on the euphoria around the reunion of the “pop” trio of Collins, Rutherford and Banks and the promotion of the 2007 summer tour. To that end they’ve widened the selection of hits and commercially pleasing numbers they’d forgotten about before, and slapped on a “tour edition” label, which is supposed to convince the naive that this is something new, even though it offers absolutely nothing you haven’t already heard or that hasn’t already been released. The only thing that might stir up even a little interest among the old fans is a handful of interesting picks from the progressive era (though even those have a commercial undertone) on the second disc. Which is of course far too little to justify a purchase that’s pretty much completely pointless if you already own the previous version, which was only interesting for the new version of “The Carpet Crawlers” (which of course is here too), with Collins and Gabriel singing together.
As expected, you won’t find a single progressive epic on it, just all the pop hits that won over the hearts of the newborn MTV generation in the 80s and gave plenty of fans of their progressive legacy massive headaches in the process. The first disc has (yet again!) almost half its tracks (in fact all the hits) from “We Can’t Dance” and almost the whole of “Invisible Touch”, the album that was the first contact with Genesis for most younger fans and gave them a totally skewed idea of the band. This time they didn’t forget a single pop smash, and also expanded the selection of hits from “Genesis” (1983), “Abacab” (1981) and “Duke” (1980) with tracks they “forgot” on the previous version (Duchess, Keep It Dark, Man On The Corner, Paperlate and Illegal Alien). It now holds practically every single from their career, except for those from the debut “From Genesis To Revelation” (1969) and the last album, “Calling All Stations” (1997).
The second disc is where most of the interest lies, with some tracks from the EPs “Shot The Pigeons” (Pigeons, Inside And Out) and “3×3″ (Paperlate) that never appeared on studio albums. Among the singles from the progressive era, it’s nice to see ”Many Too Many”, “Afterglow” and ”A Trick Of The Tail”, two classics from the era with guitarist Steve Hackett, plus three interesting picks from the Peter Gabriel years, which as usual are criminally overlooked. Those are the witty “Counting Out Time”, the playful “Happy The Man” from the legendary EP of the same name, which never came out on any studio album, and the dramatic “The Knife (Part 1)”, which in a heavily trimmed version is the only representative of the progressive epic on the compilation. I’m glad they at least included one classic from the early era with guitarist Anthony Phillips, even if it’s the shortened single version, which shows all the fans of their commercial side that Genesis once knew how to rip it up with some downright brutal motifs, and where the roots of progressive metal lie. It’s a bit funny that “Congo” sits right at the end, a hit from “Calling All Stations” and their short-lived experiment with Ray Wilson, which they’ve placed chronologically right after the Gabriel era, even though it belongs to their last studio album. They clearly still have huge trouble with that one, since it was a completely different band again, and without Collins’ vocals they don’t dare put it at the start and scare off those who have no clue about the group and only discovered them as fans of Collins’ solo career.
It’s sad that even after the long-awaited comeback (which in the form of a “pop” trio will of course never be complete, so fans who can’t make it to the summer tour shouldn’t mourn too much), Genesis are stringing their loyal fans along in such a transparent way, selling them worn-out goods again. After the reissue of the 76-82 albums with improved sound on SACD, which apart from that and some extra video footage don’t bring any radical novelties, this time they’re selling us an even bigger pig in a poke, while counting on winning over a few new fans who’ll end up with a pretty muddled picture of their musical legacy. Since the years have obviously caught up with them and robbed them of new ideas, we can no longer demand that they ever head back into the studio and record something new (which doesn’t even seem fitting in their current incarnation). “Turn It On Again”, in one form or another, is meant only for those who know Genesis solely as an international pop attraction. All the fans who already own the previous version, and this goes double for all the prog rock lovers, should think long and hard about whether it’s really worth handing over money just to complete a collection of absolutely everything the band has ever released.
Line-up
Phil Collins – vocals, drums, backing vocals
Mike Rutherford – guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals
Tony Banks – keyboards, backing vocals
Steve Hackett – guitar
Peter Gabriel – vocals
Anthony Phillips – guitar, backing vocals
John Mayhew – drums
Ray Wilson – vocals
Nir Zidkyahu – drums
Production
Nick Davis
Track list
CD 1:
1. Turn It On Again
2. No Son Of Mine
3. I Can’t Dance
4. Hold On My Heart
5. Jesus He Knows Me
6. Tell Me Why
7. Invisible Touch
8. Land Of Confusion
9. Tonight Tonight Tonight
10. In Too Deep
11. Throwing It All Away
12. Mama
13. That’s All
14. Illegal Alien
15. Abacab
16. No Reply At All
17. The Carpet Crawlers 1999
CD2:
1. Paperlate
2. Keep It Dark
3. Man On The Corner
4. Duchess
5. Misunderstanding
6. Follow You Follow Me
7. Many Too Many
8. Your Own Special Way
9. Afterglow
10. Pigeons
11. Inside And Out
12. A Trick Of The Tail
13. Counting Out Time
14. I Know What I Like
15. Happy The Man
16. The Knife (Part 1)
17. Congo
