Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Genesis
Label: Virgin Records
Release: 2000
Rating: 4/5
After the excellent box set “Archive – Volume 1: 1967-1975” (1998), which covered the Peter Gabriel era and was a real treat for fans of the band, it made sense to expect a follow-up too, though I have to admit I didn’t await it with as much enthusiasm and anticipation as it might have deserved. This box set covers the Collins era, which stirs up pretty mixed feelings among fans, especially when it comes to those works that turned them from prog rock legends into pop rock stars. We could argue forever about the creativity, depth and expressiveness of most of the music they recorded at the peak of their fame, but people often forget that this change didn’t happen overnight, and that for a few years after Gabriel’s departure Genesis were still a creative powerhouse and recorded four excellent albums, with the masterpieces “A Trick Of The Tail” (1976) and “Wind And Wuthering” (1977) standing out. The quartet era even produced some of their best work, and the first two albums of the always controversial trio should still satisfy most prog rock appetites. Then came the unavoidable commercialization, which coincided with the start of Collins’ solo career and, in the eyes of music connoisseurs, did the band a lot of damage. Even though they still showed rare moments of brilliance here and there, it was practically a completely different band. When I look at their commercial “pop” phase (the 80s and beyond), and especially when I listen to the albums from that time, I view it through the lens of quality pop rock, and then I have to admit I even partly understand why they made such a U-turn. The trio is back together now, but Genesis as one of the main creative pillars of progressive rock almost certainly won’t ever happen again, at least not without Gabriel and Steve Hackett, though hope dies last.
Even though I’m a lot less excited about the Collins era than the Gabriel one, this box set still offers some great goodies that are a must for every fan of the band. “Archive – Volume 2: 1976-1992” collects B-sides of singles, EPs, rare live recordings and a few previously unreleased things. So there’s a fair bit of interesting and not-so-interesting material here, and it doesn’t follow any logical chronological order, which in my opinion isn’t the best move since the stylistic differences between some of the pieces are almost shocking. Now for the main criticism of the compilation: for absurd reasons two interesting tracks are missing – “Match Of The Day” from the EP “Spot The Pigeons” (1977) and “Me And Vigil” from the EP “3 x 3” (1982), which on CD only came out on the American version of the live album “Three Sides Live” (1982)! The first one is an interesting, tongue-in-cheek, Monty Python-esque piece, while the second is by no means a throwaway either. Apparently the esteemed Mr. Collins didn’t like them (anymore), and Tony Banks would surely have plenty to say about it too, since he often seems to have an answer for every question and would no doubt know why fans were deprived of these two tracks. It would be pretty two-faced and hypocritical to claim they just wanted to offer their fans nothing but the best music, since the compilation also contains a few pieces that aren’t worthy of the band’s name, and real fans would of course want the complete collection.
The first disc has quite a few interesting pieces, mostly released as B-sides of singles, and most of them hadn’t appeared on any CD release before this box set. Some of the songs are real pleasant surprises and nice proof that even in their most commercial phase (87-92) they were capable of writing complex compositions, while others are far less noticeable and truly belong among the leftovers. “On The Shoreline” dates from the “We Can’t Dance” (1991) sessions, which is obvious from its intro, reminiscent of the one on “No Son Of Mine”. From there on it’s a completely different beast, turning out to be an energetic pop tune built on polished synths, with a simple structure and an ultra-melodic chorus. A pretty representative piece of that era with some hit potential, but nothing that stands out, although if it had come out on “We Can’t Dance” it would undoubtedly have been one of the better tracks on it. “Hearts On Fire”, from the “Invisible Touch” (1987) days, is another R’n’B-based funky pop number made for the charts, one that reeks of Collins’ solo career from a mile away. That makes it a real nightmare for fans of their progressive period, while lovers of good pop rock will enjoy it. “You Might Recall”, recorded during the “Abacab” (1981) sessions, is also a commercial thing, but a lot more interesting than the previous two since it has a cool synth intro that reminds me of the one on the Marillion classic “Cinderella Search”. That’s all that’s progressive about it though, as it could have been on the radio any time if it had gotten the right publicity. Next up is “Paperlate”, also recorded at that time for the EP “3×3” (1982) and released on the American version of the live album “Three Sides Live” (1982). In America it was one of their biggest hits, which doesn’t surprise me in the slightest since it was made for their ears, which also means it’s one of their worst songs ever, one that would have looked bad even on a Collins solo album. Although it dates from the era of their last great album “Duke” (1980), the ballad “Evidence Of Autumn” is a pretty average piece, but thanks mostly to much more natural-sounding keyboards it’s a lot closer to the Genesis I love. At its core it’s a power ballad with some epic traces hiding in it, mostly made up of the outstanding keyboards of maestro Banks, who as usual contributes most to the quality of the bulk of the material from that period.
The highlight of this CD is the excellent experimental instrumental “Do The Neurotic”, which, believe it or not, was recorded while they were making their most commercial album. After a short percussion intro, a fast and energetic drum passage comes as a surprise, flowing into superb guitar riffing and good synth passages. Nothing that would rank among their peaks, but very nice proof that even in their most commercial phase they were still prog guys at heart. I’m not exaggerating one bit when I say it would have been the best track on “Invisible Touch”, if they’d dared to put it out, because it’s better and more advanced than both “Domino” and “The Brazilian”. Hits were unfortunately more important to them. “I’d Rather Be You” is a dreadful pop thing that would have been an embarrassment even to an album like “Invisible Touch”, even though it was recorded during its making. The awful artificial rhythm line in particular is unworthy of a band like Genesis. The repetitive instrumental “Naminanu” from the “Abacab” days is another very average piece, one that was well conceived as an idea but didn’t turn out the way it could have. The superb “Inside And Out” from the days of the masterpiece “Wind & Wuthering” (1977), or rather the EP “Spot The Pigeons” (1977), then fixes the mood again, though it would have been the most commercial track had it come out on the aforementioned album. The mood is lifted mostly by the presence of maestro Hackett, who always managed that winning combination in his interplay with Banks’ keyboards, the one that guaranteed the band’s quality. “Feeding The Fire” is a typical pop rock mishmash heavily influenced by Collins’ solo career, the kind of thing that would have fit anywhere but “Invisible Touch”. The instrumental “Submarine” from the “Abacab” days, with its mighty curtains of synths and varied drumming, tries to capture the band’s best days, but it lacks the fire that marked their masterpieces, although it would have been one of the highlights of “Abacab”. And you really have to wonder why they needed to include the 12-inch version of “I Can’t Dance”, which adds nothing good to the original and sounds truly dreadful in this form, only proving how low the creative foundations of most of the band’s output sank at one point, if they were remixing songs into versions like this.
The best of the discs is without a doubt the second one, with unreleased live recordings from various periods. Some of the performances are truly thrilling (especially those from the 76-80 period) and make you wish they’d finally start releasing official live bootlegs in the future, something some of their peers (King Crimson, Steve Hackett) have been doing for years. “Illegal Alien” “Dreaming While You Sleep”. It opens with performances of some of the more interesting pieces from the “pop” era, like the eternally burlesque “Illegal Alien” (Genesis, 1983), the mysterious pop-prog epic “Dreaming While You Sleep” (We Can’t Dance, 1991) and the atmospheric and complex power ballad “It’s Gonna Get Better” (Genesis, 1983). The instrumental “The Brazilian” (Invisible Touch) also belongs to this period, and it doesn’t differ much from the studio version. After that come some real treats. I’m glad we get to enjoy two tracks from “And Then There Were Three” (1978) that aren’t “Follow You Follow Me” but “Deep In Motherlode” and “Burning Rope”, both superbly played with incredible fire, just as you’d expect from instrumentalists who should never have held back their exceptional skills. The gorgeous “Ripples” (A Trick Of The Tail, 1976) is one of their most emotional pieces even in the live version, and it proves again and again how magnificent and advanced this band still was a few years after Gabriel’s departure, before they sold their souls for the smell of greenbacks (not quite literally, but largely). “Entangled”, from the same album, is also always a joy to listen to. It’s worth noting that maestro Bill Bruford (ex-Yes, ex-King Crimson, ex-UK) left his mark on this live performance too. On the other hand, I’m disappointed that from “Wind & Wuthering” they only included the power ballad “Your Own Special Way”, which in my opinion is the weakest piece on that album. The peak of the second disc is without a doubt the phenomenal performance of their last timeless masterpiece “Duke’s Travels/Duke’s End” (Duke, 1980), which I’d say is the highlight of the whole compilation and, mostly thanks to Banks’ incredible keyboard expansions, always takes me straight to seventh heaven, or rather the seventh dimension. This performance alone is worth the whole compilation!
The third disc, the least interesting of the three, stirs up quite a few mixed feelings. The main reason is the opening 12-inch versions of their pop hits “Invisible Touch”, “Land Of Confusion” and “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight” (all from “Invisible Touch”), which sound downright dreadful in this form and will put even the most devoted fan of their pop phase in a bad mood. Then come some more or less interesting live performances. The commercial “No Reply At All” and “Man On The Corner” are among the better tracks on “Abacab”, but I wouldn’t have missed them much if they weren’t on here. I’m far more fascinated by the performance of the excellent “The Lady Lies” (And Then There Were Three), which even live offers some of the best moments of the trio, who were still capable of creating pieces of grand proportions, with balls (Rutherford, or rather Stuermer in this version, is dealing with a metal riff!). Some more B-sides of singles follow. The ballad “Open Door” from the “Duke” days is a Rutherford brainchild that’s very much in the vein of “Your Own Special Way”, so it offers nothing outstanding. “The Day The Light Went Out” is a very solid and interesting Banks composition from the “And Then There Were Three” era, and it strongly reminds me of something that over the years came to be recognized as neo-prog rock. The ballad “Vancouver”, dedicated to Phil’s first wife, also comes from the same period and offers a quality (and not sugarcoated) ballad of the kind that followed in later years. “Pigeons” from the “Wind & Wuthering” period, or rather the EP “Spot The Pigeons”, is a witty and dreamy piece that also reminds me a bit of some of the playful pieces from Hackett’s solo career. “It’s Yourself”, from the “A Trick Of The Tail” days, is an interesting piece since it’s an early version of the unforgettable masterpiece “Los Endos”, with vocals in the first three minutes and a very calm ending. The last track is an unfinished version of the hit “Mama” (Genesis). Since the lyrics hadn’t been written yet, Collins has to improvise where the vocal parts were supposed to be. This version is interesting mostly because it gives a glimpse into how Genesis went about creating a song, but over time it gets irritating. I hope they won’t put recordings like this on possible reissues of the studio albums as bonus tracks (like Yes did years ago).
Despite the shortcomings listed above, this compilation is a nice complement to the first box set and a must for every true fan of the band. It also offers quite a few interesting moments without which any decent collection of their CD releases would surely be poorer. A good number of thrilling live performances and interesting B-sides will definitely satisfy all the real fans and collectors. But this release shouldn’t be mistaken for an anthology, since it doesn’t contain the pieces that appeared on the studio albums, and for that reason I strongly advise anyone unfamiliar with the band to steer clear of it.
Lineup
Phil Collins – vocals, drums, percussion, backing vocals
Steve Hackett – guitar, 12-string guitar
Mike Rutherford – bass guitar, guitar, 12-string guitar, backing vocals
Tony Banks – keyboards, 12-string guitar, backing vocals
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Daryl Stuermer – bass guitar, guitar, backing vocals
Chester Thompson – drums, percussion
Bill Bruford – drums, percussion
Production
Genesis, Hugh Padgham, David Hentschel and Nick Davis
Tracklist
CD ONE: 63:43
1. On The Shoreline (4:49)
2. Hearts On Fire (5:14)
3. You Might Recall (5:31)
4. Paperlate (3:21)
5. Evidence Of Autumn (4:58)
6. Do The Neurotic (7:08)
7. I’d Rather Be You (3:58)
8. Naminanu (3:54)
9. Inside And Out (6:43)
10. Feeding The Fire (5:51)
11. I Can’t Dance 12″ (7:02)
12. Submarine (5:13)
CD TWO: 72:42
1. Illegal Alien (5:31)
2. Dreaming While You Sleep (7:48)
3. It’s Gonna Get Better (7:32)
4. Deep In The Motherlode (5:54)
5. Ripples (9:53)
6. The Brazilian (5:17)
7. Your Own Special Way (6:51)
8. Burning Rope (7:28)
9. Entangled (6:57)
10. Duke’s Travels / Duke’s End (9:31)
CD THREE: 69:37
1. Invisible Touch 12″ (5:58)
2. Land Of Confusion 12″ (6:59)
3. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight 12″ (11:46)
4. No Reply At All (4:56)
5. Man On The Corner (4:04)
6. The Lady Lies (6:08)
7. Open Door (4:08)
8. The Day The Light Went Out (3:14)
9. Vancouver (3:03)
10. Pigeons (3:13)
11. It’s Yourself (5:25)
12. Mama (work in progress) (10:43)
Total running time: 206:02
