A very good overview of the 16 year experiment with Phil Collins as frontman
This set, like Genesis Archive 1967-75, covers a chapter in the band's legacy. Genesis' second box set entitled Genesis Archive # 2 1976-92 was released in November of 2000. Unlike 67-75 where it covered the Peter Gabriel led band with unreleased gems, live recordings and B-sides, this set features the rare B-sides and live tracks from the Phil Collins fronted era.
Many complain that some B-sides were deleted (in case of "Match of the Day", Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford hated it and in "Me and Virgil's case, Phil didn't like it). Apart from those, we get B-sides that were left off of A Trick of the Tail ("It's Yourself" (with premature fade at band's insistence), Wind and Wuthering ("Pigeons" and "Inside and Out"), And Then There Were Three ("The Night The Light Went Out" and Vancouver"), Duke ("Evidence of Autumn" and "Open Door"), Abacab ("Paperlate", "You Might Recall", "Naminamu" and "Submarine" (with edited ending due to tape master damage)), Invisible Touch ("I'd Rather Be You", "Feeding the Fire" and "Do the Neurotic") and We Can't Dance ("On the Shoreline" and "Hearts On Fire"). All of the tracks were great.
The only ugly parts were the 12" mixes of Invisible Touch, I Can't Dance, Land of Confusion and "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight". A surprise gem here is the early version of "Mama" which is nice to hear.
Disc 2 and pieces of disc 3 are a collection of live stuff such as "Entangled" from 1976, "Burning Rope" from 1978, "Deep in the Motherlode", "Ripples", "The Lady Lies" and "Duke's Travels/Duke's End" from 1980. "No Reply at All" and "Man On the Corner" from 1981. "Illegal Alien" and "It's Gonna Get Better" from 1984. Plus "Your Own Special Way" and "The Brazilian" from 1986/87. Lastly, "Dreaming WHile You Sleep" from 1992
This set comes packaged with a cool informative book and the sonic quality buries the bootlegs and original CD singles that these tracks came from.
Recommended.
A 15-Year Experiment Immortalized on 3 Discs
Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel and Mike Rutherford (MIKE + THE MECHANICS) have all enjoyed much success as solo stars, all three of them started out playing with GENESIS. "Genesis" has been around for close to 40 years (1968), & this little band is responsible for the solo careers of many fine "pop"
musicians. All three of them were also together in the band for the better half of the 1970's.
However, this boxed set solidifies GENESIS' rise to the top of the "pop" charts in the late 1970's and the better part of the '80's. Phil Collins had taken over on vocals for Peter Gabriel in 1975, and the band was reduced to a trio by 1978. Luckily, this trio was responsible for some
of the greatest achievements in modern music, especially based on "singles. "
You get three discs of prime classics and b-sides, which have never
before been released on compact disc. There are the classic singles like "Invisible Touch" and "I Can't Dance," as well as the rarities like
"You Might Recall" (Three Sides Live LP) and "Hearts on Fire," which
is an out-take from the 1991 sessions for "We Can't Dance" - Phil's
Swansong with the group.
I got the whole package for a measley $20 bucks, but that's becuase I
got it at the great "Bull Moose Music" in Portland, ME. There are also
many live versions of such GENESIS concert staples as "Ripples"
"Your Own Special Way," "It's Gonna Get Better" and "No Reply at All. "
. . . and GENESIS will be performing "Ripples" for the first time in over
25 years. I will be in attendance for the reunion of Tony Banks and
Mike Rutherford with the great, Phil Collins, in September '07, on their
TURN IT ON AGAIN TOUR. Well, I suggest that all of the GENESIS fans who
are members of Amazon. com get this set. It's the best thing I bought all
year, and with the in-depth booklet that comes along with the package,
you really can't go wrong.
This box immortalizes the 15-year experiment that GENESIS endured after
the departure of the very talented, Peter Gabriel, and later on, the
guitar genius, Steve Hackett (1977). GENESIS would go on to create
some of the best loved anthems of the 1980's, and Phil Collins would
branch off from the trio and create 4 solo albums, while still being
employed as GENESIS' drummer, vocalist and overall leader.
.
Pleasing themselves, not the fans...
Will try not to say too much that's been said already, but. . When Tony, Mike & Phil were assembling this set, it's clear they were pleasing themselves and not thinking in terms of what fans would want. Thus they put the songs in an illogical order that *they* thought sounded good; they left off things the fans would want but *they* didn't like; and so on.
I personally have little or no use for the 12" remixes (except the "I Can't Dance" one), the work-in-progress version of "Mama", or even many of the live tracks. To me, this set is mainly worthwhile for the non-album studio tracks (including the songs from the U. S. THREE SIDES LIVE, the CD release of which is out of print, hard to find & didn't sound very good anyway). I listen to these easily as often as the albums they were left off of! So it annoys me (just as it does other fans) that certain things were omitted -- Match Of The Day, Me & Virgil, the unedited Mama & It's Gonna Get Better. But at least all of those can be found in CD form, although it takes some looking (and M&V sounds like CRAP). What *really* bothers me -- and which I haven't seen mentioned here thus far -- is that two of the non-LP songs have been tampered with. "Submarine" is missing its original ending (due to master damage) so part of it is repeated and faded. "It's Yourself" is faded early, entirely unnecessarily -- *they* just liked it better that way; this is a crime because the song is otherwise unavailable on CD and even the original single is hard to find.
So. . . this is essential for the fan, but it doesn't give all it could have.
Could have been so much better
Disc one : two cuts only "Evidence of Autumn" and "Inside and Out"
Disc two : A good version of "It's gonna get better", "Deep in the Motherlode" and four jewels here, I am talking about "Ripples", "Your own special way", "Entangled" and "Duke's Travel-Duke's end". Let's get through the three cd and see what's interesting. "Burning rope" isn't bad also.
Disc three : there's just "The lady lies" that is worth listening.
Overall, 34 songs on the three cd pack and 10 worth listening to.
I have nothing to do with discoteque version of the Invisible Touch album (Invisible Touch, Tonight, tonight, tonight and "Land of confusion"
Why don't we have more stuff with Steve Hackett ?
What about the "Supper's Ready" 1982 version that the band performs that year ? This cd pack could have been a lot better if more songs when Steve Hackett was in the band were included. It could have been better also with a better choice of songs after Hackett's departure. A very big dissapointement.
This Box Set is Awesome!
I have every album/video since Duke & this box set is a fine addition to my collection. I've been a major Genesis fan ever since the early 80's. The B sides, live & 12" versions are all great. But I especially liked the new songs that were never released (hearts on fire, I'd rather be you & evidence of autumn). I can't believe great songs like these were never released before now! These could've easily all been singles! What were they thinking? I also can't believe how some fans are trashing this set & it's songs. Alot of the people who gave this set bad reviews are fans of the "old genesis". Those fans who only like the progressive era really shouldn't be reviewing this set cuz it's more for fans like me, who grew up in the 70's/80's & know & appreciate great pop music. Phil Collins took this band to new heights & musical creativity & w/out him, Genesis would never have been near as successful as it was. If you are a true fan of Genesis & aren't biased against the pop-oriented direction the band took, you won't go wrong buying this set.
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