ARCHIVE 1967-1975

This compilation is a special one. It is, in a sense, a Greatest Hits. But it's a Greatest Hits You've Never Heard! Which makes it much worth buying for a Genesis-follower, such as myself. It is a fantastic collection of live and studio material never released, all packaged wonderfully with an absolutely phenomenal booklet.

Disc 1 & 2 are a live version of The Lamb Lies Down, with a few moments of the Gabe speaking to the audience about what the hell is going on in this album, and combining that information with some of the interviews in the booklet, a Genesis fan will be very enlightened to the meaning of the odd concept album. Essentially, in the shortest form, the album is about good people being corrupted the world. Happily, the performance is not too similar to the studio version: Collin's drumming is much different, the lyrics are much clearer, and some songs are much dynamic. Hilariously, though, the fellah in charge of changing the tape used to record the performance at midpoint forgot, and they ran out of tape for It, making the performance incomplete. However, the band has recorded a new studio version of it for this compilation, and it seems to fit well with the rest of the performance.

Disc 3 is a mix with live material primarily from 1973 at the Rainbow concert (and one track recorded in '71 for BBC) with 2 studio rarities: the catchy and pleasing Happy the Man, and the astounding Twilight Alehouse. The final track is a single version of the classic Watcher of the Skies, but without its legendary mellotron introduction. I found this to be the most entertaining disc, and it seems the masses would agree with me. The final disc is completely demos, singles, and whatnot, recorded but never released. Unfortunately, only the most devoted of Genesis fans will like this one. Some of the early songs are bland pop songs, but there is also a lot of interesting material.

Overall, this is a fantastic compilation - as good as they get, but unfortunately, only the very most devoted Genesis fans will be glad to pay the huge price for this massive collection.