ARCHIVE 1967-1975

Archive albums often have a difficult position of balancing music quality with historical relevance. Fortunately, on this one, it's the first that wins. We have a rich 4-CD collection which goes rather backwards, starting with a 1975 full Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and finishing with 1967's demos on disc 4.

Genesis' excellent era started with 1970's Trespass and to the most paranoid fans, lasted till Gabriel departed. at minimum. So we have many prerequisites for this to rate this archive 5 stars. However. 1.) Listening to the highly satisfying first two live CDs is not fully authentic due to Gabriel's added vocals and Hackett's added guitar. 0.5 star down. 2.) The fourth disc is historically important, no doubt about it. Nevertheless, it's music quality and importance is mediocre. Genesis, till 1970, were lightning miles away from being a major and potential rock band. Another 0.5 star down. We're down to the solid 4 stars.