THREE SIDES LIVE

I can`t imagine GENESIS playing the "same old songs forever" in concert. I really understand that some changes are necessary to keep bands alive. By 1982, GENESIS was a different band, and as the time has passed, they naturally changed too. So, the criticism about how GENESIS has changed since Gabriel and Hackett have left is not totally justified, in my opinion. They still were very good musicians, as this live album shows. As other reviewers wrote before me, the "real" "Three Sides Live" album (a version which was released in the U.S. and in some countries in Europe) had 3 sides recorded live and one side (the fourth) with studio tracks which were recorded during the "Duke" and "abacab" album sessions, and these studio tracks also appeared in the U.K. as B sides or in an E.P. called "3x3". As I reviewed these songs before in my reviews for the "Duke" and "abacab" albums, now I comment about the U.K. version of the "Three Sides Live" album, which really was a "Four Sides Live" album as it was released with 4 sides of live recordings. Almost all these live recordings were recorded during the "abacab" tour in late 1981, with the exception of "Follow You, Follow Me" and "One for the Vine" which were recorded in 1980 during the "Duke" tour, "The Fountain of Salmacis" which was recorded in 1978 during the "and then there were three" tour (not in 1980 as the cover says), and "it/Watcher of the Skies" which was recorded in 1976 during the "A Trick of the Tail" tour. All live recordings have Chester Thompson and Daryl Stuermer as supporting musicians, except "it/Watcher of the Skies" which has former member Steve Hackett and guest drummer Bill Bruford. This is now the available version on CD, as it was remastered in 1994. The "studio tracks" of the original U.S. version are now available in the "Archive Vol. 2" box set (with the exception of "Me and Virgil" which in the present is not available on CD). The album starts with "Turn it on again", a good version which has Collins and Thompson on drums in the end of the song. "Dodo" is the next song (which also really includes "Lurker" but it is not mentioned in this album`s song list). "Dodo" has very good drums by Thompson. Next, is "abacab", with again both drummers playing in the instrumental section. "Behind the lines" also has the two drummers in the beginning of the song, with Stuermer playing lead guitar. "Duchess" has a drum machine, with Collins adding acoustic percussion. "Me and Sarah Jane" is better in this live version, with very good drums by Thompson and bass by Stuermer. The live version of "Follow You, Follow Me" is very good. "Misunderstanding" is the next song, with a good live version. The "oldies medley" starts with "In the Cage", again with very good drums by Thompson and lead guitar by Stuermer, plus a very good synth solo by Banks. Collins sang this song very well, and I prefer this version than the original studio version. The "oldies medley" continues with some instrumental fragments of several songs: "Cinema Show", "Slippermen", "Riding the scree",with Banks playing synth solos, and with Collins on drums most of the time. The "oldies medley" is finished with a very good version of "Afterglow", with excellent drums by Thompson, who is joined in the end of the song by Collins on drums. This live version of "One for the Vine" is played very well, with Banks using his Yamaha Electric Piano which sounds better than the RMI Electric Piano that he used until 1977. In this version, in comparison to live versions from 1978, he adds some synths which were not played in the 1978 tour. This 1980 version is "heavier", and it has Collins and Thompson playing drums in the instrumental sections of this song. "The Fountain of Salmacis" is a very good live version, with again excellent drums by Thompson, very good vocals by Collins, and a very good lead guitar by Stuermer. It also has a mellotron, in the last tour in which Banks used this instrument (1978). The last song, a medley of an incomplete version of "it" (it lacks some verses in comparison to the studio version), followed by instrumental fragments of "Watcher of the Skies". "it" has very good drums by Bruford, while "Watcher..." is played mainly by Collins, with both drummers ending the medley. The quality of the live recordings is very good, with a good mixing. Collins` vocals sound more "raw" and strong (maybe more "matured" ) in comparison to "Seconds Out" (with the exception of "it" which is similar to the Collins ` vocal sounds of "Seconds Out"). The cover design is similar to the "abacab" album, very simple in design, with only one "in concert" photo included in the gatefold cover. There was a VHS video called "3 Sides live", with some songs of the 1981 tour, some incomplete. This video was marred by the inclusion of interviews with the band, including interview fragments between songs, leaving some songs incomplete.