FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION

'From Genesis To Revelation' is the debut studio album by Genesis and was released in 1969. It was produced by Jonathan King, who discovered them in 1967 while they were pupils at the Charterhouse School. Despite be their first work, in some Genesis' catalogs, this debut album doesn't appear as part of the official group's discography.

The original line up of Genesis consisted of Peter Gabriel, Anthony Phillips, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford, without any drummer. When their demo tapes caught the attention of King, with the addition of Chris Stewart on drums a schoolmate of them, they recorded their first single 'The Silent Sun'. 'From Genesis To Revelation' was issued several months later, in the same year.

'From Genesis To Revelation' has thirteen tracks. All songs were written by Gabriel, Phillips, Banks and Rutherford. The first track 'Where The Sour Turns To Sweet' is a very interesting song and, in my humble opinion, is one of the best and one of the few really good songs on the album. We can even say that this song has the seeds of what will be the future of their musical sound. The second track 'In The Beginning' isn't really a bad track. It's a nice rock song with some interesting musical parts. However, the sound quality of the song is a little bit poor and the developing of the song isn't particularly brilliant. The third track 'Fireside Song' represents also, in my humble opinion, one of the best musical moments on the album. It's a very beautiful song, very pleasant and nice to listen to. I particularly like the piano parts and the acoustic passages. Even the orchestra sounds beautifully on the song. The fourth track 'The Serpent' starts quiet and very well, with its bass line, good drumming and beautiful acoustic parts. However, it sounds too much to the 60's and makes me remember strongly The Beatles and The Doors. It's not a bad song but I can't see anything special on it. The fifth track 'Am I Very Wrong?' is one of the highlights of the album. It's a very good song with beautiful musical passages. The piano parts are great and very pretty to listen to, and they can move with me. This song has also one of the best vocal performances on the album and shows the real skills of Gabriel as a singer. The sixth track 'In The Wilderness' represents also, for me, another highlight on the album. This is a very beautiful song with excellent orchestration. The strings parts and the piano solo are very nice and bring to the song a very special touch. It's also a song with a brilliant vocal performance by Gabriel. The seventh track 'The Conqueror' is a song that opens with a guitar repeating the main theme of 'In The Wilderness'. It has some nice acoustic and piano parts but the harmony isn't particularly brilliant. In reality, this is a weak song, a little bit repetitive, and with nothing special on it. The eighth track 'In Hiding' is another weak song. Unfortunately, it has the same problems of the most of the songs on the album. It's also a repetitive song and where the theme doesn't develop very well. The Gabriel's voice sounds nice, but the rest of the song doesn't deserve more attention. The ninth track 'One Day' is fortunately better than 'The Conqueror' and 'The Hiding', are. This is a very nice song where all the musical instruments are performed nicely, and especially the piano and the bass parts are very good. The tenth track 'Window' is unfortunately another non memorable song. It has some interesting musical parts like the acoustic and piano parts, which are very pleasant to listen to, but only that is interesting. The rest of the song isn't also particularly brilliant. The eleventh track 'In Limbo' is another perfectly vulgar song, without any musical idea and that sounds too much to the 60's. It's another song with anything special on it. This is probably my less favourite song on the album. The twelfth track 'Silent Sun', as I wrote above, was released as the debut single of the band. So, we can say that it represents the beginning of all. Musically, we can say that it's a fusion between folk and pop rock with the heavy use of orchestral strings. Personally, I must confess that I like particularly of this song and it represents, for me, another highlight on the album. The thirteenth track 'A Place To Call My Own' is a very short track. It isn't also, in my humble opinion, a brilliant song. However, it has very nice performances by Gabriel and Banks, which shows their real musical talents.

Conclusion: I'm a big Genesis fan, and for me, Genesis is one of the best progressive bands ever, and is also my favourite progressive band too. Despite, 'From Genesis To Revelation' have some real very good songs like 'Where The Sour Turns Sweet', 'Fireside Song', 'Am I Very Wrong?', 'In The Wilderness', 'One Day' and 'Silent Sun', the album is in general very weak. The problem of this album is that it sounds like more an album of the 60's, and its music has more in common with the Moody Blues and the early Bee Gees, than the future sound of Genesis as a progressive group, especially if we compare it with their second studio album 'Trespass', released only one year later. So, despite this debut be not properly a bad album, it has nothing to do with the great and influential prog band as Genesis are.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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