ARCHIVE #2 1976-1992

This three-CD collection is a mixed bag in more than one respect. The quality of the tracks varies significantly, as does the type of material. Of the 34 tracks, five are dance mixes; these occupy 32 minutes, or a little more than 15% of the total running time of Archive #2. Another 43% is given to live tracks and 37% to b-sides and EP tracks. The remaining time is accounted for by an "in progress" version of "Mama." Although there were some songs which could have been included (like the EP track "Me and Virgil"), Archive #2 includes a substantial majority of the era's dance mixes, b-sides, and EP songs, and a fair number of songs performed live but not included on live albums.

Thus, this collection was destined to be a hodgepodge. But it could've been a more organized hodgepodge, ordered by pure chronology, or chronologically within categories (i.e., all live tracks could've appeared together). I understand that this may not have been as easy as it sounds, due to space limitations and the fact that categories would've had to have been split across disks. But especially on the first two disks, there seems to be no order whatsoever. Today, you'd rip the CD and listen to its tracks in whatever order you choose, but Archive #2 was actually released a few months before itunes.

I agree with what many fans have already said: the 1976-1982 material is somewhat diluted by the tracks from the following decade. This isn't required listening, even of Genesis fans. But judged on its merits as a three-disk archive for fans who already have all of the studio material, Archive #2 is certainly successful.