GENESIS LIVE

I was interested to hear the live recordings of early Genesis, and this album fulfilled that desire to some extent. Sadly there are only five tracks on this record, as my appetite would have demanded at least two LP's of their concert activities. However the opener "Watcher of The Skies" sounds very powerful, and the composition worked certainly well also on stage and not just studio. I have noted some symphonic rock bands have troubles in transforming their compositionally demanding material to live situation, or being unable to divide their roles as studio album creators and live performers, all between the pressure of producers, managers and audiences. All of the albums songs are mini epics with ca. ten minutes duration, in my opinion funny observation considering the band's recording history. Also the cover is quite nice, presenting us the cool visual aspect of the band. Peter seems to be dressed up as a robot or such, and the rest of the band plays seated as true rock'n'rollers do. "The Knife" is a good selection for a song here, but the version isn't as powerful as on their studio release. Interesting album, but I'm waiting to hear the other archive recordings from early 1970's live concerts of this unbalanced but influential and major group.