THE PLATINUM COLLECTION

Some call this a sellout, but I do not agree. I think this is an excellent compilation of Genesis' career! Of course The Platinum Collection is not very interesting for fans of the progressive side of Genesis, but it's not fair to judge a compilation by the desires of those fans. They probably have all their progressive albums already. A compilation is aimed at people who want to get a good overview of a band, but do not want to buy the individual albums. They want to buy just one album and get all the essential songs of that band. In my opinion a good compilation should have the following qualities: - it must give a good overview of the different phases of a band's career; - it should include all the important hits; - it should also include all the major songs of a band even if they have not been hits, this includes fan favorites and songs of historical importance (a lot of the pop fans for example will not be interested in Supper's Ready, but a Genesis compilation without it is missing an important part of the history of Genesis).

I think this compilation meets all these conditions. The order in which the songs are placed is unusual, starting with the most recent songs on disc 1 and putting the earlier, lesser known progressive songs on disc 3. This is perfectly understandable. The commercial success of Genesis came with the more recent pop songs and it's probably the fans of their pop songs that will buy this compilation. Meanwhile the third disc might make them interested in the progressive songs also! Many of the earlier songs have been remixed by Nick Davis and the differences are subtle, but great! The sound is more dynamic, the vocals sound better and it's easier to distinguish the different instruments. A lot of the progressive songs, like "The Knife" and "The Musical Box" really improve thanks to the remix.

A lot of positive points, but still this compilation is not perfect. I do have some minor problems. Firstly it leans it bit too much towards the poppy side of Genesis. "We Can't Dance" is represented with four songs and both "Invisible Touch" and "Genesis" with five songs, while an important album like "Nursery Crime" is represented with only one song! Most of the other important progressive albums are represented with three songs. "Foxtrot" is also represented with only one song, but I can live with that because it's the lengthy "Supper's Ready". The other problem is that I miss two essential progressive songs: "Dancing With the Moonlit Knight" and "The Return of the Giant Hogweed". This two songs really should have been included. These minor problems are the reason that I cannot give 5 stars. The Platinum Collection is an excellent compilation, with some minor problems. If you plan on buying just one Genesis album, buy this one. Maybe it will convince you that there are a lot of other Genesis albums that you might want to explore!