GENESIS LIVE

But quite frankly, he sh*ts all over Antony Phillips' fantastically disciplined guitar solo in 'The Knife'.

But that is the only bad thing I have to say about this brilliant live album. Honestly, why do people pay so much attention to (in my opinion most dreadfully overrated and badly mixed) Seconds Out, when you have this beast of a live album (EP?) right here? We have 5 tracks: Watcher Of The Skies, Get Em Out By Friday, Return Of The Giant Hogweed, The Musical Box and The Knife. A very very good selection.

Watcher Of The Skies: 5 stars. Really, you couldn't get a better live performance of this track if you tried. It runs a little bit longer than the studio bersion, but the musicianship is as tight as ever, with every member playing their part perfectly. The epic mellotron opening sounds like it was ripped straight off the studio version; it is perfect and sonically beautiful. Most excellent opening track.

Get Em Out By Friday: 5 stars. This already brilliant and interesting track is performed dramatically and quirkily. It's so full of character, you'd think Peter Gabriel was dancing round you singing into your ear. Better than the studio version!

Return Of The Giant Hogweed: 5 stars again! This is far superior to the studio version, which featured bad angsty, bellowing vocals from Peter. But now we have in tune, more charismatic singing. This track, like the previous one, is a definite highlight. Musicianship, which is especially difficult to perfect on this fast-paced track, is absolute peak quality. This version made me love this track.

The Musical Box: 4 stars. An all time favourite of mine, this track is ever so slightly lazy. But it's still fantastic! Steve Hackett's guitar solo spots are most excellently played, although his tone has very little treble and sounds slightly muffled. Mike Rutherford must have forgotten about the bass pedals underneath him, as he only plays about 2 notes on them in the entire track. Overall, a decent rendition and one of the best live, but the studio version captures it perfectly.

The Knife: 4 stars. Sufficiently energetic without a doubt, but the guitar solo Steve Hackett wrote is just abominable. He should have carbon copied the original over.

Production wise, this is an excellent record. You can always hear every instrument crystal clear, and unlike Seconds Out, the drums are not right at the front of the mix. There are also some witty comments from Peter himself between tracks which gives a sense of being there with him and the other boys.

Overall, this is one of the best Live albums you'll ever hear. I often find myself craving the live versions of these tracks as opposed to the originals. So...we have 3 tracks with 5 stars and 2 with 4. So I'm gonna give it....5 stars! w00t!

Publius

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