FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION

Genesis debut is clearly much different from all the albums they did after it. But listening close you can hear hints of what was to come. Even today I listen to this CD with great pleasure. Ok, I´ll have to agree with most reviews here stating this is really a pop oriented album most of the time. So what? It´s good music after all and I still think it´s a tremendous first efford for such a young band. In fact a band that didn´t really exist: according to their offical bio Chapter and Vsrse, before going to the studio they were actually just two teams of songwriters (Ant Philips and Mike Rutheford on one side and Tony Banks and Peter Gabriel on the other).

The lyrics for instance are quite original and interesting. The orchestration do make them sound a little more appealing than their raw demos available later on the Archives boxset (which indeed sounded too unoriginal and a little too derivative). Anyway, the resulting album shows great promise, specially on tracks like Where The Sour Turns to Sweet, In Hidding, The Serpent and Am I Very Wrong? The rest of the songs are alt least good, and I think Silent Sun is a fine pop tune. Producer Jonathan King definitly saw their potential.

Although Tresspass would be a giant step forward, From Genesis To Revelation has a special place in my heart. It shows Genesis still struggling to find their sound, but talented as they were, even their early effords were better and bigger than much of other bands best stuff. 3,5 stars, really. Not really essential (except for the Genesis fans) but a very good start that survived the test of time.