GENESIS

It seems that this very rare single was released in Italy only, a country where Genesis enjoyed some early success before their native England. Both tracks are form their debut LP and they are both the strongest cuts from that album in my opinion. In the Beginning has some fine bass lines from Mike Rutherford besides the usual great acoustic and electric guitars provided by Anthony Phillips. The Serpent is another fine rocker (again with lyrics bearing biblical images), with both guitar and bass trading riffs. Again they are quite simple compared to what was to come (the Trespass album took almost two years to follow From Genesis To Revelation, but what a giant leap it was!). Still I like the clever arrangements and haunting organ. The backing vocals are again the kind Genesis would not use again.

Since both songs were always available on their debut album, this rare single is only for collectors and completionists. Besides those songs work much better within the album context and it was strange to listen to them separately. They clearly were not meant for single release. There were better songs in that LP for that (In Hidding, for example). I´m giving it two stars for the overall good quality of the songs themselves.

Conclusion: Just a curio from another era