FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION

This is one of those albums that has been reviewed so many times I can't add anything new to it, and frankly Genesis is one of those bands that never really clicked with me despite growing up surrounded by their music and having many friends who were diehard fans. But it's in my collection so I knew I'd eventually get around to saying something about it. Today is that day.

I've no idea how many times this thing has been reissued. I know I looked this up though and found at least 25 of them. Mine is a 1976 vinyl release called 'Rock Roots 1', released by Decca UK in 1976 with liner notes that indicate the label clearly felt the band was on its way out after Gabriel's departure. With downloads and on-line ordering and multi-national global corporations being all the norm today it's easy to forget the days when an imported album was kind of a big deal, back when British imports generally had thinner sleeves and thicker vinyl than American releases. The import stamp is also kind of interesting, a blue- and-red button stamped with "Imported & distributed by Peters International, NY NY". I've no idea why this thing would have been imported to the U.S. back in 1976 since London Records already had a U.S. issued version of the original in their catalog. The thing would have cost more back then than most new albums considering the import tariffs, and since Genesis weren't exactly a household name in the U.S. at the time I have to believe this was either a special-order, or was intended for a very niche market. The cover is pretty cheesy: a heavily color-treated photo of an old Decca Stereogram 33rpm singles record player superimposed with a couple press photos of the band, the same photos used on the covers of several later reissues including the Dutch Black Box 2-disc CD set that was issued just a few years ago.

Well thanks to time and the band's fame after this record released, these songs are pretty familiar to most progressive music fans today. Certainly much has been said of the spotty production and over-the-top string and horn arrangements on most every track, although from my perspective these aren't as distracting as most hardcore fans of the band seem to find them and frankly they probably help spruce up what would have been rather sterile- sounding songs otherwise.

Gabriel's lyrics are much better than his vocals, which are simply average here but would blossom into the stuff of legends within a couple years of this release. On a view tracks the dates sound of the melodies and instrument-playing are quite strong, particularly "In Limbo", "A Place to Call My Own" and "A Winter's Tale", but elsewhere the songs stand up as pretty decent precursors of what would come later.

In keeping with the times and the post-psych commercial leanings of British labels of the late sixties, these are all short tracks with fairly accessible arrangements, certainly a far cry from 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' but decent enough if compared to their contemporaries rather than to their later catalog. There are also a couple of pre-album singles on this release (including their B-sides), but none of this is new to anyone who has picked up any of a number of later CD reissues.

Like I said, I'm not exactly a Genesis fan but when I play this record today and consider it solely on its own merits, it's not a bad record. Certainly not a masterpiece, and not even as good as another Genesis band (U.S.) debut called 'In the Beginning?' that was issued around the same time. But good enough to rate three stars on a scale of five, which is what I'm going to give it right now.

There, I finally got around to assessing this one and can slip it back into it's vinyl sleeve and stick it back in the stacks for another few years. Perhaps my kids (or grandkids) will rediscover it and help perpetuate the myth that is Genesis for yet another generation someday. One never knows?.

peace