CD Review: Genesis 1970 – 1975 (CD Sampler)

By Glen Boyd: 2008-11-16 05:00:09

This is a review of a CD you can’t actually buy.

Well okay, that’s not exactly true. You can buy the entire box set, which is 13 discs strong (including the DVDs). But they only sent me the sampler. So this is actually more like my attempt to shame them into sending me the whole thing. Hey, a guy’s gotta’ try right?

Genesis 1970 – 1975 covers what most Genesis fans refer to as the Peter Gabriel years, although guitarist Steve Hackett was also an integral part of the band’s progressive rock sound at the time. This is the period when Genesis was a progressive rock band, known for sprawling epics steeped in vivid lyrical imagery, and lots of mellotrons and weird time signatures. It is definitely not to be confused with the latter day version of Genesis led by Phil Collins, which became an unstoppable hit machine and MTV fixture in the eighties.

Peter Gabriel left shortly after the band completed its tour for the 1975 double-disc Lamb Lies Down On Broadway opus – one of the five original Genesis albums re-packaged on the 7-CD/6-DVD boxed set Genesis 1970-1975. Steve Hackett left two albums later.

Follow the story so far? Good.

On this boxed set, the first five Genesis albums are repackaged in both remastered CD and DVD 5.1 audio versions. The DVDs also feature bonus material including rare live performances. This is the stuff that diehard fans will most be interested in, and if the sound on the sampler I received is any indication, the restoration of the original recordings sounds very impressive. There is also a CD featuring “Extra Tracks” of rare material, of which two tracks, “Happy The Man” and “Resignation,” are included on the sampler I received.

So why the bitchy tone you may have detected by this point?

The problem – with the sampler anyway – is that the ten tracks included only scratch the surface of the material represented on the box. So even though tracks like “Counting Out Time” and “The Carpet Crawlers” are included, I have no way of telling you how the remastering job they did on the complete Lamb Lies Down On Broadway actually sounds.

This album has been recognized as Genesis’ masterpiece by many fans for years. Still, many of those same fans have yearned for a better recording. Does this remaster job -- in 5.1 audio no less -- satisfy that need? Based on the two tracks I was provided, I honestly can’t tell you.

Likewise, such early Genesis progressive epics as the twenty plus minute “Supper’s Ready” from the album Foxtrot we’re not on my sampler. The album Selling England By The Pound is represented only by the tracks “Cinema Show” and ”I Know What I Like In Your Wardrobe”.

Again, both sound great here, but they are not enough for me to be able to recommend you shell out the big bucks they are asking for this 13 disc boxed set.

So if those of you reading this are starting to suspect a hidden agenda on the part of this writer with this review, you would be absolutely correct in making that assumption. So I’ll simply close with this. The ten tracks I received for review are but a drop in the bucket in terms of all that is covered on the thirteen disc Genesis 1970 – 1975 boxed set. They represent less than 10% of the music covered. That said, they sound great.

If the record company would like to send me the entire box, I’ll be happy to let you know how they did with the rest of it.

Here is the complete tracklist for the Genesis 1970 - 1975 boxed set:

TRESPASS

1. "Looking For Someone"
2. "White Mountain"
3. "Visions Of Angels"
4. "Stagnation"
5. "Dusk"
6. "The Knife"
DVD Extras
Reissues Interview (2007)

NURSERY CRYME

1. "The Musical Box"
2. "For Absent Friends"
3. "The Return Of The Giant Hogweed"
4. "Seven Stone"
5. "Harold The Barrel"
6. "Harlequin"
7. "The Fountain Of Salmacis"
DVD Extras
Reissues Interview (2007)

FOXTROT

1. "Watcher Of The Skies"
2. "Time Table"
3. "Get 'Em Out By Friday"
4. "Can-Utility And The Coastliners"
5. "Horizon's"
6. "Supper's Ready"
DVD Extras
Reissue Interviews (2007) Video: Brussels, Belgian Rock of the 70s television performance (1972); Rome, Italy - Piper Club (1972)

SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND

1. "Dancing With The Moonlit Knight"
2. "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)"
3. "Firth of Fifth"
4. "More Fool Me"
5. "The Battle Of Epping Forest"
6. "After The Ordeal"
7. "The Cinema Show"
8. "Aisle Of Plenty"
DVD Extras
Reissue Interview (2007) Video: Shepperton Studios, Italian television performance (1973); Live in Bataclan, France (1973)

THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY

1. "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway"
2. "Fly On A Windshield"
3. "Broadway Melody Of 1974"
4. "Cuckoo Cocoon"
5. "In The Cage"
6. "The Grand Parade Of Lifeless Packaging"
7. "Back In N.Y.C."
8. "Hairless Heart"
9. "Counting Out Time"
10. "The Carpet Crawlers"
11. "The Chamber Of 32 Doors"
12. "Lilywhite Lilith"
13. "The Waiting Room"
14. "Anyway"
15. "The Supernatural Anaesthetist"
16. "The Lamia"
17. "Silent Sorrow In Empty Boats"
18. "The Colony Of Slippermen: The Arrival/A Visit To The Doktor/Raven"
19. "Ravine"
20. "The Light Dies Down On Broadway"
21. "Riding The Scree"
22. "In The Rapids"
23. "It."
DVD Extras
Reissues Interview (2007) Melody - French TV Performance 1974 1. "I Know What I Like" 2. "Supper's Ready"

EXTRAS 1970-1975

1. "Happy The Man"
2. "Twilight Alehouse"
3. "Going Out To Get You"
4. "Shepherd"
5. "Pacidy"
6. "Let Us Now Make Love"
7. "Provocation"
8. "Frustration"
9. "Manipulation"
10. "Resignation"
DVD Extras
Reissues Interview (2007) Video: Boxed Set 1967-1975 VH1 Special

Midnight Special Performance 1. "Watcher Of The Skies" 2. "The Musical Box"

RELATED: cd review, genesis, peter gabriel, phil collins, Steve Hackett

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