peterr@utcsrgv.UUCP (Peter Rowley) (06/24/83)
A total of 8 people have been in Genesis at one time or another, from
Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, Peter Gabriel, Anthony Phillips, and John
Silver on the first album ("Genesis to Revelation") to just the first
two plus Phil Collins on the last ("3 Sides Live"), with John Mayhew
drumming on the second ("Trespass"). Collins and Steve Hackett arrived on the
third album, "Nursery Cryme", replacing Phillips. The 5-man Genesis made the
great albums "Foxtrot", Cryme, "Genesis Live" (w. a great version of "The Knife"
a wonderfully powerful and cynical song about revolution), "Selling England
By the Pound" and the double LP rock opera "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway".
Gabriel dominated the creation of the last, causing resentment, and his
eventual departure to make the excellent albums described in a prev. article.
Hackett stayed for only two more albums: "Trick of the Tail"
and "Wind and Wuthering". This left Banks, Rutherford, and Collins to make
"And Then There Were 3", a HORRIBLE album (with their first US top 10 song),
"Seconds Out" (a good double live album, saved by having a lot of old stuff),
and then "Duke", "Abacab", and "3 Sides Live", pretty ordinary pop albums.
All of the 8 except John Silver and John Mayhew have had multiple-album
solo careers; my favourites are Peter Gabriel (who has a brand new double
live album, digitally recorded), Anthony Phillips, Steve Hackett, and
Mike Rutherford, in that order. Look for "The Ghost and The Geese",
by Phillips and Rutherford and "Please Don't Touch" by Hackett. I'd suggest
avoiding the albums by Banks (he has a new one) and Collins, at least if
you're expecting music with any of the spirit of old Genesis.
There's a pretty good book on the band by Armando Gallo that's worth
looking for.
peter rowley, U. Toronto CSRG
{cornell,watmath,ihnp4,floyd,allegra,utzoo,uw-beaver}!utcsrgv!peterr
or {cwruecmp,duke,linus,lsuc,research}!utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr