Genesis - Genesis Live (1973)

 (U.K 1967 - Present)

Genesis Live is the first live album released by rock group Genesis in 1973. It was the band's first top 10 hit in the UK, reaching No.9 and remaining on the charts for 10 weeks.

In early 1973, Genesis allowed the taping of a couple of live shows for broadcast in America as part of the King Biscuit Flower Hour syndicated radio show -- most of their current set, drawn from their albums up through 1972's Foxtrot, was represented. A few months later, Tony Stratton-Smith, the head of Charisma Records, to which the group was signed, approached them about allowing him to fill the extended gap between Foxtrot and their next album, Selling England by the Pound, by releasing a live album from this same taped performance. The bandmembers, who now say they were somewhat distracted at the time by their work on the new album, agreed to it.

L-R: Tony Banks, Peter Gabriel, Mike Rutherford, Steve Hackett, Phil Collins

And the result was Live, which was originally the only official document of the group in performance with Peter Gabriel in the lineup. And it's not just the singer, but everyone who shines here -- it's doubtful that anyone ever got a richer sound out of a Mellotron on-stage than Tony Banks does on this album, and Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford, and Phil Collins' playing is all quite amazing as a whole unit, holding together some very complex music in a live setting. And on that basis alone, this album was an essential acquisition for fans of the group, as well as a key link in solidifying their growing popularity -- the intensity of the performances on "Watcher of the Skies," "Get 'Em Out by Friday," "Return of the Giant Hogweed," "The Knife, and, especially, "The Musical Box," easily transcend the work (superb though it was) on the studio originals, and is an in-your-face presentation of the theatrical intensity that Gabriel and company brought to their work on-stage.

Genesis 1973

What's more, the very fact that the band could pull some of what they do on-stage -- and this was in an era where other prog rock bands, such as Emerson, Lake & Palmer, were running up against a brick wall in terms of re-creating their complex studio sounds in concert -- is mighty impressive.

Additionally, in the case of "The Musical Box" and "The Return of the Giant Hogweed," both songs originally recorded on Nursery Cryme, the versions here documented this lineup's true approach to these pieces -- at the time when Nursery Cryme was recorded, guitarist Steve Hackett had barely joined the group (and fragments of music composed by his predecessor, Anthony Phillips, still exist on the album), and most of the guitar parts there were actually the work of bassist Mike Rutherford (who did, in fact, take over most of the group's guitar chores after Hackett's departure in the late '70s).

Foxtrot Tour Stage Costumes

Peter Gabriel is probably at his peak as a singer, and his vocal performances sound remarkably bold and confident. He was known for wearing elaborate costumes during their concerts and making it seem like they were in woodland fairy plays. If that were me in his shoes, I would have felt like a complete idiot, but all that nonsense seemed to empower Peter Gabriel! It's easy to fall in love with his vocal performance in “Get 'Em Out By Friday,” where he does the same amount of play acting as he did in the studio version and perhaps with even more gusto. Gabriel was having so much fun at the time that he even cracked a joke at the beginning of “The Musical Box.” That is amazing since I didn't figure that Gabriel was the sort of person who usually cracks jokes.

Foxtrot Tour Program

So what we hear on this album, which has now been upgraded on CD at least twice, once in the '90s and again in 2009 as part of the Genesis Live 1973-2007 box set, are the definitive interpretations of these pieces by this version of the band, more so than the studio originals. And one also gets to hear the classic version of the band tackle the oldest part of their repertory, "The Knife," which went back to their first Charisma album -- and it's a killer compared to the original. And one could say that about the whole album, as well as being the best representation of this version of the band at this point in their history, but for one glaring flaw -- the original King Biscuit broadcast included the epic "Supper's Ready" from Foxtrot, which Stratton-Smith was compelled to leave off of the album, rather than face the economic challenge of issuing a three-sided double-LP. That flaw aside, this is about the best single-LP representation of what this band could do on-stage, and to the surprise of a lot of people, it actually won them lots of new fans ahead of the release of Selling England by the Pound.

Genesis were persuaded by their label, Charisma Records, to release Genesis Live as a budget-priced title to mark time while the band recorded Selling England by the Pound in mid-1973. (Contractual obligations to Charisma's North American distributor, Buddah Records, may also have been a factor, as Charisma would move its distribution to Atlantic Records shortly before Selling England's release.)

The tracks on the album were recorded at De Montfort Hall, Leicester, England by the Pye Mobile Recording Unit, engineer Alan Perkins, on 25 February 1973 except for "Return of the Giant Hogweed", which was recorded at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England on the previous day, when the band was touring in support of Foxtrot. These recordings were originally made for the US radio show King Biscuit Flower Hour, although they were never broadcast.

A handful of early radio promotional double-LP test pressings by Philips/ Phonogram Int. B.V. (actually PolyGram at the time) were created which included a 23-minute version of "Supper's Ready" from the Leicester show. This pressing's running order was "Watcher of the Skies - "The Musical Box" - "Get 'Em Out by Friday" - "Supper's Ready" - "The Return of the Giant Hogweed" - "The Knife", and included between-song patter by Gabriel.

'Whether this test pressing was intended to be released as the actual album is unknown. In any event, "Supper's Ready" was not included, even though the front cover photograph was taken during a live performance of "Supper's Ready" (with Gabriel donning the "Magog" mask). Excellent digital copies of the double-LP test pressing are readily available. (A live recording of "Supper's Ready" from the following year's tour was released on 1998's 4-CD boxed set, Genesis Archive 1967-75. However, Gabriel re-recorded some of his vocals before allowing release.)

Rolling Stone gave the album a brief but positive review, commenting that "this album goes a long way toward capturing the gripping power and mysticism that has many fans acclaiming Genesis as 'the greatest live band ever.'"

Peter Gabriel features in his Magog Mask

A retrospective review by Allmusic was also resoundingly positive. They remarked "it's doubtful that anyone ever got a richer sound out of a Mellotron on-stage than Tony Banks does on this album, and Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford, and Phil Collins' playing is all quite amazing as a whole unit, holding together some very complex music in a live setting." They judged all the recordings to be far superior to their studio originals.

This post consists of FLACs ripped from my prized vinyl, puchased back in the mid 70's from K-Mart in Geelong. I had not heard of Genesis at the time, however I chose to purchase the album for 2 reasons - firstly, its eye catching cover and secondly the budget price it was being sold for. No details on the back to indicate the artist names but I was able to ascertain they were a British band based on the recording details. And so my life long association with this brilliant band had started.

 Full album artwork (for both CD and vinyl) is included, along with label scans and all photos featured in this post.  

As a BONUS, I am also including a rip of the original King Biscuit Flower Hour (KBFH) broadcast that contains the missing "Supper's Ready" recording. The only downfall is that the recording is in MP3 (160) format and consists of a single file (no song separation), but beggars can't be choosey I guess. So folks, Supper's Ready. Enjoy !

Track Listing

01. "Watcher of the Skies" 8:34
02. "Get 'Em Out by Friday" 9:14
03. "The Return of the Giant Hogweed" 8:14
04. "The Musical Box" 10:56
05. "The Knife" (Banks, Gabriel, Anthony Phillips, Rutherford) 9:47

Personnel:
Tony Banks – Hammond organ, Mellotron, Hohner pianet, 12-string guitar, backing vocals
Phil Collins – drums, backing vocals
Peter Gabriel – lead vocals, flute, tambourine
Steve Hackett – lead guitar

Mike Rutherford – bass, bass pedals, 

12-string guitar, backing vocal

Genesis Live Link FLACs(256Mb)

KBFH Broadcast MP3 (55Mb)