Search - Genesis :: From Genesis to Revelation

Not Prog, but great.

Oymaprat | Nowhere In Particular | 08/30/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Their first. This Criminally underated album was how they started off, as an almost Cat Stevens like band. Don't dudge this album by what Genesis became but dudge for what it is-a gentle little album. The music here is so cool, mellow and relaxing. Beautiful-not prog, but great...

"

"...here I stand, a child in a lonely world..."

A Hermit | Southwestern Pa. | 11/28/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Originally assembled as a songwriting project in 1968, producer Jonathan King decided the assembled musicians on the demo he was dealing with should be released as its own work. Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, and Anthony Phillips, with drummer Chris Stewart, comprised the original personnel of the band later known as Genesis. After a couple of singles were released, Stewart was replaced with John Silver, and the result is the record known as "From Genesis To Revelation." It's too bad the record was so poorly received, selling less than 700 copies in the U.K., but this was largely due to poor marketing. A lot of bands would have folded at this point, but they pressed on, thankfully.



"From Genesis To Revelation" is known to be Bee Gees-influenced, but I don't even think they were around at this point. I'm not really sure, they could be. Actually, it sounds more like the newly regrouped Moody Blues. The addition of Justin Heyward in Denny Laine's newly vacated spot radically changed the sound of the Moody Blues, and the new band called Genesis actually sounds like the early Moody Blues. Of course, this is subjective, but the similarities are there.



The reissue adds some material from the time, but the original LP is here, intact, for all to appreciate. The material is strikingly different from what followed, and it stands alone as the only Genesis album to do what this one does. If you expect to hear the pop oriented material of the Phil Collins era, or the grandiose, drawn-out meisterworks of the 1970's you will be let down. But not for long, if you realize this was what the musicians involved were doing at the time.



This disc opens with "When The Sour Turns To Sweet." Amazon insists on calling it "When The Sour Turns 'So' Sweet;" I called them out on it, but my correction has been consistently ignored. Thanks, guys (shrugs shoulders). But it is the first single from the band, and it is a nice opener. "We're waiting for you...come and join us now..." The listener is then taken on a scripture-inspired journey through the early stages of civilization, man's place in God's Creation; "In The Beginning" is a driving, semi-hard rock song, and one of the best tracks in the set, "...churning with power, uncontrolled...," followed with "Fireside Song" and "The Serpent." Right away, you can see this is its own concept record. It isn't strictly a biblical record, but it shows how spirituality CAN coincide with the "devil's music," rock and/or roll. It is light and ethereal, but has this dark, sinister element which offsets the otherwise light, airy mood of it. "Am I Very Wrong?" is a dirge-like melody with positive lyrics, a process which was reversed in the 1970's by bands like Steely Dan. They wrote very dark, even disturbing lyrics, but put them to light, jazzy arrangements. The opposite is the case here. Repetition is a practice on this record they later eschewed, obvious in the first half's closer, "In The Wilderness." "...fighting enemies with weapons made to kill..." sounds like something hideous, but once again, the music offsets the lyrics. Upbeat music with brooding lyrics this time.



The second half opens with "The Conquerer." A piano motif plays throughout, with energetic acoustic guitar strumming, giving it a live, almost Broadway feel. You can almost see a dark stage and lone spotlight on a young Peter Gabriel as he delivers the vocal, telling a story of said conquerer, leading into "In Hiding." Gabriel has such a soulful voice, especially in this early material, so much promise in this early piece. "One Day" is almost pastoral sounding, the protagonist in total communion with nature, uplifting, relating positive emotion, probably what people were supposed to be, before discovering how corrupt we can really be. So capable of good, but equally capable of untold horror. "Window" and "In Limbo" take the listener to the "furthest star in the sky," as our thoughts have taken us from this earth, there simply HAS to be something out there awaiting us. The line from the film "Contact" sums it up nicely: "It would be an awful waste of space."



The remainder of the disc picks up the loose ends and treats us to some early singles and other bits of memorabilia, not necessarily essential, but it does pad out the time, and brings you back to Earth. Yes, I would call this disc a listening experience. A lot of people don't seem to agree with my take on it, but said people have approached this record with prejudged ideas of what it should be. Genesis hadn't reached their artistic peak yet, this was only the band's debut, and even they didn't know what would follow.



They used what they had on hand, and they did a remarkable job with it."