Search - Genesis :: From Genesis to Revelation

Yet another reissue of 'From Genesis To Revelation'

Johnny Boy | Hockessin, DE | 06/23/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm not saying this album is bad by any means. It's the beginning of Genesis! Their 1969 debut is often overlooked, and it is weaker than any other Genesis record (except 1997's 'Calling All Stations'), but it's still great. Heavily inspired by the Bee Gees in the sixties, Genesis released their debut on Decca, 'From Genesis to Revelation.'



Fans of the pop rock Genesis and progressive rock Genesis will not enjoy this release as much as die-hard Genesis fans in general. But there are some notable singles here, such as 'The Silent Sun,' which was released as a single, simply titled 'The Silent Sun 2006.' It's no different than the album version.



The record is five stars, but the reason I give this four stars is this is, what, the fifth time the record companies have reissued this? Don't the record companies get it? WE HAVE THIS ALREADY! WE BOUGHT THE FIRST, MAYBE SECOND REISSUE OF THIS SO WE HAVE EVERYTHING!



Overall, if you haven't bought this record yet, than this is a good version to buy. But if you've already bought this, than don't buy this copy. It's no different than any other reissue of this.



Recommended for the first time buyer of 'From Genesis To Revelation,' otherwise avoid this."

The sadly overlooked, and wrongly panned, debut of Genesis

Terrence J. Reardon | Lake Worth (a west Palm Beach suburb), FL | 09/05/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"English rockers Genesis released its debut album From Genesis to Revelation in March of 1969.

The debut album of Genesis (lead singer Peter Gabriel, keyboard player Tony Banks, bass player/guitarist Mike Rutherford, guitarist Anthony Phillips and drummer John Silver) was the result of the collaboration between these talented then-teenage schoolboys from Charterhouse College in Surrey, England and record producer (and Charterhouse alumni) Jonathan King. Messieurs Gabriel and Banks from the band Garden Wall joined up with Anon members Rutherford and Phillips plus drummer Chris Stewart and formed a band and sent demos to King (whom produced the band's first single (the 1960s Bee Gees-ish sounding "Silent Sun" (which appears here in two versions) with the rocker "That's Me" as its flip side and is a bonus track on this new remaster) in the hopes that the five young musicians could push forward their music careers.

The band was named Genesis (as in a "new beginning" in music after the band rejected his first choice of Gabriel's Angels), King learned there was an obscured American band with that name, so the band wasn't give a moniker on their first studio album, but gave them a concept of "From Genesis to Revelation" for which to write their music.

They begin the album with the snappy "Where the Sour Turns to Sweet" which was an excellent song and was released as the single from the album but flopped in the UK. Next is the rocker "In the Beginning" which had hints of the style the lads would adopt in later years. Next is the piano driven "Fireside Song" which was another great song. Next is another excellent rocker out of "The Serpent" which has excellent guitar work from Phillips. Next is another great slow piece called "Am I Very Wrong" which is a nice song. Next was my first intro to this era of the band "In the Wilderness" (which I heard in its rough mix state as it appeared on the 1998 Genesis box Genesis Archives 1967-75) which reminds me of "Ruby Tuesday" by The Rolling Stones.

The second half starts with the great rocker "The Conquerer" which has some excellent guitar work from Phillips. "In Hiding" is next and reminds me of their then-label mates The Moody Blues' pre-Hayward/Lodge era. Next is the song "One Day" which is reminiscent to the British pop music popular in England at the time. Next is the acoustic ballad "Window" which is another great piece with acoustic guitars that would dominate the band's sound in their early days. Next is the rocker "In Limbo" which is a great song. We follow with "The Silent Sun". We close with the piano piece "A Place to Call My Own" which is a nice short but sweet tune.

The strings and horns conducted by Arthur Greenslade were added on to the album at the insistence of producer Jonathan King whom pushed the band to release a soft sounding album to set them apart from fellow up and coming (what would be known as) prog rock bands debuting at the time (the British psychedelia of Pink Floyd and Yes and the blues-rock of Jethro Tull). A few of the tracks on this album would appear on the Genesis Archive 1967-75 box set without the orchestrations in 1998. According to both Armando Gallo's book on the band I Know What I Like and the group's official biography "Genesis : Chapter and Verse", the band members were proud of the music but unhappy with the orchestrations.

The album did deplorable when it was released but it did chart in 1974 when London Records in the US re-released the album in the wake of the success of both Selling England By the Pound and Genesis Live as it peaked at #170.

Many re-issues of this album had been issued over the years (and remains the only album the band does not own the rights to). Now in 2008, a new remaster was re-released and sounds better than the previous versions of the album I had previously heard and has four bonus tracks (the aforementioned "Silent Sun"/"That's Me" single and the band's British second single "A Winter's Tale" (a great number) and "One Eyed Hound" (a great bluesy acoustic rocker)).

For those who are fans of later Phil Collins led Genesis are advised to steer clear but for Gabriel-era Genesis fans and unbiased fans whom want to see how they started out this is HUGELY RECOMMENDED."

MAINLY FOR THE PURISTS

mellowlandings | Chcago, Il USA | 07/21/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"OK, let's get it out in the open right here: if you're the type of person that fell in love with the band in the 80's and have "Invisible Touch" in every format released, this album is NOT for you...best to grab a copy of the live album from thier '07 tour and re-live the memories. For that matter, if you're the type of Genesis fan that actively puruses the Internet for bootlegs of Phil Collins' bass drum track to "Watcher Of The Skies", again, best to pass this one up and go for the box set (preferably Vol. 1)



BUT, if you're an interested fan of the band overall and want to get a sense of their history and the band's roots, then this album is what you're looking for. However, buyer beware: this is NOT what you may call 'typical Genesis'.



Produced by London wunderkind Jonathon ("Everyone's Gone To The Moon") King in 1969, the premiere effort by a group of fledgling writer/students sounds more like a lightwieght version of early Moody Blues than the progressive powerhouse that was to evolve from this through the 70's with the odd exception ("One Eyed Hound", The Conquerer"). Overall, the album is lush with strings ("In Hiding") and overblown horn arrangments ("One Day"). This, however, still wasn't enough to rescue it from sounding thin and rather self-indulgent. But even with these faults, you can hear the seeds of what was to come later (the jump between this and their subsequent release, "Trespass" is night-and-day...but that's another review). Peter Gabriel's vocals sound timid and almost childlike throughout, complemented by backup vocals by Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks and Anthony Phillips ("Fireside Song"); however, the drumming is almost non-existant in places,causing the work to sounds limp in spots.



The big question here, however, is: why another re-release? this version has nothing new to offer; even the inclusion of an additional single ("That's Me") has been done before. Maybe they wanted to clean up Gabriel's tambourine sound?



It's an historic album nonetheless...but mainly for the Genesis purist who want to complete their collection."