Search - Genesis :: Seconds Out

Sounds even better, Hackett is present now.

Neil S. Bowman | Malden, MA United States | 12/31/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Second's Out. LOOK OUT! It's time for me to lengthily bloviate!



Man, it was the first time music ever moved me. Listening to it with headphones on in the darkness of my bedroom at age 13, in 1977. Pretty much every night for almost a year! The keyboards were magical, the drumming, the guitar work, the songs, so transporting and original. ELP got me into the chops-side and the mind-blowing possibilities of a rock band first, but Genesis, especially Phil Collin's warm, smoky vocals, the wondrous keyboard sounds, the duel drumming that just lifts songs into the stratosphere, the guitars soaring, and just the cumulative sound that the band had created that equally is warm and smoky. Nobody sounded like Genesis. It's like they took the magic of Yes and King Crimson and removed the always-trying-to-impress instrumental solos that could occasionally take you out of the song, and just kept it about the song, the overall song.



If you look at the cover of Second's Out, a stage shot, there is the band surrounded by white stage lights coming down like a screen, with fog enveloping them, as if they're on an English moor in the dark of night, and their music SOUNDS like what that photo looks like somehow. All of the stage photos included in the artwork, and in the entire 1973-2007 LIVE Box Set, do. It's like they didn't need Roger Dean's artwork to create visual worlds to accompany the music you heard. (Don't get me wrong, I love everything about Yes and Roger Dean's artwork, for different reasons) One mere photo of Genesis on stage seems to sum up the musical equivalent of the album, and their live shows, perfectly.



Nick Davis and crew did an oustanding job of remixing what to me was already a sacred work of art, 1977's Second's Out, recorded in Paris in 1976 and 1977. I was afraid they'd mess with Phil's vocal performance, mixed a bit low in the original release, which in a way, had him even more in the sound of the performance. Well, actually now I can hear how transcendent Phil's performance was even better. I am somehow even more impresseed, and it does not overtake or overshadow anything. The drums thunder and clap around the mix as they should, especially when Phil and Chester Thompson play together, Mike Rutherford's bass and Moog pedals thunder in songs they really need to (Afterglow, late Firth of Fifth, Musical Box, Supper's Ready, Dance On a Volcano, Los Endos), Tony Bank's keys anchor and shimmer brightly to punctuate and lead the music again, and best of all, Steve Hackett is back up in the mix where he always belonged.



From the stick-click count-off of the first song, Squonk, you feel the melancholy beauty of what they do best. And what struck me is they played these songs with such conviction. Other bootleg live recordings show how tight and consistent they were with the magic. But Second's Out has the ultimate version of every song on it. Perhaps my biggest factor in making this version the only version of Second's Out I'll listen to from here on in is Steve's aforementioned resurrection. Because he's so frickin' original, and he has his power back. With a band like Yes, you marvel at Steve Howe's guitar virtuosity and solo creativity, but also how well he falls into the band's sound. But even then you hear him sticking his head up and out in many of the tunes, like, it's Howe's turn to solo, and now it's Wakeman's, etc.

Hackett rarely 'solos' and when he does, like on Firth of Fifth, or parts of Supper's Ready, he soars with that smoothly, wailing and sometimes sinister Les Paul. He really makes Supper's Ready (Genesis masterpiece, on par with Yes' Close to the Edge, or Floyd's Dark Side) the epic rock work that it is on this album's version, and now I can hear him better. I could sit down with you and play Supper's Ready ( a 20 minute long song) specifically the Second's Out version, and show you how Hackett makes that song a masterpiece in every section. The same with Firth of Fifth and Cinema Show. It is Genesis. And his classical guitar skills elevate so much of their stuff, like the beginning of Cinema Show, on 12-string. You can hear Hackett constantly creating new sounds on the guitar in Genesis' early work, never more than on SO. He was one of the first to just scrape at the strings, make them sound like cauldron bubbles(Dance), water trickling (Cinema Show), siren's wailing (Supper's Ready: Guaranteed Eternal Sancuary Man), seagulls screaming (Firth of Fifth, Cinema Show), dogs barking (Supper's Ready again, Apocalypse in 9/8) somehow. Bizarre soundscapes that were perfect at setting the moods. Genesis could sound like medieval Britain, rainy day English countryside, or occasionally, sinister, apocalyptic and even insane.



And Hackett would just non-chalantly innovate stuff in the background from stage right while Tony Banks would take the spotlight, stage left. Steve was so soft-spoken and humble. To this day, he speaks with quiet pride about his work with Genesis. He's not bitter, or sniping, even 33 years on since leaving the band. He calls them his dear friends. The epitome of classy, reserved Britishness.

On a side note, it totally thrills me that he will be inducted into the R-n-R Hall of Fame this year. (As well as Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks and Michael Rutherford, Ant Phillips, etc.) Because many of those guitarists inducted into the RnR HOF are showboats. And they belong in there, obviously. But the fact that someone like Hackett, such a class act, and so innovative, inspirational and influential (and after all, isn't that what the HOF is for, achievement and influence?) himself on guitar, and even the same can be said about Genesis as a whole, can join the RnR HOF is such a kick to me. Even if he's there by proxy because of the careers of Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel. I can't wait to see who inducts them and hear that speech.



IMO, Genesis "Second's Out" alone is one of the only albums one needs to hear to consider Genesis worthy of any Rock-n-Roll Hall Of Fame. And this remastered version is the one to listen to.

"

Genesis LIVE in concert

BrotherSpider | The Order of the Eternal Broken Nose | 04/29/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have only seen them twice in concert and every time i did they put on a show that is hard to forget.



This CD showcases the tour they did for Trick of the Tail. I am sure it was as fantastic as the two shows i saw.



The only down point i could possably give this CD is that it doesn't have Phil's talking between the songs. That is part of the show they cut out and it is missed. Phil is an excelent stage pressence and it should have been put in.



While hil is out front singing (in the recetly gone Peter Gabrial's place) Chester Thompson ( and on one track Bill Bruford from YES) play the drums



this tour did have Steve Hacket on guitars and shortly after he went missing for a solo career.



Mike Ruthaford and Tony Banks are there too"

Must have for Genesis fans

D. O. Newman | Kelso, Wa. | 05/08/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was at the Seattle show, in 1976, their first stop in the lower 48, on this tour and this disc brings back some HUGE memories of that show. I had the double album on vinyl and this is a great replacement. Having been a fan since '71 and being familiar w/ Peter Gabriel at the mic, it was with "eager anticipation" that I was curious as to how Phil Collins was going to do w/ the mic. A huge fan of his drumming, I was pleased to see/hear a very decent replacement for Gabriel....tho I would love to have seen Gabriel, too. I had not heard of Chester Thompson, prior to this gig and was totally blown away by his talent's and when he and Collins dueled, well, I'd never seen/heard anything like it, before/since and I've seen everyone from Led Zepplin, ELP, Eagles, Yes, ZZ Top the Stones, Jeff Beck, Foghat, and all in between, since '69. This was by far the best show I'd ever seen. Especially to have seen Steve Hackett w/ the band and his incredible guitar work, oh my word!!

The greatest shame is that this was not recorded for viewing. When they came on w/ the incredible laser/light show that they toured w/, it set the standard for concert's! These guy's were out to prove something! And that, they did. Get this disc! You'll not regret it!"