THREE SIDES LIVE

The frequent thrashing that this album receives from some calcified old-schoolers is, in my opinion, over the top. Yes, the collection of songs on "Three Sides Live" is not nearly as impressive as on 1977's "Seconds Out." After all, any album that features "Supper's Ready," which is far and away the greatest prog/art rock song in the history of the genre, is by definition an A-list compilation. On the other hand, the sound quality here is far superior to "Seconds Out," which suffered from the overly-slick, detached, rather punchless style of then-Genesis producer David Hentschel. In addition, what "Three Sides Live" lacks in classic material it makes up for in confident musicianship, and a willingness to stray from an obsession with faithfully recreating songs in their studio form note-for-note on stage. What you hear is a band that now has the confidence to spice up songs such as "Abacab," "Dodo," "Behind the Lines," "Cinema Show," Dutchess," "Afterglow," and even "Fountain of Samalcis" with an extra degree of swing and, dare I say, funkyness. As for those who lament the failure to play full versions of old classics on "Three Sides Live" (by the way, contrary to a criticism that appears elsewhere on this board, the band does play the entire version of "In the Cage" on this album), these critics need to be reminded that on the hallowed "Seconds Out," songs such as "Carpet Crawlers," "Firth of Fifth," "The Musical Box," and even the revered "Supper's Ready" were all presented in shortened form in some way or another (although admittedly in the case of "Supper's Ready," only about 5 seconds of guitar work by Steve Hackett is left out during the intro to Apocolypse in 9/8). In summary, "Three Sides Live" is an excellent snapshot of Genesis in the early 1980s as it teeters on the precipice between prog rock and pop rock.