SECONDS OUT

Released in 1977, this double live album was was brought out after Wind and Wuthering and was the last Genesis release to feature Steve Hackett. You may groan with doubt and apprehension, but fear not, because this is an excellent album- for the most part anyway. The album contains mostly material form Gabriel albums, with a few tracks with the Collins albums up to this point. The quality is much better than the first Genesis album, and there are no doublers either so this is worth every penny. The highlights for me were the live versions of The Cinema Show and Squonk, as well as the closing section of The Musical Box, which is the only evidence of the much forgotten and underrated Nursery Cryme album. Only two things let this album down for me. One is the fact that I really dislike the tracks Afterglow and Robbery Assault and Battery, which for me reek of Collins' impending pop explosion. The other thing is once again down to Collins', in that his flowery pop vocals are already apparent in some of the material, such as the versions of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and Supper's Ready, which are otherwise two of the best tracks on the album. At the end of the day though this is a great album and oh so nearly 5 stars, but 4 just for the fact that Phil ruins it! 4 stars.