LIVE - THE WAY WE WALK VOLUME TWO - THE LONGS

The Way We Walk Volume Two - The Longs was the second of two live albums released after the tour supporting the We Can´t Dance album. The other album is called The Way We Walk Volume One - The shorts and as the name suggests it contains the short songs performed on the tour while The Way We Walk Volume Two - The Longs contains the long songs performed on the tour. I haven´t yet reviewed volume one and haven´t really listened to it either but I´ll get to that one in time. Volume two is definitely worth a listen though and I´m happy I took my time to review this one.

I´ll be the first to admit that I haven´t been very impressed by anything Genesis released after ...And Then there Were Three, but there have been some good songs on most of the later albums even though the majority hasn´t been to my liking. Those good ones are almost all here on this album and that makes The Way We Walk Volume Two - The Longs a worthy purchase IMO.

The album starts with a medley of seventies Genesis songs. The medley is 19:31 minutes long and consist of parts of Dance On A Volcano, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, The Musical Box, Firth of Fifth and I Know What I Like. It´s a good medley but I can´t say that it´s above average. The performance is good but I just don´t enjoy medleys much. I want to hear songs in their entirety or not at all. This medley was actually the reason I purchased the album in the first place, but today I normally skip the medley and go straight to song number two.

Driving The Last Spike is one of two 10 minutes epics from We Can´t Dance and it´s a great emotional song that I enjoy very much. The performance is flawless and passionate.

Domino is one of the highlights for me on The Way We Walk Volume Two - The Longs. It´s one of the few good songs on the weak Invisible Touch. This live version is better than the original.

Fading lights is the other 10 minute epic from We Can´t Dance and it´s of an equally high quality as Driving the Last Spike. Tony Banks could still make beautiful things with his keyboards when he wanted to.

Home By the Sea/ Second Home By The Sea is probably my favorite post ...And Then There Were Three Genesis song. It comes from the 1983 self titled album which by the way is a pretty good album. The original is hard to beat but this version is also good.

The album ends with the classic drum solo and I´m bored. It´s very seldom drum solos interest me even when I´m at the actual concert and listening to them on album is almost always a trying experience for me. Drummers might find this exciting but to us regular folks this is a waste of time. And for six minutes! That´s way too long.

The musicianship is flawless. Genesis was always very professional on stage and there are no errors in the performance here. The two hired musicians Daryl Stuermer ( Lead guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals) and Chester Thompson ( drums, percussion) are accomplished and professional.

The production is excellent. Clean and alive.

This is one of the best releases Genesis have made post ...And Then There Were Three IMO. This is due to the fact that the best songs from that period of Genesis career are here. I think The Way We Walk Volume Two - The Longs deserves 3 big stars from me. This is a very enjoyable album even though there are some obvious flaws that I already mentioned.