GENESIS REVISITED LIVE: SECONDS OUT & MORE

To my knowledge, I haven't reviewed a live album, like maybe I have but I just forgot. That being said, I did feel like doing one today because I thought with the amount of new stuff this year, it is befitting to get into the car and take a little detour from the studio stuff with the live elements. I usually love live albums. Usually, mind you. Sometimes they can be pretty garbage, whether it be a bad set or just a bad recording, but relatively speaking I never find any live album. Hearing a band play their best songs with new changes compared to the studio works, sometimes refreshing a song in your head so it can be revitalized more clearly. They are also, in my mind, way better than compilation albums, which only have studio recordings that you'd get from the normal studio album, and with streaming services, it'd be really weird to listen to the compilation version of a song when you can just hit play on the one from the original album, ep, or single. With live albums, that problem is vindicated out of the picture, with a new song, and ultimately a new idea out in place for the audience to enjoy.

So that is where I'd like to point towards Genesis and their live albums. If we are gonna talk about Genesis live shows, we'd have to talk about Seconds Out. It is a 2 LP goliath of the Phil Collins era Genesis that shows songs from Trick Of The Tail, Lamb, Selling England, and even a smidgen of Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot. It is a must-have for any Genesis collector and fan. With that being said, it is also a given to talk about Steve Hackett and his live concerts, specifically the Genesis Revisited shows. He has released a number of these live albums where he would play a collection of songs from the classic period of Genesis, starting with Live At Hammersmith in 2013. These shows included songs in the albums he was a part of, so no material (from what I could see) from Genesis To Revelation, Trespass, and Then There Were Three through Calling All Stations. Most of these live albums are around 2 hours long, giving you a wallop of Genesis live content to sit through and take in. As an avid Genesis lover, these are some neat little souvenirs in the gift shop after riding the Genesis rollercoaster. I decided to review one of them, specifically this one where they play a session of the entirety of Seconds Out, plus a few other songs from Steve's solo career since it was released this year and I have a bit to say about it.

So due to this being a live album, I feel it'd be odd to do a track-by-track layout like how I do most of my reviews. Instead, I figure to do a compare and contrast of sorts and then give some pointers about how I think this album is good, and some things I am not a huge fan of. So I will be comparing and contrasting this and Seconds Out, not to see which is better, but to see how this one is different from the very stellar live album.

Let's contrast first. To start, at the beginning we get some solo stuff from Steve's back catalog, specifically his recent solo album right now, Surrender Of Silence. I think they played these songs here because A. Shadow Of The Hierophant is a song that every Steve Hackett fan knows too well and B. Too warm up for their actual Genesis stuff. Speaking of which, I have noticed some parts of the two songs have become a bit heavier. Not to the point where they become metal, but enough to interest me a bit, those songs being Supper's Ready and Los Endos. The Apocalypse in 9/8 part in Supper's Ready has this ominous aura in it, which I think helps it a lot in its being an apocalyptic measure. Los Endos on the other hand has the melody played after the start a lot heavier. These differences are noticeable to my Genesis-trained ears, and such have become key points of interest for this record.

However, that is the only point that contrasts it, because aside from the obvious different band members, aside from Steve Hackett of course, this is just Seconds Out. Not front to back, but if you took away the Steve Hackett songs you'd just find Seconds Out. Every song is played exactly like how you might hear from early Genesis, nothing short of great songs, but honestly, this is where my problems lie. It doesn't try anything new, Steve doesn't try anything new, and when they are new they'd be reserved for only a specific moment. While these moments are memorable, there are only two.

For me, the Genesis name is a name that means innovation, creativity, and a golden age of progressive rock long past. Steve was a part of that creativity and innovation, but I believe here more than ever those memories of Genesis have blinded him to not try new things with these Genesis songs. I do not want to just hear Supper's Ready no matter how much of a masterpiece it is, I want to hear Steve taking Supper's Ready and making it his own. Mr. Hackett here is doing what'd be considered the bare minimum, and I know this is discrediting his effort, I can see that, but having over 5 Genesis Revisited albums is way too much.

I know the Genesis name sells, and I know these songs are good, but I also know that Steve Hackett's other stuff also sells as with the popularity of albums such as Voyage Of The Acolyte, or Spectral Mornings. It is odd to me that he never revisited his early solo works for live shows since they are also very popular among progressive rock heads, of which he is one. I think my main problem with Hackett's Genesis series is that it's Genesis, nothing more and nothing less. It doesn't make me want to listen to Steve Hackett, it makes me want to listen to Genesis, and I guess if you want a little more Genesis in your life this will do nicely, in fact, if you do not mind the whole of it then I bet you'd love it, and I cannot deny that I liked it. However for me, if you are gonna liven up the Genesis name and you aren't Genesis themselves then you gotta have a trick up your sleeve.

I'd be dishonest to say that I dislike this album, I'd be also dishonest to say that I love this album. This is a fine live show, totally harmless and inoffensive. The album is true to its word, a revisiting of Genesis, nothing more nothing less, but that is the album's downfall. I hope Steve tries to move a bit more away from Genesis in his coming years and shows off more of his talents rather than those he has worked with. Who knows, maybe it'll work out spectacularly.