FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION

Thumbing through the LPs at the local record store in 1975 I suddenly came across a new Genesis album selling for half the price of normal LPs. Here was Gabriel in his flower mask so surely it must be from around the Foxtrot/Live period...but it was a Decca release not Charisma. Perhaps this was a bootleg? I certainly didn't know any of the songs. What to do? Of course take it home...even if this was half as good as the other Genesis albums I already had (all of them Trespass to Selling England by the Pound) It would be worthwhile.

The songs were pleasant enough - interesting lyrics and some nice musical interludes although the strings were overdone. Not to the standard of the others so what was this about?

It took some time to find out (no internet back then) that this was a re-release of the original from 1969 with new cover (and extra tracks), recorded in a single day when the boys were still at school and then only 2 to 3 years older than me.

This changed the context and the progression to Trespass can be seen. The ideas are there but a bit more maturity was needed to bring it out.

This is very inoffensive pop music. My father loved it. In fact I'm surprised that some of the songs were not successful singles given what made the charts in those days. Of course this is a blessing. Had Revelations been even a partial success perhaps Genesis would have followed a short lived pop path before disappearing into obscurity.

I actually like the album and CD but it is not essential. It is certainly not 4 or 5 stars (as some have given) but it is not the worst music I have heard. Some of the tracks also appear as demos or rough mix without strings on the Genesis Archive 1967-75 which gives a clue to what may have been without the added strings.

2 stars