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THREE SIDES LIVEGenesisSymphonic Prog |
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First the EP....Crap. Crap is a strong word, but it is what it is.
Three Sides Live is a decent album, good production values and very little overdubs that I could hear. The track listing is questionable, obviously they are catering to the `new Genesis` crowd once again. Me and Sarah Jane sounds muffled, as does Abacab.
The older material ( throwaway Seconds Out stuff ) is quite good, IT is remarkable.
Overall, I enjoyed the live album, just ignore the studio stuff , sit back and turn it up.

On the CD version, I've listened to "One for the Vine", one of my favorite GENESIS' song, we feel that Stuermer has all the pressure: he surprisingly performs well, but the song never has all the subtlety, the refinement of the original one.

A few months ago I went to the store and the salesman offered me the Definitive Edition Remaster, which has the second CD mostly with early stuff, I wasn't decided until the guy told the price was only 8 bucks, so even if I don't like Collins voice very much is always nice to have another version of some classics.
I refuse to comment CD 1 because it's only POP stuff and this is a progressive place, so I'll go directly to CD2.
This CD starts with Misunderstanding which is not one of my favorite songs, but still can be listened without feeling sick, but to be honest this version is worst than the studio one because that nasty habit that Phil has of repeating some lines endlessly, simply drives me crazy.
In The Cage (Medley - Cinema Show/Slippermen) is a very good track, starts with Collins version of In the Cage, probably the most emotional song in Genesis catalogue. The band sounds better than ever, specially Tony's keyboards, but Phil's voice lacks from emotion and variations, Peter Gabriel expressed the claustrophobic atmosphere of this song without need to rise his voice, his semi yodeling and variations transmit anguish and pain, Phil can't do this, so he only shouts taking all the emotion out of the track, but still does a better job than I expected. Because they only play instrumental sections of Cinema Show and Slippermen, Phil does what he should always done, forget the mic and sit behind the drums, he's amazing as all the band.
Afterglow is a song made for Phil's voice, because he doesn't need drastic changes he can focus on the lyrics and show he has a very nice voice for simpler stuff, very good version.
One for the Vine is one of my all-time favorite songs, but this version was a disappointment, but strangely because of Banks, I don't know what Tony tried to do but his keyboards are terrible sounds as if he was playing a toy piano and the instrumental section in the middle of the song seems like a laser battle taken from Star Wars, simply weak.
Fountain of Salmacis is IMHO the one of the highest point of the album, Phil understands at last that his voice fits perfectly when the track is played slower and he uses his own style forgetting Gabriel's ghost. All the band is perfect and the song is a masterpiece.
The closer "It/Watcher of the Skies" is an older recording with Hackett and Bruford and of course is the best one, Stuermer is a good guitar player but he can't replace Steve's atmospheric guitar and Bill is the top drummer in prog history.
If you're willing to pay a double CD to play only the second one you should buy it, but please don't get the USA version with the studio tracks because you will regret CD2 deserves 4 stars but as a double album only deserves 3.




Give the album a chance though (ignoring the execrable 'turn it on again', 'misunderstanding', and 'me & sarah jane'), and you will discover Genesis's last progressive outings before the downslide into populism & creative stagnancy that even Phil Collins couldn't take after a while.
Dodo/Abacab in particular show the band in fine form, with the Collins/Thompson duo as always seeming to read each others minds, and Banks (although more restrained than usual) weaving in and around the melody; Rutherford & Steurmer on the whole do a workmanlike job, with Rutherford in particular not seeming to come out of himself until the In The Cage/Cinema Show/Slippermen/Afterglow medley - I'm generally not a fan of medleys, but even in 1981, the days were gone when you would hear any of the old classics in full form. Luckily, Genesis pull this off well, closing with a superb version of Afterglow.
The treat for the old guard came with the second version of the album, which included live recordings from a few years earlier featuring the Hackett / Bruford lineup, all three of which were crisply recorded, and showed Genesis as they were when they still felt they had something to prove, following Gabriel's departure. As a result, therefore, the last few songs on the album tend to eclipse the previous tracks in quality, recording, and sheer verve, and support my personal opinion, that Three Sides Live should have been the final Genesis album.

Since this album was release around the time of Genesis migration from a great prog band to a Motown/funk tribute combo (OK slight exaggeration there!), it contains a strange mix of fine music, and average pop. The latter is more in evidence than the former, with the Gabriel era medley, consisting primarily of "In the cage" and "Cinema show", being the only real beacon of fine music. "Abacab" is at least marginally enhanced by an instrumental section, but even that's not a patch on what they were capable of.
The "fourth side" of the album (i.e. the last quarter) is worthwhile, featuring as it does the magnificent "One for the vine", plus two other Genesis greats. Unfortunately, there were two versions of "Three sides live", and the one I have foregoes the live fourth side, for a poor collection of rejected studio tracks from the Abacab and Duke sessions. (hence the title "THREE sides live"). Of these, only "Evidence of autumn" is of even passing interest, sounding more like it belongs on "And then there were three".
There are far better live Genesis albums (indeed there are far better albums!) than this.








The album begins slowly with Rutherford's guitar, in the excellent pop song, Turn it on Again. This song is fresh and exciting, and is much richer here than on the DUKE studio performance; it is a strong show-opener for Genesis. This leads into Dodo, the strongest track off of 1981's ABACAB. This is an excellent live replica. It truly is one of the best songs later Genesis wrote. The live rendition of the song Abacab grows a little wearisome. The extended jam is just as bad on the studio version. They should have stuck to the pop-single, and cut off five minutes. Behind the Lines and Duchess are all played well and are faithful to the originals. One wishes they had included the Guide Vocal and Duke's Travels here, as they would have flowed beautifully with these tracks, (completing the 'Duke Suite'). Despite this, Duchess is simple, but amazing. Me & Sarah Jane is a track that is initially weak, but grows on you. Bank's keyboards have a funky/light feel to them, making it an enjoyable track. Disc One closes with the haunting pop number, Follow You, Follow Me, which is a good track, although it does not come through as crisply as in the studio, and suffers for it.
While Disc One showcases much of Genesis's stronger work from their last three studio albums, while Disc Two is comprised completely of older material from the 1970's, and is therefore much more progressive in character. It begins with the awful Phil Collins number, Misunderstanding, which is in contention to be the worst Genesis song ever. Collins' annoying tendency to repeat lines endlessly makes this track even worse. This disc quick picks up from there. At this point in time, one couldn't expect to hear classic (Gabriel era) Genesis numbers in full form, and they were relegated to medleys. Luckily, these medleys are performed exceptionally by the band, which makes up for their shortened lengths. Medley: In the Cage/Cinema Show/Slippermen, is an enjoyable trip down memory lane. Since this track is off of the 1976 tapes, it features Prog Rock drummer, Bill Bruford (who toured with Genesis in '76), and the former Genesis guitarist, Steve Hackett. The track benefits greatly from the presence of these top musicians, and is executed seamlessly. Many Genesis fans believe Phil Collins handled the vocals on In the Cage better than even Peter Gabriel could. Sadly, Cinema Show and [The Colony of] Slippermen are only instrumental run-throughs, and do lose power without lyrics. (Phil Collins simply could not duplicate Peter Gabriel's vocal theatrics on a track like Slippermen). The next track is Afterglow, and excellent and emotional Prog- ballad. This song, (like always), is great, but unnecessary as it appeared on 1977's SECONDS OUT live album. The next track is probably the strongest on the entire album. It is a resurrection on the 1977 mini-epic, One for the Vine. This version runs circles on around the studio version. First of all, it rocks much harder. Tony Banks is great but his compositions can be a bit spongy at times. The instrumental bridge five minutes in is much stronger, due in large part to the first-rate drumming of Mr. Chester Thompson, who turns in one of his strongest performances with the band. Surprisingly, Fountain of Salmacis gets its first live treatment here, and is performed well, with cohesive guitars, drums, and keyboards. The second medley of the album is comprised of It and Watcher of the Skies. I never thought these songs came out well in this setting. It is much more emotional with Gabriel handling the vocals, and like Cinema Show, we see Watcher of the Skies receive only and instrumental run-through, a disgrace for this caliber of song, considered by many to be Genesis's anthem. While Steurmer does adequately on Watcher, his guitar is very weak on It.
Like on SECONDS OUT, this live album closes with a short taped clip of Ethel Merman singing "There's no business like Show-Business!" - An interesting touch. The playing on this album is exceptional, (some say prodigious), and while Genesis's creative talents were disappearing, they were still first-rate live musicians. I gave this album a Four Star rating, as the instrumentation is exceptional, it is bogged down by some weaker tracks (i.e. Misunderstanding, Abacab), and while it does put up a fight, it simply cannot compete with the live Genesis of the Gabriel days.
(Note: These tracks were recorded in 1981 in Europe and America, with the exception of tracks 4 and 5 on Disc Two which were recorded in 1980, and tracks 2 and 6 on Disc 2 which were recorded on the 1976 tour).
(Note: initially, there were two copies of this album, one released in the UK and one in the US. The edition reviewed here is the UK version, which features a fourth live side. The US version had 'three sides' of live material, hence the title, and a fourth side of studio material. This fourth side of studio material was released in the UK as an EP titled "3 X 3". For the most part, these tracks are garbage, and it is no surprise they never made in on an album. It did contain the UK hit Paperlate).

What would you do if you hear the above?
And if you ask me with the same question, my answer is pretty damn simple: Totally Numb! Yeah, because I know that what follows is really a wonderful rock music that stirs my adrenalin to explode and reaches a true musical orgasm. Galileo man! I mean it. Well, all of you know that "In The Cage" is originally performed by Peter Gabriel as lead singer under The Lamb album. But, in this live set Phil Collins does his job really W-O-N- D-E-R-F-U-L! He does not need to emulate how Gabriel voice is. He's just doing it his own way and the result is truly a good and powerful voice combined with energetic music full of energies and inspirations. I bet you with my neck, if you have ever loved the original version of "In The Cage" you would definitely love this version to death. The total arrangement is tight and crispy; it's performed much much much more dynamic than the original studio. And Yes, Genesis has taught us that this is what rock music should sound. It sticks to your heart and brings your emotion to an uplifting mood. Really powerful man! "In this pain. Get me out of this pain ". The power of this song performed live is the combination of fast-speed keyboard work, fast speed guitar solo and . dynamic drumming which in some parts are performed by two drummers at the same time: Phil Collins and Chester Thompson. This dynamic drumming happens right after the end of lyrical parts: "Keep on turning, Keep on turning, Turning around, Spinning around. (round, round, round, round...) ". It flows to medley "Cinema Show - Slipperman" followed with the encore of "Afterglow".
Even though "In The Cage" only has justified you to purchase the CD, I need to add that some other tracks are also excellent performance. "One For The Vine" is performed flawlessly with great melody and powerful composition. "Fountain of Salmacis" is another touchy song with great composition. Bruford also performs in "It / Watcher of The Skies". Of course, "Behind The Lines - Duchess" is another great rocker to enjoy. Even, I have to admit that even though I do not in particular appreciate "abacab" album, but two songs from this album, ie "Abacab" and "Dodo" are performed with great live vibes here in this live set.
Well, this album bears so many memories for me when it was released as at the time we have a great local band COCKPIT who covered Genesis songs wonderfully during that time. Even in mid nineties I still remember vividly that I enjoyed the music with my other rock-mates consultants. We locked ourselves (four of us) inside my car, turned the engine and aircon on - turned on the soundstream power and played "in The Cage" LOUD. We had a great time while playing this track because during that playing time all of us were singing "keep falling on my head 3x" while letting our hands emulate how Phil plays his drum. What a crazy time man! Yeah man, talking about rock music, we sometime must go "insane". What do you think?
Progressively yours, GW
"Outside the cage I see my brother john, He turns his head so slowly round. I cry out help! before he can be gone, And he looks at me without a sound."

The main reason for why this live album is the best one Genesis has ever officially released (also better than the one with Gabriel from 1973) is the Collins-era stuff that works here perfectly. Technically, only few actual flaws are made here. Tony Banks has clearly improved technically, and plays with certainty (for example, the keyboard solos of the long instrumental section of In The Cage/The Cinema... -medley are played flawlessly) and the singing is exceptionally good. Even the high notes seem to be no problem for Collins. The song choices are good, because that time Genesis had released only one quite poppy album, Abacab. Actually, the pop songs bring a nice balance and atmosphere here. The feeling is much more "live" than on the older live albums. And anyways, Me Sarah Jane is a quite proggy tune for a pop song, right? Turn It On Again, Dodo/Lurker, Afterglow are really good pop songs, too. Behind The Lines/Duchess and One For The Vine are very good prog song selections.
One of the best prog live albums recorded. Recommended.



What you have here is a collection of live recordings from the Collins era, spanning from 1976-1982. And they are very good selections. The first CD focuses more on "the hits" so to speak, but it's a good selection of their more progressive and energetic rock songs. Dodo-Lurker, Me and Sara Jane, and Duchess are great songs.
CD two begins with one of the biggest hits in North America at least, Misunderstanding, which doesn't work as well live as the other tracks, but it quickly kicks into a high gear with an awesome rendition of In the Cage from The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. The end of the song morphs into a lightning fast version of The Cinema Show instrumental section with snippets of The Colony of Slippermen and Riding The Scree sprinkled in for good measure. The song eventually becomes Afterglow, a great song that works well after long instrumental passages.
You know you have the remastered version if the next track is One For the Vine, an incredible prog mini-epic off of their Wind and Wuthering album, but the real highlight is Fountain of Salmacis, another Gabriel era song from Nursery Cryme. This was an unexpected surprise, and they do a great job with it, although I wish they included a version with Steve Hackett playing guitar, as I think he handles this song better than Stuermer. Hackett is present, however, on the next track, it., also from The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, which merges into an awesome instrumental excerpt of Watcher of the Skies from Foxtrot.
What I like about this album is mainly the energy of these performances. While I didn't like a lot of the poppier more electronic they were writing at the time, they still could put on a killer show at the time, as is evidenced by this live album. In many ways I like it more than it's predecessor, Seconds Out, which could have been a better album if it wasn't for the first CD, which I felt had a weak song selection and ordering.
Incidently, the other version of this album, pre-remaster, has Five studio tracks instead of One For the Vine, Fountain of Salmacis and it. / Watcher of the Skies. On the record, these songs took up the entire fourth side, hence the title "Three Sides Live". I prefer this remastered version because I feel those live tracks omitted were the highlight of the album, and the studio tracks are more in the vein of 80's pop rather than prog. Still, if you want those tracks, I believe they are available on the Archive 2 box set in addition to the original pressing of this CD.

This is somewhat of a mixed bag, but for me seems to be on the enjoyable side rather than the frustrated side of the bag. That is because they chose the better material of the previous few years to perform live. True, it has Misunderstanding and Follow You, Follow Me on it. But hey, they were radio hits and more and more of the people attending their concerts wanted to hear that stuff. You can't necessarily fault them for that. Nonetheless, they perform the amazing Dodo and do a wonderful medley of In the Cage with instrumental sections pulled from Cinema Show and Colony of Slippermen. Even Abacab sounds better than the studio version.
The fourth side is basically the weakest side of the album. Me and Virgil and You Might Recall are wonderful songs, but the remaining (including the radio hit Paperlate) are understandable as to why they never made it onto one of their previous studio releases.
It's not perfect, it's not a masterpiece, but it's also not a mediocre work overall. I found this a rather enjoyable final tribute of the band to it's progressive leanings and the last worthwhile album to acquire. Four stars for an excellent work.

Three Sides Live on the other side showed Genesis taking confortably their pop seats. Sophisticated pop, indeed, and it seemed somehow appropriated for that time. The songs may sound odd nowadays, but they are still very good and cannot be discarted as pure commercial stuff. In fact, these early 80´s tunes are much more progressive than most of what Genesis did afterwards.
The sound is good, and they prove they could give the audience a fine show of instrumental virtuosity when they wanted (like in the meddley "In The Cage/Cinema Show"). They haven´t really forgotten where they came from and did not deny their past. Genesis simply had this pop sensibility all along. That´s why I think this album is quite convincing. Ok, they are a new band, not the old Genesis we wanted them to remain, but they´re very good anyway.
As for the studio tracks, they look a bit like leftovers from the previous albums like Duke or Abacab. Not par to their best stuff at the time but not bad songs either.
Conclusion: a very fine live album and a good showcase of Genesis at the beginning of the 80´s. Recommended for non radical Genesis fans and anyone who likes the good, more accesible side of prog music.



The real attraction for the fans of seventies Genesis is of course the 11:52 minute long In The Cage / Cinema Show / Slippermen medley and Afterglow. The medley is excellent. Played with lots of power and conviction and the same can be said about Afterglow ( even though it was never my favorite from the band). The CD re-release includes One for the Vine, Fountain of Salmacis and It/ Watcher of the Skies instead of the studio tracks that were on the original LP which should greatly increase the reasons for buying the CD version.
The five studio tracks from the original LP are all of the usual high commercial pop/ rock quality. A few of them even stand out as being pretty good to my ears and that´s Me and Virgil and especially Evidence of Autumn which style-wise could have been on And Then There Were Three... album.
The musicianship and production is top notch.
So it´s rather critical which version of this album you purchase as the CD version will probably speak more to fans of seventies Genesis than the LP version which only has a limited connection to that era of the bands output. The CD version is a BIG 3 star album for me while the LP version is just a 3 star album, so my final rating will be 3 stars.

The first album or sides 1 & 2, contains songs from the last three Genesis albums and they are And Then There Were Three, Duke and Abacab. The set starts with Turn It On Again, which is a very good way to open a concert. I have to say that all of the songs on the first album except Follow You Follow Me benefit greatly from being live as opposed to the studio recordings. The playing gains energy live. The musicianship and production are excellent for the entire set.
Side Three starts with Misunderstanding and it is a serviceable rendition of the song, but I usually skipped thru to the above mentioned In The Cage.
The fourth side is were the confusion kicks in. The American release contained the 3 live sides above (hence the album title) and one side of cuts that did not make Duke / Abacab. That in itself is a bit of a mistake as I could easily find a place for them on those two albums. They may have been out takes, but they certainly pass quality control. Paperlate was a hit, You Might Recall a minor hit and the other three songs all had the Genesis short story songs going for them. There are some who believe these should remain out takes but I'm not one of them. The closing 3 songs are wistfully done, they leave you thinking after the songs are over. The tone and production perfectly fit these songs in an understated way. A great way to slow down after the mighty In the Cage medley. These 5 songs previously had an English release as an EP. Therefore the fourth side outside of the US has 4 vintage Genesis songs from prior tours. The fourth live side is also excellent. This version is what was released worldwide when the CD was remastered. Since there are only pros to both versions, one has to keep both!!
I don't take the 5 star lightly and latter day Genesis is not heavy with prog, but the pure enjoyment that I got over the years with Three Sides Live pushes it to that level. As the Alan Parsons Projects "Sirius" is played before many sporting events across the country, Abacab, Dodo/ Lurker,and In the Cage were played before any event I was playing in or went to. For Genesis fans not enamored with Genesis after the personnel changes and may have jumped ship during this period, they may want to dig out 3 Sides Live again for another spin.

Turn it on again: The best version of this song ever.
Dodo: A progressive number from Abacab, great track, wich sounds better here than in the studio album.
Abacab: The strongest version I heard. Maybe the Mama Tour version is a bit faster and by this way maybe better by this side. But here the instrumental part is superb. The Mike's guitar solo at the end is outstanding, and maybe is the best guitar solo that he did.
Behind the lines: Far better than the original, and the best version of all.
Duchess: Don't like much this version. The studio version is far better, specially in the chorus.
Me and Sarah Jane: A good one, stronger than the original
Follow you follow me: One of the pop ones. The version is less mellow than the original and so is better.
Misunderstanding: The other pop track. Not between the best pop songs of Genesis, but this live version is far better than the album one. The guitar is more in the front, and Phil's voice is more agressive.
In the cage meddley: The absolute highlight of the album, and the best one of all the In the cage meddleys out there. (except Cinema Show, in which I think that the Live Over Europe version is better because de keyboard sound). The In the cage version is superb, far better than the original, faster, heavier, perfect. The keyboard solo and the subsequent guitar riff are perfect. Cinema show is superb too. Bank's job in the keyboards is an milestone in the progressive rock history, only exceeded by the Live over Europe version in which the keyboards seems to fill everything with a monstrous sound.
Afterglow: Another highlight, and the best version ever of this great song. The voice of Phil Collins is almost everything, he sings with abslute power and passion. The end is apotheotic.
One for the vine: Fantastic version of this masterpiece. In my opinion is in the same level than the original version but in a different way. The instrumental interlude is superb.
The Fountain of Salmacis: I can't believe when I listen this version on the first moment. Is far better than the original one. One of the reason is the bad mixing of the Nursery Crime version. Really a highlight.
It / Watcher of the Skies: I don't like the It version. Too anarchic, without cohesion. Seems to be that Phil didn't know how to sing this song. Watcher of the skies is in a compressed version with includes only the intro and the closing section all in an unique instrumental version. Sounds really great, majestic and with a clear sound of the keyboards. The electric guitar touches of Steve at the end are incredible.
Five stars

Three Sides Live was Genesis third official live album after 1973's Genesis Live and 1977's Seconds Out. While Seconds Out was recorded at what must be considered a peak of the band's career, Three Sides Live was (partly) recorded on the tour for the weak Abacab album. It surely would have been more appropriate to release a live album directly following Duke which was a much better album to represent the early output of the three man line-up of Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins. Still, four songs here are taken from Duke; Turn It On Again, Behind The Lines, Duchess and Misunderstanding. Though all good, I certainly would have preferred to hear the Behind The Lines/Duchess/Guide Vocal/ Turn It On Again/Duke's Travels/Duke's End-suite as it was performed on the Duke tour (as can be seen on the recently released Live In London DVD). Here, Only Behind The Lines/Duchess are played together which constitutes one of the highlights of this live album. Turn It On Again functions very well as a stand-alone and as the opening number. Misunderstanding is decent but hardly among the better songs from Duke.
The songs taken from Abacab are much weaker, though the title track is a good song (even if I prefer the version from the Live At Wembley DVD). Dodo is decent, but Me And Sarah Jane is a bit of a bore. And Then There Were Three is represented with Follow You Follow Me which, again, is hardly the best song from that album.
For fans of the older Genesis, the In The Cage-medley is clearly the most interesting part of the three vinyl sides (the content on the fourth side depends on which version of the album you have). This medley contains, apart from In The Cage itself, also snippets of The Cinema Show, Riding The Scree and The Colony Of Slippermen. It then flows very nicely into Afterglow, resulting in 17 minutes of continuous, progressive music. This closes the third side of the original album. Why they decided to fill the fourth side with something else is a bit of a mystery as there clearly was enough live material from the time to fill all four sides of a double vinyl release. I think this could have been a much better live album had it stayed more true to the actual set list of the time (or ever better, the set list of past times!).
On some versions, the fourth side is filled with non-album b-sides and on other versions it contains older live material. It is the version with the extra live material that is the most common version today (and the b-sides in question have since been made available elsewhere). This is in effect, then, not three sides live, but four sides live! We get here the excellent One For The Vine, the great Fountain Of Salmacis and a long version of Watcher Of The Skies with It. All nice but a bit out of place here.
I would strongly recommend starting your investigation of live Genesis with Seconds Out which is a much better representation of the band's live act at the peak of their career. After that, there are several live concert DVD's that are clearly preferable over the Three Sides Live album. The aforementioned Live In London DVD features a full set list from the Duke tour and as such it contains all of the best songs also present on Three Sides Live plus a plethora of more classic Genesis material from the 70's (the sound and picture quality is, however, not the best). Also the early 90's live DVD The Way We Walk is, in my opinion, much more enjoyable than Three Sides Live. These other releases makes Three Sides Live primarily a release for fans and collectors. There surely are some great bits and pieces here, but overall it is a rather incoherent and strange album. Besides, most of the best bits are, as indicated, available in better live versions elsewhere.
Recommended for fans and collectors

The first half contains a good deal of crossover material from the more recent albums (at that time.) The stuff from Duke is pretty well done and this is just before Phil really started getting into the annoying showboating of a few years later. "Follow You Follow Me" is the only weak track, one of the worst they ever wrote. They were heading into the commercial phase of the 80s but I often still enjoyed them, in my view 80s Genesis was still preferable to dreadful Rabin-era Yes. Here the playing remains solid and Banks especially steals the show. Side two delves more into older and more progressive fare. The 16 minutes of "Afterglow" into "One for the Vine" are probably the highlight for this Wind and Wuthering fan, lots of tasteful Banks moments though I still prefer my Genesis on the studio side for the full concept context of the original. There is even a bit of "Watcher of the Skies" as a fitting closer with those aerial, majestic sounding keys.
While it is no "Seconds Out" this is certainly a nice document for Genesis fans, with many respectable moments. A decent mix of transitional material from a period of change, plus some old favorites handled with care.


The CD has very high production values and musicianship with Chester (Drums) and Daryl (guitar/bass) doing an excellent job.
Although by this stage Genesis were becoming very popular, this CD has more than enough quality prog for even the most die-hard fan.
There are no weak tracks although occasionally Phil misses the vocal delivery ('It' is sung too fast and he is over the top on 'Misunderstanding').
Most of the material comes from And Then There Were Three, Duke and (thankfully) the best tracks from Abacab supported by a wonderful melody of In The Cage/Cinema Show/Slipperman (from Lamb/Selling England).
The 'fourth' side live also picks up some older material going back as far as Fountain of Samacis from Trespass (5 stars).
Given the high overall standard and the live 'Fourth Side' it is difficult to see how this rates as anything less than 4 stars.
4 Stars but make sure the fourth side is live

Suddenly in possession of massive worldwide success, once revered prog rockers return after 5 years with their next live album, Three Sides Live. From 1977 to 1982, the band traversed through a complete and total revamp of their style, converting from the loved symphonic sound to a heavily pop influenced quasi-prog rock sound through hugely successful albums such as Duke and Abacab. This release, which holds the last strings to the band's former sound before the complete departure with albums like Invisible Touch and We Can't Dance. While Sides A and B may consist of the band's more popular and recent material such as Turn it On Again, Abacab, and Me And Sarah Jane, Sides C and D have a slight return and appeasement of those prog rock fans with classic tracks like In the Cage, Fountain of Salmacis and It.
Overall, Genesis is able to retain its legacy of a powerful performance, with Collins being replaced by both Bill Bruford and and Chester Thompson, making for a killer jazzy duo of rhythmic mastery. The performance of Behind the Lines is especially powerful, with the killer instrumental opener featuring the whole band ripping through the speakers with ultimate force and agility, which shows how the band still has it, despite losing two essential members and departing from the beloved classic sound. Although the music may not be the cup of tea for the classic fan, it is still a great performance, making for a good live album overall. The revival of some of the proggier moments in the band's history makes for a nice dynamic on the album and mixes up the atmosphere of the recording spectacularly. Collins, although he is not Gabriel, is still able to put life into the classic recordings. Overall, Three Sides Live is a good live release by the (then) quickly popularizing band. 3 stars.

This album is a game of two halves. The pop stuff dominates the first half and the symph prog stuff is at the end of this album. A disjointed affair, in other words.
Turn It On Again is by all standards a very bad song. It is bravado kitsch with no refinement. It is like a 99 cents teddybear from a tacky shop in any tourist destination in USA. The same goes for Dodo / Lurker. Fine. The band has put the worst stuff in the beginning and the album really gets better and better for each song until the final three songs which is all very good.
My gripe is that none of the versions here is anywhere near as good as the versions presented on any official or bootlegs live albums. Not to mention the studio albums. Following the cheap and nasty kitsch theme, this is exactly what this album feels like. Cheap and nasty. It is hard to give two stars to an album featuring some of my alltime favorite songs, but I see it as my duty to warn readers from buying substandard albums. This album is substandard. Another gripe is also the pretty flat sound on this album. It is lifeless and I cannot remember hearing Genesis with so little blood and life. Giving two stars is my only option if I am honest. I do my best.
2 stars

Ironically enough the live album follows hot on the heels of their appalling "Abacab" album, but the band managed to salvage the best tracks from that release and they are way better live, much more punchier and interesting overall. Follow You Follow Me is a crowd pleaser and is okay on a live set. The other pop songs in the first half I could have done without.
The fourth side on my version is not live but a bunch of throwaway studio material that I listened to a couple of times before getting bored. I noted the newer CD version features a total concert and is far superior do that reason. Unfortunately this is not the version I am reviewing so I will stick to 2 stars for the excellent live material.

This live album was made by the band with the apparent intention of promoting their two most recent albums, Duke and Abacab, which were at the time by far the most commercial- oriented of all of their work, and the songs performed from Duke were perhaps the most commercial from the album itself (even if it's a personal favorite!). This concert, after all, was given in 1982, which many of us prog rock listeners typically view as the beginning of a decade in which money and fame would become the main intention of music development, rather than creativity or adventure. This album makes this reality quite evident, especially with the often stagnated-sounding song extensions and especially Phil Collins' singing antics, him and his mass-appeal "ow"s and the "aren't I cool" ways of singing the songs, most evident on Misunderstanding (seriously, Phil?). These unfortunate pop-isms, plus the commercial-mindedness of much of the original material from the start, are perhaps the worst things about the album, sufficiently enough to keep me from recommending it much for progressive rock enthusiasts. Call me elitist, but to me anyway, this album sends the message of "here's us cashing in with the masses - oh, and for you prog listeners, here's a 15 minute collection of some old material to try to keep you coming to our concerts." And the saddest thing of all to me is that it's hardly even noticeable that Bill Bruford is a main percussionist on this album, unlike a previous live performance on the tour of Trick of the Tail. This seems hardly coincidental with the commercial direction the band was taking.
However, despite these issues. performance of all of the music here really is great from a purely musician-minded standpoint, with all of the instruments balanced almost perfectly and an inspired attitude coming from the players. Duchess is a particular favorite of mine in this regard, very emotionally and delicately played. There's hardly a mistake to be noticed anywhere in the entire performance, which is very praiseworthy in my book. The transition from The Cage to Cinema Show is nicely done, and it's great hearing some cheers from the audience at that part. The increase of energy on Afterglow is well done too, and here Bill Bruford shows us some nice fills.
I suppose my feelings on this album might be described as ambivalent, resulting from an inspired performance of mostly poppish Genesis material, with some good playing on their more prolific earlier work. A good live album, but more for Genesis fans than for progressive rock listeners, in my view. I'll round up my rating in the spirit of being merciful.
GENESIS Three Sides Live ratings only
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