LIVE - THE WAY WE WALK VOLUME ONE - THE SHORTS

When we listen our favorite genre we must realize that we are going to find bad albums, it's natural, even the greatest genius can be evaded by the muses, but something I can't stand is an unnecessary album.

The Way We Walk (The Shorts) is just an excuse to bleed the fans with songs they have played and sold over and over, simply not a decent moment, this album should be deleted from each and every database, because it's artistic value is equal to zero.

It's amazing how they were able to collect eleven horrendous tracks, one worst than the other. I know some people like Mama, well I don't, I believe it's one of the most tedious, monotonous and mediocre tracks ever released and it's supposed to be the best one.

The worst thing is that they made this aberration in two parts (with The Longs) to take more money from the pockets of the naive fans who didn't learn with ABACAB.

Not even for collectors because the original albums in which the songs can be found are bad enough, if you see it in a store, run away and never get back. Only for masochists.

A precious pair of postscripts to a brilliant career or two final tugs on the udder before putting the cash cow out to pasture? It's hard to know what to make of "The Way We Walk", in part because it divides GENESIS' final "We Can't Dance" tour into two separate parts: the "shorts" and the "longs." Historically, it's in line with the band's earlier live releases, the double-album "Seconds Out" and the live/studio hybrid "Three Sides Live", both of which featured Daryl Steurmer on guitar and Chester Thompson on drums. The decision to not only re-enlist the services of Daryl and Chester but to credit them as members on the album artwork is a classy gesture and one likely to placate longtime fans.

However, there's no getting around the fact that "Volume One: The Shorts" is designed for latter-day GENESIS fans. The set list digs back as far as their eponymous 1983 album only once, for the moody "Mama." Otherwise, this performance is comprised of material from "Invisible Touch" and "We Can't Dance", two well-crafted albums with plenty of hits, but not the sort of music that prog fans were itching to hear live. The band does a fine job of rendering the studio versions live, aided by the fact that the original sounds were only a pre-programmed button away from resurrection. Phil's voice is right on target, but his audience interaction is a little wooden here, from the awkward opening of "Jesus He Knows Me" to a really, really, really annoying call-and-response segment during "Throwing It All Away".

Highlights to my mind include "Mama" (of course), "I Can't Dance" and "No Son of Mine". Because these live versions are remarkably faithful to the originals, "The Way We Walk Vol. One" does function as a sort of greatest hits collection, assuming you pulled those hits from their last two albums. Ultimately, a nice walk down short-term memory lane, but not a necessary trip.

Why do we (progreviewers) spend time with these :Greatest hits/Compilations/Best of... as they probably are an invention/imagination of the record company´s or better still their calculation of how to make more money!! You have to agree with me, that all of the abowe mentioned items...are solely....for commercial purposes!!? Everything on a compilation album, are taken from an ordinairy album release. So whats the deal here??? Sure, its nice to hear the songs together on one album. But hey... is this really a thing/item that we (the prog community)wanna pay for ??!! NO WAY !! We need original music..originally played....in other words.....lets get the real stuff!! Im so tired of the commercial side of music...lets get real!!! Guys...fellow reviewers.....avoid those commercial items...review real music!! Have a nice summer!!!

Short on appeal

One can only guess what the logic was for separating the "Shorts" from the "Longs", and releasing them as individual CDs rather than as a double CD collection (which they eventually did). The definition of the term "short" is also questionable, with three of the tracks clocking in at around 7 minutes. By taking these, the generally more commercial tracks out of context and placing them sequentially, it only serves to dilute the overall impact of a Genesis performance. Surely one of the most importance aspects of a live gig is the correct balance between the deep and the superficial.

These songs are all from the post Gabriel era, and indeed from the post good entire album by Genesis era (i.e. nothing from "Trick of the tail", "And then there were three" etc.)

There's an understandable leaning towards the then current album "We can't dance", and the performances are certainly still as competent as ever. You can't help but feel however that what your listening to is little more that a live, hand-clapping, pop concert.

Thank God there's a no star feature because this Volume One of a 2 CD set "saga" doesn't even deserve a half out of one. Most of the times, we reviewers tend to disagree about whether an album is worthy of recognition or not, giving away coherent explanations to the readers and clearing the air with impartial thoughts. But tonight, I'll have to omit the part where I use my common sense and just line up to the side where everybody thinks this is a despicable piece of work.

First of all, I don't like to repeat myself over and over again, preferably when it comes to criticize live recordings. "The Shorts" seemed everything but short to me, making my mind burst into flames every time I think if the track listing was a practical joke GENESIS played on us. The songs selection, and specially for a live album; is inexplicable yet unreasonable. I think this is some kind of "post apocalyptical Disney" crap Phil COLLINS unconsciously did in purpose due the severe brainstorming put into his songwriting.

There's nothing good about this one, "I Can't Dance" is the pseudo theme that supposedly stands up for the rest of the songs. That specific point gets to my nerves even in a rather intolerable way. Very post-pop and confusing, this is only the beginning of a 2 CD Set. Yes, you read that correctly, there's a sequel to this abomination.

A compilation of "Greatest Hits Recorded Live in Concert". Almost all the live recordings (very good recordings, I think) included in this "Vol.1: The Shorts" album were recorded during the "We Can`t Dance" tour, 1992, with the exception of "Mama", "That`s All" and "In Too Deep" which were recorded during the "Invisible Touch" tour, in 1986-87. This album was of my interest for buying because I like the "We Can`t Dance" album. So, the best songs in this live album are the songs from "We Can`t Dance". There are some differences to the original studio versions.It seems that Collins couldn`t reach anymore with his vocals the high notes of some songs, like "Land of Confusion", "We Can`t Dance" and the short version of "Tonight...", so these songs are played in lower tones by the band. It also seems that by 1986-87 Collins was already having problems with some songs, so, for example, "Mama" is in a shorter version which doesn`t include the last verse, which in the original version was sung in a higher tone by Collins (maybe an octave higher). Long tours are really hard for singers, mainly. The best live versions included in this album are: "No Son of Mine", "Jesus He Knows Me" (with Stuermer on lead guitar), "Throwing it all away" (with Collins making jokes with his voice as he asks the fans to sing the song), the humorous "We Can`t Dance" (with Collins, Rutheford and Stuermer "dancing" around the stage, and with Collins trying to "play" an "harmonica" solo with his voice), "Hold on my heart" (better than the studio version as it has Collins singing "with feeling"), "That`s all" (with humorous lyrics, too), and the very good Pop song called "Invisible Touch". "Mama" has never been one of my favourite songs, so I often skip this song when I play this CD, the same as with the "too much sugar ballad" called "In Too Deep". "Land of Confusion" is good, but it`s not one of my favourites. "Tonight..." is played in a shorter version, so the full lenght live version included in the "Never a Time" CD single or EP is more interesting for me, despite Collins had problems to reach the high notes as this version was recorded in 1987 in the original tone.The most interesting things in this CD are the contributions of Thompson and Stuermer to the live versions. Collins is credited as playing drums in this live album, but I don`t think that Collins played drums in the songs of this "Vol. 1". They also released in late 1992 a video recorded in concert called "Genesis Live-The Way We Walk-In Concert", which was released in the VHS and Laser Disc formats, with very good sound and video, and it was also released in DVD a year or two ago. I prefer the sound mixing of the CD, as the sound of Collins`vocals is lower in the live versions included in the video.

These are wonderful versions of Genesis' most commercial hits (which are mainly taken from the 'invisible touch' and the 'we can't dance' album. I certainly prefer these versions to the studio versions, for the most part. The reason? the guitar shines through here. I'm talking about the solos in 'No son of mine' (brilliant!!), 'Jesus he knows me' (absent in the studio version), 'That's all' (the guitar has a distorted sound here and this makes the track more interesting ). Apart from the solos, the guitar work in general can be heard clearer here. Then there is 'Land of Confusion' which has more drive on this one. Furthermore,'Mama' seems to have more feel here. The rest of the songs are pretty close to the original versions (albeit adding another atmoshere to them)with the exeption of the notable improvisations on 'I can't dance' and a sequence from 'tonight,tonight' that has been left out. But as I indicated the versions are wonderful, so those who loved the original versions should get this one as well. Having said this though, those who prefer progressive rock songs won't find one on this album. That is why I think it was reasonable to have two volumes of this genesis live set.The other one being their progressive rock statement. So everyone can choose what he/she prefers and those who like both sides of Genesis may get both (as I did). I would give this record a '4 star' rating but as this is a prog side I can not do more than give it 3 stars as the songs are not what people listen to progressive rock have in mind.

First off--if you read these reviews, as I do, to gauge if you should increase your progressive rock collection with the reviewed disc, then read this first: THIS IS NOT A PROGRESSIVE ROCK DISC. This IS a good live set of some well-known 80's and 90's rock hits, with some nice guitar playing that was absent in the studio recordings. Genesis may have changed their sound from complex to simple, but they remained excellent musicians and that fact is shown on this album. If you're a Genesis fan, especially a "hits" era Genesis fan, this is a nice live document. It is not a "bad" album--but in a progressive sense, it's only for completionists.

Why did I buy this? It was really cheap, and I thought it would be nice to have live versions of the few latter-day pop hits I like. I listened to it once, and now it takes up space, like so many mediocre albums that I felt were worth having for the price paid. The problem is, you run out of room sooner or later......If I decide I need room, this will be one of the first to go. "Tonight, Tonight..." should've been longer, and several other tracks should've been shorter. And Phil is too full of Phil on some tracks.

I am in two minds about this album. First off, the songs played are not that bad, but it shows just how much they changed and become a commercial money -making machine. The title is rather strange as theses songs are not that short. I also object to it being divided as this should (and was eventually) a double album. It is as if the record label were aiming this at newer fans and the 'longs' album at the older fans. It is not all bad, if you want an album of 80's and 90's pop hits then fine! but i would not recommend it to prog fans.

Buy the video instead!

When this album was released, two volumes were available separately and "The Shorts" is definitely the worst of the two.

The songs get repetitve and dragging and degrade the listening pleasure of a tour.

The second volume at least has some fighting punch since it has "La Resistance" (South Park fans unite!). But still, I feel that the DVD is what you need to see how this concert should have been laid out.

I agree that this is a totally pop outfit with some touches of rock. I used to play this in my car when my kids (at that time) were around me because they knew their dad loved Genesis very much but they could not differentiate which era of Genesis. They knew the CD cover is called Genesis. I just wanted to compromise with them that even Genesis could play "good" pop music like "Throwing It All Away" as my kids like when Phil sings "Chiyaeee . chiyaee .chiyaee .!!" (spelling? Yes, I got red underline under these words in my Microsoft Words documents - but you know what I mean, don' you?). The other song that is "ear candy" to my kids is "Mama". And they like "Tonight, Toninght, Tonight" especially on the opening electric drum sounds / loops. Oh I almost forget, I also enjoy the opening track "Land of Confusion" - it's a good pop rock song.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

It is obvious that this live album won't be a fave for old Genesis fans (like I am). Still, it is during their "being three" era that they cashed in like hell : selling millions of records and filling up stadiums. This supporting tour for "We Can't Dance" will first produce this release. "The Shorts" being a collection of some of their most popular tracks from "Abacab" to "I Can't Dance". No great stuff, for sure. The good thing here is that the numbers they have compiled on this album are the "best" ones of the period with some exceptions though : "I Can't Dance" which I Can't Stand and "Tonight ...". I only bought it to have my Genesis collection completed (first on vinyl for their epic era) then on CD (for their poppy times).

You'd better not buy it though. Stick to their official live material published earlier on or get hold on of some non-official stuff like : "BBC Archives 1970-1972" (really extraordinary), "Hogweed Reading Festival " (1972), "Live At Earl's Court" (1977) and "Follow You, Follow Me" recorded at the Chicago Uptown Theatre in 1978 (a full version of "Dancing Out With The Moonlit Knight" with Phil on vocals : this will be one of the very few times this song will by interpreted in its entirety by this line-up).

This will give you a general idea of their live work for their most interesting period IMO (1970 through 1978). Two stars.

If you couldn't stand the pop rock garbage output of Genesis in the 1980s and early 1990s, chances are you'll absolutely hate listening to them all performed live. And that's what this is.

Genesis Live was released in two separate CD's, vol. 1 containing "The Shorts" and vol. 2 containing "The Longs." I don't recall exactly why these were released this way, rather than a 2-CD set. Chances are it was for some sort of contrived marketing purpose. Genesis as a group may or may not have been aware of the two different camps their fans were divided into, but if they were it seems "The Shorts" was designed for their newest pop-friendly listeners. Perhaps they didn't think a 2-CD set would sell that well among them since it seems they were unfamiliar with their older material, didn't like long songs in general, or simply didn't care (at least according to interviews with the group). "The Longs" must have been for the "old farts."

Thus, we have a live recording of the group's pop hits from the 1983-1992 period. Since there is hardly a hint of progressive rock on this CD and the bulk of the material is insipid at best, one star seems like the perfect rating. Only for completionists.

This first volume of the 'Way We Walk - We Can't Dance world tour' series is the less interesting, because it's really poppy. Good songs, nice version, but no surprises here, no great moments. I love Mama, No Son Of Mine, Land Of Confusion and In Too Deep, and I'm glad there is this magnifique jazzy song That's All here, but in its entirety, it can be considered as Genesis' worse live album. Not bad, just uninteresting, unless you're a big hardcore fan of the Invisible Touch/We Can't Dance albums. Even if I like a lot these two albums, I'm not a big hardcore fan at all...The second volume will be better, much better.

I was quite surprised when I saw the very low rating for this one. By the time The Way We Walk was released I knew very well what to expect from Genesis: nice pop music with some prog influences. If you wanted more prog then you lost track of what this band was doing for over ten years before, or more.

And I must say this is a damn good pop-prog album. Those guys are great musicians and talented songwritiers, even if they did better than this in their earlier years. But I see Genesis in the 80´s and onwards as a new band. Maybe they should have changed the name? Well, does not matter now. if you want a good sounding live CD of their pop hits, go for it. Highlights for me are No Son Of Mine and In Too Deep. But I like the album as a whole. Not matter what detractors might say: prog or pop, those guys are great.

Yes, Genesis still sounds good. Not essential, but good.

Live - The Way We Walk Volume One - The Shorts is the first live CD from Genesis tour supporting We Can´t Dance ( 1991) and as the title suggests this live album consists of the short songs played on that tour ( unfortunately also the most commercial). Volume two came out in 1993 and consisted of the longer songs from the tour ( the emphasis is unfortunately on the eighties material on that one too. I find it pretty enjoyable anyway though).

The songs selection on Live - The Way We Walk Volume One - The Shorts is not surprising but a bit unsatisfying for me. There are no songs from the seventies present on the album and the emphasis is clearly on the hits from the new album and the eighties hits. When this is said I have to say I do enjoy parts of this album greatly. It always reminds me of my childhood when I listen to a song like Land of Confusion or my early teens when I listen to songs like No Son of Mine and Jesus He Knows Me. Well composed and great songs. What drags the album down IMO are the more ballad type songs like Throwing it All Away, Hold on My Heart and In Too Deep. Way too suckery and sweet for me.

I really enjoy Genesis performance on this album. These live versions are much better than the originals and the technical skill involved to pull these songs of in such a professional way in a live setting is typical Genesis. You can argue that the sound is almost too perfect but I still enjoy it. Banks, Rutherford and Collins is as usual helped out by Chester Thompson on drums ( Frank Zappa, Weather Report) and Daryl Stuermer on lead guitar, bass and backing vocals. Two very competent gentlemen who are true to Genesis sound.

I gave volume two a big 3 star rating and I will give this one 3 small stars. Maybe it´s pure nostalgia that makes me give the third star but something just clicks when I hear most of these songs. I might be a bit too generous though.

Yuck. While the other volume (the longs) is pretty bad too, none is bad like this. Genesis divided The Way We Walk into their proggier songs, and pop songs. This is thier pop disc, and is not good. The musicians are great. The recording's great. The singing's great. There's only one problem left: the music. The music is all pretty awful. I like the fact that the on the other disc they respected that they were a prog band, but I'm not reviewing that disc, I'm reviewing the worse of the two. Not proggy at all, just decent pop music that I never listen to. 1/5, not a chance it should deserve any higher.

Since I received this disc as a gift, I'll give it the benefit of a review. Not that the review has to be rosy, of course! The relative who gifted this to me is definitely an appreciator of good--though perhaps not prog--music...a maven, if you will. I will take the positive assumption that by hooking me on the "shorts", this relative assumed I would venture further into the "longs". Hmmm...perhaps a bit optimistic, but I got to the longs anyway, and deep enough I might add that for a time I forgot the shorts existed!

I remember being in a record store at my local mall when these albums came out. I also remember thinking how cool these Genesis guys were portrayed to be. If you can't tell by now, I had a somewhat sheltered childhood. As it turns out, most people didn't think they were cool, but apparently there was a market for this stuff (ahem, the middle aged, I suspect), and thus the material was marketed.

I admit, there was a time that I did like some of this material. I thought Jesus He Knows Me was a clever, snarky take on the prototypical televangelist charlatan. For a sunday school boy, listening to this was sticking it to the man, unfortunately. I also did enjoy No Son of Mine. Heck, when I was in middle school and had those crappy Pocket Rockers, Invisible Touch was one of the singles I owned, and I thought it was great. How I also loved Focus and Pink Floyd at the same time completely escapes me now.

I'm rambling.

This was not a bad concert, and the recording is good. These are also not bad songs--all right, Mama might be bad--but they are not progressive songs. As such, it hurts the inner progger in all of us that this album even exists. However, I'll save my 1-stars for only those who truly deserve them. This deserves better, but only slightly.

Oh Mama!

In the process of releasing the recorded live material from the We Can't Dance tour in 1992 they came up with the "brilliant" idea to separate the longer and more progressive tracks and the shorter and more commercial tracks and put them on separate albums. This resulted in The Shorts and The Longs albums. The reasons behind this decision are unclear; did they want to please their early fan base with The Longs album? Did they not want their Pop fans to hear the - older and newer - more elaborated songs? Did they think that they could please everybody by "splitting their personality" in this way? Regardless of the underlying reasons, we should ask ourselves if this was a good idea? And even if I gave The Longs album a high rating, the answer should probably be 'no'. For those wishing to hear (and see) the whole show, there is also a DVD called simply The Way We Walk holding the whole set list over two discs. In my opinion, the DVD is preferable over the CD albums partly because this was just what the audience heard that night and partly because these shorter, more commercial, songs sound so much better side by side with the longer, more progressive, songs.

While The Longs album should interest any fan of progressive Rock, The Shorts has much less appeal. I was surprised to find on the present album some songs that are not also on the DVD. My first thought was that, contrary to my previous belief, the DVD did not feature the whole show. But it does (at least, I still think that it does). Those songs present here that are not also on the DVD were actually recorded on the previous tour and added to this album! These songs are Throwing It All Away, Mama, That's All and In Too Deep. This was a weird and confusing move and you get the feeling they were trying to make a kind of live greatest hits album! Almost needless to say, these songs do not add much value to the album. Mama is a good song but since it wasn't even performed on the tour this live album purports to represent it is out of place here. What becomes even more strange is that not all songs from the DVD are featured on the two live albums! Turn It On Again has been dropped as well as Dreaming While You Sleep, both songs being better than the songs that are actually here!

Since those songs that made up The Longs were the best ones from the show, there is not much good stuff left for The Shorts. But this album is not entirely without its merits. We get here good live versions of the band's major hits of the 80's and early 90's. Most of the songs sound better live than they do on the studio albums. The sound is a bit less "artificial" and the songs have a bit more of a Rock edge when performed live. I enjoy the opening duo of Land Of Confusion and No Son Of Mine but after that the material is considerably less exciting. The only other highlight is Tonight, Tonight, Tonight. I have learned to accept Jesus He Knows Me and I Can't Dance, but Invisible Touch, In Too Deep, Hold On My Heart and Throwing It All Away I find hard to appreciate particularly in the present context and in the absence of the songs they put on The Longs album.

To sum up, this album is very strange. First, it is incomplete both in that it omits short songs that were actually played and that it represents only the Pop side of the band and thus misrepresents the actual set list of the tour. I understand that they indented this album to represent the show only in tandem with the (extremely much better) Longs album, but still I find this one very one-sided in a very bad way. Second, it is confusing in that it holds tracks that were not even part of the set list of the tour. It is sad if people are led to think that the present album is representative for what Genesis were like live in 1992. It is certainly not! Surprisingly perhaps, these songs work so much better in their proper context and only the DVD offers them that way.

From a Prog perspective, The Shorts is a kind of "worst of"-album and ought to be avoided by all even as a companion to The Longs. The best "way to walk" is to go for the DVD (which is highly recommended) or if you can't find it or prefer a CD, then go for the very good The Longs (also highly recommended, but you don't need it if you get the DVD) and forget about the present album.

A big mistake. The decision of separate in two different albums the We can't dance tour with the addition of some songs of previous tours, was in my opinion a big mistake. TWWW The Shorts, includes only the non prog stuff which many pop hits. By this way, the album has nothing to do with a progressive listener. I always love Genesis because in every new album they put some progressive music, (not in the way of the 70's), but great progressive rock. So when they take out this tracks, I don't like it so much. The other problem with the album is that many of the songs are in an inferior level than the originals.

Land of Confusion and That`s all: The live versions are good, but the originals are far better.

No son of mine, I can't dance, Invisible touch: A good ones, at the same level than the studio versions

Jesus he knows me: Better than the studio

Throwing it all away: Exist better live performances of this song (for example the ones from the Invisible touch tour).

Mama: The Mama tour versions are far better. Here the track is not complete.

Tonight, tonight, tonight: Great version, different than the studio one. The problem is that it's shortened (only the first half), and has not the superb keyboard solo.

Hold on my heart and Into deep: Pure ballads, better in the studio.

So, only for fans. Two stars.

Wow. What a horrible album. This isn't all about Phil Collins. The two guys who ruined Genesis are here too. Daryl Stuermer and Chester Thompson are here as well. This features live versions of songs from the group's most commercially successful years(1983-1991).

I got this in the mid-90s because it was the closest thing to a 'greatest hits' that Genesis had. I still have not heard The Longs. Maybe if I got that one instead of this I might have gotten into prog a few years earlier than I did. Who knows. None of the songs here are better than the studio versions. "Hold On My Heart" is one of Genesis' worst songs ever. Everytime I hear this song I want to vomit. Why did they put it on here?

The best moment on the whole album is during "Invisible Touch" when Collins sings: "And though she will f**k up your life". You go Phil! The best songs here are the ones not from We Can't Dance. This would be of interest to people who think Three Sides Live is the greatest thing since sliced bread and wanted a follow up. That old lady down the street might like this. Tell her to steal it because it's not worth anything. Awful. Useless. Waste of money. 1 star.

The Way We Walk Volume One: The Shorts consists predominantly of the hits taken from Invisible Touch and We Can't Dance. (The exception being Mama). It's a pity that Abacab is missing.

The title is actually a line from the 1973 release "I know What I like" from Selling England by the Pound.

As we have come to expect the playing and the production standards are excellent although all the tracks are perhaps too close to the studio versions. The weakest track is "Hold on to my Heart" which should have been replaced by Abacab.

Although well executed these are not prog songs. It is difficult to recommend this to anyone other than Genesis fans since pop fans would already have the Invisible Touch and We can't Dance albums.

3 stars. Not Essential.

Short songs to dance to? who needs it?

Ah this is the short song live thing that came out at the same time as the longs which is infinitely better. There are some radio singles here to groove to if that's your thing. We have the best and the worst of Genesis on these releases. The best on this particular compilation is Land Of Confusion, No Son Of Mine, Jesus He Knows Me, Mama, In Too Deep ? songs that have some merit for great melodic washes of music and Collins at his cynical best on vocals and even pouring out some emotion.

The worst are easier to spot; Throwing It All Away, I Can't Dance, Hold On My Heart, That's All, Tonight, Tonight, Tonight, Invisible Touch ? all of which are singles that have no prog and are really products of the retro 80s and as a result genuine throwaways. To hear them again on the live set only justifies the reason I cannot stand this type of music. The cheesy lyrics, girly synths and downright saccharine coated melodies are insufferable.

Bring on the 'Longs' live album which runs circles around this radio commercial tripe.

This is one of two live albums released by Genesis in the early nineties. The second one captures the bands longer pieces and this one as you've probably guessed from the title sticks to the shorter songs. In other words Genesis at their very worst on all that slick and insipid eighties pop.

Even the band realised that it was perhaps not the best idea to separate the set into longs and shorts, something they redressed when these were rereleased on the live box set. As this stands if you didn't enjoy their eighties commercial years then there's nothing to excite you here. It's all very competent as you'd expect but very dull and bland with barely a redeeming feature. Genesis were capable of writing a great pop song as they proved with Turn It On Again but even that is absent from this uninspiring choice of songs. As a matter of interest it does appear on the aforementioned live box version.

You won't find any prog here, just eighties pop, so steer well clear unless you need a live album of this once great band at their lowest ebb.

The contrast between what the entity known as Genesis had turned into in the 80s compared to what they'd been in the 70s is unparalleled not only in the annals of progressive rock but in modern music history in general. The abject nonconformist, take-it-or-leave-it attitude that permeated their albums from "Trespass" to "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" left when charismatic front man Peter Gabriel departed the fold to pursue his own muse up Solsbury Hill. While the band straddled the wobbly fence between prog and pop for several years, the lure of Top 40 hit singles and clever MTV videos finally pulled them over into the less-challenging latter category. It's easy to accuse them of selling out but it's also hard to imagine Phil Collins wearing a red dress and a fox's head onstage, for that matter. Something had to change. I think slowly but surely they became more inclined to follow the easy money trail than to take adventurous detours and risk rejection. Perhaps they had no choice. But the radio-friendly songs that populate this live album are about as far from the innovative genius of cuts like "Supper's Ready" and "Firth of Fifth" as the North Pole is from its Southern counterpart. Still, this is what the majority of the new fans they'd harvested by the time they embarked upon their '87 and '92 tours had showed up to hear and Genesis dutifully delivered their decidedly un-prog creations into their ears sans even a smidgen of guilt. Now, had I sat through this CD when it was released in January 1993 I would've become clinically depressed by the time it was over. However, the passing of almost a quarter of a century has lent me a modicum of perspective and I was able to at least admire the members' impeccable professionalism and musical prowess for their own sakes.

They start off with "Land of Confusion" and I was pleased to hear their in-concert version wasn't as jarring as the studio one that still bugs the crap out of me and makes my teeth rattle. The tune also never fails to summon into my consciousness unwelcome images of the macabre rubber puppets they featured in the over-aired video that I can go the rest of my days without seeing again. On the plus side, though, Collins' voice is strong and confident and, sadly for civilization, the caustic lyrics are still politically relevant. "No Son of Mine" is next and it benefits from being a decent number included on the surprisingly worthwhile "We Can't Dance" album they were in the midst of promoting on this junket. Chester Thompson's fat snare and powerful drumming is gnarly and, once again, the words carry a timeless message that continues to resonate today. "Jesus He Knows Me" follows and, as a Christian, I've always wholly approved of this song's biting sarcasm that reflected the disgusting, dollar-grubbing TV evangelism that characterized that era. Phil's cartoonish plea for donations from the crowd at the end is a hoot, too. I kinda dreaded sitting through "Throwing It All Away" but Collins' Freddy Mercury-styled call-and-answer scatting during the before and after segments kept their live rendition from falling into a too-maudlin rut. The number actually has a nice, "punchy" feel. At this juncture I was thinking I'd misjudged the whole endeavor but the rest of the album proved to be all too predictable.

"I Can't Dance" is an odd duck from the get go (in a bad way) and it doesn't show any improvement here. It just doesn't take me anywhere I wanna go. I suppose the fancy lighting and visuals helped. "Mama" has never been one of my favorites because it was the highlighted track from what I consider their worst album, the infernally lame "Genesis" LP from '83. To me it showcases a complete lack of imagination in their songwriting acumen and a willingness to settle for less on the part of Phil, Mike and Tony. The tune is extremely repetitious and uneventful. In addition, Collins' forced cackle does nothing for me whatsoever. "Hold On My Heart" has a very hotel lounge-ish aura that emphasizes the number's sappy romantic theme but, like so many of their love songs, it's downright boring to the extreme. I'm certain it thrilled no end the youngsters who came to hear Phil croon, though. "That's All" is next and it's one of the offerings from the aforementioned nadir-of-their-catalogue LP that signified their intent to leave progressive rock and my loyalty to their cause behind, choking in the dust of their limos. The pointless guitar noodling in the late going is patronizingly trite and, thus, unforgivingly offensive. "In Too Deep" follows and it's yet another slow-dance-high-school-prom-anthem that only serves to make me drowsy because they play it note-for- note. On "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" the electronic Latin percussion does manage to pick the mood up from basement level but it's another specimen of pedestrian arena rock at best. From there they segue right into the incredibly vapid "Invisible Touch," their blatantly commercial ditty that has embarrassingly inane lyrics to match. The audience eats it up like free candy but it only reminds me of how low they were willing to go to keep the gravy train rolling.

This CD rose to the #3 spot on the UK charts but in the US it stalled at #35. Nonetheless, they sold out every venue on their world-wide supporting tours, averaging a staggering 56,000 in attendance at every stop. They probably set themselves up for life but at what cost? Once an avid fanatic, by the time this came out I'd lost all interest in what they were doing. Nowadays if I want to revisit what they sounded like in person when they were still pushing the progressive envelope and knocking down walls I'll reach for "Seconds Out" or, even better, any of the amazing live recordings contained in their outstanding 4-disc "Archives" collection when Peter was still out in front. This one's strictly for the "Greatest Hits" bunch. It's passable but it sure ain't prog. 2.5 stars.

'The Way We Walk Volume One - The Shorts' is a live album from Genesis that only contains songs from their self-titled album, 'Invisible Touch,' and 'We Can't Dance.' Unfortunately, I'm not the biggest fan of these albums, so the material that they included from those albums makes me feel ambivalent towards this live album. Most of the songs included on 'The Way We Walk Volume One - The Shorts' are songs that I enjoy. However, there are a couple songs that are hard to ignore when looking at the album as a whole because of how unpleasant they are to listen to.

"Land of Confusion" is an excellent show opener and one that I enjoy even more live because it contains real drums. The concluding section to "No Son of Mine" is elongated with a guitar solo. Daryl Stuermer plays a great guitar solo on "Jesus He Knows Me," which is also enlongated. I prefer this live version to the studio version. There is a call-and-response between Phil Collins and the audience during the beginning of "Throwing It All Away." Phil Collins sings a melody and the audience sings that same melody back to him, which is similar to what Freddie Mercury and many other artists did when performing. The song ends nicely. "I Can't Dance" is even worse than the studio version because it's elongated.

"Mama" is one of my favorite Genesis songs, and hearing it live on this album is glorious, though it doesn't stray too much from the original version, as does "That's All" and "In Too Deep." The ending of "Hold On My Heart" goes on a bit too long for my liking. "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" is unfortunately included on this live album. Luckily, it is an abridged version without the pointless instrumental section. "Invisible Touch" closes this volume, and it's even more irritating to listen to in a live context. The song is elongated, and Phil Collins' vocals are incredibly annoying. The change of lyrics to "she will mess up your life" to "she will f&$% up your life" is quite jarring, especially because it juxtaposes the upbeat music.

In conclusion, 'The Way We Walk Volume One - The Shorts' is a mediocre live album. It would make sense to think that I would like the second volume more since it contains more songs that I like from the band, but I feel the same towards that album. Quite honestly, I'm not sure if the material is the main problem for why I don't return to this album much at all. Either way, unless you really like these songs, I wouldn't recommend this live album. 4/10