TURN IT ON AGAIN - THE HITS

This album is the evidence. Yes, nothing is impossible. The most artistic and fanstastic musicians are able to make the worst cd. This is not progressive, is the most commercial and ugly pop. The rating bad is too good for it. It's signed by GENESIS, but if not, I'm sure that this cd never would deserve a place at any progressive site. The "pearls" "Mama" and "I Can't Dance" are included, wow!

I have always been a fan of GENESIS, especially the Peter GABRIEL-era. The first GENESIS album I heard were "A Trick Of The Tail" (1976), and the first I bought were "Trespass" (1970). Even if this was my favourite GENESIS period, I never stopped listening to them, and to this date I have bought all their 15 studio albums + the live albums. Although I think that their glorious days have passed I still think that they've always delivered quality albums. This collection of Hits shows just how good composers GENESIS are. 15 of the 18 tracks are played entirely by Tony Banks, Phil Collins & Mike Rutherford. Unfortunately there isn't much represented of the 70's in this Hits-collection. They recorded many classics back in the 70's, but they didn't produce any hits that are for sure. This compilation does however contain a re-recording of "The Carpet Crawlers" from "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" (1974). My favourite tracks are "Follow You, Follow Me", "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" and "The Carpet Crawlers 1999". GENESIS were one of the progressive pioneers in the 70's and without their contribution to the music history, many progressive bands today would've sounded totally different. This is the perfect starter for the explorers of 80's and 90's Genesis. "The Carpet Crawlers 1999" in itself makes this compilation worth buying. Highly recommended!

I am personally a hard core Genesis fan, mostly Gabriel era. I think everybody agrees that after Hackett departure Genesis became one of the most succesfull Pop music Bands (duh!!!) I am not too exited about all their later work, although I respect what they have done, this particular compilation mainly is all Pop Genesis guided by Collins influence, they throw in there only 2 proggressive compositions. In all this album has nothing new and I only spent my money on it to have the new version of The Carpet Crawlers, which by itself I guess worth the sacrifice...You can always skip until the middle (Song 9) and the end (Song 18) anyway or better yet, burn on a CD the new version. I would never advised to download any Genesis material, because I srongly believe that if you are a fan..get it, and if not just do not bother...

Mister Collins and Co. always try to rub in the face of older fans they were commercially successful when Peter and Steve left, but at what cost?

They had to sacrifice quality, greatness, transcendence, in other words art, in order to get their hands on the big bucks.

But what pisses me more is that they throw us two candies (I Know What I Like and Carpet Crawlers 99) as if progressive fans were stupid to believe it's a return to their roots only because this two tracks. In other words they insist with the pop stuff but because they know new fans are not faithful enough to buy this sad compilation (most of them had forgotten the band after CAS), but they try to sell a few more albums to the older and only loyal fans using this two tracks as a fishing hook.

I won't even loose my time describing the 16 "hits" from the post Hackett era, because they are not even worth to worry about, so we have two tracks left.

The first one is "I Know What I Like (In your Wardrobe)", which never was among my favorite tracks, too commercial oriented for my taste, but it's too good to be surrounded by songs like "Invisible Touch" or "Throwing it all Away". Mr. Collins, please leave Gabriel songs where they belong!!!!

The second one is "Carpet Crawlers 99" which IMHO is the worst version of this correct song, has been to softened to fit in this album, not even Peter Gabriel saves this one. I believe the tracks from a conceptual album (like The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway) must never be taken out of their natural context where they make sense, in this case is just a soft and boring ballad.

If you don't have it, don't buy it. If you were tricked by the two tracks I mentioned, you can give a better use to the CD like a coaster or a small Frisbee.

As a sign of respect for the two tracks from the golden era won't give this album a 0 rating, but doesn't deserve more than one star.

I don`t have this album, as it is a collection of hits that I already have in L.P.s or in C.D.s of their original albums. The main interest in this album for the "old fans" is the "Carpet Crawlers 1999 re-recording", a new version of this song which I downloaded as this song was briefly available for downloading in GENESIS`s first official website in late 1999. So, my comment is particularly for this new version, which was produced by Trevor Horn. This version was recorded between 1995 and 1999, by Banks/Rutherford/Collins/Gabriel/Hackett, each one recording their parts at different times and in different studios. Hackett said in interviews (maybe as a joke) that "everybody almost telephoned their parts to the studio". There are rumours about Wilson being invited to sing a verse. The last verse of the song is not sung, as it seems that it was the verse which Wilson was going to sing (it is only a rumour, I think). But the first verse is sung by Gabriel, with Collins in backing vocals and other verse in sung by Collins with Gabriel in backing vocals. It is a good version, not as good as the original version. This is a "modern" version. The producer also employed some additional musicians, like one person who helped with the programming of some keyboards and maybe also of the drum machine. As a whole, this compilation is good mainly for Fans who want to have every GENESIS `s album , or for the Radio listener who only knows their hits.

This compilation consist only of Genesis biggest hits after Steve Hackett left the band. Mostly disasters, though there are some tracks I really like here too. But originally, this one obviously was designed only to cash in money at Genesis popularity and mostly purchased by people who only remembered Genesis for their 80's phase, and not their glorious 70's phase. It's not that I hate Genesis' 80's works, but this is a souless and sell-out attempt to make an compilation, imo. One good point for progheads here is the "Carpet Crawlers '99" re-recording cut at the end, but even that one isn't really a reason enough to buy this album.

2 stars because of some of the songs I really enjoy here, but otherwise, this one is only for 80's Genesis fans!

This compilation offers the hits - that is the most commercial songs - of Genesis. If this compilation was meant to attract new listeners, I think it failed. Most of the songs are from the Genesis pop-rock era. Hardly essential songs to attract people to listen; it's enough to have listened one Peter Gabriel era album, and any interest in purchasing this compilation disappears.

Let's have a look at the hits: all the hit singles from Invisible Touch are here (5 songs!) - Land of Confusion is the only worthy song from those five; two songs from the Duke album - Turn It on Again and Misunderstanding, no objection from me here; Mama and That's All, two of the better songs from the Genesis 1983 album (thank God no Illegal Alien here). The single version of Abacab is terrible IMHO (the 7 minutes album version is much better); they did not forget to put the hit singles from We Can't Dance - both I Can't Dance and Jesus He Knows Me are (a bit) silly and too poppy (for my taste at least), but No Son of Mine and Hold on My Heart are great and enjoyable songs. Now last but not least, the best songs on this compilation are I Know What I Like (it's definitely not the Peter Gabriel era song but it's much more interesting and better than any post1980 hit single IMHO), the new version of The Carpet Crawlers (quite interesting, honours the original version) and (I almost forgot) Follow You, Follow Me, the hit single of Genesis 1978 album (again it's a lot better than any of the 80s hits).

I cannot recommend this compilation to anyone, if you are new to the world of Genesis, don't start with this compilation, get any album from the early days to 1980 Duke. And then you may bother with the rest.

No, I didn't buy this. I found it in my wife's convoluted mess of cassettes and figured that, since it's from one of my favorite bands ever, it deserves my opinionated review. My better half is not a progger by any stretch of the imagination but when it comes to Genesis she knows what she likes and she likes what she knows. In other words, she considers them a superb pop group that created a lot of popular songs and videos that she enjoyed during the 80s. And, with this compilation being called "The Hits," this is exactly what she thought she was purchasing. Good for her. For me, I tend to think of this as Genesis (with a few exceptions) after they became afflicted with the MTV virus.

Wisely they start things off briskly with "Turn It On Again" from the excellent "Duke" album. Almost every tune on that baby was a winner in my book and it launched this catchy song's prog time signature onto car radios all over the world. Next you are treated to the blatantly commercial "Invisible Touch" with its pointless lyrics and then the weird hysterics of the creepy "Mama" but both tracks rank miles above the annoying, noisy "Land of Confusion." It's so grating that it makes their mediocre novelty song "I Can't Dance" a relief to hear. "Follow You, Follow Me" always reminds me of the first time I put ".And Then There Were Three" on my turntable and sadly realized that the glory days of hearing mind-blowing epics from these guys might be coming to an end. (With the exception of "Duke" I was right, unfortunately.)

"Hold On My Heart" is a fine example of the sappy love ballads that became their bread and butter in their latter days and if this is your cup 'o tea then indulge yourself. "Abacab" still packs a punch, however, and this edited version still shows they had some pep in their step as late as 1981. For those poor souls who are amazed to find out that Peter Gabriel used to be their front man (don't laugh, there's a lot of Muggles out there clueless to this fact) you get the wonderful, whimsical "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" to provide a nostalgic oasis along the way. "Throwing It All Away" follows and a number of fans probably thought they were writing this about their legacy but it's just another slick ballad about a failed relationship.

"No Son of Mine" rocks pretty hard and lyrically it boldly takes on a touchy subject that actually has relevance. "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" might have sold a lot of beer but it has never slaked my thirst for some good ol' symphonic prog. It's just too 80s VH-1 sounding for me. What's next? Yep, it's another overwrought ballad coming at you as "In Too Deep" rolls through (boy, these guys had some real issues in their home lives, I guess). The rarely-heard "Congo" has their usual high production values but it also makes me glad I didn't shell out any lettuce for that final album. I like "Jesus He Knows Me" a lot because I admire any band that shines a glaring spotlight on the despicable hypocrisy of TV evangelists and this tune does a great job of it. "That's All" is just one of those songs that I have no strong opinion about. It just sorta lays there. (Hey, it could have been worse. They could have included the ridiculous "Illegal Alien.") When I said that "almost" every song on "Duke" was a winner, "Hot Fun in the Summertime" .oops, I mean "Misunderstanding" is the exception. Well, the riff is an absolute rip-off no matter how they may rationalize it. Sly Stone should get a partial writing credit.

If there is a single reason for any Genesis fan to own this album it's for the inclusion of "The Carpet Crawlers 1999." It provides a wistful "what if" moment if there ever was one. No, it's not an improvement over the original by any means but hearing the unmistakable voices of Peter and Phil together again with up-to-date studio techniques in play causes me to wonder just how fantastic a modern rendition of "Nursery Cryme" or even "Foxtrot" might sound. (Okay, call me a heretic!) Alas, this more than decent revised version is still good mainly because it's such a killer tune and it's probably as close as we'll ever come to a genuine reunion.

Why three stars? Well, it certainly isn't for the proggers who already have the original albums that made them legend and most of these songs are seriously deficient in progressive ideals, no doubt. But when taken in light of the schlock that was being slung about during the dismal MTV-plagued years that were the 80s these lads at least maintained a modicum of professionalism and integrity about themselves and it's my belief that they could have done much, much worse.

This compilation does not present a balanced setlist between two era of Genesis: Gabriel as lead singer and Phil Collins as lead singer. Most of the songs are taken from Phil Collins era. Even worse, the era after Steve Hackett left the band. Only two songs that involve Gabriel and Hackett, i.e. "I Know What I like" and "Carpet Crawlers". This CD compilation had been for such a long time at our local C store and I had never had any intention to purchase it until my colleague Genesis fan, Temy, told me that the last track "Carpet Crawler" was re-recorded with Peter Gabriel and Stephen Hackett. So, I did purchase the CD for this one single song! Well, I am really satisfied with this re-recording version of "Carpet Crawlers" because I have now the new version when all of the members were getting old already and the version is very different with the original version from the album "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway". This only last track that makes the purchase of this CD is worthwile - especially the CD was produced locally in my country.

But, I don't recommend newbie to start the journey of progressive music from Genesis from this compilation because it will give wrong impression about the band. They should start from "Selling England By The Pound".

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Yuck. Now, I hate late Genesis, and I realize that this is a complitation of hits, but this just awful. They threw a bunch of hits together for a mild late-Genesis fan, and as a result a progger like me is left in the dust. It's obvious that they tried to make this sort of even between the two eras of Genesis by including two Gabriel-era songs, but two of their more decent, shorter songs is nothing in comparison to 16 god- awful songs. TURN IT OFF AGAIN is my title for this because trust me, this stuff is never playing when I'm around.

This is a compilation that spans Genesis' career as a singles pop act. This was the first album that I ever bought of Genesis' music hoping for a "best of" containing fantastic progressive rock, without knowing that they had been a singles act for quite some time. Needless to say, I was immediately upset with the music on this collection. Uninspired pop tunes galore.

I did, however, re-wrap this CD and send it to my mother, knowing that she loves '80s pop. She loved it, so my money didn't go to waste entirely. A very bad introduction to Genesis indeed. Definitely stay away from this unless you want the band's poppy tunes.

Turn it On Again: The Hits is what it is: The Hits. It contains over 78 minutes of music, and even figuring a few seconds between tracks, it accounts for at least 98% of the capacity of a compact disk. (Compare that to Nursery Cryme, at 42:35.)

To me, the question is not whether Turn it On Again: The Hits contains the best of Genesis, but whether it accomplishes its goal of presenting "the hits," and if it does, the quality of those hits.

Genesis had twenty-two Billboard Hot 100 chart entries between 1977 and 1993. Fifteen of these are on Turn it On Again: The Hits, including the band's ten biggest hits. (The following hits are missing from Turn it On Again: The Hits: "Your Own Special Way," #62; "No Reply At All," #29; "Man on the Corner," #40, "Paperlate," #32; "Illegal Alien," #44, "Taking it All Too Hard," #50; and "Never a Time," #21.)

Meanwhile, Turn it On Again: The Hits has three songs that were not hits in the US, but represent the periods before and after the group's hitmaking days: "Congo," "Carpet Crawlers '99," and "I Know What I Like." So overall, this album does a pretty good job of presenting the hits on a single disk.

Now, what of the quality of these songs? About a third of the material ranges from pretty bad (e.g., "Throwing it All Away") to really bad ("Hold On My Heart," "In Too Deep"), and another third ranges from good ("Abacab") to great ("Misunderstanding," "Carpet Crawlers '99"). The remainder are OK, and among these I count "Land of Confusion," "That's All," "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight," and "Invisible Touch," none of which makes me switch stations if it comes on the radio.

Turn it On Again: The Hits is a greatest-hits album (whereas the three-disc Platinum Collection seems to be closer to a "best-of"), and while these hits aren't that great, they're not that bad either. The original reason to buy this CD was to get "Carpet Crawlers '99," but that's been available for individual download on itunes and Amazon for years - - which means that this isn't an essential purchase. I would, though, recommend it to anyone, including Gabriel- and Hackett-era Genesis fans interested in an overview of the band's 1980s and 1990s singles.

Ladies and Gentlemen presenting the hits of Genesis with all the prog zapped out of them leaving an empty shell of pop kitsch to grace the music charts and set women's hearts afire. This is quite abysmal with the occasional ray of light with magnificent Turn It On Again with the proggish drum tempo changes and it's followed by the sacharinne sweet sugary syrup of Invisible Touch, and ha ha ha haaaa Mama, Land Of Confusion with nice melody but nothing can save I Can't Dance with that corny tune and meddling dance step.

It gets slightly better with lovely ballads Follow You Follow Me and Hold On My Heart, attracting the female audience to concerts. Abacab (hits edit) is okay and the Gabriel era I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) is a crowd pleaser. No Son Of Mine (hits edit) is definitely a terrific song but I am not keen on Tonight, Tonight, Tonight (single edit), In Too Deep , or Congo (hits edit). Admittedly I'm a fan of Jesus He Knows Me with its catchy hook and lyrics.

This is followed by dreary That's All, Misunderstanding and Throwing It All Away. The version of Carpet Crawlers (1999 Re-recording) is not an improvement and really should stay on Lamb Lies Down on Broadway where it belongs.

So overall it's Genesis for the non prog fan and it is not a pretty picture by any standards. Certainly grab it if you see it in a bargain dollar bin but its a mere decoration for collectors only.