Genesis' Seconds Out hits the big 40 this year

 The album that really got me interested in Genesis. The Lamb and A Trick never really sold me until I listened to Seconds Out.

Genesis also played "Your Own Special Way" or "All in a Mouse's Night" during the first part of their 1977 tour (January-March). They also played "The Knife" in an abridged format once in London in late June. And they also played once a Medley of  "Lilywhite Lilith / The Waiting Room / Wot Gorilla?" (on January 1st, in London, on the first date of the tour).

The death knell of Genesis. It was only a matter of time before Phil completely wrecked the band after this. If I remember correctly it came out after Wind & Wuthering. It twas sort of depressing at the time because we knew what was on the horizon. 

Edited by Kepler62 - April 13 2017 at 12:32

Mindblowing Cinema Show.

I'll take the 40th anniv mini-Lp expanded edition

I should love this album, since I really prefer Phill's singing to Gabriel's... and in general I do prefer his singing on this album too, but there are a few things that just pull it down. Somehow the choices of songs from the post Gabriel albums are not the ones that I would have prefered. On the other hand, I wish they were all songs with Bill Bruford on drums, instead of only one or two. I remember hearing the video "Genesis Live" or something, with great versions on it (but with it's own problems, like having the best songs, Supper's Ready and Cinema Show truncated to only their second halfs, rendering the video almost useless for enjoyment), and I did like what I could hear of this versions better than the ones on Seconds Out, as far as I remember. Then, I guess it would have been great if the band could have tried and convinced to have Steve's brother to come and play flute for them on the tour, for Gabriel's flute is indeed missing from a few songs. The already mentioned toned down gutiar also damages the versions of this songs. Though Supper's Ready is in general better (for me) than the original, the Willow's Farm section just destroys the song. And Firth of Fifth without the Piano Intro just sinks it down a few points (besides the already mentioned lack of flute).

Edited by Dellinger - April 17 2017 at 20:34

Yeah, I know. And the Willow's Farm section (at least on the Genesis Revisited album) is nailed very nicely... not as perfect as the studio version, but it's good, and not totally ridiculous as on Seconds Out.

hieronymous wrote: Weird - the other day someone in my office had music on that put Carpet Crawlers into my head - I just happened to pull out Seconds Out so that I could listen to that song and ended up listening to the whole album - I have it basically memorized because I listened to it so much in the '80s when I was in high school. This time around I found myself questioning the song order - was Carpet Crawlers really the second song they played? In later years wouldn't they often play Afterglow near the end of the show? Here it's in the middle. Stuff like that. So thank you for giving that tour setlist - it answers a lot of questions I had. I would love to find some soundboards of complete shows - would like to hear Eleventh Earl of Mar and the original running order.  I don't think any of these trump the original studio versions for me - sometimes there are bits in the originals that I prefer, sometimes I like the live versions. I think overall "Live" is my favorite (the one with the blue cover with the Watcher of the Skies).

Side 1 of Seconds Out is heavily edited. Afterglow and Carpet Crawl were never that early on in the set IIRC. You can hear how the crowd noise suddenly increases and decreases in volume. It's actually quite badly done and side 1 is the weakest side.

Squonk opens nicely but is played too fast. Robbery, assault & battery shouldn't be on the album IMO. It ruins the atmosphere and lacks gravitas. The version of Afterglow also sounds weak to.

Sides 2 and 4 are superb though. The version of Suppers Read s also vry good, I just think they could hae made better use of that side.

Tom Ozric wrote: ^ Ho hum, yes indeed. PhilCo just being his usual OTT entertainer self. I really think Hackett performs the old Genesis tunes with a lot of respect, and has some great musicians along for the ride. Really makes an effort to bring the 'classic' material up to date and keep it timeless as it is.

That just makes me all the more bitter that Hackett didn't come to Mexico with his Genesis Revisited tour. I really wanted to see that one, much more than I would have wanted to see 3 piece Genesis or Peter Gabriel. I feel that would have been the best possible Genesis show one could hope to see since he left the band.

Barbu wrote: Mindblowing Cinema Show.

Totally agree!