FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION

This is essentially a bundle of demo tracks that Jonathan King had the nascent Genesis record and then, without their knowledge, tossed a load of syrupy orchestration on (as was the fashion at the time) and presented as a concept album. I want to be a little careful about what I say here because it's emerged in more recent years that King was very much not the benign, helpful starmaker that he likes to present himself as, but I want to keep this review mostly focused on the mishandling of this album rather than King's more serious crimes. (Suffice to say that it was probably a very sensible call for the gang, who were only teenage boys at the time they made this, to get as far away from King as they could.)

I can't really justify giving this album more than the absolute minimum rating for a very simple reason: it's a misrepresentation of who Genesis were even at this very early point in their development, let alone being falling far short of the standards they would later attain. As mentioned, the orchestration on this was imposed by King without the band being informed or involved, and as such doesn't reflect their musical intentions in the slightest; at its worst, it completely smothers what they were going for.

The Genesis Archive boxed set includes some of the demo tracks without the orchestra, which is far more interesting to anyone interested in exploring their pre-Trespass sound, but I can't imagine anyone putting those on regular rotation. As for this set of songs, it's some rather rudimentary psych-folk vandalised with the excessive strings. The overall effect is like going to a folk concert except an orchestra is rehearsing next door and the soundproofing really isn't up to scratch. Avoid, avoid, avoid, and particularly avoid the various poorly-mastered CD knock-offs that circulate.