THREE SIDES LIVE

The third live Genesis album was recorded on the 1981 tour in support of the Abacab album. When I bought the CD a few years ago I was confused, because side four had changed from the studio tracks I remembered to some older live tracks. Apparently that US version from back in the day had been changed to match the UK version. The old version had a couple of studio hits in "Paperlate" and "You Might Recall" plus a few others, while my 1994 remaster contains "One for the Vine," "Fountain of Salmacis," and "It/Watcher of the Skies." For most Genesis fans the reworked version was likely very preferable, for me it didn't matter much as I found both versions interesting in their own way.

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.