SECONDS OUT

It's a pity that their record company compiled these two on one album (being a double) only. In those days, live albums were not as popular as now. Five songs are from "and then they were four" era but I was very disappointed that only one song from "Wind" was selected out of the tour ("Afterglow") while "Eleventh Earl Of Mar" and "All In A Mouse's Night" were regularly played in 1977. I guess that the fact that Steve left the band in the meantime (after the 77 tour, but before this release) was the main reason for it. The best track from "Trick" is also skipped (actually, it will never be played live) : of course, I mean, "Mad Man Moon". So, let's go now to the more positive side : the renditions of "Squonk" (which sounds harder than the studio one), "Robbery" (during which I think, the clip was displayed on a giant screen. I think it was the 76 show, but I am not 100% sure), and "Afterglow" (wonderful moment of emotion) are very good. As far as the "old" repertoire is concerned, if we except the (too) long version for "I Know..." (but this will be their trademark for this song for the next two decades), and the emasculated "Musical Box" limited to the closing section (three very cool minutes though) there were two very nice versions from "The Lamb" : the title track as well as "Carpet". All the other tracks are at the level of excellence : "Firth" being as beautiful as on "Selling" (but, hell ! Why did they cut the intro in their concerts ?) I remember quite well "Supper's Ready" and the laser effects surrounding Phil. Actually, I prefer this live version to the Foxtrot one (and even to the other official live release on the "Archive I" boxset recorded with Peter at the Rainbow theater in 1973). I can't tell though if this version was taken in 76 or 77 (the laser effect appeared in both tours). Phil is really astounding in the lead vocal of this epic of prog music. In general, Phil was great during those tours, and quite a surprise for most of the fans. The last three tracks of this album are GORGIOUS. When you listen to the second part of the "Cinema Show" the drumming is incredible. Can you imagine : Bill and Phil on the drums on the same stage ! About five minutes of pure crazyness. They were probably the best prog drummers in the world (and even if we include Bonham, Paice and Moon we got two of the top five drummers in the music history on the same stage - let's add maybe Carl Palmer to be complete). The same feeling will apply to the closing numbers which I did not consider as great studio tracks on "Trick" but here they just sound fantastic. This time, the second drummer is Chester, and I can tell you that it was a great experience to watch them both playing together. As I was always in the first row in those days, I could see them pretty close. The liner notes mention Bill on drums for "Cinema Show" only. This means that this is the sole track of the 1976 tour on this album. For your information, this is how both tours looked like (here and there some tracks changed, but not very much) :

Classical 1976 tour : 1) Dance On A Volcano 2) The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway 3) Fly On A Windshield / Broadway Melody Of 1974 4) The Carpet Crawlers 5) The Cinema Show 6) Robbery, Assault & Battery 7) White Mountain 8) Firth Of Fifth 9) Entangled 10) Squonk 11) Supper's Ready 12) I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) 13) Los Endos 14) It/Watcher Of The Skies

Classical tracklist 1977 tour : 1) Squonk 2) One For The Vine 3) Robbery, Assault & Battery 4) I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) 5) Firth Of Fifth 6) ... In That Quiet Earth 7) Afterglow 8) Eleventh Earl Of Mar 9) Supper's Ready 10) All In A Mouse's Night 11) Dance On A Volcano 12) Drum Duet 13) Los Endos 14) The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway 15) The Musical Box (closing section)

This is great live record, and a wonderful moment in my "Live" life. Four stars.

Share this GENESIS review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to ZowieZiggy
• Report this review (#104963)
• Buy GENESIS music online with PA partners
• Show all GENESIS MP3/Stream
• Go to GENESIS page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Seconds Out page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for GENESIS related discussions