THREE SIDES LIVE

The third live album released by Genesis was called "Three Sides Live" because it was a double-LP set in which three of the sides were live. The fourth side consisted of five songs that didn't make it onto any previous Genesis studio albums. Since then, it appears they have re-released it as an entirely live affair, but for consistency's sake, kept the same title. I have yet to purchase this "four sides" version, thus my review only concerns the original 2-LP set.

This is somewhat of a mixed bag, but for me seems to be on the enjoyable side rather than the frustrated side of the bag. That is because they chose the better material of the previous few years to perform live. True, it has Misunderstanding and Follow You, Follow Me on it. But hey, they were radio hits and more and more of the people attending their concerts wanted to hear that stuff. You can't necessarily fault them for that. Nonetheless, they perform the amazing Dodo and do a wonderful medley of In the Cage with instrumental sections pulled from Cinema Show and Colony of Slippermen. Even Abacab sounds better than the studio version.

The fourth side is basically the weakest side of the album. Me and Virgil and You Might Recall are wonderful songs, but the remaining (including the radio hit Paperlate) are understandable as to why they never made it onto one of their previous studio releases.

It's not perfect, it's not a masterpiece, but it's also not a mediocre work overall. I found this a rather enjoyable final tribute of the band to it's progressive leanings and the last worthwhile album to acquire. Four stars for an excellent work.