THE PLATINUM COLLECTION

It features the essential classics of the Gabriel era and the best of the Collins era. It would have been better to have more of the Gabriel period but one good thing is that a fan can grab all the Gabriel era CDs and fill in the Collins void with this quite comfortably without having to fork out on the detestable 'Invisible Touch'. 'Abacab' and 'We Can't Dance'. All the singles that assaulted the charts are here along with bonafide Genesis classics.

The quintessential treasures are included in unedited format. "Foxtrot"'s 'Supper's Ready', all 23 minutes of it, are here in all its prog glory. Also the great 'Firth of Fifth' 'I Know What I like...' and 'Cinema Show' from "Selling England By The Pound" are included. There are 3 tracks from "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" and 'The Knife' from "Trespass". 'The Musical Box' classic from "Nursery Cryme" also appears in unedited form. CD 3 is definitely the best capturing the Gabriel era beautifully. It is worth getting all these albums anyway so one CD is perhaps sufficient to get a taste of this early brilliant influential prog era.

The rest of the package is full blown Collins tracks but they are primarily very good compositions showing the transformation of the band in its many incarnations. CD 2 features 2 tracks from "Abacab", 4 of the best from "Duke" and 3 from " And Then there Were Three". 3 tracks from "Wind and Wuthering" are included and the three classics from "A Trick of the Tail".

CD 1 is the worst of the lot with 4 tracks from "We Can't Dance", 5 tracks from "Invisible Touch" as if that were necessary, and 5 tracks from the better "Genesis" album. There is a rare track from the EP "3x3" and thankfully only 1 track from the abysmal "calling All Stations".

Overall the packaging is excellent with a booklet with information on the tracks. The track list is as good as it can get without focusing on the early genesis period. It is a rather interesting journey to listen to it in its entirety showing how diverse the band are and how they metamorphosised from prog legends to 80s balladeers. Still as a collection of the best of the three phases of Genesis it is indispensable. My opinion is get this along with all the Gabriel era albums, including the 2 awesome 70s live albums, and you will have a very good Genesis collection without having to pay a small fortune for their prolific album discography. The next best thing is the box set collections, but as a budget experience of the best of all the Genesis albums, this is an excellent compilation.

4 stars for the experience.

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