GENESIS REVISITED II

I'm going to treat this similarly to how I would treat a live album. In that respect, I won't take marks off for the lack of new material but will judge it purely on how the material we know and love was represented.

This album is fantastic. I have the first Genesis Revisited and this is a massive improvement on that.

This concept is something that I have desired for a long time. I have long since been of the opinion that Yes probably just nudges Genesis as my favourite progressive rock band due to the fact that they have gone on to play their classics for years and the fact that we have readily available live versions of them with modern technology and equipment.

Unfortunately, only three (?) copies of Supper's Ready were in existence until now. The studio version on Foxtrot and a live edition each on Seconds Out and the 1967-1975 boxset. Hackett's interpretation here might just edge them all as my current favourite. Especially with regards to the epic Apocalypse In 9/8 and As Sure As Eggs Is Eggs finale.

So, this album is something of a godsend for those of who have been dying to hear how these magnificent early era Genesis songs would sound rerecorded with modern instrumentation and technology. The result is spectacular.

Hackett's choice of musicians throughout are consistently superb, however, I do have a problem with choice of Nad Sylvan on a few songs. I have nothing against the guy, but I have to say I find his voice difficult to appreciate. I do understand that he sounds quite similar to Peter Gabriel in many ways but there is something about the infliction in his voice that I dislike. I have always struggled to like Agents of Mercy for the same reason. Similarly, although I love Neal Morse and his voice, the choice to have him sing on Return of the Giant Hogweed was an odd one. I know he sang a cover on Translantic's Whirlwind but I imagine there must have been a candidate better suited.

The inclusion of some of Hackett's own solo material was both odd and nice. Especially the new version of Shadow of the Hierophant which has always been my favourite Hackett song. The others I could take or leave.

This is definitely not intended as a negative review, on the contrary, I absolutely adore this album and I anticipate listening to it constantly for weeks and months to come. The album is strong on the whole with few let downs. I'm not going to describe each song but for me the highlights read as: Supper's Ready, The Lamia & Entangled and the let downs: Return of the Giant Hogweed, Afterglow & Hackett solo material (excluding Shadow of the Hierophant).