3 X 3

Ok this album doesn't have a lot of songs, but these three songs it has are very essential music pieces for hardcore Genesis fans, like me. Paperlate it´s a poppyish style of the band including a very good brass band. You might recall its another song like Paperlate, but Me and virgil it's more like a Proggressive piece with these Genesiser keyboards. Trust me it's a Very good album, and i am ashamed of you for not rating this excellent album.

And then there were three ... awful crappy and poppy songs! On one topic I read that Genesis should have changed their name after Hackett left the band. Well, the Phil Collins Trio would have been a perfect name because his contribution to the post-Hackett-era is so dominant! Don't feel any longer ashamed Paul Palmer, this special edition release will be rated by us collaborators: I start with a one star rating because I presume that there are sufficient Genesis freaks who wanted to complete their collection. I followed you, who will follow me ....?

This is an E.P. which was released in mid 1982 in England, almost at the same time these three songs were released in the fourth side of the U.S. version of the "Three Sides Live" album (and in some European countries too, like in the German`s version of "Three Sides Live"). Yes, these songs were more for the Pop Rock market... but they still have some good quality. All these songs were recorded during the recording sessions for their "abacab" album in 1981.

"Paperlate" is another song (like "No Reply at All" from their "abacab" album) very influenced by the solo work of Phil Collins, because the band had the EWF horns appearing again. I think that if Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks didn`t like Collins`solo style, maybe they couldn`t like the use of horns in some Genesis`songs. This song has very good drums and some "Prog-like" tempos.

"You Might Recall" could be the best of these three songs. This song also has a good electric piano, very characteristic in Banks`sound, and he also plays very good synth in the background. Rutherford also plays a good guitar riff. this song, IMO, is somewhat influenced by Motown music.

"Me and Virgil" is a story told in the lyrics, but the song is not very good, because the story is very detailed, and the song as a whole tends to boredom. But it still has some "Prog" influences. The band didn`t like it enough when they selected the songs for their "Archive 2" Box Set, and so this song now is a "rarity" and very hard to find for new listeners. "Paperlate" and "You Might Recall" were included in the "Archives 2" Box Set. The song is not very good, but for the new Genesis`collectors it could have been very good to included it (with another "rare" song called "Match of the Day" from the "Spot the Pigeon" E.P.) in that Box Set.

I read somewhere that the cover photo and the comment included in the back cover of this E.P. were a tribute to the old E.P.s released by The Beatles in the `60s. So, IMO, the cover design is very interesting and collectable too.

Three outtakes from the Abacab sessions: "Paperlate", which became a hit upon this release "You Might Recall" "Me and Virgil"

These tracks show the sounds Genesis was experimenting with as they strived to change how the public was perceiving them in 1981. Ultimately, these tracks were left off of "abacab" in favor of the more taut, rock edge of the LP.

"Paperlate" sounds quite similar to the LP track " No Reply at All". Both feature the Earth Wind and Fire horn section, a big drum sound and a similar tone of lyric. Included here is a very strong bridge, with some minor chords courtesy of Tony Banks (whose playing is more subdued here than on No Reply).

The next track, "You Might Recall" is a lovely sentiment about looking back at a former relationship with a bit of regret. Strong percussion and twinkling guitars and Phil Collins exhibits great range in the vocal. A bit of a leftover from the Duke era in terms of sound.

Finally, we get a mini-epic in "Me and Virgil", a domestic tale from the american west. A bit drawn out in length and lyrics that border on sappy, the track does feature some great 12- string guitar-work (very 1960's sounding), and a bridge section that scores a horse race. A throwback to the cowboy themes on And Then There Were Three

Each song is very enjoyable, of course well-played, but none is very daring in the Genesis catalog, all sounding like something done before, so they were wise to exclude from the new-wave tinged Abacab. Certainly not progressive, but worth obtaining as a glimpse into how genesis evolved from the late 70s into the early 80's.

3 song EP from 1982. Failed ABACAB songs, I guess. Not much proggy here, just pop rock tunes. "Paperlate"- Yikes. Here we have the typical Genesis/Earth Wind and Fire sound. Basically a Phil Collins type of pop solo song. And it is just plain repetitive and annoying! 1 star "You Might Recall"- Interesting rhythms and keyboard sounds. Otherwise a typical Genesis song from this period. I actually like this better than much of ABACAB. This is a million times an improvement over songs like "Who Dunnit?". 2 star "Me and Virgil"- Lame and boring and annoying at times. This is a dud. 1 star at best. For collectors and later period Genesis fans only. Overall I can rate this at best 1 star. And the cover is a poor tribute to the Beatles.

The cover of this EP, I´m surprised so few reviewers acknowledge it, is a homage to the Beatles Twist and Shout EP of 1963, complete with even the label typo and stereo/mono calls. Very funny. As for the songs themselves, they were recorded around the time of the controversial Abacab album, but did not make into the final cut. Certainly old times fans hated it, but for 1981 the timing could not be more right. Simple pop songs in structure, but hiding in the very sophisticated arrangements and chord progressions they also show their symphonic prog traits. Who else in the pop world could deliver those?

Paper Late is definitely the weaker of the three, being a kind of rehash of their previous (and Collins influenced) No Reply At All. Still it has its charm. You Might Recall and Me And Virgil are more progressive and I guess any of those three would sit much better than the (bad) joke that Who Dunnit? from that LP was.

In the end I found that the nice cover is the only reason to have this EP, since all three songs (plus a couple more outtakes) were made available on the fourth side (of the vinyl edition) of The Three Sides Live album. Your choice.

Rating: Two stars, since nothing here is really hard to find, unlike the Spot The Pigeon EP. Nice music, but it´s much better to invest on the Three Sides Live CD and have lots of excellent stuff with it.

#32 Review

It's been a long, long time... hasn't it? 14 reviews later, almost a year since my last Genesis review and almost 3 months since my last review here, i said i was going to review Steve Hackett but i have got problems in getting around with it, once i get into one i feel like i'm going to stop when i complete half of the discography, wich is something i don't want to do, i want to complete it like i have done with anything else.

But now i came back for a short Genesis review, so i can easily acoustom myself again to reviewing, and also because i'm going to start with one of the Genesis Revisited albums. This is one of the 2 EPs released by Genesis, so its weird that i stopped reviewing Genesis without reviewing all the EPs.

The cover art is really weird, they're falling into a container filled with singles money, also this is one of the 3 instances of them refering to the number 3 on an oficial release. Yes, i know that the cover art its a parody of The Beatles and the title a parody on The Rolling Stones, i just wanted to give a different commentary on the topic.

- Paperlate 5/10 This is hit material, wich usually doesn't appeal to me, it feels really like Phil Collins because of the horns. They said that they wanted to make a song based on a phrase from a previous Genesis song, and this one doesn't have anything similar to that song (wich is Dancing with the Moonlight Knight) except for the use of the word "Paperlate". I remember thinking that this song was better than No Reply At All, wich right now i don't agree with because someone told me the other week "No Reply At All has more similitudes to The Lamb than Paperlate" or something like that, because of the piano part in that song, while this one is much more simpler, both songs bore me eventually tho but this one does a little more. Fun fact, this song was played without horns once, search for Genesis (Band) Special on youtube, and the playlist (done by me) has the song... but if you just want to skip it, it was played on August 13th of 1982.

- You Might Recall 6/10 I remember liking this one a little, but it never grew more than that to me, doesn't have much interesting going aside from the first few seconds. I classify this as more than average, its catchy, repeats itself a little too much but it's exciting.

- Me and Virgil 3/10 This song was written by Phil Collins himself and he has said that this is one of the worst pieces that he has ever written. I think that this song has an older appealing quality, but at the same time it doesn't succeed to impress and to capture one into another time, feels like one of those attempts that bands make to some older, even the mixing is odd, wich is something i don't usually complain, so in the end the composition ends up being boring and the lyrics kind of bad, as the writer said. Almost at the end, the song takes almost a completely different form, and i think if that was the bigger part here, it could've been something much more better.

So in the end, this was rather disapointing, i'm glad it wasn't added to Abacab, but at the same time i'm not really happy with what Abacab offers, i think that they should've added the Dodo Suite. Also, i want to point out, that if i update my Abacab review, it'll probably get a worse score, because songs 4, 8 and 9 would have a 3 instead of their scores, Dodo would have 1 point more and Me and Sarah Jane 2 more, it's now my favorite song of that album, aside from the Dodo Suite.

Final score its 47/100 wich is the minimum amount, second time i give this score, the first time was Acting Very Strange by Mike Rutherford, wich has only 1 good song... well, this only has one average song wich i care that i couldn't get into.