ARCHIVE #2 1976-1992

The second Archive box set released by Genesis covers the Phil Collins era of the group. As you can imagine, it's a mixed bag of stuff; some of it great, some of it just plain awful. The best stuff of the whole collections is the second disc containing unreleased live material. Of particular note are Duke's Travels, Burning Rope, and Ripples. The first and third discs are mainly unreleased material, although some of the tracks were previously available on Three Sides Live and the Spot the Pigeon EP. In many ways, this is basically what a fan would expect in a box set which is also why it isn't always necessarily a wise purchase unless you are a die-hard fan. Much of the unreleased material is forgettable (like the awful 12-inch single version of Invisible Touch). Some of it is slightly interesting. For collectors and die-hard fans only. Two stars.