Just as a sidenote, yes, I know there's an existing Genesis thread here somewhere. But do you have any idea how hard it is to locate said thread on a forum called Arts and Faith? Needle, meet haystack.

At any rate, this one has me genuinely excited. Ah, memories. Dungeons and Dragons in the basement. Peter Gabriel in winged headgear. It doesn't get much better than that.

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GENESIS, IN THE BEGINNING

Rhino Concludes an Upgrade to the Group's CatalogWith the Third and Final Box Set of the Series That Will Cover the Critically Acclaimed Peter Gabriel Era

Contains 5 Studio Albums (1970-1975) Expanded with Bonus Audio and Video, Plus an Exclusive Disc of Rarities 7-CD/6-DVD Boxed

Set will be Available November 11 From Rhino

LOS ANGELES ‹ Since launching an upgrade of the entire Genesis catalog lastyear, the comprehensive series has followed Genesis' transformation fromprog-rock pioneers to stadium-filling power trio. With the finalinstallment, Rhino ends at the beginning with a set covering the band'searly years with lead singer, Peter Gabriel. GENESIS: 1970-1975 will beavailable November 11 from regular retail outlets and at www.rhino.com fora suggested list price of $139.98.

Produced by Banks, Collins, and Rutherford, GENESIS: 1970-1975 presentsfive of the band's studio albums as CD/DVD sets featuring new stereo mixesof the original albums on CD, along with a DVD that includes the originalalbum in 5.1 DTS (96/24) and Dolby Digital Surround Sound, plus bonusvideos and new interviews with band members filmed exclusively for these reissues. The set contains hours of previously unreleased video as well asphoto galleries featuring rare pictures and tour memorabilia.

One of the top-selling recording artists of all time, Genesis has sold morethan 150 million albums so far. This 7-CD/6-DVD set collects some of theband's most adventurous and ground-breaking albums, covering Peter Gabriel's tenure with the group.

GENESIS: 1970-1975 spotlights five albums: ­ TRESPASS, NURSERY CRYME, FOXTROT, SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND and THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY, plus EXTRAS 1970-1975, a newly assembled compilation only available withthis collection.

Featuring favorites like "The Knife" and "White Mountain," Genesis' second album, TRESPASS (1970), marked the beginning of a five-year journey that saw the band create ever-more daring albums of progressive rock. The album includes guitarist Anthony Phillips and drummer John Mayhew, who were replaced on the following album by Steve Hackett and Phil Collins respectively.

NURSERY CRYME (1971) opens with "The Musical Box," a beautiful 10-minute sprawl that captures the essence of the band's sophisticated musicality tweaked with freewheeling theatrics. Genesis' new lineup starts to define its unique voice on songs like "The Return Of The Giant Hogweed" and "The Fountain Of Salmacis."

The band returned the following year with FOXTROT (1972), a breakthrough album hailed by critics and embraced by fans, especially in England where it reached #12. Two tracks in particular, ­ "Watcher Of The Skies" and"Supper's Ready," ­ became live staples for years to come. Nearly filling the album's second half, "Supper's Ready" stands as an avant-garde showcase for each member's individual talents. DVD extras include: over 30 minutes of live video from 1972 of the band performing on Belgian television's Rock of the 70s and on stage at the Piper Club in Italy.

Genesis' popularity continued to grow with its fifth studio album, SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND (1973). These eight songs find the band's inventive storytelling and imaginative arrangements coming into sharper focus with "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" ­ Genesis' first hit single in the U.K. The album also introduced audiences to "The Cinema Show" and "Firth Of Fifth," songs that would become popular concert staples. DVD extras include: video from 1973 recorded during a performance on Italian television and on stage in Bataclan, France, over one and a half hours of live performance.

The band wasn't at a loss for inspiration for THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY (1974), a double album about a Puerto Rican hood searching for his brother. It was to be Gabriel's final release with Genesis. The band toured for the album, performing the entire 90-minute album along with an ambitious stage show complete with costume changes, theatrical lighting and pyrotechnics. The title track, "Carpet Crawlers" and "In The Cage" remain popular parts of the band's live show. The album will be presented with the Surround Sound mix. Additional bonus features will be included on a DVD, including a performance on the French television show Melody.

GENESIS concludes with EXTRAS 1970-1975, a disc of rarities offered exclusively as part of this boxed set. The compilation contains 10 tracks,including the 7" single "Happy The Man," a demo of "Going Out To Get You," and the b-side "Twilight Alehouse." A trio of songs ­ "Shepherd," "Pacidy" and "Let Us Now Make Love" ­ are taken from the BBC program Nightride. The disc also includes a VH1 Boxed Set Special on Genesis 1967-1975 and a performance from the Midnight Special. The final four songs on EXTRA TRACKS 1970-1975 ­ "Provocation,""Frustration," "Manipulation," and "Resignation" ­ are the legendary"Genesis Plays Jackson" tapes. The band recorded these songs in 1970 for a documentary about painter Mick Jackson. The documentary never happened and the songs were lost until now. Fans will notice how sections of this music evolved into other songs. "Frustration" is an early version of "Anyway" from The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, while "Manipulation" features themes heard later in "The Musical Box" from Nursery Cryme.

The Lamb Lies Down in Broadway. My favorite Genesis album, long out of print. Awesome.

Andy Whitman wrote:
: Just as a sidenote, yes, I know there's an existing Genesis thread here somewhere. But do you have any idea how hard it is to locate said thread on a forum called Arts and Faith? Needle, meet haystack.

You mean this thread? Found it easy. Just restrict your search to the 'Music' forum. It's even easier if you restrict your search to thread titles (assuming, of course, that whoever started the Genesis thread actually put "Genesis" in the title).

This will definitely be the best of the 3 boxed sets in terms of rarities. I'm hoping they find a way to incorporate Peter Gabriel into the DVD interview segments. Like the other two sets, this one boasts "new interviews conducted in 2007." The other two sets feature just Collins, Rutherford and Banks, and I'm guessing this one will do the same. But it would be cool if they would surprise us with some new insights from Gabriel, too.

I'm enjoying this one immensely. The remastering sounds great. The original albums stack up about the way I remembered them. Trespass is mediocre, Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot are good-to-great, and Selling England By The Pound and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway are the twin pinnacles of prog rock. The disc of previously unreleased rarities has a couple inconsequential tracks, and half a dozen absolute gems.

Of course, all this is predicated on the notion that ten-minute songs featuring odd time signatures and mellotron solos are worth your time and attention. Nostalgia is certainly a factor for me, but I also believe that Sigur Ros, Muse, and Mars Volta fans might find value in discovering where their contemporary heroes found their sound. And Peter Gabriel is Peter Gabriel, one of the most strikingly original and theatrical singers and songwriters in the history of rock music.

And speaking of theatrical ... the 3.5 hours of concert video footage is worth the price of admission by itself. I haven't gotten around to the other 3.5 video hours of the band, in 2007 Boring Old Fart mode, sitting around the old hearthstone and reminiscing about the grand, weird days. But the concert footage from the early '70s is spectacular. I particularly love the footage from The Midnight Special, an early '70s late-night musical revue hosted by uber-DJ Wolfman Jack. This is a show that regularly featured the likes of Helen Reddy and David Cassidy. Seeing Peter Gabriel on the program in full winged-headgear regalia, looking like a nightmare version of the Flying Nun, is priceless.

Believe it or not, I've never heard one Genesis album in my life. From the Gabriel era, that is. Heard one with Collins and co, I didn't like it.

(everybody had to know that. )

What do I miss? (alright , Andy - I've read your post above, and I think some ten minutes of mellotron solos may be worth my time - since I can enjoy old/odd-fashioned stuff)

Yeah, but even then you have the thread with all the key words in fluo or something, and you better have to find the right page with the help of the time of the latest post, and that's a pretty waste of time.

Hugues wrote:
: Yeah, but even then you have the thread with all the key words in fluo or something . . .

Eh? Key words, plural? Isn't "genesis" just one word?

: . . . and you better have to find the right page with the help of the time of the latest post, and that's a pretty waste of time.

I haven't a clue what you're talking about.

Peter Gabriel is well represented in the interview segments, as is Steve Hackett. I like this box set more and more, and think it has a shot at being one of the best box sets ever released, even though at this point I have only rough copies of the artwork, and CDs and DVDs labeled in magic marker. It isn't officially released until November, I believe. But the music, with the exception of Trespass, is stunning, and the video footage is mind-bogglingly great. The classic lineup -- Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, Steve Hackett, and Phil Collins (who is simply a monster drummer) -- combined true musical virtuosity, astounding creativity, and jaw-dropping visual theatrics. There's just a wealth of greatness here. It's such a pleasure to come back to this music and discover new facets of complexity and beauty I missed the first time around.

Depends.

What are we going to do about Gene, sis?
I don't know what all the fuss over genes is.

Sorry, my english is bad. I meant that to avoid the thread with the key word in fluo, once you know which is the date of the last post of the thread after you used the research button, you look for the thread through the pages of the forum refering to the date of the last post, which can take some time.

Hugues wrote:
: Sorry, my english is bad. I meant that to avoid the thread with the key word in fluo, once you know which is the date of the last post of the thread after you used the research button, you look for the thread through the pages of the forum refering to the date of the last post, which can take some time.

Sorry, I still don't know what you're talking about. Why would you have to look for the date of the last post? When you run a search, each of the threads in the resulting list is accompanied by a note saying when the last post in that thread was posted, and by whom. Click on "Last post by" and you go straight to the last post. Or, if you click on the thread title instead, you go straight to the first post.

The "fluo" is not there if you click on "Last post by". However, if you click on the thread title and go to the first post instead, and if the "fluo" really bothers you, then all you have to do, after you've opened the thread, is remove the "&hl=genesis" part of the URL at the top of the browser and hit "enter", and then the thread will reload without the "fluo".

Don't know if anybody's noticed, but these Genesis boys? They play good music.

Thanks for the help, Peter.

And Peter works for Gabriel, too. Hop, back to the topic!

My review for Paste ...

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Genesis 1970 - 1975

So this is it, the Mother of All Prog Box Sets, the one that will send the snarling punks scurrying to buy mellotrons and shimmering wizard robes. The bare details: 7 remastered CDs, 6 DVDs, and a book. Skipping the forgettable Genesis debut album From Genesis to Revelation, this box chronicles the Peter Gabriel years, and the Peter Gabriel albums: Trespass, Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound, and the 2-disc The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, and adds a seventh disc of previously unreleased rarities and outtakes. It presents five video hours of the band in 2007 Boring Old Fart Mode, sitting around the studio and chewing the fat about the grand, weird days. And it features more than three fabulous hours of concert footage from the early ‘70s, the days when Gabriel wore winged bat headgear, was frequently engulfed in a wart-covered amorphous blob costume, and could occasionally be found on stage with mixed fruit on his head. The fact that these comic and nightmare visions could be seen on The Midnight Special, an early ‘70s music revue that usually featured the likes of Helen Reddy and Tony Orlando and Dawn, is all the more delightful.

First, the bad news: Trespass still isn’t very good, and except for the rousing closing track “The Knife” continues to sound like an awkward, uncertain band in search of its identity. Furthermore, the 2007 Old Fart video footage is overkill, and will only appeal to the most obsessive completists who long to know the minutiae of the band’s recording history. The good news: Genesis became a very good band very quickly, and everything else in this set is as good as this genre ever gets.

Nursery Cryme (1971) and Foxtrot (1972) laid out the basic template: complex, multi-part musical suites driven by Tony Banks’ keyboards and Gabriel’s theatrical, impressionistic songwriting. Unlike contemporaries Yes and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, Genesis never really pursued a souped-up approach to classical music, and the prodigious instrumental technique was never an end in itself, but was always used in service to the songs. And the songs themselves were wondrous and weird; tales of childhood oppression, murder, ghostly apparitions, suicide, and, in the 23-minute “Supper’s Ready,” nothing less than the apocalypse and the end of life on Planet Earth. It’s not all grisly mayhem, though. There’s a peculiarly English (and sometimes merely peculiar) sense of whimsy that pervades these songs and that lightens the otherwise dystopian worldview. Gabriel presides over the madness, his evocative voice sounding ancient and craggy even while still in his twenties.

Selling England By The Pound (1973) and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (1974) are the twin pinnacles of the Prog Rock genre. The former is a sometimes pastoral, sometimes raging amalgam of offbeat humor and literary allusions, as quintessentially British as Monty Python, weird as hell and utterly captivating. The latter, a 2-disc set, is a supposed concept album with a concept so impenetrable that it’s best to forget the whole narrative line and simply concentrate on the wonders of the music. And the music is the best Genesis ever produced; slyly quoting The Drifters, of all people, on the title track, surging menacingly on “In the Cage,” floating as gently as a lullaby on “Carpet Crawlers,” and imploding on itself on the entire, nightmarish second disc. This is Genesis at the peak of its powers, and it’s no wonder that Gabriel left after this album. There was nowhere else to go.

That messy departure – the stuff of legend to Genesis fans – has been the source of unending debate for more than thirty years now. Genesis Mach II, with Phil Collins firmly at the controls, went on to record arguably better and inarguably more popular music during the late ‘70s through the ‘80s. Peter Gabriel went on to an equally impressive solo career. I’m content to call it a draw, and to admit that Gabriel made wildly inventive music, and that Collins created some of the best pop music of the era. But this box set is supremely impressive, and is among the best box sets ever released in terms of both the quality of the original material and the scope of the video and musical extras. For those who stubbornly cling to the belief that musical virtuosity is not a crime, and who still hold to the silly notion that guys with mellotrons and flutes can actually rock, Genesis 1970 – 1975 is an affirmation of all that was good and great about those silly wizard robes.

^^Utterly fantastic.

This box set has now been officially released, and in something of an unprecedented move, All Music Guide has awarded it 5 stars. AMG never awards 5 stars to a "new" release, and although this box should probably not be considered new, this particular configuration of existing albums, previously unreleased material, and previously unreleased videos is indeed arguably kinda new, and inarguably a treasure trove of greatness. Read Tom Erlewine's great review and discover, if you haven't already, why early Genesis was such a spectacular band. Watching Peter Gabriel's numerous costume changes on the 23-minute opus "Supper's Ready" is almost (but not quite) worth the steep price of admission.

Unfortunately, it's quite expensive.

For some. :-) But if you'd like it, Hugues, send your real-world address to whitmana (at) hotmail (dot) com and I'll send you my advance copy (no nice box, no booklet, no pretty packaging, but all the CDs and DVDs). I now have two copies.

"Genesis" is to "Jazz" as "Johnny Cash" is to "hip-hop." Regardless, the fine website All About Jazz has a superb and detailed look at this newly released Genesis box set, calling it "the best of the three Genesis studio boxes" of "the best reissues series ever undertaken." In spite of the possible hyperbole, I'm inclined to agree.

I have no idea if Borders will be carrying physical copies of the Genesis box, but if you're a member of the Borders Rewards program, they have a coupon for 40% off ALL CDs, including boxed sets, today and tomorrow ONLY (11/10 and 11/11). That would be a great way to score the Genesis set.