Genesis

@ Wiki
Genesis are an English progressive rock band formed in 1967. With approximately 150 million albums sold worldwide, Genesis are one of the top 30 highest-selling recording artists of all time. Genesis has won the Grammy Award, and its members have included Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins, both of whom achieved success as solo artists.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Genesis evolved from a 1960s-style pop band, with moody, simple guitar-driven melodies, to a progressive art rock band, with complex song structures, elaborate instrumentation, and theatrical concerts —with twenty-three minute songs such as "Supper's Ready" and the 1974 concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway— to a more pop oriented sound. Genesis's change of musical direction to accessible music with melodic hooks gave them their first #1 album in the United Kingdom, Duke, and their only #1 single in the United States, "Invisible Touch".

Initially fronted by Peter Gabriel, Genesis has changed personnel several times. Collins (previously the band's drummer) became lead singer in 1975. In 1996, Collins was replaced by former Stiltskin singer Ray Wilson for the 1997 album Calling All Stations. Due to the commercial failure of the album, the band announced an indefinite hiatus. On 18 October 2006, the BBC announced that members of Genesis, including Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks, had agreed to reunite for a world tour and were exploring the possibility of recording new material.

The band's origin lies in the late 1960s, when founding members Peter Gabriel and Tony Banks were students at Charterhouse School. The original line-up consisted of Gabriel (vocals), Anthony Phillips (guitar), Banks (keyboards), Mike Rutherford (bass & guitar), and Chris Stewart (drums).

Genesis recorded their first album, 1969's From Genesis to Revelation, after being spotted and named by Jonathan King, an alumnus of their school and a songwriter and record producer who had a hit single at the time called "Everyone's Gone to the Moon". King supposedly named the band Genesis because they were the first serious band he had worked with —the genesis of his career. He later recalled "I named them Genesis because I thought it was a good name...it suggested the beginning of a new sound and a new feeling".

The album was released by Decca Records. During the sessions, drummer Stewart left the band and was replaced by John Silver. The band recorded a series of songs reflecting the light pop style of the Bee Gees, of whom King was very fond. King assembled the tracks as a concept album, and layered string arrangements into the arrangements during production. Genesis's first single, "The Silent Sun" (sample (help·info)), was released in February 1968. The album sold poorly, however, on advice from King, the band decided to make a career out of music. To this day, King claims responsibility for the band's subsequent success. It was he who introduced them to eventual label boss Tony Stratton Smith. King still holds the rights to the songs on the From Genesis to Revelation album, and has re-released the album many times, under a variety of names including In The Beginning, Where the Sour Turns To Sweet, Rock Roots: Genesis, ...And The Word Was, and most recently The Genesis of Genesis, in addition to the original title.

Genesis recruited a new drummer, John Mayhew, it is interesting to note that, during a show with the band Smile, Gabriel offered the job of drummer in the band to Roger Taylor (later of Queen fame),[6] and played occasional gigs before securing a new deal with Charisma Records.[7] The band built a following through live performances, and became known for hypnotic melodies that were often dark and haunting. Phillips left the band in 1970 following the release of Trespass, due mainly to ill health and stage fright.[8] The departure of Phillips traumatised both Banks and Rutherford, as Phillips had been a founding member and a primary force behind the band turning professional. There was doubt over whether Genesis could go on without him.[9]

Eventually, the remaining members renewed their commitment to Genesis, and decided to replace drummer John Mayhew. Trespass set the format for Genesis albums throughout the '70s. The album consisted of lengthy, sometimes operatic pieces, as well as occasional very short, humorous numbers that typified the style of such progressive rock acts as King Crimson, Yes, and Gentle Giant. Trespass includes elaborate arrangements and time signature changes —key elements in subsequent albums. A key factor in their songwriting was that they would not write pentatonically, as most bands of their time were doing. This was a conscious decision continued by the band for years to come. Trespass features the nine-minute "The Knife", which Gabriel —a believer in nonviolence having been influenced by a book on Mahatma Gandhi— wrote showing "how all violent revolutions inevitably end up with a dictator in power".[8]

Phil Collins joined Genesis on 4 August 1970, having impressed the other members with his drumming skills during an audition at Gabriel's parents' house. The band continued as a four-piece before playing shows with guitarist Mick Barnard. As the members felt Barnard was not up to their caliber of musicianship, they sought a more suitable replacement for Phillips.[9] Late in 1970, Steve Hackett, formerly of Quiet World, placed an advertisement for a band in Melody Maker. Hackett went to see Genesis in concert and enjoyed the type of music they were playing. The band liked the tone of the advertisement, and after a meeting at his parents' apartment, hired Hackett immediately. ->>>>>>>>>>>

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'And The Word Was ... GENESIS'

by John Tracy

Today Genesis are one of the biggest disc and box office drawers in the world. Despite a multitude of personnel changes, good times and bad times, they have assumed the mantle of superstars - members of that elite who truly justify the grandiose tag. One typical example of their latter day universal popularity being the remarkable million plus applications received for tickets to view one early Eighties tour itinerary; unfortunately, the applicants were chasing just 68,000 seats. But it wasn't always that way. Here we afford the opportunity to treasure forever a slice of musical history: the very first recordings produced by a Genesis line-up in the late Sixties...

It was the traditional Charterhouse Public School which brought together our protagonists. Originally a Carthusian monastery in London's Clerkenwell district, it was heavily bombed in 1940 and partially restored eleven years later. After 1611 it enjoyed the bizarre double existence of being used as a hospital for elderly men and acting as a school for fourty boys simultaneously. From this irregular beginning, it developed into one of England's premier educational establishments, moving to Godalming, Surrey, in 1872.

The five original members of Genesis all attended the institute, namely Michael Rutherford (born 2/10/1950; Bass, Gtr., Vocals); Anthony Phillips (Gtr., Vocals); Peter Gabriel (13/2/1950; Vocals, Flute); Tony Banks (27/3/1950; Keyboards, Vocals) and Chris Stewart (Drums). They rose from the ashes of two eariler school outfits: The Anon (Rutherford/Phillips), which also featured bassist Rivers Job (Rutherford handled Rhythm Gtr.), drummer Rob Tyrell and vocalist Richard MacPhail, who re-entered the picture in September '69 when he assumed the position of road manager for the band, and The Garden Wall, which accommodated the other three in a very loose set-up. Their only notable appearance being an end of term concert in which the trio were expanded by Job and Phillips.

With the farewell school concert of December 1966 sounding the death-knell for The Anon, Genesis could have be said to have officially existed from January the following year, but Mike and Anthony originally set out to develop their songwriting, with a view to recording their efforts and hopefully obtaining a thumbs-up from a record company. Concurrently, Messrs. Gabriel and Banks were attempting a similar course of action.

The first demonstration tape of the two duo's scribbled efforts was commenced one Thursday, using a crude and tiny home-made studio belonging to a mutual friend. Initially, Rutherford and Phillips had requested Banks' keyboards talents for the session; in 1978 Tony explained to biographer Armando Gallo and researcher Pete Frame: "Basically, it was Mike and Ant recording their songs, and I was asked along to play keyboards. Peter arrived on the second day and we persuaded Ant, who had been doing the vocals, that Peter had a better voice - so after that, he did the singing." Six tracks, five Rutherford/Phillips outings: 'Try A Little Sadness', 'That's Me', 'Listen On 5', 'Don't Wash Your Back' and an instrumental, 'Patricia'. Additionally, the Gabriel/Banks partnership included their first ever collaboration 'She's Beautiful', later modified to become 'The Serpent'. =>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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Bruce Eder @ Allmusic
One of the most successful rock acts of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Genesis enjoyed a longevity exceeded only by the likes of the Rolling Stones and the Kinks, in the process providing a launching pad for the superstardom of members Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins. The group had its roots in the Garden Wall, a band founded by 15 year olds Peter Gabriel and Tony Banks in 1965 at Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey, where fellow students Michael Rutherford and Anthony Phillips were members of another group called Anon. The two groups initially merged out of expediency as the older members of each graduated; Gabriel, Banks, Rutherford, Phillips, and drummer Chris Stewart soon joined together as the New Anon, and recorded a six-song demo featuring songs primarily written by Rutherford and Phillips.

The Charterhouse connection worked in their favor when ex-student, recording artist, and producer Jonathan King heard the tape and arranged for the group to continue working in the studio, developing their sound. It was also King who renamed the band Genesis. In December of 1967 the group had its first formal recording sessions. Their debut single, "The Silent Sun," was released in February of 1968 without attracting much notice from the public. A second single, "A Winter's Tale," followed just about the time that Chris Stewart quit -- his replacement, John Silver, joined just in time to participate in the group's first LP sessions that summer. King later added orchestral accompaniment to the band's tracks, in order to make them sound even more like the Moody Blues, and the resulting album, entitled From Genesis to Revelation, was released in March of 1969.

Music seemed to be shaping up as a brief digression in the lives of the members as they graduated from Charterhouse that summer. The group felt strongly enough about their work, however, that they decided to try it as a professional band; it was around this time that Silver exited, replaced by John Mayhew. They got their first paying gig in September of 1969, and spent the next several months working out new material. Genesis soon became one of the first groups signed to the fledgling Charisma label, and they recorded their second album, Trespass, that spring. Following its completion, the unit went through major personnel changes as Phillips, who had developed crippling stage fright, was forced to leave the lineup in July of 1970, followed by Mayhew.

Enter Phil Collins, a onetime child actor turned drummer and former member of Hickory and Flaming Youth. The group's lineup was completed with the addition of guitarist Steve Hackett, a former member of Quiet World; his presence and that of Collins toughened up the group's sound, which became apparent immediately upon the release of their next album, Nursery Cryme. The theatrical attributes of Gabriel's singing fit in well with the group's live performances during this period as he began to make ever more extensive use of masks, makeup, and props in concert, telling framing stories in order to set up their increasingly complicated songs. When presented amid the group's very strong playing, this aspect of Gabriel's work turned Genesis' performances into multimedia events.

Foxtrot, issued in the fall of 1972, was the flash point in Genesis' history, and not just on commercial terms. The writing, especially on "Supper's Ready," was as sophisticated as anything in progressive rock, and the lyrics were complex, serious, and clever, a far cry from the usual overblown words attached to most prog rock. Genesis' live performances by now were practically legend, and in response to the demand, in August of 1973 Charisma released Genesis Live, an album assembled from shows in Leicester and Manchester originally taped for an American radio broadcast. 1973 also saw the release of Selling England by the Pound, the group's most sophisticated album to date.

The release of the ambitious double LP The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway in late 1974 marked the culmination of the group's early history; in May of 1975, following a show in France, Gabriel announced that he was leaving Genesis, owing to personal reasons. The group tried auditioning potential replacements, but it became clear that the remaining members all preferred that drummer Collins take over the role of lead singer. The band returned to the studio as an official quartet in October of 1975 to begin work on their new album: the resulting Trick of the Tail made number three in England and number 31 in America, the best chart showing up to that time for a Genesis album. Its success completely confounded critics and fans who'd been unable to conceive of Genesis without Peter Gabriel.

The group seemed to be on its way to bigger success than it ever had during Gabriel's tenure, as 1977's Wind and Wuthering became another smash. But then Hackett announced that he was leaving on the eve of the release of a new double live album, Seconds Out; he was replaced on the subsequent American and European tours by Daryl Steurmor, but there was no permanent replacement in the studio. In 1978, Genesis released And Then There Were Three, which abandoned any efforts at progressive rock in favor of a softer, much more accessible, and less ambitious pop sound. After a flurry of solo projects, the group reconvened for 1980's Duke, which became their first chart-topper in England while rising to number 11 in America.

The continued changes in their sound helped turn Genesis into an arena-scale act: Abacab, released in late 1981, was another smash, and 1983's self-titled Genesis furthered the group's record of British chart-toppers and American Top Ten hits, becoming their second million-selling U.S. album while also yielding their first American Top Ten single, "That's All." Two years later, the group outdid themselves with the release of their most commercially successful album to date, Invisible Touch, which went platinum several times over in America. Its release coincided with the biggest tour in their history, a string of sold-out arena shows that cast the group in the same league as concert stalwarts like the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead. Their 1991 album We Can't Dance debuted at number one in England and got to number four in America; it was Collins' last album with the group, and with new vocalist Ray Wilson, formerly of the group Stiltskin, Genesis resurfaced in 1997 with Calling All Stations, which recalled their art rock roots. Neither the critics nor the fans warmed to the album -- it sold poorly and the tour was equally unsuccessful. Coming on the heels of the disappointing Calling All Stations, the long-awaited box-set retrospective Genesis Archives, Vol. 1: 1967-1975 was even more welcome. Containing nothing but unreleased material and rarities from previously unavailable on CD, the set was released to surprisingly strong reviews in the summer of 1998. A second volume, containing unreleased material from the Phil Collins era, Genesis Archives, Vol. 2: 1976-1992, followed in 2000. ->>>>>>>>>>>>

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J.D. Considine @ Rolling Stone
Like Rodney Dangerfield, Genesis has had a hard time getting respect. In the early '70s, when the group specialized in ambitious, theatrical story-songs, it attracted an avid cult following but was largely ignored by the rock press and public at large. Later in the decade, lead singer Peter Gabriel was finally recognized as a major talent -- but only after he'd left the band, who were at this point being derided as middlebrow throwbacks still in thrall to the pomposities of art rock. Even in the early '80s, when Genesis did finally shed its art-rock inclinations and move toward pop, becoming international stars in the process, the press was unimpressed, dismissing the group as easy-listening lightweights. By the '90s, even the solo success of members Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford was being held against the group, by then one of the best-known rock acts in the world.

All of which, to be honest, has been grossly unfair to the group. Granted, Genesis has made its share of mediocre albums -- perhaps even more than its share, considering how long the band has been around. But bad albums? None to speak of.

In fact, the worst that can be said of the group's early albums is that they sound dated, almost quaint. From Genesis to Revelation seems laughably "mod" at points -- for instance, the jazzy, bongo-spiked intro to "The Serpent" -- but that hardly takes away from the genuinely tuneful quality of the songs. Genesis was hardly a band when this was recorded, however, and it isn't until Trespass that we get any real sense of what this band has to offer. Unfortunately, it's something of a mixed bag. At their best, the lyrics are grippingly mythic, but too often Gabriel's wordplay loses its way in a forest of puns and self-conscious allusions; likewise the music, although often potently melodic and making nice of use of Tony Banks' semi orchestral approach to keyboards, is frequently sidetracked by too-busy arrangements and needlessly ornate embellishments.

That was pretty much the pattern for the band's early albums, though. Nursery Cryme, for instance, offers Grimm play with Mother Goose tales in the 10-minute "Musical Box," while Foxtrot concludes with the marathon "Supper's Ready," an ambitious, inscrutable 23-minute suite built around such titles as "Apocalypse in 9/8 (co-starring the delicious talents of Gabble Ratchet)." Stilted as this stuff sometimes sounded in the studio, it did have an edge in concert; indeed, the performances on Genesis Live are enough to make even the most skeptical listener reconsider the value of "The Return of the Giant Hogweed." But "edge" wasn't really what this band was looking for, and so Selling England by the Pound continues Genesis' journey into the conceptual, flanking blissfully melodic material such as "I Know What I Like (in Your Wardrobe)" with the self-consciously clever "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight" and its ilk. No wonder, then, that the group's masterpiece move -- an intensely abstruse double album entitled The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway -- is both brilliant and overblown, with moments of genuine majesty and long stretches of pointless obscurantism.

Gabriel left at this point, and Genesis auditioned hundreds of singers before finally deciding on Collins, who had been drumming with the group since Trespass (and who, in fact, had already sung lead on "More Fool Me," from Selling En gland). It was a canny choice, for Collins, though obviously possessing a voice of his own, sounded enough like Gabriel to ensure a smooth transition for the band. Even so, it isn't Collins' voice that makes A Trick of the Tail a turning point for the band -- it's the writing. Instead of showcasing the band's cleverness, this album puts the emphasis on the music, unveiling an unexpected gift for close-harmony singing in "Entangled." Wind and Wuthering expands the band's musical palette still further; typical is the droll clockwork effect that crops up during an instrumental segment of "One for the Vine." More telling, though, is the ballad "Your Own Special Way," a gorgeously lilting love song that seems a harbinger of the band's pop-friendly future.

Indeed, after Seconds Out -- a concert double album apparently intended to prove that Collins and company could handle the band's back catalogue -- the band made a genuine pop breakthrough with . . . And Then There Were Three. With guitarist Steve Hackett gone, Genesis' studio lineup is reduced to just Collins, Banks, and Rutherford, and while that doesn't noticeably affect the band's instrumental mix, it does hone the playing so that there's less empty flash and wasted energy. At this point, the songs are the focus, and while that doesn't prevent the band from showing off any (note the odd-metered rhythms of "Down and Out"), it does add power to character songs such as "Say It's Alright Joe" and gave the band its first U.S. pop success, through the winsome, upbeat "Follow You, Follow Me." Duke and ABACAB further enhance the group's pop reputation -- the former through "Misunderstanding," a simple, poignant broken-heart song that brings Collins to the fore as a writer, and the latter through "No Reply at All," a surprisingly complex composition that leaves the band plenty of playing room yet maintains strong melodic content. Unfortunately, these pop-oriented efforts are followed by Three Sides Live, a double album that's mostly live and totally tedious.

It hardly mattered, though, for by this point the band's superstar status had been established beyond the shadow of a doubt, and both Genesis and Invisi-ble Touch merely seemed to confirm its popularity. And not without reason, either, as both are sublimely melodic, producing hits as effortless and idiosyncratic as "That's All" (from Genesis) and "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" (from Invisible Touch). But We Can't Dance, despite its strong pop inclinations, finds the band trying to reclaim some of its old turf, a move that works surprisingly well, thanks to tuneful-but-extended numbers such as "Driving the Last Spike" and "Fading Lights."

Collins left Genesis after the We Can't Dance tour, and Genesis stalled for time by releasing two live albums -- one of "short" pop hits, the other of "long" art-rock chestnuts -- before finally deciding to move on without him. Scots singer Ray Wilson, formerly of the little-known prog-rock band Stiltskin, was drafted by Banks and Rutherford to take Collins' place. Had he come in after Foxtrot, Wilson would have made for a smooth transition, but given the pop expectations engendered by Collins' tenure, his succession was deemed a failure, and Genesis slipped quietly into oblivion. Not that interest in the band evaporated, and Genesis Archives, Vol. 1 offered an olive branch to older fans by bringing back both Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett to recut tracks from rare live recordings. Vol. 2 also relied mainly on live recordings, but without the advantage of reworked performances, it held only marginal interest. ->>>>>>>>>

From the 2004 The New Rolling Stone Album Guide

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Genesis Go "Platinum" Pop mega-group surveys thirty-year career, plans online bootleg series Andy Greene @ Rolling Stone Genesis sold 21.5 million albums in America during a thirty-year career, before quietly calling it quits in 1998, not long after frontman Phil Collins' departure. With the release of the new three-CD compilation, The Platinum Collection, Genesis trace their extensive journey from art rockers to hitmakers. The Platinum Collection moves backwards in time -- starting with the 1991 single "No Son of Mine" and ending with "The Knife," off of 1970's Trespass, the second album by the Peter Gabriel-fronted Genesis. "Originally, it went from beginning to end," says guitarist Mike Rutherford. "But, with the early albums' sound quality, it was a little tough for the listener. So we start with the better-sounding stuff and end with the earlier stuff." The band plans to dust off some early live recordings for release as a bootleg series, possibly through its Web site. "These are raw recordings, and I like that," Rutherford says. "If someone makes a mistake or messes up, it's just part of the evening." =>>>>>>>>>>>>> =============================== 'Genesis After Gabriel - How Will They Survive?' Mick Houghton @ Circus Magazine, 1976 Mike Rutherford: "There was no animosity in the split, but people couldn't resist translating the lyrics to 'Squonk' as being about bad feelings between us and Pete." "The vehicle we had built as a co-op to serve our songwriting became our master and had cooped us up inside the success we had wanted. It affected the spirit and attitudes of the whole band. The music had not dried up and I still respect the other musicians, but our roles had set in hard. For any band, transferring the heart from idealistic enthusiasm to professionalism is a difficult operation." With that splendidly high falutin' statement to the press, Peter Gabriel, lead singer and visual focal point of Genesis, packed up his trunk of costumes, masks and makeup and quietly retired to the countryside last year. The rest of the group went into similar bucolic retirement. Only drummer Phil Collins remained at large, filling his with sessions and organizing his free-blowing jazz outfit, Brand X. Meanwhile, he reapedly assured journalists that Genesis would continue without Peter. Now those assurances have been confirmed by the release of their eighth album, 'A Trick of the Tail' (on Atlantic). The band where never really that certain of the future, though, as keyboardsman Tony Banks and bassist/guitarist Mike Rutherford revealed recently to CIRCUS. After a few furtive glances to Tony following a request to rake over the ashes, Mike explained that Peter's departure last August came as no surprise. "Pete was actually going to leave the summer before 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' was completed, but we persuaded him to stay on. He decided finally last January so we had a whole six-month period on tour to get used to the idea. We thought about how we'd continue, but we were working so hard it was never uppermost in our minds. It was a gradual process so when it finally happened it was no dramatic shock." Tony took up the story: "At the end of the tour we took two months out to write and reassess the situation. Afterwords, we very nearly decided not to carry on. But once we started rehearsals, we realized that it was worth it. The music, even in that primitive form, was really nice." =>>>>>>>>>>>>> =============================== Steve Hackett "First of all I would like to congratulate Tony, Mike and Phil for flying the flag once again. Good luck to them and I really hope they have a very successful tour. I was originally approached to discuss the possibility of a five piece which would have included Peter Gabriel and yours truly but since Peter’s schedule precludes this it makes sense for the other three to celebrate the brand in their ‘own special way’ as it were ...." =>>>>>>>>>>>>> =============================== Rockers Genesis plan reunion tour Phil Collins Collins left the band in 1996 to pursue solo projects Rock veterans Genesis are to reform, 10 years after frontman Phil Collins left. Collins, 55, with guitarist Mike Rutherford, 56, and keyboardist Tony Banks, 56, have agreed to take part in a major tour. Genesis sold over 130 million albums during the '70s and '80s, despite losing singer Peter Gabriel in 1975. A spokesman said specific details of the tour and "long term plans" including possible new material would be announced in the next few weeks. The group was formed by Rutherford, Banks and Gabriel at Charterhouse public school in the 1960s. Collins joined as drummer in 1970 and initially the band enjoyed cult success. They only hit the commercial big time with hits like I Can't Dance, Mama and Invisible Touch after Gabriel left. Collins had already voiced interest in a reunion before he announced his spilt from Orianne, his wife of six years, in March. =>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Wednesday, 18 October 2006, 17:08 GMT 18:08 UK =============================== Gabriel passes on Genesis reunion Former Genesis singer Peter Gabriel says he will not be joining his bandmates for an upcoming reunion tour. Gabriel, 56, was a founding member of the band, singing with them until 1975, when he left to pursue a solo career. "There were conversations and I decided not to be a part of it," Gabriel told BBC News. His replacement, former drummer Phil Collins, has confirmed he will take part in the reunion tour, which was announced earlier this week. "I'm very happy for them," said Gabriel. "It's not that I've ruled it out, but I've got some new material that I'll be working on." A spokesman for Genesis said specific details of the tour and "long term plans" including possible new material would be announced in the next few weeks. Cult success Genesis sold over 130 million albums during the 1970s and '80s, scoring hits with albums such as Nursery Cryme, Selling England By The Pound and Invisible Touch. They started out as a progressive rock band, but took a more commercial direction when Collins took over the vocal duties. The 1980s saw them score a run of top 40 singles, including Mama, That's All and In Too Deep. Collins quit the group in 1996, and was replaced by former Stiltskin singer Ray Wilson. He recorded one album, 1997's Calling All Stations, with remaining members Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks before the band was put on indefinite hiatus. =>>>>>>>>>>>>> Thursday, 19 October 2006, 16:18 GMT 17:18 UK =============================== The Genesis Discography Covering the years: 1967-1996 - "The scattered pages of a book by the sea..." (free download - pdf / zip) Edited by Scott McMahan, compiled by a cast of thousands who volunteered information. =>>>>>>>>>>>>>