Supper's Ready

[madbear]

The full Rainbow show from the Selling England tour, which was recorded then not released officially, is also excellent.

[Ash Armstrong]

The album was recorded at two shows (Manchester and Leicester) during the Foxtrot tour, so it wasn't as if they had a stash of live recordings to choose from.

According to the setlist from both nights, the only track cut from the LP was Supper's Ready. They didn't play two hour shows at the time. The setlist was: Watcher-Musical Box-Get'em Out-Supper-Hogweed and The Knife.

So if you have a recording of the "test pressing" that can be found on the net, you have the full show.

As for "Stagnation", "Fountain of Salmacis" and "Can-Utily": Stagnation and Fountain were dropped quite early on. According to comments found in my book "Genesis: The Peter Gabriel Years", "Fountain" didn't go down well with audiences. As for "Can-Utility", it seems like they were never happy with the live version.

Hogweed was from Manchester, the rest from DMH.
Genesis Live was my introduction to them back in 73. A friend bought it and I recorded it into my father's reel-to-reel tape recorder and played it constantly. In mono. Bought the single of I Know What I Like on release, followed by Selling England.
Several times I've seen Hackett here in Leicester, he usually mentions Genesis Live being recorded here.

[michelforest]

Yes. Agreed. All the Genesis material comes across better live IMO. Especially the Peter Genesis.

My favorite Genesis live album is "Live at the Rainbow 1973" included on the live boxset. Genesis at its peak during the Gabriel years.

[michelforest]

Indeed, the live versions of Foxtrot/Nursery Cryme material is better than the studio versions. Genesis Live could have been double live set but the band didn't even really want to release a live album that early on because they didn't want two albums in a row with most of Foxtrot again. But they did release it as a single disc to counter bootlegs. It's a powerful live album and the material like Musical Box and Watcher Of The Skies comes off much better live, even if the sound quality is a bit unpolished and organic. But that's part of its charm.

Supper's Ready would have been on side three I assume, had it been released as a double. Not sure what would be on the last side or what would have been added to make a reshuffled double album - maybe Stagnation and Twilight Alehouse, possibly Can Utility. I believe they played it a little back then. Fountain Of Salmacis maybe?

Foxtrot material always came out better live.

The album was recorded at two shows (Manchester and Leicester) during the Foxtrot tour, so it wasn't as if they had a stash of live recordings to choose from.

According to the setlist from both nights, the only track cut from the LP was Supper's Ready. They didn't play two hour shows at the time. The setlist was: Watcher-Musical Box-Get'em Out-Supper-Hogweed and The Knife.

So if you have a recording of the "test pressing" that can be found on the net, you have the full show.

As for "Stagnation", "Fountain of Salmacis" and "Can-Utily": Stagnation and Fountain were dropped quite early on. According to comments found in my book "Genesis: The Peter Gabriel Years", "Fountain" didn't go down well with audiences. As for "Can-Utility", it seems like they were never happy with the live version.

[alex peters]

Indeed, the live versions of Foxtrot/Nursery Cryme material is better than the studio versions. Genesis Live could have been double live set but the band didn't even really want to release a live album that early on because they didn't want two albums in a row with most of Foxtrot again. But they did release it as a single disc to counter bootlegs. It's a powerful live album and the material like Musical Box and Watcher Of The Skies comes off much better live, even if the sound quality is a bit unpolished and organic. But that's part of its charm.

Supper's Ready would have been on side three I assume, had it been released as a double. Not sure what would be on the last side or what would have been added to make a reshuffled double album - maybe Stagnation and Twilight Alehouse, possibly Can Utility. I believe they played it a little back then. Fountain Of Salmacis maybe?

Foxtrot material always came out better live.

I will add the Genesis Live IMO is 1 of the greatest live albums ever. And yes the sound quality being a bit unpolished brings out the charm in this masterpiece .

[alex peters]

Indeed, the live versions of Foxtrot/Nursery Cryme material is better than the studio versions. Genesis Live could have been double live set but the band didn't even really want to release a live album that early on because they didn't want two albums in a row with most of Foxtrot again. But they did release it as a single disc to counter bootlegs. It's a powerful live album and the material like Musical Box and Watcher Of The Skies comes off much better live, even if the sound quality is a bit unpolished and organic. But that's part of its charm.

Supper's Ready would have been on side three I assume, had it been released as a double. Not sure what would be on the last side or what would have been added to make a reshuffled double album - maybe Stagnation and Twilight Alehouse, possibly Can Utility. I believe they played it a little back then. Fountain Of Salmacis maybe?

Foxtrot material always came out better live.

Yes. Agreed. All the Genesis material comes across better live IMO. Especially the Peter Genesis.

[Soundwaveseeker]

The Genesis Live album is a classic. For me the Musical Box is a cut above Suppers

Indeed, the live versions of Foxtrot/Nursery Cryme material is better than the studio versions. Genesis Live could have been double live set but the band didn't even really want to release a live album that early on because they didn't want two albums in a row with most of Foxtrot again. But they did release it as a single disc to counter bootlegs. It's a powerful live album and the material like Musical Box and Watcher Of The Skies comes off much better live, even if the sound quality is a bit unpolished and organic. But that's part of its charm.

Supper's Ready would have been on side three I assume, had it been released as a double. Not sure what would be on the last side or what would have been added to make a reshuffled double album - maybe Stagnation and Twilight Alehouse, possibly Can Utility. I believe they played it a little back then. Fountain Of Salmacis maybe?

Foxtrot material always came out better live.

[alex peters]

The Genesis Live album is a classic. For me the Musical Box is a cut above Suppers

[Oldie on the Goldie]

Interesting discussion. I was born decades before the 70s but my first Genesis album was Duke. I liked it a lot so I bought Abacab when it came out, but soon regretted it. From then on I could not escape Collins' scratchy voice singing pop Genesis tunes on the radio. I only got into 70s Genesis later. I consider SEBTP their best album, with Gabriel, but also like W&W and TOTT (and Duke) with Collins. So my preferences do not reflect the music I listened to as a teenager.

[Olorin]

I think a lot of our preferences have got to do with which was the music around when we were growing up. I think research shows that mostly the music you listen to between 12-18 years of age is what determines your preference and what sticks with you the rest of your life.

I was born in 1973 and really started to be interested in music around 1984. I also heard a lot of 80s Genesis on the radio, but I wasn't really aware of any Genesis before the 80s. The first Genesis albums I owned were Invisible Touch, Genesis 1983 and We Can't Dance. Actually, while I loved Genesis and I loved So by Peter Gabriel, I had no clue untill the beginning of the 90s that Gabriel had been the lead singer of Genesis (no internet around in these days and Peter never played any Genesis material in concert then). It was through "the Old Medley" during the "We Can't Dance" tour I discovered that and I started working my way backwards through their discography.

I was born, well, quite a while before 1973 and first started getting interested in music in the late 1970s. The first Genesis album I ever heard was And Then There Were Three, and it holds a special place in my heart to this day. So yeah, the first music I got into is special, but really no more so than stuff I first get into much later...up through today.

Starting from And Then There Were Three, I worked my way forward as each new album came out, and when I heard the old medley on Three Sides Live, I started going backward. I think I knew, though, fairly early on, that Gabriel had been the original vocalist.

I've never done a full ranking of Genesis albums, let alone favorite songs, but I can say that I think the very best Genesis album is Selling England By The Pound. I like both Gabriel and Collins as lead vocalist. I think Gabriel's best performances as Genesis vocalist occur on Trespass, Selling England, and The Lamb. Those are the ones where I think he makes the most effective use of his unique vocal qualities. For Collins, I'd say Wind and Wuthering, And Then There Were Three, and maybe Duke. As Collins gained in confidence in his role as frontman, he also gained in cockiness and screaminess, and I think the quality of his vocals suffered.

[RelayerI]

I love it, I think it's wonderful, but....yeah, the two bands are so different to me that I don't know if I'd want to compare like that.

This.

[Mr. Holland]

Firth of Fifth and Cinema Show are my two favorite Genesis tracks. Sorry but I can't see Home by the Sea and Domino as even remotely comparable. Maybe its the 80s Genesis pop-flavored style that puts me off, but also I am biased because I simply could not escape hearing those songs in the 80s, even though I never owned the albums.

I think a lot of our preferences have got to do with which was the music around when we were growing up. I think research shows that mostly the music you listen to between 12-18 years of age is what determines your preference and what sticks with you the rest of your life.

I was born in 1973 and really started to be interested in music around 1984. I also heard a lot of 80s Genesis on the radio, but I wasn't really aware of any Genesis before the 80s. The first Genesis albums I owned were Invisible Touch, Genesis 1983 and We Can't Dance. Actually, while I loved Genesis and I loved So by Peter Gabriel, I had no clue untill the beginning of the 90s that Gabriel had been the lead singer of Genesis (no internet around in these days and Peter never played any Genesis material in concert then). It was through "the Old Medley" during the "We Can't Dance" tour I discovered that and I started working my way backwards through their discography.

I think the way you come into a band and in which order you learn their catalogue makes a big difference in ones preference. So I can imagine if you grew up with Genesis during the 70s and learned everything in order of release ones preference differs greatly from when you worked your way backwards through the catalogue.

While I now love 70s Genesis, 80s Genesis is still very much on par with that. My favourite period is probably Trick of the Tail through Duke. And while I also love Gabriel era stuff, when there's a live version of a Gabriel era song with Collins on vocals in almost every instance I prefer that over the original, probably because to me the voice of Collins is inprinted in me as the voice of Genesis.

So my favourite tracks are a diverse bunch from all over their career:

20. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight
19. Supper's Ready
18. The Carpet Crawlers
17. Turn it on Again
16. Entangled
15. One for the Vine
14. The Cinema Show
13. The Musical Box
12. Domino
11. Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea
10. Duke's Travels/Duke's End
09. Land of Confusion
08. Mama
07. No Son of Mine
06. In the Cage
05. Los Endos
04. Blood on the Rooftops
03. Dancing With the Moonlit Knight
02. Firth of Fifth
01. Dance on a Volcano

And my ranking of Genesis albums shows the same diversity:

01) Trick of the Tail
02) Wind and Wuthering
03) Duke
04) Selling England by the Pound
05) Invisible Touch
06) Foxtrot
07) Abacab
08) Genesis (1983)
09) Nursery Cryme
10) We Can't Dance
11) Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
12)...and Then There Were Three
13) Tresspass
14) Calling All Stations
15) From Genesis to Revelation

[Oldie on the Goldie]

Firth of Fifth and Cinema Show are my two favorite Genesis tracks. Sorry but I can't see Home by the Sea and Domino as even remotely comparable. Maybe its the 80s Genesis pop-flavored style that puts me off, but also I am biased because I simply could not escape hearing those songs in the 80s, even though I never owned the albums.

[Mr. Holland]

.....and of course, Home by the Sea doesn't even remotely compare to the masterpiece that is TEAKBOIS.

😂😂😂

[Yorkshire Square]

Home By The Sea is in the same bracket as something like Firth Of Fifth, Cinema Shoe etc. , just 'toughened up' and with a more 'accessible' melody and more modern (for the time) keyboards. It's got a long tricky instrumental section and a sense of resolve with the reprise of the main theme at the end (Second Home By The Sea). Home By The Sea does have the classic Genesis elements, just with an 80's makeover. I know it's a bit tricky sometimes, often fans of earlier work will hear the outer shell of the song but might not dig deeper to see if the old sound/approach/spirit is still intact. Often it is. The outer shell can often turn away potential enjoyment of a song from later in a band's career. Home By The Sea is like a classic Genesis track, Domino a little less so but still with recurring themes and instrumental atmospheres mixed in.

I have heard the first half (the catchy half) over the speaker system at a grocery store or a Wal Mart and it sounded like they were going to play all ten minutes of it but then it was abruptly faded out - it was like someone said "NO! take it off quick before they get to the proggy instrumental section!!" Didn't wanna scare any customers with any scary good Tony Banks bits n' chords I guess.

Indeed!

I used to own a couple of convenience stores and I used to "treat" my customers to all sorts of weird and wonderful tracks. Nothing like a bit of Van der Graaf Generator to serenade the old ladies on pension day... 😉