31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Unauthorized and Very Mediocre, August 18, 2004
This review is from: Genesis - Inside Genesis 1975-1980 (DVD)
This DVD is a BIG disappointment. I expected so much more especially since the time period reviewed (1975 - 1980) was a time of great musical transition and mass public appeal. The creators of this DVD obviously got no cooperation from anyone in the Genesis camp - hence the DVD's unauthorized status. Therefore, the creators had to rely on second rate people to interview for this documentary DVD. The concert and band interview footage is old and of low visual quality compared to the recent interviews with the no names. Hearing members of the band Mostly Autumn talk about how much they like Genesis is like hearing the guy down the block. Who cares? Mostly Autumn has a nice sound - they're heavily influenced by Genesis. They're almost like Genesis wannabees.
Someone should take on this project as an authorized DVD and feature David Hentschel, the band members, Tony Smith, Bill Bruford, Chester Thompson, Daryl Stuermer and get some credible rock critics involved. I would love to hear David Hentschel talk about the new sound he helped produce starting with Trick of the Tail.
A real Genesis fan will be disappointed with this DVD.
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12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
From Musicians' Perspectives, August 18, 2004
This review is from: Genesis - Inside Genesis 1975-1980 (DVD)
I've only viewed this once so far but I thought I'd get some reactions down for now and then come back later and update this after I've spent more time with it.
This is a similar idea to the DVDs called "Classic Albums" which are discussions of the music for a particular album done by the musicians that performed it. Similar, but not exact.
This set is a little like those in that it is a discussion of their music (from 1975 to 1980 only) at the level of chord progressions, unique ways in which the notes were assembled, etc. In contrast, however, this is NOT by the musicians that performed it. There is about 3 to 4 minutes of interview footage of Phil, Mike, and Tony in 1980 (which has never been released before) and we do get some short clips of them at a 1980 concert (the Duke tour, which has never been released before), but the rest of the hour is spent talking to critics, session musicians, and musicians who are fans of what the band did from 1976 to 1980. This covers the albums "Trick Of The Tail", "Wind & Wuthering", "Seconds Out", "...And Then There Were Three", and "Duke" ("Spot The Pigeon" is not mentioned).
Ok, once you understand what it is, this is not a bad thing to watch. I'm not a musician but I enjoyed and somewhat understood the discussions, at least I was never bored with it. And as a huge fan of the band, especially of the music from this time period, I found it fun to hear musicians praising the band. You do get the understanding that Genesis really was a unique writing entity.
There is a keyboard player who runs through (on his keyboard) a bunch of the highlights of the music including "Dance on a Volcano", "Eleventh Earl Of Mar", "Follow You Follow Me", and a few others. The guy playing is obviously a big fan of Banks' unique writing -- and so am I -- so this idea worked for me.
There are all kinds of disclaimers on the back of this DVD explaining that this is not sanctioned by Genesis, their record labels, etc. There's some talk around that this release is illegal and that the band has told them to "cease and desist", so, if you're the slight bit curious, you might want to grab this while it's available.
I'd like to see Genesis clean up the video of this 1980 concert and release it as a whole on DVD. There are precious few DVDs of Genesis in concert and none any earlier than 1986, so there is a need for it.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Beware, Unauthorized! That is unless you're a Mostly Autumm Fan?, March 7, 2007
This review is from: Genesis - Inside Genesis 1975-1980 (DVD)
Genesis critisized, mostly this DVD consists of the English prog band kissing up to them, its a little sickening. The Duke era actual Genesis inveriews are neat, but only take up about 10 minutes of the long painful hour shmooze fest.
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