Customer Reviews

Genesis Live 1973-2007 (8 CD/3 DVD)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The Genesis box set releases continue! This time around, the band focuses on their live albums for this particular set, "Genesis Live 1973-2007". Four live albums: "Genesis Live," "Seconds Out," "Three Sides Live," and a re-sequenced "The Way We Walk," all remastered and remixed by Nick Davis, who worked on the band's previous box sets of studio albums. There is also an empty slot in the box to put in 2007's "Live Over Europe" (as the band wisely assumes that most diehard fans have already bought it), AND, as an added bonus, you get a CD and 5.1 DVD of the band's complete "Live At The Rainbow" concert from 1973! Also included is an excellent 52-page booklet, with insights from the band members, and wonderful photographs of the band taken from many years of live concerts. Overall, I'm very happy indeed with this live box set, but I still have to agree with other reviewers that "Live 1973-2007" still falls short of perfection. Let's briefly go through the live albums:

"Genesis Live"---the band's only proper live album with Peter Gabriel, recorded in 1973, sounds great, but it now includes 5 bonus tracks from the 1975 "Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" show in Los Angeles, and they're not even in the correct order---"Back In NYC," "Fly On A Windshield," "Broadway Melody Of 1974," "Anyway," and "The Chamber Of 32 Doors." On the one hand, yes of course it's great to hear some live "Lamb" material in this box set, but why not give us the *whole* "Lamb" concert? In fact, why didn't they just expand "Genesis Live" into a double album so it's now the complete 1973 show (and not just five songs), and throw in the entire L.A. "Lamb" show as a bonus? That, I think, would have been the much better way to go. (At least the whole L.A. "Lamb" concert---more or less---is available on the "Genesis Archives Vol. 1" box set).

"Seconds Out"---this classic Genesis live album, recorded in Paris in 1976 and '77 on the "Trick Of The Tail" and "Wind & Wuthering" tours, sounds amazing, and the slipcase packaging is excellent, but dammit, there are a couple of CD glitches: the second song on Disc One, "Carpet Crawlers," starts to play, only to restart itself before it plays properly (the very beginning of the song is mistakenly attached to the end of Track One, "Squonk"---the CD player then switches over to Track Two and restarts "Carpet Crawlers"). The exact same problem happens again with the second song on Disc Two, "Cinema Show," the beginning of which is mistakenly attached to the end of Track One, "Supper's Ready," so it too begins to play, and then restarts itself. Sure, we're still getting the complete performances of both songs, as neither of them are chopped up in any way, but it's still an annoyance. May as well keep your old CD copy of "Seconds Out" until the folks at the record label can fix the problem, and I hope they do.

"Three Sides Live"---mostly recorded in 1981 on the "Abacab" tour, as well as some concluding live material taken from the "Trick Of The Tail" and "Duke" tours, this re-issue replicates the UK release of the album, and, once again, the sound quality is excellent, but I do have one very minor quibble---I always liked the album's concluding touch of hearing Ethel Merman singing "There's No Business Like Show Business" over the PA system as the album fades out, after the band conclude "It/Watcher Of The Skies". Alas, Ethel has been removed, and that's a shame.

"The Way We Walk"---recorded on the "We Can't Dance" tour from 1992, this a GREAT revamping of this live album, as the original release cut the album in half: "Vol.1: The Shorts" was all the shorter hit songs, and "Vol. 2: The Longs" was the longer, more art-rock sounding stuff. This new version of "The Way We Walk" re-sequences the songs in the correct performance order, and combines them into the complete double album that "The Way We Walk" should've been the first time around. There's also some extended bits of inbetween-song dialogue from Phil Collins that wasn't heard before, which is really nice. I couldn't be happier with this new, improved version of "The Way We Walk".

The bonus set "Live At The Rainbow 1973"---*of course* I'm thrilled to have a complete live concert of Genesis with Peter at the microphone, and it sounds awesome, but there's a catch: the 5.1 DVD has the complete concert, but the accompanying CD omits "Watcher Of The Skies" and "The Musical Box," presumably for CD time limitations, and also because the band didn't want to give us *two* live versions of the same song (there's still the live versions of "Watcher" and "Musical Box" on the "Genesis Live" CD). It's understandable, but it still ticks me off that I can't play the *entire* concert in my car or on my home stereo system, just only on my DVD player. Also, the CD of the "Rainbow" concert also omits some of Peter and Phil's inbetween-song dialogue with the audience. Luckily, some of the Rainbow material was previously released on the "Genesis Archives Vol. 1" box set, including Peter and Phil's spoken-word stuff. The only way you can have the complete Rainbow concert on CD (sort of) is if you splice together the Rainbow material from *both* box sets, and throw on "Watcher Of The Skies" and "The Musical Box" from "Genesis Live" to fill in the gaps, and burn it onto a CDR for your own personal private pleasures. It's crazy, but I just might do it.

Insert your copy of "Live Over Europe" into the empty slot, and your Genesis live box set is complete!

So yes, I'm very happy with "Genesis Live: 1973-2007," even though it's not a perfect representation of these live albums. It's still great that the band decided to give the live albums a box set of their own, and I will treasure it. But guys, PLEASE fix those glitches on "Seconds Out," will ya? Thanks. Now, bring on "The Movie Box"....

Well, pre-order complaints can now fall by the wayside in favor of ACTUAL listening reports ....

This set is awesome, easily my favorite of the four Genesis box set re-releases. Athough they could have been more extensive, the extras on this set are nice, particularly if you had been hoping for the eventual release of the classic 1973 Rainbow Theater show. But extras are not the reason to buy this set, glorious sound quality is! All four of the major albums are transformed, with improvements being more significant with the older albums. Genesis Live, for example, has gone from muddy and over-processed, to a dynamic, crystal-clear record that captures the power and brilliance of the early days of the band. The 2-channel versions are very nice, but if you have the gear, the 5.1 channel alternatives are amazing. My only sore point with this set is that Three Sides Live is not offered here in surround.

There is an empty slot for Live Over Europe, as the view was that most fans would have recently bought it and should not be asked to so again since it had not been remixed or remastered.

This is a great set!

Let me inform you that maybe one of the best Genesis live CDs for many people, SECONDS OUT, unfortunately could have two big recording defects in this USA edition until all Boxes were replace. But now, Rhino Records began to send discs replacement as request for the people who have the GENESIS LIVE BOX with defects on both SECONDS OUT CDs. The defects are two glitches exactly at the begining of track N° 2 of each disc. So, if you have that problems, you only have to send an e-mail to Dr Rhino and they will ship you both discs replacement. I have a GENESIS LIVE BOX that came with that defects, so I wrote to Rhino and they finally responded sending me both replacements. Many thanks for everybody, don't worry and remember that life is too short to take it seriously!!!.

I have purchased all the preceeding Genesis boxes and I have been exceedingly happy with them. My stereo system is in the low to mid-range of ability. That said, I am happy with the remastering and remixing of those sets.

I am also thrilled with this set. In fact, I feel these discs, especially the oldest album (Live 1973) benefits the most sonically.

However, having been cleaned up I am a bit surprised at how sloppy that first live album is, at least as far as Rutherford's bass work and, to a lesser degree, Hackett's guitar. The cleaning has shed a light that had been covered for a while. While this is normal for the time period, where edits on to live recording were not done, it is refreshing, as it gives it a sense of immmediacy. I applaud them for retaining the bum notes.

All the rest of the CDs are in pristine shape, with great instrument seperation. I've only listened to a handful of the 5.1s (that's on the family system and they aren't as into this music as I am) but I have listened to all of the stereo remasters. Of all the boxes I feel that this one was done the best as far as the remastering.

As another reviewer noted, though, there are two major glitches from edits on the Seconds Out CDs. It is annoying and it was avoidable. I hope Rhino fixes this glitch.

Some complain that there is no video here or 5.1 of Three Sides or a Mama's tour included, and the other live material released (b-sides of singles, 12" singles, etc.). These are legitamate gripes, but we need to concentrate on what we have. Most of the best live video is on the DVD disc's of the other sets or is set to be released in the Genesis Movie Box Set which will contain the official released videos redone in 5.1 sound.

As far as this one goes, the remastering and remixing are excellent, the material is excellent, but the glitches, to me, knock it down a star. Four stars. Recommended.

It was good to put a lot of this material together into one box, but I was hoping for more extras. For example, some more of the much-shunned Calling All Stations 1997 tour. Surely there are some soundboard quality performances out there of this material.

However, it was good to get the "The Way We Walk" Volumes 1 & 2 on CD (finally). If you wanted to upgrade some of your Genesis CDs then this is for you, but if you are hoping for some serious bonus tracks like the other boxed sets, you will be disappointed.

Let's get this out of the way- yes, the bonus materials (interviews, etc) are non-existent. Given the amount of stuff we got with the previous box sets and the price point we should have gotten more instead of being "forced" to get the video box set. It also would have been nice to have gotten something, anything, from the short-lived Calling All Stations tour.

That said, What we do have is another excellent re-mixing and remastering job by Nick Davis, who's obviously taken a great deal of care over the past couple years to make the entire catalog shine. The bonus live show from the Selling England By The Pound era is especially good and almost makes up for the lack of other bonus material. The only thing taking away from the disc is it sounds like Peter Gabriel re-recorded some vocals like on the Archive Volume 1 set. There's a big difference in his voice between then and now and it's noticeable enough to take you out of the moment.

Bottom line- not a must buy for everyone but essential for fans.

I have been wanting this set for awhile. However after reading the reviews about the glitches on Seconds Out, I have been holding off on getting it. However, this was given to me as a birthday present and Seconds Out which is my favourite live Genesis album was the first CD I put in. And not only it sounded great, there were no glitches whatsoever!! So I guess Rhino had FINALLY got the problem fixed and I lucked out!! The only bummer I have to point out is that there are no interviews with the band about the albums on this set like on the other ones which was why I only gave it four stars instead of five!! Other than that, they did an excellent job on the remixing like on the other sets!! If you are a true Genesis fan like myself, and want to finish off your box set collection, this is a must have!!

Overall I must say that the Genesis Boxsets have been amazing. I myself own 1970 - 1975 and 1976 - 1982. After purchasing a surround system I have been buying up anything I can that has been mixed in surround so these were logical purchases. To my surprise I loved the bonus material on each DVD as much as I did the music from the albums themselves.

So let me cut to the chase here. I think they DTS versions of the live material were amazing. They actually exceeded my expectations. You really feel as though you are sitting there and you are listenting to Genesis live. The bonus disc sound really surprised me. I never figured anything that had been sitting in a vault for so long could have sounded so great and the setlist was fantastic too. Makes you wonder why this was not previously released. It would have been nice to obviously have Three Sides Live and The Way We Walk in DTS too but luckily for me my interest in the band kind of waned a little after Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett left. Even the glitch on Seconds Out Live did not really bother because I could barely notice it. Now keep in mind I never heard any other version of the album so I am not an expert on this glitch.

Now here is the bad part. I have been watching the official Genesis website for any news of this release when I heard it was coming out. I did read that there would be over 6 hours of bonus material and since I loved all the other bonus material I have seen from the other sets I was very excited about it. I was also looking forward to the interviews with all of the band members to get a different perspective on the music and learn some new info as I did with the other sets. Much to my surprise there was nothing but the music on the DVDs and then I later see that they are releasing a movie boxset of their concerts. It would have been nice to incorporate the concerts in as bonus material but money needs to be made so I am just dreaming here. One could only wish.

In the end would I recommend buying this boxset with what I know now? Yes because the music itself is great and the sound is amazing. If you are a completist then this is a must have. However if you are not exactly sure about it I might recommend holding off for the time being or watch for deals.

Other reviewers have already gone over intricate details of this box set, so I will spare you a lengthy review. I was mainly interested in the Seonds Out remix. The other albums sound ok; not much improvement over the previous mixes. Now on to Seconds Out:

This remix sounds almost like a completely different album! The vocals and drums have been greatly enhanced, but the keyboards have been diminished in some places. When I listened to this version of Squonk, I was blown away! I always thought Seconds Out had sounded like the most studio of any live album I ever heard. This mix gives more of a live feel to the album. The ARP pro soloist synth sounds more like it should (i.e. a little more raw). I did not encounter the track problems that other people had. Perhaps they fixed them; I wouldn't know since I ripped them to my ipod at 320 mps AAC. I will still keep my old versions because they have their charm too.

Unless you're a die-hard Genesis fan, I would not recommend paying this high price for this box set.

This Box Set is a wonderful edition to the others. It has no "video" but i do believe that Seconds Outs makes up for all of that. All in all this is a great buy for the true fans, it really allows you to hear Genesis at there best! When they're LIVE!!!