Customer Reviews

From Genesis to Revelation

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

 

 

From Genesis To Revelation is often regarded as a joke, a throwaway, accidentally stuffed in the religious bins at record stores. I don't know why because from the beginning, Peter Gabriel's voice grabs you and the songs are very tuneful, most notably The Silent Sun, which is one of Genesis' best two or three songs of all time - it's beyond me why this wasn't a HUGE hit. You probably will not be used to the sound of this album - many of the songs are acoustical, had a lot of backup strings, and Phil Collins' drumming was still 4 years away. But you will be hooked after one listen, especially on Where The Sour Turns To Sweet, One Day, A Winter's Tale, Am I Very Wrong, and One Eyed Hound. Enjoy the beginning of a great musical career.

It took years for Genesis to get noticed and go on to become one of the world's most successful bands. This album is so early that reisues of it have been called _In the Beginning_. The line-up on this first album of theirs included Tony Banks (piano), and Michael Rutherford (guitar, bass), who are the only two musicians to appear on every Genesis album. Peter Gabriel was there on lead voice. The lead guitarist on the first two albums was Anthony "Ant" Phillips. I believe that the drumming on some of the tracks of this first album was done by Chris Stewart, John Silver on other tracks. Steve Hacket and Phil Collins would not appear on a Genesis record until a couple of albums later. At the time Genesis was being managed and produced by Jonathan King. He encouraged them to stick with shorter, more radio-friendly-type singles. They were already interested in writing the sort of longer, more ambitious kinds of songs that would start to appear on their subsequent albums, but King was discouraging some of this sort of song-writing at the time. King's favorite band at the time were the Bee Gees, so Tony and Pete wrote "The Silent Sun" to please him. It's a pretty love ballad which really does sound like an early Bee Gees song, and Pete manages to sing on it much as would Robin Gibb. Even still, the album is put together in such a way that many of the short songs are strung together to make a sort of art-rock concept album (inspired by the Bible!). King had an orchestra add their accompaniment to the quintet's tracks, and though the band didn't like the way it was mixed, I think it still sounds pretty good, especially when you consider that it was their first album and that they were barely out of high school at the time. Much of the album is a sort of soft, folky rock music, almost Easy Listening, but without the derogotory conotations. "In the Beginning" is a song with a slightly harder edge; I like Ant's late 60s-sounding, psychedelic electric guitar on that one -- it goes well with Pete's voice and the drums. At one point between two of the original songs, Tony interpolates a few bars from the second movement of Beethoven's _Patetique_ Sonata. "Am I Very Wrong" might be my favorite track on the album. Pete sings a haunting minor-key melody to the accompaniment of Tony's grand piano and Mike and Ant's accoustic guitars. "Am I Very Wrong" also features the group singing good vocal harmonies in certain sections. On their earlier albums, Genesis sounded like they were developing into as much of a vocal harmony band as they were into a great instrumental band; it's a shame that they did not pursue and develop the vocal harmony thing more than they did. If your not already heavily into Genesis, I would recommend that you start with one of their subsequent albums like _Trespass_ or _Nursery Crime_ or _Selling England by the Pound_ or something like that, but if you already have all those albums and are wondering what they sounded like when their recording carreer started, they I definitely recommend this album.

The imagery of these songs is wonderful and so beautiful.Not many people have heard this album - it's hidden away in most shops.But once heard,many love it.

I once worked in a mountain lodge in Norway one summer and met a load of crazy people from Denmark.I ended up giving one friend my only copy of the album - she must have meant a lot to me!

If this album had been done in the mid 70's it may have been a monster hit.But it's poor production qualities never helped.

My second favourite album after Wind & Wuthering.

Originally assembled as a songwriting project in 1968, producer Jonathan King decided the assembled musicians on the demo he was dealing with should be released as its own work. Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, and Anthony Phillips, with drummer Chris Stewart, comprised the original personnel of the band later known as Genesis. After a couple of singles were released, Stewart was replaced with John Silver, and the result is the record known as "From Genesis To Revelation." It's too bad the record was so poorly received, selling less than 700 copies in the U.K., but this was largely due to poor marketing. A lot of bands would have folded at this point, but they pressed on, thankfully.

"From Genesis To Revelation" is known to be Bee Gees-influenced, but I don't even think they were around at this point. I'm not really sure, they could be. Actually, it sounds more like the newly regrouped Moody Blues. The addition of Justin Heyward in Denny Laine's newly vacated spot radically changed the sound of the Moody Blues, and the new band called Genesis actually sounds like the early Moody Blues. Of course, this is subjective, but the similarities are there.

The reissue adds some material from the time, but the original LP is here, intact, for all to appreciate. The material is strikingly different from what followed, and it stands alone as the only Genesis album to do what this one does. If you expect to hear the pop oriented material of the Phil Collins era, or the grandiose, drawn-out meisterworks of the 1970's you will be let down. But not for long, if you realize this was what the musicians involved were doing at the time.

This disc opens with "When The Sour Turns To Sweet." Amazon insists on calling it "When The Sour Turns 'So' Sweet;" I called them out on it, but my correction has been consistently ignored. Thanks, guys (shrugs shoulders). But it is the first single from the band, and it is a nice opener. "We're waiting for you...come and join us now..." The listener is then taken on a scripture-inspired journey through the early stages of civilization, man's place in God's Creation; "In The Beginning" is a driving, semi-hard rock song, and one of the best tracks in the set, "...churning with power, uncontrolled...," followed with "Fireside Song" and "The Serpent." Right away, you can see this is its own concept record. It isn't strictly a biblical record, but it shows how spirituality CAN coincide with the "devil's music," rock and/or roll. It is light and ethereal, but has this dark, sinister element which offsets the otherwise light, airy mood of it. "Am I Very Wrong?" is a dirge-like melody with positive lyrics, a process which was reversed in the 1970's by bands like Steely Dan. They wrote very dark, even disturbing lyrics, but put them to light, jazzy arrangements. The opposite is the case here. Repetition is a practice on this record they later eschewed, obvious in the first half's closer, "In The Wilderness." "...fighting enemies with weapons made to kill..." sounds like something hideous, but once again, the music offsets the lyrics. Upbeat music with brooding lyrics this time.

The second half opens with "The Conquerer." A piano motif plays throughout, with energetic acoustic guitar strumming, giving it a live, almost Broadway feel. You can almost see a dark stage and lone spotlight on a young Peter Gabriel as he delivers the vocal, telling a story of said conquerer, leading into "In Hiding." Gabriel has such a soulful voice, especially in this early material, so much promise in this early piece. "One Day" is almost pastoral sounding, the protagonist in total communion with nature, uplifting, relating positive emotion, probably what people were supposed to be, before discovering how corrupt we can really be. So capable of good, but equally capable of untold horror. "Window" and "In Limbo" take the listener to the "furthest star in the sky," as our thoughts have taken us from this earth, there simply HAS to be something out there awaiting us. The line from the film "Contact" sums it up nicely: "It would be an awful waste of space."

The remainder of the disc picks up the loose ends and treats us to some early singles and other bits of memorabilia, not necessarily essential, but it does pad out the time, and brings you back to Earth. Yes, I would call this disc a listening experience. A lot of people don't seem to agree with my take on it, but said people have approached this record with prejudged ideas of what it should be. Genesis hadn't reached their artistic peak yet, this was only the band's debut, and even they didn't know what would follow.

They used what they had on hand, and they did a remarkable job with it.

Their first. This Criminally underated album was how they started off, as an almost Cat Stevens like band. Don't dudge this album by what Genesis became but dudge for what it is-a gentle little album. The music here is so cool, mellow and relaxing. Beautiful-not prog, but great...

For the 1969 debut album by Genesis, "From Genesis To Revelation," producer Jonathan King insisted on adding horns & string arrangements to most of the band's songs. Nonetheless, I enjoy the album just fine. "From Genesis To Revelation" is a far cry from anything else the band have recorded since, but it's a very good Genesis album in it's own right, with some fine material. The best tunes on the album are the few that the band get to rock on *without* orchestral accompanyment: "In The Beginning," "The Serpent," and the bonus track, "That's Me," all terrific Genesis rockers. I also appreciate the melodies of "When The Sour Turns To Sweet," "The Conquerer," "In Limbo," the Bee Gees-esque "The Silent Sun" (the band's first attempt at a hit single), "In Limbo," and the brief-but-beautiful "A Place To Call My Own." Peter Gabriel's voice is always a pleasure to hear, Tony Banks gets in some really good piano-thumping & organ-playing throughout, Mike Rutherford & Anthony Phillips both contribute some very good acoustic & electric guitar work, and drummer John Silver, in his lone album with the band, may be dwarfed by Phil Collins' looming shadow, but he's good enough behind the drumkit, certainly for this material, anyway. "From Genesis To Revelation" isn't the band's masterpiece, but it's still a very good debut album. If you're a diehard Genesis fan like me, you can't go wrong with adding "From Genesis To Revelation" to your collection. :-)

Originally released in 1969 in the UK by Decca. Released in the U.S. in 1974 by London. Reissued in 1977 as "In the Beginning". This album doesn't come along easily besides here online despite multiple reissues (and renamings) worldwide, as producer and licencee Jonathan King owns the rights and can reissue it as much as he pleases. The record also had rare artwork and a story. The CD had rare tracks that were originally B-sides and not already on "Archive 1967-75". If I can get to a self-serve colour copier or scanner, I'll copy the LP graphics and sell it. This album was apparantly confused as a Christian album. Some of these songs can be played in church. Genesis hit paydirt on the continent, especially in Catholic areas. Don't be surprised if you find yet another new reissue of this. It stands out from the rest of their thirty-year catalogue. I said a handful.

This is a smooth classic - almost as good as Led Zeppelin IV. The intricacy of the music keeps you emotionally involved and absorbed. Fascinating to trace the evolution of Genesis...this is the beginning of their great reign.

This was Genesis' first album, recorded when they were teenagers at the Charterhouse School (the British equivalent of a prep school). They were more of a folk ensemble than rock group at that point, hardly able to do more with their guitars than strum. Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, and Mike Rutherford were already on board, with Anthony Phillips on guitar and John Silver on drums. They sent demo tapes to producer Jonathan King, hoping to parlay a songwriting career, and found that King preferred to have the boys record their own songs. After which he slapped a bunch of orchestration on it, hoping for a success in the style of the Moody Blues' "Days of Future Passed". Instead, the album only sold 600 copies, though it has been re-released in a hundred different versions over the years and has probably sold in the hundreds of thousands by now. In addition to the original 13 songs, this version includes a couple of early singles with Chris Stewart on drums.

Several songs are pleasant in a wildly naive way, but other than "In the Wilderness" (with its "Music/All I hear is music/Guaranteed to please" chorus) and "One Day", nothing here is good enough to deserve frequent listening. The songs are short and poppy, unlike anything else they would do during the Gabriel Era. Much of it is vaguely reminiscent of what the Moodys were doing at the time. The lyrics are like the poetry you wrote when you were 16 and can't stand to look at now. On the single, "Silent Sun", they purposely tried to sound like the Bee Gees because they knew King liked the Bee Gees. This is a two and a half-star album; I'm rounding down.

(1=poor 2=mediocre 3=pretty good 4=very good 5=phenomenal)

I purchased this cd as used - mint at a very reasonable price. Received promptly. It looks NEW. Perfect sound.