Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Three stars for the effort...but not the content., February 28, 2003
Although undoubtedly written with good intentions, Genesis Inside & Out falls wide of the mark for a couple of very obvious reasons.Firstly, and despite the minor coup of interviewing early 70's guitarist-of-about-one-month Mick Barnard for the book (along with new interviews with Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips), four of the five major Genesis protagonists - Banks, Collins, Gabriel, and Rutherford - are represented only by bits and pieces of old interviews, hashed together from rock papers and a Virgin web site. Whether they were approached by Platts for this book, and declined to participate or grant new interviews, is not clear. What is clear though is that old ground is well and truly being trod, with very little new information of merit coming to light. Fans with no knowledge of Genesis' history will probably be okay with this, but those with a greater knowledge of the band will be left wanting. Secondly, the book reads too much like a home-grown fan essay, and too little like objective biographical analysis. Ironically, although the author is quick to offer quite firm opinions on a number of issues - mostly related to a dislike of much of the post-Duke material - the way the book is written, in particular the use of sound-bites from old interviews, suggests some inadvertent and debatable conclusions, namely: that despite concerns Genesis couldn't survive without Peter Gabriel (they could, and did), musically the band actually never really survived the departure of Steve Hacket (when they clearly thought they could); that Banks doesn't seem to like much of the material or records from their entire 30-year career; that Collins can't seem to make up his mind if he likes "prog", and is almost rabid in his desire to break with the Gabriel/Hackett era past; that Rutherford seems to have preferred his 12-string duets with Anthony Phillips to just about anything else; that the Calling All Stations record/US tour was clearly the most ill-judged move of their entire career, and they really should have just stayed home after Collins quit. These conclusions, although possibly unintentional, merit discussion, but unfortunately the author leaves them hanging, without any analysis or investigation. Although it has not been updated since the early 80's, and sadly remains out of print, Armando Gallo's superb I Know What I Like remains THE Genesis book, not just for his incredible photography, but for his concise yet detailed biography of the band. Robin Platts' effort, although welcome, unfortunately does not match the standard set by Gallo, or update the story in any essential and compelling way.
|
|
|
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Overall, A Good Look Back At This Great Band's History, February 22, 2002
To it's credit, Robin Platts' "Genesis: Inside & Out" is the only book about the rock group Genesis I've come across that is totally up to date with the band's history, including their last studio album, 1997's "Calling All Stations," and their pair of Archive box set releases from 1998 and 2000, respectively. Admittedly, it's a very good read overall, and thankfully, it does contain information about the band that I, a diehard Genesis follower for 20 years and counting, did not know about (such as the wealth of unreleased early Genesis songs that were NOT issued on the 1998 Peter Gabriel-era box set, with such titles as "Masochistic Man" & "Wooden Mask." I wonder if we'll ever get to hear these tunes?). However, the book is far from perfect. Aside from the occasional typo, Platts overlooks several well-known moments in Genesis' history (no mention of the famous onstage explosion at Oslo during the "Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" tour?), and he also makes it obvious that he's not really a fan of the band's Phil Collins-era material from 1978 onwards, with perhaps the lone exception of the "Duke" album from 1980 (and I *strongly* disagree with his derogatory remarks about the band's self-titled album from 1983---his reasons for not liking this excellent album are quite ridiculous). Still, I can't deny the fact that I did learn some more interesting things about my favorite band. "Genesis: Inside & Out" doesn't match up to "Genesis: I Know What I Like" by Armando Gallo," "The Book Of Genesis" by Hugh Fielder (currently out of print), or "Genesis: A Biography" by Dave Bowler & Bryan Dray, which, in my opinion, are easily the most insightful books ever written about the band. Nonetheless, a diehard Genesis fan can't go wrong by adding Robin Platts' book to their shelf, even if his comments about the band's later material are pretty silly. 3 out of 5 stars.
|
|
|
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Thier Own Special Way, July 9, 2001
A good overview of the whole career of this great band, "From Genesis To Revelation" all the way to "Genesis Archive 2". Although a relatively short book the author provides lots of information on each album and subsequent tour. One of the best aspects of the book are the numerous quotes from most of the band members, as well as some of the band's managers and producers. One of the books few shortcomings is in the coverage of the many solo releases from the band. Solo releases by Anthony Philips, Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford and Peter Gabriel are mentioned and briefly discussed. I would have like to have read more on all of the solo releases. As a big fan of Genesis reading about the creative process behind each album made me run to my CD collection to listen to the wonderful music created by this band. I also learned many things about the band that I was not aware of. I would highly recommend this book to Genesis fans.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
Interact With Your Music: Discover, listen to, and buy new music, all from the pages of SPIN's digital edition, free to Amazon customers.
