As huge a band as Genesis eventually became, in many respects you can still make the case that they are underrated. Especially if you branch outward and consider the meteoric solo careers of successive ringleaders Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins (with a few sizable hits from Mike + The Mechanics thrown in for good measure, from guitarist/bassist Mike Rutherford).
Those who are legitimate Genesis fans generally fall into two camps, both often believing the other somewhat cliched. You have your expected original lineup purists, gushing a bit too much about the occasionally awesome, somewhat edgy, but inconsistent and overblown Gabriel days. Then there are those who think that costume laden, operatic junk is not worth their time, and prefer the more mainstream rock of the Collins-led era (well, I have also heard reports of a far worse and much more ignorant third tribe, who were not exactly small in number: those booing loudly at Genesis shows because they weren’t breaking out Phil’s solo hits).
Well, accuse me of playing it safe, but I think both epochs had their pluses and minuses — and at least we are not forced to hold our noses while reviewing the singer after Phil Collins, with which Genesis wisely only made one album. It didn’t occur to me until just now, while working on this piece, but I actually think Genesis shares some similarities with Van Halen, one of the other exceedingly small groups who were able to swap out vocalists without losing any momentum, in fact becoming much more popular in the process: considered a lot “cooler” to like the first guy, yet although the highs were mighty, the lows were also much lower and prevalent than anyone wants to admit; the second guy, though more consistent and arguably more talented, was also a bit cheesy at times and forced us to endure the occasional sappy ballad.
Genesis missed a golden opportunity, too, (at least, thus far) which VH also failed to capitalize on, as has really any other band I can think of in a similar position. Why not tour behind a package featuring both lead singers, with one full half of a show dedicated to each, maybe even an encore or two with the entire ensemble? You’d have to think such a proposal would be HUGE. Well, in fact, Sammy Hagar himself was in favor of this very concept for Van Halen, circa the early to mid aughts, but couldn’t find much support from the past-their-prime likes of Eddie, Alex, and Cubic Zirconia Dave.
To their credit, Genesis did at one point attempt a full blown reunion tour with Peter Gabriel and 1970s era guitarist Steve Hackett, in 2007. Nowadays it’s said Pete bailed due to “other commitments,” but at the time I sure do remember hearing he wasn’t pleased that the core trio insisted upon playing some songs from the Collins-led years, which was why he walked away from these discussions. I suppose tiptoeing through the minefield of egos cannot be easy in a situation like this. Still, sometimes it’s hard telling the difference between someone who has “mad integrity,” versus a self-absorbed grouch who isn’t about to entertain anyone else’s ideas, ever. To this day, surprisingly enough, Genesis has only played one show with Peter Gabriel, after he quit the group in 1975.
There is of course one additional angle if you were attempting this kind of tour with Genesis, which is that Phil Collins would presumably be on stage the entire concert anyway, i.e. behind the drum kit even when he wasn’t singing. To this day even some who are familiar with the name and his solo work are surprised to learn he started out as a skin basher of some renown. So much so that he was often sought out as a hired gun in this capacity, clear up into at least the mid 1980s (Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind, & Fire for example initially hired Phil just to play drums on Easy Lover, before wisely reimagining this as a killer duet).
His talents as a vocalist and songwriter only came to the forefront much later — even within his own band. When Gabriel left, the band auditioned countless singers before eventually concluding, eh, I guess we’ll just let our drummer do it. They had discovered, much to their surprise, that Collins not only had a solid singing voice, but he could also do a decent Gabriel facsimile, which came in handy live.
Getting back to the one and only reunion performance between Peter and his former band: it occurred in 1982, solely for the benefit of bailing him out of a major financial hole. Conceiving and staging this massive extravaganza known as the WOMAD music festival, Gabriel had actually lost his shirt in the process. His former mates were kind enough to reassemble and stage this one off concert, in England, to help him right the ship financially.
This concert has never been officially released. You can find plentiful crowd recorded audio bootlegs, yet as amazing as it seems, it would appear that not a single person present filmed the thing. I must hazard a guess that at the time, nobody involved had the first clue that what a rare — unrepeatable — occurrence this would wind up being.
For reasons I’m not really sure about, the show is billed as Six Of The Best. But there are seven musicians in the band, and they play a total of fourteen songs. So your guess is as good as mine. I guess maybe because the seventh band member, Steve Hackett, only emerged for the final two songs of the night? Well, regarding those fourteen cuts, to no one’s surprise, they consist almost exclusively of Gabriel era Genesis classics, with two extremely interesting exceptions that occur back-to-back in the middle of the set: exactly one solo Gabriel number, and one Genesis offering from after he left the group.
As cool as it is hearing Collins and company back him on Solsbury Hill, it’s the latter that I’m writing about today, and keep returning to over and over again. Turn It On Again has for many years been my favorite Genesis song, even in its original recorded state, found on the Duke album and FM airwaves everywhere. I went through this phase maybe twenty years ago where I could not seem to get the song out of my head — which is always a fascinating topic, to me, how these earworms get stuck in your brain, exactly. When it’s not the first time you’ve heard a tune by any means, and you never really cared about it before, but then one day out of the blue you’re just completely obsessed with it.
Following this, it was inevitable I would eventually stumble upon this performance from Six Of The Best. Which would ratchet the intrigue and interest up another level entirely. It’s the only song of the night that Phil gets to sing lead on, and it’s catchy as hell, they knock their performance right on out of this rain soaked English park, et cetera, et cetera. But it’s one final twist, presented here and here alone, which proves to be the show stopper: Peter Gabriel demonstrates that he can also rock a drum kit! A fact even his own former bandmates apparently didn’t know until rehearsals prior to the show.
Since he had nothing else to do during Turn It On Again, Peter suggested he might as well climb behind the kit. And mostly absolves himself quite well in the process. In the name of full disclosure, I should mention there is a second drummer involved, Chester Thompson. But the song is in a tricky 13/8 time signature, and whatever Gabriel’s playing here, he is hanging with the rest of the band just fine. Just one of the many reasons you should have this singular performance in your own permanent set list.
