This is a weird one – it’s a boxed set consisting of rarities, radio sessions, demo mixes of material from their debut album and a full live performance of the Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, but I’m not sure any one of those components quite fully delivers.
Having a full live rendition of the Lamb is something which some Genesis fans would be very keen on – witness the spectacular number of bootlegs from the Lamb tour that circulate – but I actually find it somewhat less than thrilling compared with Genesis Live or the Rainbow tracks (some of which are included here – but frustratingly not the full show, and particularly frustratingly not the excellent rendition of Supper’s Ready). A live rendition of the Lamb doesn’t have Eno’s contributions, for instance, and nor does it quite disguise how tired and cranky the band seem to be coming across. You can see the wheels are about to come off the Gabriel-fronted version of the band.
Similarly, the BBC sessions presented are interesting, but far from complete, the rarities include obvious singles mixes, and the demos are focused on the least interesting era of Gabriel-fronted Genesis. It’s an interesting grab-bag in all, but compared to bootleg rarities sets has all sorts of odd gaps.
