Album title: Seconds out
Artiste: Genesis
Nationality: British
Year: 1977
Subgenre: None; pure Progressive Rock
Player(s): Phil Collins (Lead vocals, Drums), Mike Rutherford (Guitars, Bass), Steve hackett (Guitars), Tony Banks (Keyboards), Chester Thompson/Bill Bruford (Drums) (Bruford only drums on “Cinema show”) Note: Although I'm not going to root it out of my record shelf, I'm fairly sure the album inlay mentioned and showed Daryl Steurmer on guitars too, but the Wiki entry doesn't have him listed...?
Familiarity: Early and Peter Gabriel era know very well and have most of the albums. Never cared much for the Phil Collins era, so my knowledge is patchy on the Phil Collins era.
Favourite track(s): The Carpet Crawlers, Firth of Fifth, Supper's Ready and Cinema Show.
Why? The Carpet Crawlers a calming track that flows so well. Tracks like Firth of Fifth and Supper's Ready are just quintessential Genesis and Supper's Ready has always been one of the great extended tracks from the classic prog era, where musical perfection was always expected. Cinema Show is probably one of my all time favourite tracks by the band and just so whimsical.
Least favourite track(s): Robbery, Assault and Battery
Why? As Trollheart said it's ruined by Collins' East End accent. It's meant to be I guess some kind of colloquial touch by Collins and it falls down badly. This type of this was done so much better by other British bands in the 1960s.
Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad? I knew it was a live document by the band and on previous listening years ago, I thought it was the best recording I'd heard of by the band post-Gabriel era.
Artwork: Very minimalist 1970s and yes it gives a clear clue that this could be a live album.
Factoids you'd like to share? This was the first album ever reviewed in Trollheart's journal, I checked and it's true
Initial impression: Strangely enough the album has prompted me to listen to all of Genesis' discography again, largely in an attempt to make me to trawl through the Phil Collins era albums.
End impression: A very accomplished documentation by the band.
Comments: Trollheart stated that this might be the best place to start for any new Genesis fan, I actually disagree with that and think the album is more designed for an existing fan to really appreciate the extra musicians being used in Chester Thompson and Bill Bruford and to hear Phil Collins sing on some of the Peter Gabriel classics. Talking of Phil Collins as a vocalist, he does a great job in keeping the Genesis spirit alive here but the problem is he lacks the truly great expressive style of Peter Gabriel and you therefore know you're getting second best (which is still very good considering the guy is really a drummer) Overall I've tried to be as objective as possible concerning Phil Collins as to sit through his solo stuff is punishing, but maybe on listening to the band discography again, I may warm to him a bit more.
Rating: 4.0