Platinum Collection (2004)


 
Disc 1 1.No Son of Mine 2.I Can't Dance 3.Jesus He Knows Me 4.Hold On My Heart 5.Invisible Touch 6.Throwing It All Away 7.Tonight Tonight Tonight (Edit) 8.Land of Confusion 9.In Too Deep 10.Mama 11.That's All 12.Home By the Sea 13.Second Home By the Sea 14.Illegal Alien 15.Paperlate 16.Calling All Stations
Disc 2 1.Abacab 2.Keep it Dark 3.Turn it On Again 4.Behind the Lines 5.Duchess 6.Misunderstanding 7.Many Too Many 8.Follow You, Follow Me 9.In That Quiet Earth 10.Afterglow 11.Your Own Special Way 12.A Trick of the Tail 13.Ripples 14.Los Endos
Disc 3 1.The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway 2.Counting out the Time 3.The Carpet Crawlers 4.Firth of Fifth 5.The Cinema Show 6.I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) 7.Supper's Ready 8.The Musical Box 9.The Knife

 

At last, a latter day compilation CD that makes sense! The history of Genesis, although brilliant has been extremely uneven. Nowhere was this more apparent than on their first greatest hits compilation Turn it On Again: The Hits. Their early stuff just sounded too different from the latter day material, and even the middle material. Plus there was the fact that this band really didn't really have any hits until the early eighties. Of course, they had so much material that was loved by so many people, that it made sense to put out a compilation that was a little bit more favorable to the band's long eclectic history.

They manage to do just that here. It even makes more sense to make this a "box set" (which in theory you could argue that it is since it's 3 discs) since they do have a wealth of great material. Unlike a lot of box sets, this one is strictly regulated to material that has been released before - there are no "new things" or "hidden gems" (they covered that exhaustively with their two Archive releases in the late 1990's). Like all "hit" compilations, it's easy to nitpick and scratch your head when looking at what was left off vs. what is actually on the release. You can do the same here (for example, there's no No Reply at All but they do include Keep it Dark, or, the edited Tonight Tonight Tonight is featured, yet they include the full length Abacab). However, when looking at each disc, the band decided that they would "maximize" the listening pleasure by cramming as much material on each disc as possible. None of the 3 discs are less than 76 minutes in the length. Yes, it would have been nice to have Watcher of the Skies from the early days, but there simply wasn't enough room. It would have been nice to have a live version (or any version) of In the Cage, but that would have required a 4th disc.

The only complaint with this release is the sequencing. It makes sense for a band like Genesis to release a compilation with the song titles in order, since the band evolved so much in its history. Yet for some strange reason, it's done backwards. We start with No Son of Mine and go backwards all the way to the early 1970's The Knife. Why was this so? Wouldn't it have been better to start at the beginning and end at the end? Maybe it was because the latter material was so "hit" infested? It's also curious that the latest song on here (Calling All Stations) is the only song that violates the rule. It's actually the last song on the first disc - as if the band were trying to hide or bury it. Not really a bad idea. A great way to introduce the casual fan to the wide variety of music this band has (or had) to offer.

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