Genesis – From Genesis To Revelation
“It has begun, You’re in the hands of destiny”
They were just kids…amazingly Genesis were still in High School when this was recorded. The band formed originally from the remnants of two bands in 1967 at Charterhouse School – which was like a upper middle class boys private school. Mike Rutherford (Bass/Guitars) and Anthony Phillips (Guitars) were in the band The Anon while Peter Gabriel (Vocals), Tony Banks (Piano) and Chris Stewart (Drums) were in The Garden Wall which would be name-checked 6 years later on the song I Know What I Like from Selling England By The Pound…but that’s many stories away. Originally they would plonk around on the piano playing R&B songs but eventually started writing songs with the intention of selling them to other artists to cover. Their original demo tape was sent to Jonathan King who was a graduate of the same school and he had produced a hit single called “Everyone’s Gone To The Moon” in ’65. The early material on these demos would eventually be released on the Archives 1967-1975 Box Set.
King was interested and thought they might be able to write some Bee Gee’s type hits – keeping in mind at the time The Bee Gees were more like The Beatles in style. The band members were between 15 and 17. So on a whim Gabriel and Banks wrote The Silent Sun b/w That’s Me which was released as a single followed by A Winter’s Tail b/w One Eye’d Hound both of which sold…well nothing. The Silent Sun might be the only Genesis song with the word “Baby” in it. Anyway, at King’s suggestion the band ended up writing and recording a loose concept album based on The Book of Genesis and Revelation in August 1968 over 2 days on 2 four track machines (Stewart having been replaced by Jonathan Silver on drums). Unbeknownst to the band King then added strings and horns to some of the songs which angered the band greatly.
The album was titled From Genesis To Revelation and actually had no band name in its original form. It sold about 650 copies because radio stations and record stores thought it was some sort of religious record and ignored it. It is a bit of a hard egg to crack this album. Beneath the strings and horns is a good album. It isn’t great but it isn’t terrible either. It is probably best described as an early stab at songwriting by a group of teens who hadn’t really figured things out yet. That being said there are some really good songs on it – The Silent Sun, The Conqueror, Where The Sour Turns To Sweet, A Place To Call My Own to name a few that stand out. In The Wilderness is probably the closest Gabriel sounded to his future self. Unfortunately, it just isn’t recorded or mixed very well and it almost sounds like very early Moody Blues if I had to equate it to something else. The Strings though OK in parts mostly overpower everything else. If it came out in 1999 it would be heralded as a lo-fi classic…alas it is kind of just a rudimentary false start for a band that would grow exponentially in a very short period of time following their dissolution with King and Decca Records. It has none of the grandness, lyrics, keyboards, guitar finesse or songwriting prowess of what would follow. But there is something charming about it in hindsight which is probably the only way to really appreciate it…looking back to something formative. The album itself along with the singles, being the only Genesis material owned by Jonathan King, has been released in many rejigged forms over the years (In The Beginning, Rock Roots, Where The Sour Turns To Sweet, And The Word Was…). Both of the records I have are versions of the original which I’ve added a photo of for context. Of particular interest in 2017 a download only album was released called Genesis: 50 Years Ago which is by far the most interesting iteration of the album as it contains alternate mixes and versions of the songs without strings and horns – something most fans thought did not exist. It is well worth checking out and gives a bit of new light and breadth to what the album was intended to sound like by the band.
Recommended Listening – The Conqueror, The Silent Sun, In The Wilderness, In The Beginning
For Hardcore fans here is a download of 50 Years Ago – http://www.darrincappe.com/Genesis/50YearsAgo.zip
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