Live Genesis

Originally the only official document of the group in performance with Peter Gabriel in the lineup. It’s not just the singer, but everyone who shines here – it’s doubtful that anyone ever got a richer sound out of a Mellotron on-stage than Tony Banks does on this album, and Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford, and Phil Collins’ playing is all quite amazing as a whole unit, holding together some very complex music in a live setting. And on that basis alone, this album was an essential acquisition for fans of the group, as well as a key link in solidifying their growing popularity – the intensity of the performances on “Watcher of the Skies,” “Get ‘Em Out by Friday,” “Return of the Giant Hogweed,” “The Knife, and, especially, “The Musical Box,” easily transcend the work (superb though it was) on the studio originals, and is an in-your-face presentation of the theatrical intensity that Gabriel and company brought to their work on-stage. What’s more, the very fact that the band could pull off some of what they do on-stage is mighty impressive. This is about the best single-LP representation of what this band could do on-stage, and to the surprise of a lot of people, it actually won them lots of new fans ahead of the release of ‘Selling England by the Pound’. – Bruce Eder, AllMusic