On this page we've included some more information about this new release for those visitors who would like some further information about it.

Background to The Genesis Songbook

From the back cover of the video/DVD:

When Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford joined forces in the late sixties, their initial intentions were not to be recording artists in their own right but rather songwriters, writing songs that would ultimately be recorded by other artists.

That initial plan soon fell by the wayside when in the early Seventies the group secured a record deal and started releasing albums as Genesis.  During the subsequent years, the group progressed from being at the forefront of the underground scene with the release of such albums as "Trespass" and "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway", to become household names upon the release of multi-million selling albums such as "We Can't Dance" and "Invisible Touch".

By talking to the individual members of the group - long standing members Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford, ex-members Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Anthony Phillips, Daryl Stuermer and Jonathan Silver and the last singer Ray Wilson, we will discover what they consider to be their favourite Genesis songs, and the reasons why certain songs have a special place in the Genesis story.

DVD extras

The DVD edition includes 11 extra pieces of material which are as follows.  The extras are all additional interviews with the exception of those items noted below.

A review of The Genesis Songbook

The following review was sent to us by longstanding Genesis fan David Matthews.  His comments are based on the UK TV broadcast of the programme which was of the 60 minute version of the documentary and his views on the programme are his own.  

After much publicity, the long awaited new Genesis video was premiered on Channel 5 T.V at the strange time of 11:35 on Sunday 29^th April.  Having read all of the articles and knowing that the same team that did the classic album series had produced the video, my expectations were high.

It opened promisingly with a glimpse of the band rehearsing for the acoustic set, that was to tribute Tony Smiths achievements.  Phil Collins looking more like a respectable businessman rather than one of rocks greatest drummers. But that was where this video stopped, rather than an in depth look at a variety of Genesis songs through the eyes of those who wrote them, it slipped into the comfortable format of a potted history of the band glancing some of the tracks as it went.

Brief glimpses of early black and white footage were interspersed with live footage, some of which had been used on a previous History of Genesis video, and then linked with brief comments by members of the band past and dare we say it present.

It was interesting to see the members and hear what they had to say about their time within the band.  More interestingly though, it was what they didn’t say which was more interesting.  Peter’s comments regarding writing a book by committee, a not so subtle dig at the rest of the band over their involvement in the Lamb project.  Steve’s reasons for leaving slipping into the extended chord from his guitar.  Ray Wilson, was also very polite about the way the band seemed to fizzle out following the Calling All Stations album.  I do think that Tony Smith’s comments hit home that the band did not give it time for the new band to settle down before pulling the plug.

This program revealed little new for the long time fan.  To its credit, there were interesting interviews with Alan Hewitt, Chris Welch and the long lost drummer Jonathan Silver.  It was also very nice seeing Anthony Phillips looking so relaxed.  The acoustic version of Afterglow was wonderful, if only we could have heard more.  The format of 60 minutes did not do justice to the amount of material that could be reviewed and may have been the main reason for its ultimate failure.  Why was so much skipped?  What happened to ABACAB?

For the recent fan, this program and subsequent video/DVD release will be a must as it captures a little bit of the history and power that was Genesis.  For those who have been there for a long time, I fear that you may be disappointed.

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