Published on May 10, 2005
It’s amazing what difference a day makes. Yesterday, as I saw
down to listen to this album for the first time, the prog-rock
stylings of Genesis nearly put me to sleep. However today, after
completing three final exams in one day, not only has my mood
considerably brightened, but so has my opinion of this album.
Despite the progressive nature of early Genesis, I am
continuously surprised by how “tight” this group really was. At
this point in time, the strongest incarnation of the band was set,
and honing their skills with each passing album. The hard, edgier
sound contained on
Nursery Cryme and
Foxtrot are in full force; in fact most of the songs on
Live better their studio counterparts.
The opening to “The Return Of The Giant Hogweed” alone makes
Live worth listening to. Tony Banks and Hackett just rip
into the track with a stinging guitar and organ intro, before
Collins joins in and Mike Rutherford lays down an incredibly funky
beat. It isn’t a stretch to think that a band like Zeppelin could
have recorded this, it rocks that hard. The “The Knife” and ” The
Musical Box” reaffirm this as well. If you thought the version of
“The Knife” on
Trespass was good,
Live‘s take blows it away. Between the driving force of the
keyboards that rein everything in as well as keep the beat, to the
absolutely blistering guitar solo from Hackett, you are going to
want to play this one over and over and over…
Each track featured on
Live is invested with a great deal of energy and effort,
which is so important for prog rock, especially when we are talking
about live album. It’s no secret the doldrums can set in during
such a performance; the weighty material of group such as Genesis,
Yes, Floyd, etc allows for it. Walking hand in hand with the actual
musicianship of the group is Peter Gabriel, owner of one of the
more unique voices in rock history. It is his ability to shift
between characters, shade parts of his voice, and generally convey
the often times abstract and sometimes absurd lyrics Genesis had a
penchant for. This he does with great aplomb, (see
“…Hogweed”).
There is one problem I have with
Live: IT’S TOO SHORT!! A live album should rarely be shorter
than an hour, i.e. at least half the normal running time for a
concert!
Live runs 46 minutes. This easily could have been a double
album, I imagine. While I have never been to a Genesis concert, I
bet they lasted more than 45 minutes, and
Live should have followed suit. One could make the argument
though that this album is much more effective with the shortened
length, but from the way the band sounded this night, I could stand
to have heard another hour.
Minor quibbles aside,
Live is a one of those rare occurrences: a good live album.
The musicians are on fire, Gabriel is in fine voice, and this is
some of the better prog rock you are going to hear. The scary part
is, it could have been better.