Genesis Album: “From Genesis to Revelation”

English rockers Genesis released its debut album From Genesis to Revelation in March of 1969.

The debut album of Genesis (lead singer Peter Gabriel, keyboard player Tony Banks, bass player/guitarist Mike Rutherford, guitarist Anthony Phillips and drummer John Silver) was the result of the collaboration between these talented then-teenage schoolboys from Charterhouse College in Surrey, England and record producer (and Charterhouse alumni) Jonathan King. Messieurs Gabriel and Banks from the band Garden Wall joined up with Anon members Rutherford and Phillips plus drummer Chris Stewart and formed a band and sent demos to King (whom produced the band's first single (the 1960s Bee Gees-ish sounding "Silent Sun" (which appears here in two versions) with the rocker "That's Me" as its flip side and is a bonus track on this new remaster) in the hopes that the five young musicians could push forward their music careers.

The band was named Genesis (as in a "new beginning" in music after the band rejected his first choice of Gabriel's Angels), King learned there was an obscured American band with that name, so the band wasn't give a moniker on their first studio album, but gave them a concept of "From Genesis to Revelation" for which to write their music.

They begin the album with the snappy "Where the Sour Turns to Sweet" which was an excellent song and was released as the single from the album but flopped in the UK. Next is the rocker "In the Beginning" which had hints of the style the lads would adopt in later years. Next is the piano driven "Fireside Song" which was another great song. Next is another excellent rocker out of "The Serpent" which has excellent guitar work from Phillips. Next is another great slow piece called "Am I Very Wrong" which is a nice song. Next was my first intro to this era of the band "In the Wilderness" (which I heard in its rough mix state as it appeared on the 1998 Genesis box Genesis Archives 1967-75) which reminds me of "Ruby Tuesday" by The Rolling Stones.

The second half starts with the great rocker "The Conquerer" which has some excellent guitar work from Phillips. "In Hiding" is next and reminds me of their then-label mates The Moody Blues' pre-Hayward/Lodge era. Next is the song "One Day" which is reminiscent to the British pop music popular in England at the time. Next is the acoustic ballad "Window" which is another great piece with acoustic guitars that would dominate the band's sound in their early days. Next is the rocker "In Limbo" which is a great song. We follow with "The Silent Sun". We close with the piano piece "A Place to Call My Own" which is a nice short but sweet tune.

The strings and horns conducted by Arthur Greenslade were added on to the album at the insistence of producer Jonathan King whom pushed the band to release a soft sounding album to set them apart from fellow up and coming (what would be known as) prog rock bands debuting at the time (the British psychedelia of Pink Floyd and Yes and the blues-rock of Jethro Tull). A few of the tracks on this album would appear on the Genesis Archive 1967-75 box set without the orchestrations in 1998. According to both Armando Gallo's book on the band I Know What I Like and the group's official biography "Genesis : Chapter and Verse", the band members were proud of the music but unhappy with the orchestrations.

The album did deplorable when it was released but it did chart in 1974 when London Records in the US re-released the album in the wake of the success of both Selling England By the Pound and Genesis Live as it peaked at #170.

Many re-issues of this album had been issued over the years (and remains the only album the band does not own the rights to). Now in 2008, a new remaster was re-released and sounds better than the previous versions of the album I had previously heard and has four bonus tracks (the aforementioned "Silent Sun"/"That's Me" single and the band's British second single "A Winter's Tale" (a great number) and "One Eyed Hound" (a great bluesy acoustic rocker)).

For those who are fans of later Phil Collins led Genesis are advised to steer clear but for Gabriel-era Genesis fans and unbiased fans whom want to see how they started out this is HUGELY RECOMMENDED.

From Genesis To Revelation is just one of those albums... That will never be realesed again nothing like this is on the cd shelves right now but personally compared too some of the 80s "pop music video 80s" Genesis that everyone is aware of and knows of and or the Phil Collins era Genesis i personally like this stuff the most and i will explain why. Back when this came out Phil Collins nor Tony Hackett were in the band and the band consisted of a few other members and Peter Gabirel. "From Genesis To Revelation" Is a very poetic album and accoustic but the songs are really good and is almost pscyhedelic in a way and its main focus is "The Beginning", which they often sing about on this. Really good album great songs i currently own a tape of this called, "In The Beggining", with the same songs except less. Some key tracks on here are, "Where The Sour Turns To Sweet", "In The Beginning", and "The Serpent", great album essential for anyone obsessed with stuff like Pink Floyd and Yes, buy today

This is NOT a review of this Varese-Fontana re-issue.

How frustrating. As the previous 2 reviewers have clearly pointed out, this release has been RE-released ad nauseum. You can probably find 10 different versions on CD, and maybe DOUBLE that on vinyl. I have at least 3 myself.

What I can't figure out is why Varese-Fontana didn't see fit to release a definitive 2-disc STEREO/MONO set? I'm very familiar with this album, it's actually a pretty pleasant collection of recordings (despite the fact that some of the band members were NOT happy with the strings added to the tracks). But I would find it interesting to hear the mono mixes, some of which (I've heard, anyway) are very different to the stereo mixes. Perhaps the mono mixes might have more balls, as mono mixes often do, something some of these tracks could possibly benefit from. And the usual "extra tracks" could certainly be appended to the appropriate disc, making this a definitive release of their debut. If they put that out, I'd be one of the first in line to buy it. Even if this was just a single disc release of the MONO mix, that'd STILL be better than the same ol' stereo mix, which is prevalent.

Too bad they blew it again. Maybe, after the 3rd and final Gabriel-era box set (1970-1975) is released this fall (which will NOT contain this album, since Genesis do not have the rights to it), then just MAYBE it'll be done right. Let's hope so.

It captures the sound of the late 60's progressive rock. If you are a true Genesis fan you will like this CD. If you are a so so or later Genesis fan you MIGHT want to skip it

Terrible song-writing, awful A&R, the very worst of Genesis, before Phil Collins, who could write. Peter Gabriel in this first incarnation is mediocre to say the least.

In their first "concert" in Belgium, 1971, at Theatre 140, they played nothing from this first album, but rather the Trespass songs. Much much better record.

Just skip this album and buy Trespass. Sorry.