Genesis - 'From Genesis To Revelation' OR 'Calling All Stations' (Poll)

Hi, people.

Now... this might be interesting!

As Genesis is back in the public's consciousness at the moment (I think?!) and they're discussed very often on here anyhow. I think that's only fair as I enjoy reading anything and everything about them - hopefully when it's something good and/or positive I thought then, I might as well ask this question. I can't say I know of another group that causes so much 'debate' and that's just over the best versions/pressings/mixes of their albums and yup, I'm one of those that obsesses heavily - well, you have to when they're pretty much your favourite band of all time!

So this is something you could say is close to my heart and I am curious, to say the least as to what I might find here. These titles could be fairly described as polar opposites, I thought this would be entertaining and a bit of fun. That's the general idea, anyway.

One of these titles, I absolutely love, I'm playing it right now for at least the 1,000th time (but who's counting?) - the other I am VERY lukewarm about. I don't hate or even dislike it; it just doesn't move or inspire me. That's all I'm saying for now - once the poll closes I shall then say my choice and explain. I thought two weeks would be plenty to run this poll for, to get an idea of what the consensus on here is with them. Please feel free to give any thoughts or reasoning as to why you voted the way you did.

Thanks, all!



Ian.

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Oh yes - the albums....


FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION (1968)

1. "Where the Sour Turns to Sweet"
2. "In the Beginning"
3. "Fireside Song"
4. "The Serpent"
5. "Am I Very Wrong?"
6. "In the Wilderness"
7. "The Conqueror"
8. "In Hiding"
9. "One Day"
10. "Window"
11. "In Limbo"
12. "Silent Sun"
13. "A Place to Call My Own"



CALLING ALL STATIONS (1997)

1. "Calling All Stations"
2. "Congo"
3. "Shipwrecked"
4. "Alien Afternoon"
5. "Not About Us"
6. "If That's What You Need"
7. "The Dividing Line"
8. "Uncertain Weather"
9. "Small Talk"
10. "There Must Be Some Other Way"
11. "One Man's Fool"

 

I had to vote for FGTR.
My reasoning: I own a copy of FGTR. I've listened to it many times, and I even like a few of the songs on it.
I've never heard Calling. With the internet, I know I could easily listen to it, and decide for myself if it's a good album or not. I just don't have the urge to.

Maybe someday.

 

Calling All Stations is bland, but it's better than FGTR.

(I will say that the b-sides from the CAS singles were all better than the album itself!)

 

I've got 3 copies of FGTR... though only one is actually called that!

It might be worth your while, giving CAS a listen- I know I've got a lot of albums on my 'to hear' list.

 

I've heard people say they should have included them on the album and I'm not familiar with any of them. I've thought for a while that I'd pick them up if and when I see them... but then if I wasn't so lazy, it'd be easy enough to go the Ebay route.

 

You can probably find them on YouTube. Here are the titles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calling_All_Stations#B-sides

 

Brilliant - thank you! I'll have a look at these (and a listen too) tomorrow as it's late here now and my bed is calling... though so is Ebay.

So what I will need to do is to listen to CAS either tomorrow or the following day and probably the b-sides straight after, on YT.

 

CAS for me. Small Talk is actually one of my top 5 favorite Genesis songs, believe it or not . I also have a fondness for Alien Afternoon, There Must Be Some Other Way, the title track, and Congo. Strangely, I immediately liked CAS on my first listen. As you can see, I love the album . I honestly don't care for FGTR too much, though it is definitely worth a listen. I have the Varese Vintage CD from 2008 and it sounds good enough for me. My favorite track from this one may be The Serpent (which uses an early version of Twilight Alehouse as the intro on my CD copy).

 

From Genesis To Revelation has some charm and intriguing hints of better things to come, and gets my vote. Calling All Stations lacks a Collins or Gabriel to turn nice bits of music into engaging songs - which is the real trick. I like one for the potential I see in it, and resent the other for what I perceive as a band signing off on a low. Not a particularly objective appraisal, but that's how I feel.

 

It definitely is a very personal choice. Depends how was your introduction to the band. I started with the era of Peter Gabriel and indeed From Genesis To Rvelation was one of the first I heard ... my choice is obvious: From Genesis To Revelations.

There are so many interesting things in that album to sit quietly and listen without prejudice. When I had the opportunity to hear the demos of many of these songs in the 1970-1975 Archives (with no orchestrations made by Jonathan King) my appreciation for "From Genesis To Revelations" shift even more towards to the positive side.

Moreover; Calling All Stations, seems a soulless album... and it's unfortunate because Ray Wilson is a good musician / singer but I'm not hooked with this album.

 

Calling All Stations, which I would also take over We Cant Dance or Invisible Touch

 

They got lucky once with Phil being able to sing and his emergence as a song writer, plus collectively still having plenty of creative juice in the tank. Easy to believe that Banks and Rutherford were just spent. It's as unengaging an album as ATTWT for me, but Ray never got a second chance. I wonder how open they were to his ideas.

 

I like all Genesis for the most part, both Gabriel and Collins, but these two are the least enjoyable to me. I have them both.

Calling All Stations was an album, to me, that was much better than it was reviewed, but it is not really good, but OK.

Genesis to Revelations was the opposite to me, part of the early albums, that are supposed to the great ones, and this is pretty bad.

Both to me are just passing interest in them.

 

It's never been regarded as one of the great ones-recorded while they were still at school. Still it sounds more Genesis than CAS.

 

Ah good point. They were pretty young and raw talent then.

 

I doubt they are had the intention of being open to any idea from Ray Wilson. In fact it seems that they behaved quite indifferent to Ray during recording sessions. The way he handled the end of his contract and as he threw out of the band was not anything fancy.

That tells you that there was nothing of chemistry ... if they had been more open and less proud (especially Tony Banks ... the hardest character of the band) perhaps it would have resulted in something interesting

 

FGTR. It had some very good hummable tunes with lyrics that showed their potential and creativity, especially Gabriel. I would love to hear the underlying recording of just the band without the string overdubs added. That would be very interesting, although maybe at that point the strings were used to mask some very rudimentary playing.

 

Disc four of the Gabriel years archive box has a few pre overdub mixes of songs from the first album. There's also a few interesting folky songs from the earliest days of the group that didn't make it to the first album like The Magic of Time and Hidden in the World of Dawn.

Some of the stuff on From Genesis... has a bit of UK Nuggets feel to me, especially In the Beginning along with The Conqueror and the early b sides A Winter's Tale and One Eyed Hound.

I was initially interested in Calling All Stations cause I liked the single Congo. Once I got the actual album it kept putting me to sleep. Boring isn't even the word.

 

I think both albums are better than popular consensus would have you believe.

From Genesis to Revelation sounds nothing like the band they were to become, and because of that it is often dismissed as a juvenile mistake. I disagree. It's a fine pop album. Yes, it's layered in strings. But I think they actually help a number of the songs. If this album were by someone else, at this point it would be talked of as a lost '60s lush pop classic.

Calling All Stations is not a great album. But it's a decent one. It's far better than the final album with Collins, We Can't Dance. THAT was the nadir of Genesis' recorded output. Calling All Stations was an attempt to move a little ways back towards better songcraft, and away from the "let's see what happens when we wind up at the studio with no ideas and start jamming" approach of the last few albums. And although Ray Wilson does not sound like Gabriel or Collins, I think he sings well. I also think--based on the live material that floats around--that he did a good job in concert.

 

From Genesis to Revelation is an excellent album from end to end. With regards to criticism I think it suffers mostly from not being "progressive rock" like the half dozen or so that followed it (all of which are also excellent).

I have little interest in Genesis after the '70s, although my rule is always, "If I like it, I'll admit to it", which applies to No Reply At All.

 

An orange or a hammer.

 

I love FGTR, always have, and I've never understood why it inspires such animosity. Yes, it sounds young and a big precious and nothing like what they were to become. That doesn't stop it from being a great bunch of songs, especially considering how green they were at the time.

 

FGTR
WITHOUT QUESTION

 

FGTR only hints of the greatness to come. CAS is a sad reminder of what once was. I pick FGTR.

 

I hardly ever listen to FGTR at all.
CAS, while not a good album, is better than "Invisible Touch" and "We Can't Dance"
I like the song "Calling All Stations" and the silly but fun "Congo"
Also I've had the fortune to meet Ray Wilson after one of his solo shows. He's an extremely likable fellow.