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Taken from The Westmorland Gazette (Apr 22, 2018)
CLASSIC VINYL: music of biblical proportions
by Adrian Mullen
From Genesis To Revelation by Genesis on Decca Records released in 1969. Value £1,500 mono, £500 in stereo; 1970 reissue £100 stereo.
THIS album was released when there was a growing trend toward the end of the sixties for bands to omit their names from the album cover, hoping that it would be judged by the musical content, writes MICHAEL BROOKS. Despite the names of the band members on the cover, no one then had heard of a band called Genesis? Record Stores, unsure what to do with it, possibly thinking it had something to do with theology, displayed the album in the 'religious section.'
Consequently it sold poorly; founder member Tony Banks recalled it only sold 650 copies in the first year of release.
Genesis was formed at Charterhouse School, Godalming, Surrey in 1967, with Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Peter Gabriel as core members; Phil Collins joined later as did guitarist Steve Hackett. This album bears little resemblance to the Genesis the world would come to know. Instead of progressive rock it is full of sixties sounding orchestral pop reminiscent of The Bee Gees and The Zombies musical genre. Despite the initial failure, it has been repackaged and re-released several times with numerous image changes before being recognised as the collectable album it now is. In 2015 it was released again, this time as a three-LP box set containing 3 x 7 inch vinyl discs now valued at £60.
The band reached a crisis when lead singer Peter Gabriel embarked on a solo career; they had their next album to produce so decided to record it without vocals and audition singers as they went along. They placed an advert in the music paper Melody Maker for 'a singer for a Genesis type group,' which received 400 replies. Phil Collins who had now joined as their drummer proceeded to teach the applicants the songs but without success. Finally, as a last resort, he made a couple of demo recordings which were well received by the band and eventually became their lead singer.
They last played together in 2007 to mark their 40th anniversary. Genesis could reform later this year after Mike Rutherford hinted at the prospect of them getting together to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Now that Collins has come out of retirement and performing solo concerts, there is speculation that he may join up for another tour. When asked recently if there was a chance of the band performing again, he replied: "Anything can happen".
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