Book review: Genesis Song by Song – Philipp Rottgers
An overview of all the official releases in one handy volume. Fonthill, £25.00
Sometimes I’m offered books to review, so I post my reviews here as well as on my website ianpaulsharp.uk. My own new book, ‘Pete Townshend’s Lifehouse’, is available from there.
This book covers the broad range of the Genesis catalogue, ranging from their first attempts at songwriting while students at the Charterhouse public school, to their final studio album and the most recent archive releases.
Each song is given a constructive overview. Rottgers’ judgement is sound, giving space to the most significant songs - early classics such as ‘The Knife’, ‘Watcher of the Skies’ and the epic ‘Supper’s Ready’ alongside what some (inaccurately) refer to as the ‘pop era’ when Phil Collins took over lead vocals from Peter Gabirel. Each song gets due consideration, and it is for the reader to reach their own conclusion about the merits (or not) of a specific track.
Between albums he notes changes in personnel and the effects on the nature of the band. While the focus is always on the songs, the inclusion of the band’s backstory allows for greater insight into what was actually happening, as opposed to the mythology that has grown in the telling.
As well as the album-by-album breakdown, there’s space for the EPs and B-sides and discussion around whether or not, for example, ‘Inside and Out’ (from the Spot the Pigeon EP) should have been on Wind and Wuthering, and how the decision to leave it off contributed to Steve Hackett’s leaving of the band.
Rottgers connects the dots across their career, with quotes from band members (‘Invisible Touch’ is Collins’ favourite song, oddly) and also discusses recording techniques and the associated live shows, as well as any resulting official live albums.
The section on The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (read my own take here) was always going to be a challenge. It’s a double album of songs flowing into one long conceptual story, and Rottgers find a way of discussing both without getting caught in the weeds of the story.
Genesis has been well served with biographies and track-by-track breakdowns in recent years, and this is a valuable addition to the bookshelf. If these books serve to remind the band there is interest in their back catalogue, all to the good. Let’s hope there will be sufficient archive releases (the 50th anniversary box for The Lamb might only have been the start, fingers crossed) to make a second volume necessary.
Buy Genesis Song by Song for £23.75 from Bookshop.org (aff link)
LP publishes essays and curated listening built around albums that reward sustained attention. If this felt like your kind of thing, there’s more where it came from.