Genesis – R-Kive (2014)

[spoiler show=”more ….”]Genesis and their associated solo projects have accumulated a remarkable and undiminished series of accomplishments over the years, and have collectively amassed an incredible fourteen chart-topping albums as well as over two dozen more which reached the Top 10. In total, Genesis and the members’ related solo projects have sold more than 300 million albums worldwide.Chronologically ordered, ‘R-Kive’ features the Genesis’s biggest hits including ‘Invisible Touch’, ‘Turn It On Again’, ‘Land of Confusion’ and ‘I Can’t Dance’. Along the way it also visits Mike + The Mechanics’ classics ‘The Living Years’ and ‘Over My Shoulder’, Collins’s ‘In The Air Tonight’ and his Philip Bailey duet ‘Easy Lover’, and Peter Gabriel’s ‘Solsbury Hill’.

‘R-Kive’ opens with ‘The Knife’- a nine-minute proto-punk number which became a favourite closing set during the band’s early shows, and was written before either Hackett or Collins had joined the band. In addition to 22 Genesis songs, each member’s work outside of the band is represented democratically with three songs each.

Such an approach contributes to a hugely eclectic body of work which features early material including the sprawling seven-section odyssey ‘Supper’s Ready’ and the title track of the conceptual masterpiece ‘The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway’.

Yet ‘R-Kive’ also visits the unexpected – as evidenced by Hackett’s flamenco-inspired ‘Nomads’, Gabriel’s ‘Signal To Noise’ which featured Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (“possibly the greatest singer we had worked with”), and ‘Calling All Stations’, the sole representative from the short-lived era in which Genesis were fronted by former Stiltskin vocalist Ray Wilson.

“This album jogs memories about old albums, things people might have missed the first time around,” says Collins. “Most of the time, the singles always seem to be the things that are remembered from albums. Sometimes the lesser-known tracks deserve better than to be forgotten.”

“I’m a songwriter first of all,” adds Rutherford. “When you put these songs together, it’s a wonderfully impressive array and variety of songs. It’s an interesting combination that doesn’t normally get put on the same page.”

The release of ‘R-Kive’ will be followed by the accompanying reunion documentary ‘Genesis: Together and Apart’ which will be broadcast by the BBC in early October. An accompanying DVD, ‘Sum Of The Parts’ will also be issued by Eagle Rock on November 17th (November 18th in North America).

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