Album: Seconds Out
Year: 1977
Format: Compact disc
Grade: B
Seconds Out, Genesis' second live album, provides a snapshot the group before it shrugged off its oft-forgotten proggy beginnings.
Recorded primarily in Paris in the summer of '77, it has many songs from the band's era with Peter Gabriel, but he exited the group two years prior. The tour was in support of Wind and Wuthering, but only "Afterglow" is from that slab.
It's also the last record with guitarist Steve Hackett. Tony Banks later joked that he was mixed out, but that was just dry British wit.
With Phil Collins behind the mic, he presses his own style into Gabriel's songs, although he mimics Gabriel's different voices and characters in "Robbery, Assault and Battery."
The second disc starts with the band's prog magnum opus, "Supper's Ready," a 24-and-a-half-minute suite that combines elements from Gabriel's nightmares and the book of Revelations. Delivering it live seems like a challenge, but the playing is crisp and precise.
It's the band's last gasp before its descent into its '80s pop phase. It's hard to believe it's the same band.
Tomorrow's entry: Alcatrazz, Disturbing the Peace
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