Genesis - And Then There Were Three

Great bonus DVD with a classic Genesis album

And Then There Were Three (because Steve Hackett left during the mixing of the previous album) marks the real transition between "old prog Genesis" and "modern pop Genesis." It has a lot of the elements of the older style, but Phil Collins finally sounds secure in his lead vocals role and writing contributions. My favorite track is the last song, Follow You Follow Me, which previews the stylistic changes to come for this band. This reissue includes an excellent DVD featuring Three Dates With Genesis, a documentary about the 1978 European festival tour. Great stuff. And the standard Reissue Interviews provide good insight from the band themselves about the recording of the album and what was going on at the time. June 15, 2008

New remaster is poor

This original 1978 release was full of dramatic keyboard sequences & drum fills that have been muted in the 2007 nick davis remaster. My guess is that in order to obtain a new generation of genesis fans he dulled down the aggressive phil collins drumming & intricate tony banks keyboard patterns because it doesn't suit the popular mood of today. These days a great band is plagued by straight 4/4 rhythm patterns driven by drummers with 5 piece drum kits with no talent. This album (when originally released) was a perfect duet of commercial rock & intelligent progressive rock (now considered too busy). This is the best "collins era" genesis album as collins is developing his voice & drum chops. The band as a whole was constantly evolving using new sounds (especially here with tony's yamaha cp-70 electric piano). This reproduction does the band diservice by trying to mask what made the band huge - their intricate progressive style. The video extras were cool though. 3 dates with genesiswas a TV special of their 1978 tour & shows their computer controlled mirrors & lasers (groundbreaking at the time). By this but young kids be aware & buy the original master too. May 23, 2008

Feel The Crunch...grab the asprin!

As many reviewers have pointed out, a Genesis remaster series is a welcomed endeavor. Both music and artwork go hand in hand with this group, and bringing both up to speed seemed timely. I thought the 1994 remaster of "And Then There Were Three" was a great improvement over its unsweetened predecessor. Nothing seemed too overdone. And Then There Were...these!
Many people have commented on the overuse (or even simply the use at all)of compression when remastering the Genesis catalog. I have to agree fully that to my ears, this is a sonic hatchet job. Genesis is a band with wide dynamics, soft passages lead to swells, delicate acoustic guitars and pianos give way to deep resonating bass pedals, etc. What we have with the remasters, at least with Wind And Wuthering & ATTWT, is a horrid "evening out" sensation. It is a crunching of signal pushing the limits at the upper ceiling before zero, and bringing up any soft passages to a numbing "average" on par with louder passages. Case in point: "Burning Rope". There is a passage where a dissonant instrumental section leads to a swell before succumbing to a more melodic finish. On the '94 release it is wonderful. On this release, there is really no crescendo, just a loud start and a loud finish. All sense of dynamics are lost. I know there was remixing involved on all tracks, so that could play into it but those who know the original will hear it right away.
Some improvements? Ok, the vocals are more pronounced (probably by eq in the 4k range), more elements of the mixes stand out, and there is a clarity to it all. Having said that, I would trade it in an instant for a more tasteful use of compression. Loud is not always better.
Listen to "Snowbound" and the way the drums are now overly processed and beefed up. Again, a remix result, but it loses something to my ears, compared to the '94 issue.
The net result of these reissues leave me with an uneasy feeling of having to choose. I like the fact that added clarity in the vocals now exist on the remasters, but I ended up keeping my 1994 copy for "Wind" and "ATTWT". I suppose if I am in a mood for a Genesis album on steroids, I can pop in the new guys, but I think I will more likely dip into the 94 releases and cut my losses. (hearing losses?)
Any thoughts? December 2, 2007

Genesis Pare Down To A Trio, With Great Results

On AND THEN THERE WERE THREE, Genesis, after losing guitarist Steve Hackett, pare down to a trio of drummer/vocalist Phil Collins, keyboardist Tony Banks, and guitarist/bassist Mike Rutherford, and the result is not only their first major hit single ("Follow You, Follow Me"), but yet another great album to boot. Without Peter Gabriel's stage costumes to draw attention, Genesis has now, since A TRICK OF THE TAIL, been able to let the music do the talking, and have also translated well into the video age. There's still some progressive flourishes on this CD, so it is a bit transitional, but they've been sublimated into great pop songs. If you enjoy progressive pop-rock, you must own this CD/DVD. November 23, 2007

First Genesis album as a trio gets long overdue sonic makeover

English prog rockers Genesis released their first album as a three piece appropriately titled And Then There Were Three in March of 1978.
The actual number three would prove to be the band's magic number.
With the departures of original lead singer/frontman Peter Gabriel in 1975 and guitarist Steve Hackett in 1977 respectively, many fans wrote the band off. When Hackett left during the mixing of the 1977 double live album Seconds Out, this move left Genesis a studio trio of Phil Collins handling double duties of drums and vocals, Tony Banks on keyboards and Mike Rutherford alternating between his already famous 12-string guitar and bass work plus now regular lead 6-string work (his lead playing would get better over time), few could have expected the band to achieve Gold success in the US. However, that's exactly what happened with this album and the band's rebirth as a unlikely more pop sounding act began with this album, which introduced the newly slimmed-down lineup.
The haunting closing love song "Follow You Follow Me" (penned by all three Genesis members) introduced the band to the singles charts here in the US (reaching the US Top 30 in 1978) and caused And Then to go Gold in May of 1978 (eventually Platinum) and the album reached #14 on the Billboard album chart.
Aside from this track, the album had other great tracks like the haunting "Many Too Many" (penned by Banks), the great Rutherford number "Deep in the Motherlode", the epic "Burning Rope" (penned by Banks, which had some great guitar work from Rutherford whom is a great guitarist although not near Steve Hackett caliber) the fast-paced opener "Down and Out" (penned by all three Genesis members) and the funny cowboy number "Ballad of Big" (also penned by all three Genesis members).
The highlight of the album is really the Banks piece "The Lady Lies" which goes for about six minutes and is a great art rock/pop track.
The album's other pieces which is the majestic "Snowbound" (penned by Rutherford), the hauntingly beautiful "Undertow" (penned by Banks), "the whimsical "Scenes from a Night's Dream" (penned by Rutherford/Collins) and Rutherford's torch song "Say It's Alright Joe" are also great tracks though overlooked (when I hear "Say It's Alright Joe" now, I think of when Phil Collins played the song live in 1978 and the UK leg of 1980's Duke Tour dressed as the drunk Sidney with funny results).
This album paved the way for the decade Genesis would reign, the 80s.
I first bought this album in October of 1997 on cassette and played it constantly. I eventually bought the remastered CD a month later (which was sonically superior to the original album, cassette, 8-track and CD).
Now in May of 2007, Rhino/Atlantic re-release the album as a CD and DVD set. The album is remixed on CD in stereo for excellent sound (very reminiscent to what The Who did with their back catalog in the 1990s when they remixed their albums though few complained). The new mixes are AMAZING and I hear things in the new mixes that I have not ever heard before. Also, it comes with a DVD which has the album mixed in 5.1 plus the two promo videos for the album (Follow You Follow Me and Many Too Many), new interviews with messieurs Collins, Steve Hackett (who explains why he left the band), Banks and Rutherford and the BBC documentary Three Days With Genesis (which covered the band's 1978 European tour climaxing with their Knebworth performance that year).
Highly recommended! November 10, 2007

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