Review - Genesis: 1976-1982 Box Set

Genesis: 1976-1982 is a technically superb, historically accurate repository of the beginning of the band's Phil Collins era. The audio and video bonus extras and the quality of the remixing make the box set worth its three figure price tag for serious Genesis fans. For the less interested, the individual CDs (without DVDs) are also available.

It's no accident that the first of three box sets containing a total of 13 Genesis albums is being released as Genesis is preparing to embark on a world tour. Since it is Phil Collins who will be fronting the reuniting band, it is also no accident that the first set in the series covers the beginning of the "Collins era" and leap-frogs past the Peter Gabriel era (1967-1975) in the rotation.

The fact that Collins, keyboardist Tony Banks and bassist Mike Rutherford participated in the production helps explain the attention to detail and the depth of material included in the box set. Based on my review of the chronologically first (A Trick of the Tail - 1976) and last (Abacab - 1981) in this series, there was much more put into this project than just a promotional re-release to stimulate concert ticket sales.

Each of the CDs has been re-mixed, and each of the DVDs has a 5.1 Surround Sound mix of the album, and "visual extras" that include videos, concert footage, photos, and interviews.

I arrived a little late to the party as a Genesis fan, which is to say that I didn't them a lot of attention when they were active, but in recent years have come to appreciate their stylistic evolution and the quality of their musicianship and production values.