Genesis: Together and Apart

The only interesting thing could be having the whoe bunch together, but it's just an illusion. But they don't offer anything new. It is watchable, of course; if you are a fan you will enjoy it; but I insist, don't expect news.

Still am a huge fan of Genesis. Especially Gabriel's era. I love them.

Genesis is a band started out in public school and went through various incarnations. They were a leading band in the Prog Rock movement and excelled when their lead singer Peter Gabriel started to dress up as vegetables, go for more theatrics and started to gain more attention than the rest of the band.

After Gabriel the band decided that the drummer Phil Collins should become a vocalist and in the 1980s following Collins divorce, Collins zoomed as a solo artist and the band became more of a pop/rock band. With the release of the Invisible Touch album they became a super-band.

The trouble with this type of documentaries is where bands have had a falling out, you can never get the ex-members in one room. Here Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett rejoin the former band members and reminiscence, talk about the ups and down. You also get various fans talking about the band who despite their prog rock roots became a mainstream worldwide rock band.

It is revealing, informative, although many fans of Genesis would know some of the issues raised such as the departure of Gabriel (he deals with in his song, Solsbury Hill) and how the rest of the band reacted with Collin's increasing fame in the 1980s as a solo artist and actor.

The documentary covers the solo careers of Gabriel (the irony that his song Sledgehammer replaced Invisible Touch as number 1 in the US pop charts) and Collins as well as the side projects of the other members. One big omission was that after Collins left Genesis, Banks and Rutherford released Calling all Stations in 1997 with a new lead vocalist and that part was not covered.

Some parts of this documentary are shocking for an omnivorous Genesis fan, such as myself. Omnivorous? I like all of Genesis. Not just the Gabriel era or, just the later three member Genesis. So ... What this film revealed was the oh, so very English, Old School Tie code of omerta that the Old Carthusians cleaved to, during their time together in Genesis. Edgington did us all a service, when he got just the three Old Carthusians of Genesis together. Watch the documentary to see the reactions & body language & see for yourselves.

I owe Mr. Gabriel an apology. All this time I thought it was him being a Prima Dona which caused a rift and then broke up that lovely Genesis, which gave me so much. In actual fact, that was not the case, at all. It was actually a member who remained, who caused the rift. Who micro-managed & kind of dominated & bullied any member of the band that he thought he could. Watch the film to see if you make the same assessment. Clue/spoiler: It's not Phil Collins. Whom, incidentally, turns out to be the joker, the ice breaker of the band. Consequently, a lot of rather salient band politics seem to have been kept from Mr. Collins, as part of the omerta code.

Genesis have a very strange place in music history. They existed outside of fashion, sold an incredible number of records (particularly albums), filled some of the world's biggest venues and launched two hugely successful solo careers. And yet, as has been commented by many music critics over the years, it's hard to imagine the music business would have developed very differently without them (excepting the outstanding solo career of Peter Gabriel) and they have few outstanding songs which have become part of popular culture. This documentary merely confirmed that when it comes to rock royalty and national treasure status, Genesis are way behind bands like The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, Pink Floyd, Queen and Fleetwood Mac.

One of the most glaringly noticeable things about the documentary is the complete absence of any major musicians influenced by the band or famous music critics talking about them. There were a number of talking heads but I honestly had no idea who any of them were (with the exception of a brief appearance by the convicted sex offender Jonathan King, who discovered the band, and the comedian Al "The Pub Landlord" Murray). Even the usually ubiquitous Paul Gambaccinni couldn't be bothered to turn up for this! This led me to think that this documentary was really done on the cheap (which it did look like, to be honest) or it confirmed that few people of any note have anything interesting to say about the band. Probably both. On the plus side, one of the speakers was a quite an attractive posh young blonde woman, which was quite a surprise to see on a programme about Genesis.

The Genesis members themselves came over as they have always been caricatured: a bunch of polite but rather dull middle class men. Listening to them talk was about as interesting as listening to a bunch of old codgers from the Cheltenham Conservative Club talking about golf. What was really shocking was how rough Phil Collins both looked and sounded. I never thought I'd feel sorry for someone who's had so much bad press, is worth over £100 million and who wrote the egregious "Another Day in Paradise" before disappearing to live in the luxurious rich man's utopia of Switzerland - but I really did. He was a shadow of the man he used to be.

I saw this documentary on screen and was very very disappointed. Genesis has been one of my favorite bands since I came across their music as from Nursery Crime and even until the We can't dance despite the lack of the Progg-factor. My point of view was always that a band needs to evolve.Phil moved Genesis towards a more mainstream band and still I loved their music. So that meant that I remained to see their shows, but as well Phil's shows , The Musical Box shows and latest the Hackett shows. The documentary didn't reveal anything that I did not know yet, with the exception that there is still a visible problem between Tony and Peter and even Tony and Steve. More: I would not be surprised that Tony is the problem within Genesis as to the factor ego against ego. More : he even somehow indicates it himself and even more he's all well aware of it if you read the latest Progg-magazine where they dig into this docu.But how about this docu ? Well it seems that Steve is neglected almost completely and the ones who edited this and the ones who gave their fiat to air this the way it was edited should be sacked. It is utterly unbelievable that Steve's contribution is put in the background. He's one of the best guitar players and came with new tricks and sounds and lifted Genesis to major heights and this is completely put aside ? What we get is more emphasis on the solo- stuff of Tony which lets be honest and despite the quality is far less important than Steve's solo-work. So what do we get here ? Maybe a jealous reaction because Steve is filling the Albert Pub with a Genesis show and having success all over ? Then we get into Ray Wilson : who is that guy ? Even more neglect of facts. OK the last album was not good at all but that doesn't mean that one is not allowed to talk about it . A docu is meant to shine light onto the good things but also the bad things and what we get here is the BBC playing on safe , very safe , don't let us dig too deep under the belt. So in short, a shame of a docu made by the BBC and edited by people with big scissors in order to keep the myth alive that Genesis was hunky dory.Shame BBC.