From Genesis to Revelation

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From Genesis to Revelation was the first album by Genesis, released in March 1969 on Decca Records in England (London Records in North America). It was produced by Jonathan King, who discovered them in 1967 while the members of Genesis were pupils at Charterhouse School, King's alma mater.

Production

Upon their inception in early 1967, Genesis originally consisted of Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, and Anthony Phillips, without a drummer. Once one of their demo tapes caught the attention of Jonathan King, he took them under his wing and—with the addition of schoolmate Chris Stewart on drums—recorded "The Silent Sun" as their first single. It was later described by the band as a "Bee Gees pastiche" written specifically to win King's approval. Its February 1968 release on Decca Records—where The Rolling Stones were contracted at the time—was not a commercial success. Neither was the follow-up "A Winter's Tale" three months later. Undeterred, King decided that Genesis would be best heard on LP. After replacing Chris Stewart with John Silver on drums, Genesis' producer had them compose an album's worth of songs loosely based on the Bible. This venture was cut in August 1968 while the boys were on school holidays, and later overdubbed with strings and horns, much to the band's chagrin. King also sequenced the songs together like a concept album, with no gaps in between the tracks.

The music on From Genesis to Revelation sounds very little like what Genesis would produce even two years later. When this album was recorded in 1968, the ages of the band members ranged from 16 to 18, and none of them considered themselves proficient musicians as they had hardly any studio experience. Still, the band feels that there were some very good tracks and that they already had a knack for melody, even in these embryonic times. Indeed, between the songs "Fireside Song" and "The Serpent", there is a brief instrumental interlude from the song "Twilight Alehouse", which would become – in its full, seven-minute version – a live favourite throughout the early seventies before being recorded by Genesis in 1972 and later issued as the b-side of their single "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" in 1973. Tony Banks has often hailed "In the Wilderness" as the album's standout track, despite the intrusive strings.

Release

From Genesis to Revelation was issued several months later in a black sleeve with its title scribed in gothic gold on the top lefthand side. With little else to go by, the record shops stacked the LP in the religious sections and it was consequently impossible to find. Its initial sales tally was 650 copies. However, once the band began achieving worldwide success, From Genesis to Revelation briefly dented the US charts in 1974, peaking at #170.

Other than being part of the album title, the band's name was omitted from the sleeve because Decca had recently discovered that an obscure American act was also calling itself Genesis and asked the band to consider changing its name to avoid confusion, which King declined. The American "Genesis" in question was likely the LA-based group that released an LP called In The Beginning on the Mercury label in 1967.

Aftermath

Genesis soon split with both Decca and Jonathan King, preferring to strike out on their own musical terms. Although King had more experience and was aiming to present Genesis in a marketable way, they were feeling more and more constrained by King's attempts to curtail and limit their increasingly lengthy and adventurous new compositions. The band went professional in the autumn of 1969, and after replacing John Silver with John Mayhew – Phil Collins' predecessor – on drums, the five-piece Genesis began formulating the music that would lead to Trespass the following year and were soon signed to Charisma Records.

Although initially released on Decca Records, From Genesis to Revelation has since been licensed to many smaller labels, who often issue it with different artwork or different titles. It is because of these licensing reasons that the album was excluded from the 2008 box set, "Genesis 1970–1975", which covers the rest of the band's era with singer Peter Gabriel.

Several collections such as "Genesis: The Orange Collection" and "The Genesis of Genesis" reportedly contain new mixes and possibly revised instrumentation (but the original vocal tracks) of "Where the Sour Turns to Sweet" and "The Silent Sun".

On 27 July 1990, From Genesis to Revelation was reissued in a two disc set. The second disc included the four tracks included on And the Word Was....., four early versions of songs on the album, and ten interviews.

On 25 October 2010, the album was released as a special edition on iTunes. It includes the bonus tracks from the 1990 reissue.

Track listing

All songs by Tony Banks/Peter Gabriel/Anthony Phillips/Mike Rutherford except where noted. Copyright Jonjo Music Co. Ltd.

Original 1969 Release

1. "Where the Sour Turns to Sweet" – 3:16
2. "In the Beginning" – 3:47
3. "Fireside Song" – 4:20
4. "The Serpent" – 4:40
5. "Am I Very Wrong?" – 3:33
6. "In the Wilderness" – 3:33
7. "The Conqueror" – 3:42
8. "In Hiding" – 2:40
9. "One Day" – 3:22
10. "Window" – 3:35
11. "In Limbo" – 3:32
12. "Silent Sun" (Gabriel/Banks) – 2:15
13. "A Place to Call My Own" – 2:00

And the Word Was... (1987 Reissue)

1. "The Silent Sun (mono)" – 2:17
2. "That's Me (mono)" – 2:41
3. "Where the Sour Turns to Sweet" – 3:16
4. "In the Beginning" – 3:44
5. "Fireside Song" – 4:58
6. "The Serpent" – 3:58
7. "Am I Very Wrong?" – 3:31
8. "In the Wilderness" – 3:39
9. "The Conqueror" – 3:22
10. "In Hiding" – 2:38
11. "One Day" – 3:21
12. "Window" – 3:33
13. "In Limbo" – 3:30
14. "Silent Sun" – 2:13
15. "A Place to Call My Own" – 1:59
16. "A Winter's Tale (mono)" – 3:31
17. "One-Eyed Hound (mono)" – 2:36

Bonus Disc (1990 Reissue)

1. "A Winter's Tale" – 3:31
2. "One-Eyed Hound" – 2:31
3. "That's Me" – 2:38
4. "Silent Sun (Single Version)" – 2:12
5. "Image Blown Out" – 2:11
6. "She is Beautiful" – 3:46
7. "Try a Little Sadness" – 3:18
8. "Patricia" – 3:05
9. "Interviews" – 21:53

Bonus Disc (2005 Reissue)

1. "Patricia (demo 1967)" – 3:08
2. "Try a Little Sadness (demo 1967)" – 3:21
3. "She is Beautiful (demo 1967)" – 3:48
4. "Image Blown Out (demo)" – 2:49
5. "The Silent Sun (single A-side)" – 2:15
6. "That's Me (single B-side)" – 2:40
7. "A Winter's Tale (single A-side)" – 3:32
8. "One-Eyed Hound (single B-side)" – 2:34
9. "Where the Sour Turns to Sweet (demo 1968)" – 3:16
10. "In the Beginning (demo 1968)" – 3:32
11. "In the Wilderness (rough mix without strings 1968)" – 2:59
12. "One Day (rough mix 1968)" – 3:08
13. "Image Blown Out (rough mix 1968)" – 2:13

Related Songs

1. "Hidden in the World of Dawn" – 3:10
2. "Sea Bee" – 3:05
3. "The Mystery of the Flannan Isle Lighthouse" – 2:36
4. "Hair on the Arms and Legs" – 2:42
   • Tracks 1–4 are 1967 demos
5. "The Magic of Time" – 2:01
6. "Hey!" – 2:28
   • Tracks 5–6 are 1968 demos
7. "Build Me a Mountain" – 4:13
   • 1968 rough mix

All these tracks are available on Genesis Archive 1967-75 released in 1998.

Personnel

• Peter Gabriel – vocals, flute, percussion
• Anthony Phillips – guitar, vocals
• Tony Banks – organ, guitar, piano, keyboards, vocals
• Mike Rutherford – bass guitar, guitar, vocals
• John Silver – drums, vocals, except on "Silent Sun"
• Chris Stewart – drums on "Silent Sun"

• Strings & Horns Arranged & Conducted By Arthur Greenslade & Lou Warburton

Production

• Produced By Jonathan King
• Recorded & Engineered By Brian Roberts & Tom Allom

Releases

UK LP Releases

• Decca LK 4990 (1969): Mono 1st issue, contains insert with art, lyrics and credits. Record has red labels with an unboxed Decca logo and a red "peep hole" on the back of the cover. Mono copies are extremely rare and fetch very high prices (upwards of $1,200 USD for a copy in good condition).
• Decca SKL 4990 (1969): Stereo 1st issue, contains insert with art, lyrics and credits. Record has blue labels and a blue "peep hole" on the back of the cover.
  • On the labels, 1st issues contain both the boxed Decca logo and the unboxed logo. The labels were used interchangeably. The unboxed logos are more rare.
• Decca SKL 4990 (1974): Reissue, retitled In The Beginning

U.S. LP Releases

• London XPS 643 (1974): 1st issue, with art, lyrics and credits.
• London LC50006 (1977): 2nd issue, retitled In the Beginning
• London 820 496-2 (1987): CD reissue, retitled And the Word Was.....
  • This release included four additional mono tracks. The first two appear before the contents of the original album (which are in stereo), the other two afterward:
    • A mono version of "The Silent Sun"
    • "That's Me"
    • "A Winter's Tale"
    • "One-Eyed Hound"
  • This reissue marked the first U.S. availability of From Genesis to Revelation on CD. It was apparently meant to capitalise upon the group's (and likely Gabriel's) surging popularity in the U.S., as suggested by the timing of its release (closely on the heels of Invisible Touch) and its liner notes which document the band's early history, up to …And Then There Were Three…, which was not familiar to most of the group's American audience.

External links

• From Genesis to Revelation at Discogs (list of releases)