| GENESIS FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION | |
01. Where The Sour Turns To Sweet (3:14) | 02. In The Beginning (3:45) 03. Fireside Song (4:18) 04. The Serpent (4:38) 05. Am I Very Wrong? (3:31) 06. In The Wilderness (3:31) 07. The Conqueror (3:40) 08. In Hiding (2:37) 09. One Day (3:21) 10. Window (3:33) 11. In Limbo (3:30) 12. Silent Sun (2:13) 13. A Place To Call My Own (2:00) Total playing time: 43:59 All songs by Genesis Anthony Banks: Piano, Keyboards, Vocals Peter Gabriel: Lead Vocals, Flute Anthony Phillips: Guitar, Vocals Michael Rutherford: Bass Guitar, Vocals Jonathan Silver: Drums String arrangements by Arthur Greenslade Backing Vocals: David Thomas Produced by Jonathan King A Jonjo music production Recorded at Regent Sound 2, Denmark St., London, summer 1968 Cover designed by Jonathan King (P) © 1969 Decca Records Note: this album was re-released a number of times under different titles by various labels eg: 'Roots', (1976); 'Where The Sour Turns To Sweet', (Rock Machine, 1986); 'From Genesis To Revelation' (Razor, 1988); 'From Genesis To Revelation' (Music Club, 1993); 'Original Album' (1998) etc. The 'Where The Sour Turns To Sweet', release (and some others) contains bonus tracks, which are Genesis 1968 singles: [track #1] The Silent Sun (2:15) (single, released 22/2/68) [track #2] That's Me (2:41) (B side of 'The Silent Sun') [track #16] A Winter's Tale (3:31) (single, released 10/5/68) [track #17] One-Eyed Hound (2:31) (B side of 'A Winter's Tale') Total playing time incl. bonus tracks: 54:48 Behind every great band is their first album. In Genesis' case it is 17 years behind them, back even before Phil Collins. There was Tony Banks & Mike Rutherford. They were in this band that had started up in 1966 while they were still at Charterhouse, one of Britain's finest public schools. This band didn't have a name, scarcely had a drummer & only played one concert in the school hall which was stopped midway through when somebody made an announcement between numbers. This had been expressly forbidden - it was a very traditional school. This did rehearse a lot though - Tony on piano & Mike on guitar with Peter Gabriel singing. Anthony Phillips on guitar & Chris Stewart on drums. They were mainly acoustic songs together & eventually made a demo tape which somebody passed to Old Carthusian Jonathan King who'd just had his first hit while still a Cambridge University undergraduate called 'Everyone's Gone To The Moon'. Jonathan liked their sound & encouraged them to make more demos, signing them to his publishing company & giving them L40 for 4 songs. But he didn't like the new demos as much as the old until Tony & Peter deliberately came up with a Bee Gees-type ballad called 'The Silent Sun'. Jonathan was hooked. They recorded it & another song called 'That's Me' which was released as a single on Decca (the label Jonathan was signed to) in February 1968. It got a few plays on the radio & at one point they even rushed out to buy suits for 'Top Of The Pops' but it never quite happened. Neither did the next single, 'A Winter's Tale', which came out in May, & it was decided that their songs might be more suitable for an album. So Jonathan gave them the concept, 'From Genesis To Revelation', & sent them away. The worked earnestly at the country home of their new drummer John Silver & then came back to London to record the album in a day at Regent Sound Studios. Naturally they were nervous & Peter had to keep taking showers in order to hit the high notes. Afterwards Jonathan added some strings arranged by Arthur Greensdale. It seemed like a good idea that had worked quite successfully on 'The Silent Sun' but the band were less enthusiastic about it when they heard the finished album, particularly as their efforts had been confined to one stereo channel with the strings occupying the other. Relations between the group & Jonathan were never quite the same after that although they took his advice when he suggested they call themselves Genesis. They even went along with his plain for a plain black album cover with the title in gold letters. The problem was that some shops put it in the religious section. The reaction when 'From Genesis To Revelation' was released in March 1969 was minimal. Those critics who did review it saw no potential, although they did get an encouraging mention in the underground bible, International Times. King couldn't whip up any enthusiasm among his radio friends either & Genesis didn't really know what to do next. As a result the album disappeared virtually without trace, the band told Jonathan that they'd broken up & retreated back to which Surrey countryside to consider their next move... Looking back at 'FGTR' Tony Banks believes that 'the pastoral songs worked alright but the more aggressive songs didn't really come across. The exception was 'In The Wilderness' which has got a bit of aggression to it. It's far & away the best track on the album. I don't think there's anything else to touch it.' Mike Rutherford remembers that 'although it was exciting it was also hard work & dissatisfying artistically because the songs didn't come out as we wanted them to. But it did gave us a glimpse of what we thought we could do. J. King remains convinced that it was 'one of the great underrated albums. It was fairly revolutionary thinking from a bunch of young people - we were all still in our teens. I think it was ahead of its time. In fact I'd like to hear Barry Manilow sing 'The Silent Sun' now. I think he'd make a good job of it. But then I do own which publishing!' -Hugh Fielder (P) 1969 Jonjo Music Ltd. © 1986 Rock Machine, London 
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