London 1980: Genesis Bootlegs

Genesis, 1980 — and this time it’s personal.

By the time I was discovering rock music as a young lad in the late-‘70s, the ‘classic’ era was already over and its surviving big beasts were fast mutating into something altogether cuddlier and more house-trained. Led Zeppelin’s In Through the Out Door featured as much piano as guitar and even a flirtation with synth-pop. Tormato by Yes offered up nine songs (and an awful album cover), only three fewer than the total number of tracks on their previous three releases, one of which was a double. Perhaps oddest of all was Pink Floyd — plus schoolchildren — with the Christmas number one single in 1979.

I got into Genesis sometime in 1978 — or possibly 1979 — via And Then There Were Three. Within a few months I had caught up with their back catalogue. Duke, released in March 1980, was the first Genesis album that came out in ‘real time’, as it were.

Their approach to writing some of the tracks that ended up on Duke has echoes of the pre-Trespass days, this time with Phil’s home substituting for Richard Macphail’s parents’ cottage in Surrey where much early writing and rehearsing had been done. It was collaborative and spontaneous, and came about in part, perhaps, because of the lack of individual material to hand. With Phil away trying to rescue his marriage, Tony and Mike had both released solo albums. On his return Phil, too, had begun writing and recording material that eventually became Face Value.

The Armando Gallo book, my Genesis bible at the time, ends in 1979 with talk of an extended piece of music, which this young fan — who was playing Seconds Out to death at this point — naively interpreted as a return to musical adventures à la Supper’s Ready and The Cinema Show. Alas, it was not to be. The piece was broken up into its component parts, the radio-friendly Turn It On Again and Misunderstanding became successful singles, and a ‘new’ Genesis-for-the-eighties came into being.

Forty years on I look back on these years — 1978 to 1980 — as a time of transition, a staging post on the journey to the brave new world of commercial success. Duke continues along the more accessible path mapped out by And Then There Were Three. But both albums also contain more than a few moments for even the most diehard fan of ‘old’ Genesis to savour — extended instrumental passages, soaring choruses, lyrical references to maidens fair and foul. An alluring mixture of familiar fragrance and flavours strange, you might say.

But it didn’t feel like that at the time — at least, not to this young fan. It actually felt like a huge and hugely unwelcome change of direction. It was as if they were forsaking their roots. Selling out.

Even the artwork — the cartoon figures, the childlike scrawl of the lyrics — reinforced these thoughts. It was all a bit too lightweight, too direct, too commercial. I avoided the new single (Turn It On Again), unlike my friend and fellow compulsive record-buyer Dave. Also a Genesis fan, he was generally more open-minded about chart music than I was. I probably picked up Duke, belatedly and grudgingly, a few weeks after its release.

And then, as Genesis transformed themselves during the early-‘80s, I took refuge in Foxtrot, Wind and Wuthering and the rest, leaving my doubts about Duke to fester and grow. To this day Duke strikes me as the weaker of the two ‘transition’ albums, a judgement more to do with the overall sound than with the quality of particular songs. Where Tony’s lush keyboards on And Then There Were Three wrap the listener in a warm embrace, Duke tracks such as Alone Tonight, Cul-de-sac and Heathaze sound colder and thinner to this (untrained) ear.

On this I am doubtless in a small minority. Genesis fans generally seem to regard Duke with huge affection. It was certainly a big seller at the time. Tony himself describes it in Chapter and Verse as his favourite album. Only relatively recently — perhaps after finally buying a copy of Tony’s A Curious Feeling five or so years ago, perhaps a little earlier — have I really made an effort to listen to Duke with fresh ears.

And so we come to the live shows, lengthy tours of Britain and North America. In addition to audio bootlegs — including high-quality recordings from Sheffield (broadcast on FM radio) and London — there is also a visual record of the tour. The London Lyceum shows on 6–7 May were filmed by the BBC. A very watchable video of the entire show is in wide circulation, though only a 40-minute edit was ever broadcast, initially as an Old Grey Whistle Test special.

Genesis had played only one British date on their 1978 world tour — at Knebworth. Phil ended the show with the promise of an extensive British tour the following year. Actually it ran from March to May 1980. And in the manner of Queen’s Crazy Tour a few months earlier, the focus was very much on a return to smaller venues, the likes of Exeter University and the Hexagon at Reading.

After the radical restructuring of the set list in 1978, its core remained in place for the 1980 tour. It ran roughly as follows:

Deep in the Motherlode / Dancing with the Moonlit Knight [excerpt] / Carpet Crawlers / Squonk / One for the Vine / Behind the Lines / Duchess / Guide Vocal / Turn It On Again / Duke’s Travels / Duke’s End / Say It’s Alright Joe / The Lady Lies / Ripples / In the Cage / The Colony of Slippermen [excerpt] / Afterglow / Follow You Follow Me / Dance on a Volcano / Los Endos / I Know What I Like / The Knife [shortened]

Genesis opening songs have been somewhat hit and miss over the years. The brooding intensity of Watcher of the Skies was perfect in its day. On the other hand, as I have written elsewhere, Squonk (used in ’77) isn’t one of their strongest songs, and it’s frankly a mystery why they chose to go with Land of Confusion on the final (1992) tour. For the first few shows on the Duke tour they appear to have opened with the muscular Back in NYC from the Lamb album. It’s not an obvious choice, the song not having featured in the set since the Lamb tour; it’s also a throat shredder for Phil. It was quickly replaced by Deep in the Motherlode, one of their very best openers, with its dramatic keyboard riff and Phil’s emphatic call to “Go west, young man!”

“We’re going to play some old songs, and a few new songs, and some songs you won’t have heard for a long time,” announces Phil in Sheffield, almost word for word the formula that he had used on the previous tour, a formula that he was to continue using to the end. After Deep in the Motherlode comes a trio of well-established songs — a snippet of Dancing with the Moonlit Knight segueing into Carpet Crawlers, followed by the aforementioned Squonk (still in the set!) and then One for the Vine. All designed, one assumes, to placate longstanding fans. All cheered to the rafters.

The Cinema Show has gone … again … but will return … again. Gone, too, are Eleventh Earl of Mar and The Fountain of Salmacis, the early classic resurrected for the previous tour. Burning Rope and Ballad of Big from the previous album have also been dropped. For the North American leg, Carpet Crawlers and Say It’s Alright Joe are replaced by Misunderstanding, out as a single in the USA by that point.

The most eye-catching feature of the set is the placement of the new songs. Unlike on most tours, when new material is sprinkled liberally throughout the evening — on the previous tour it was done with almost mathematical precision — Duke is represented by a single block of songs.

Behind the Lines / Duchess / Guide Vocal / Turn It On Again / Duke’s Travels / Duke’s End

It is, in effect, the extended suite that was envisaged way back at the start of the Duke recording process when, according to Chapter and Verse, what became Turn It On Again was little more than a riff, a bridge between the two main blocks of ‘Duke’ music.

It is fascinating — and a joy — to hear it played in its entirety, particularly Duke’s Travels / Duke’s End, which didn’t feature on the following tour and was only resurrected (in part) for the 2007 Turn It On Again comeback tour, minus the vocals.

“Evening, chaps. Good to have you aboard,” says Wing Commander Collins to the Lyceum crowd. To watch Phil’s performance is to appreciate what an outstanding front man he had become by this point, as well as reinforcing how important he was to the Genesis live experience. It is not just that his voice, particularly his falsetto on the likes of One for the Vine, is now much stronger. Tony and Mike are relatively static and undemonstrative on stage; Daryl and Chester, as ‘extras’, are never going to claim the limelight. It is to Phil that our attention continually turns.

He is on sparkling form. This is still likeable Phil. Funny Phil. Hairy Phil. Not Armani Phil. We are up close and personal. To watch the video is also to appreciate the meaning of ‘intimate venue’. We see every gesture, every facial expression, every bead of sweat. At a time when his personal life is crumbling around him, it is an assured and compelling performance.

Storytelling remains a part of the Genesis show, as it has been since the early days. Phil’s one-liners are only marginally less humorous with the knowledge that much of it is scripted. We meet the character of Sidney, the drunk from Say It’s Alright Joe, complete with Columbo-style raincoat, whisky bottle and even a small table lamp perched on Tony’s keyboard. The routine comes across well enough in a smaller venue, but it is hard to envisage it working in somewhere like Madison Square Garden (hence the reason why it was dropped for the US tour, presumably). And, as on the last tour, The Lady Lies is another opportunity for some playful interaction with the crowd around a hero/villain narrative.

Laddish humour abounds (though in interviews Mike has commented more than once that as the hit singles increased so did the number of females in the audience). There is Roland the bisexual drum machine who plays with anybody. Juliet is no longer tied to the steering wheel; now it is Albert having sex with a television set. And there are silly puns aplenty referencing Albert’s cultural achievements: Romeo and Albert, Albert in Wonderland, Albert vs Kramer. ‘Albatross’ is a great shout from the audience, the heckler either exceptionally quick-witted or (perhaps more likely) someone seeing the show not for the first time.

Back to the music. Ripples is outstanding. Two tours in and Daryl is starting to capture Steve Hackett’s distinctively delicate and haunting sound, though it’s noticeable that the audience cheers for Chester are louder than those for Daryl. The interplay between guitar and keyboards is gorgeous, and there’s a deafening chorus of “Sail away, away” as the crowd join in. Next comes a breathless In the Cage, now segueing into the Slippermen keyboard solo, which is making its first appearance as part of an embryonic medley that ends with the glorious, soaring Afterglow.

After playing their biggest hit to date, Follow You Follow Me, proceedings conclude with the Dance on a Volcano / drum duet / Los Endos medley, followed by an encore of I Know What I Like (and occasionally The Knife — “This is the only other song we know”). It is a familiar way to close the show, complete with landing lights. But that’s fine. In fact, it is more than fine. It is magnificent. It is classic Genesis. The big commercial hits — the likes of Abacab, Mama and Invisible Touch — are in the future. No, the band were no longer writing songs like Supper’s Ready and The Cinema Show, but nor had they abandoned their roots.

Essential listening — and a great watch too.


As mentioned in the main article, there are some great recordings from this tour, principally Sheffield on 17 April and the London Lyceum on 6–7 May (and it seems that the Drury Lane show on 5 May was also recorded). The Lyceum shows were filmed by the BBC. A very watchable video of the entire show is in wide circulation, though only a 40-minute edit was ever broadcast, initially as an Old Grey Whistle Test special. The 6-CD/6-DVD box set Genesis 1976–1982 that was released in 2007 includes this footage.

There is a very listenable recording of the Madison Square Garden show on 29 June at the tail end of the US tour. It includes Back in NYC, which they played there as an additional encore.

The Genesis Archive 2 box set includes great-sounding live versions of Deep in the Motherlode (Drury Lane, 5 May), Ripples (Lyceum, 6 May), Duke’s Travels (Lyceum, 7 May) and The Lady Lies (Lyceum, 6 May). Duke’s Travels also includes Duke’s End, though this isn’t credited on the sleeve. One for the Vine, recorded at Drury Lane, was featured on the UK version of Three Sides Live.

More about Genesis

Genesis books

Autobiographies

Thoughts on books written by Phil, Steve and Mike

1977

A selection of classic Genesis concerts on the Wind and Wuthering tour

1978

And then there were three … plus two: the first tour without Steve Hackett

5 Comments on “London 1980: Genesis Bootlegs”

  1. Hi, and thanks for this read. I can’t help replying as my Genesis timeline is almost identical to yours. In 1978, possibly early 1979 (I would have been 10 or 11), my older brother’s friend lent him And Then There Were Three. I couldn’t stop playing it, and eventually cycled down to the local record shop to buy it when his friend demanded it back. It was the first album I bought. I then moved on to Seconds Out, which blew me away and still does. And I then worked my way back through the Collins and then Gabriel-era catalogue. I feel a bit cheated that I missed out on that 76-80 period from the point of view of not being old enough to see them live. If I’d been old enough I’d have been up and down the country. Duke definately signalled a big change, it wasn’t what I was expecting after ATTWT and the other Collins albums, and I guess like you it affected my enjoyment of the album at the time. But appreciated more coming back to it some years later, especiallywatching the Lyceum DVD which I’ve had since the early bootleg days, nearly 20 years. Actually I was watching it last night. What I’d give to take a trip back in time 🙂 . I thought ABACAB was pretty poor by the way. My biggest thanks are for my big bro who not only introduced me to Genesis but also too me to Six of the Best in October 1982. Being one of the youngest the big boys allowed me on the sound desk barrier so I got a pretty good view, and saw the big five back together (Steve turned up for the encore). I never saw them again – as you put so well, the funny, hairy, cuddly Phil … and the intimacy had gone, and I was off listening and watching other bands. But as I say, if someone could please, please invent a time machine 🙂 . Thanks again for you interesting thoughts. Russ

    • Hi Russ

      Thanks for reading what I wrote and for taking the time to reply. I really appreciate it.

      Blimey, our stories sound uncannily similar. Extraordinary. That’s a great little anecdote about the Six of the Best gig. I never went to see them live. Other than Queen, I wasn’t a big concert-goer anyway, and by the time I was old enough to go watching them I was less than enamoured with what they were releasing. I will put up the next chapter of the story — Abacab — soon. It doesn’t make for pleasant reading haha.

      Thanks again!

  2. It is interesting reading your reflections on Genesis live. I saw them in ’76 and then in ’78 and they were superb. I recently watched the Old Grey Whistle Test gig and it is interesting to reflect on the way Genesis has evolved as a live band. The live-cast back in ’87 from Wembley was broadcast on Radio 1 and I have that on my own cassette as well. I am definitely more of a fan of their middle to late 70’s period and SECONDS OUT is one of the truly great live recordings. I do, however, enjoy Peter Gabriel’s earl solo albums and I have all of the 80’s Genesis albums. They were a great band live even on the first Genesis live album and I even like some of Phil Collins’ solo songs. I suggest dipping in and out of the Genesis catalogue and giving thanks for some truly great music live and otherwise.

    • Many thanks for taking the time to reply. It is much appreciated.

      I like Gabriel’s solo stuff too. I have never bought the first two albums, but I bought the third album pretty much as soon as it was released, having read a five-star review in Sounds. I recently found a list of top 50 albums that I compiled in 1983 and I put the Gabriel album at number 5. I still think it is high quality (as is the fourth album and So from ’86). If you’re interested, there’s a photo of the list in the Seconds Out blog.

      I have also really got into Steve Hackett’s solo albums in the last few years (his recent work is outstanding). I thought the recently released Tony Banks box set of all his solo work was excellent and Phil has done a lot of good stuff as well. So I wouldn’t describe myself as a ‘diehard’, if that’s the right word. I don’t only listen to the ’70s classic stuff. I do like some of what they did later and, as I say, I really enjoy most of their solo releases. Having said that, I do think it’s a shame when material is released under the name ‘Genesis’ that is so different from what they were producing back in the day.

      That’s not just a Genesis thing. It’s the way it is. Time passes. Bands evolve. Music changes. I really like ’70s Yes, for example, and there is loads of stuff released in the eighties and later that I wouldn’t go anywhere near. I have all the later Pink Floyd stuff, but it isn’t a patch on their ’70s stuff. Led Zeppelin got it right in that sense, splitting up when John Bonham died.

      • Thanks for your reply. I am 68 and I can remember the 60’s listening to the British invasion and dancing with older teenage girls in a converted barn in rural Pennsylvania. I was born in America but came to live in the UK back in 1983. The first big group I ever saw was CSNY back in 1970. They were patchy but my brother and I enjoyed our first big gig. I went to uni in Philadephia in 1970 and I was privileged to see some great gigs over the next 8 years. In 1974 I bought a Fujica SLR camera and began taking pictures at vari0us gigs around Philadelphia. I pushed the GAF film to 800 ASA and did not need a flash. I have good slides of Genesis from ’76 and other bands as well. I nearly had some photos on an album by a band called Orleans but that is another story. These days I am more into jazz but I love prog and classical as well having seen the Philadephia Orchestra about 12 times during the 70’s. I am fascinated by drums and percussion and it is interesting when jazz and rock bands have two drummers/percussionists. Miles loved to mix things up especially after he went electronic and Weather Report dabbled with mixing drums/percussion. Of course, Robert Fripp had to go one step further with 3 drummers/percussionists. the Allman Brothers Band and the Grateful Dead are two examples from rock music. I do enjoy Ginger Baker’s Air Force even though the recording is a bit ragged. Oh well, enough for now and it was good to hear from you! Cheers

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