Genesis: Seconds Out : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Genesis has a reputation for being a group of calculating art rockers, which makes Seconds Out, a double live album recorded in Paris during the band's '76-'77 world tour, something of a contradiction. The band says its approach to live shows is to faithfully recreate the studio sound. Genesis does this admirably—its concerts are astonishing in their musical precision and sonic perfection. But that's the problem with this album. If you close your eyes, you could be listening to their records on God's own juke box. Or, perhaps, listening to Seconds Out.

As a sampler, Seconds Out nimbly moves through Genesis' nine-album career, jumping from the heavy-handed fantasy tale of "Supper's Ready" to the stronger, more pop-oriented "I Know What I Like." Since Peter Gabriel's departure, the other band members have rightfully been acknowledged as first-rate musicians, with Tony Banks' keyboard contributions becoming the heart of a formidable, if sometimes sterile, instrumental attack. With less reliance on theatrics and an added dollop of jazz-rock inclinations, Genesis has become a much stronger band. But because of the inherent contradiction of Seconds Out, the album only puts the group on a holding pattern.