Genesis Ready Reissues, Genesis Cover Band Preps Fake Phil Collins

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Five Genesis albums from their Peter Gabriel era are being re-released in a 7-CD/6 DVD box set on November 11th with 5.1 DTS sound and hours of unreleased material. Their landmark 1974/75 "Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" world tour was never filmed, but this collection does have a complete performance from Belgian TV in 1972 and their appearance on Midnight Special in 1973. All of this has circulated within the bootleg community for decades (albeit in far inferior quality), but a bonus disc on the set called "Extras 1970-1975" has what has long since been the holy grail for Genesis fans: four songs they group in 1970 cut for a documentary about painter Mick Jackson. The tracks "Provocation," "Frustration," "Manipulation" and "Resignation" — which were cut a year before Phil Collins joined the group on drums — have never been heard before now.

In other Genesis news, The Musical Box — a Canadian Genesis cover band that has painstakingly recreated Peter Gabriel era concerts for the past fifteen years — is moving in a new direction. Just as Peter Gabriel did in 1975, the groups Gabriel impersonator Denis Gagne is leaving for greener pastures. This time the drummer isn't stepping forward, but they've hired professional Phil Collins imposter Ron Belgard to front the ship on their forthcoming trek that will recreate Genesis' 1976 "Trick Of The Tail Tour." No only does Belgard look and sing exactly like Phil Collins, he also plays the drums. Check him out on their Website. It's pretty incredible. As ludicrous as all this sounds, these guys pack bigger venues than Genesis did in the mid 1970s. Phil Collins and Steve Hackett have both played with them, and Gabriel himself even checked out a show a few years back.

Related Stories:
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• Genesis: The Biggest Tour You Haven't Heard Much About

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Song Stories

“V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F.”

Fishbone | 1985

Quite a few musicians have utilized initials for song titles -- Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T.," Abba's "S.O.S.," Donald Fagen's "I.G.Y.," etc. But the more curiously initialed tune has to be "V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F.," short for "Voyage to the Land of the Freeze-Dried Godzilla Farts." Fishbone's original guitarist, Kendall Jones, explained to Rolling Stone, "When Norwood [Fisher] wrote it, he introduced it to the band saying, 'Man, I've been hearing about all these Nazi right-wing groups on the news saying the Holocaust was staged. So what if America said it never dropped two atom bombs on Japan, that it was actually Godzilla popping a couple off?' Only Norwood would come up with something that out." The same year "V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F." was released, the film Godzilla 1985 appeared in North America.

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