Genesis: The Complete Guide to Their Music

by Chris Welch

The indispensable consumers guide to the music of Genesis. An album by album, track by track, run-down of all music recorded and released by Genesis, from their early Jonathan King- produced records, through the Peter Gabriel years to their final recordings as a trio. Also includes separate sections on the work of Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, and Steve Hackett.

Genres: Music

127 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Chris Lira · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy the music of Genesis, particularly the older, more progressive stuff. This was a fairly quick read that gave some good background info on the band and a short introduction to each of their songs. A lot of the times their lyrics are vague so this was very helpful. If you are looking for an in-depth technical analysis of time signatures, what keyboards Tony Banks used, etc., this isn't the book for you. In 125 pages, it can't do that covering all their studio and live work, as well as solo CD's. But if you want a quick intro, then it is good for that purpose.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading through this lengthy description of all the records produced by Genesis and each of its members shows me how little I really knew about the wealth of their productions. This is an interesting view of how diverse and talented they all are.

[Ian Illingworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

No real insight, just affirming my own or widely held views of Genesis’ music. A lightweight read poolside is ultimately still worth your time

[Sheila Rooswitha · Rating 5 out of 5]

As one of the most prominent rock band of the century, Genesis has become a frequent target for music critics to review. Chris Welch was one of those astonished critics whose comprehensive reviews were compiled to be this one entertaining book.
Mr. Welch was a true Genesis freak, he wrote those in-depth analyzes for each albums, complete with some historical background of the songs.
This little book is enriched with lots of band pictures, from the Gabriel era, to the present trio Collns-Rutherford-Banks era. Thanks to the book, I get the opportunity to behold the lunatic side of Gabriel wearing a theatrical make up, with an odd looking shaved forehead, for the first time.
Composed in a plain and understandable English, Mr. Welch really demonstrated his great sense of wittiness on expressing his subjective opinions toward the band.
For example he gave an argument whether Collins could adjust the theatrical side of Gabriel after his departure or not. On the live cd 'Seconds Out', Collins and friends were performing the 22minutes-epic 'Supper's Ready', and Collins seemed to be trying his best effort to emulate Gabriel's manic intensity, but of course he failed. As Mr. Welch said, you can't imagine Phil as a flower somehow. Hehehehe.. very true, Chris!
This book is a great manual for those Genesis lovers out there, to acknowledge thoroughly what's behind those masterpieces of the legendary band.
Kudos to Chris Welch, I wish I could write like you!

[Brian Campbell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Riddled with inaccuracies, misquoted lyrics, poor grammar, irrelevant comments, puerile attempts at humor, incorrect songwriting attributions, nonexistent research, typographical errors… It reads as if the author had maybe heard the music 20 years ago and was writing from nothing more than his fuzzy memory. While drunk. It’s kind of a fun read for anyone who knows anything about Genesis’s catalog of music, just for the challenge of spotting all the errors. But anyone who knows little about the band’s music will come away from this book knowing less.

[Music Lover · Rating 4 out of 5]

short but thorough breakdown of the group's careeer and each song. if you enjoy this band's music you'll like this book as a decent read as well as a reference guide.

[Michael Foley · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was terrible. It's like it was written by a 10 year old fan. No insight. No technical details. I didn't even try to finish this horrible book. Thankfully I didn't spend much on it.