Introducing Genesis: The Deluxe Ultimate Music Guide
All you need to know about the latest member of the Uncut family...
Sitting on the roof terrace of The Benjamin, a plush boutique hotel in New Yorkās Midtown district, Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins are contemplating the differences between Peter Gabriel-era Genesis and the bandās later incarnation. āThe awkward join,ā says Collins. āCan you see the join?ā
It is 2014, and Rutherford and Collins are here to promote a new career-spanning box set, R-Kive. They make an odd couple: Rutherford, the reserved, urbane Old Carthusian; Collins, cheery and chatty despite the physical discomfort caused by complications from a back operation.
Could Genesis have recorded their ā80s output if Peter Gabriel had still been at the helm?
āWhoās to say?ā Collins shrugs. āI think you said that thereās traces of the early band in the next three or four albums after. I talked myself into believing that there is a big difference. But if you think about things like āHome By The Seaā or āTonight, Tonight, Tonightā, where there are time shifts and mood shifts, would Peter have maybe instead of having the gory costumes, maybe he would have learnt to do more by insinuation and therefore done less. It wouldnāt have necessarily gone to ridiculous lengths as The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.ā
So was a massive pop album; for a while, there wasnāt much distance between Genesis and Gabriel.
āYeah, what is the difference between āI Canāt Danceā and āSledgehammerā? Weāll never know.ā
