Genesis: The Videos Volumes One and Two reviewed by Alan Hewitt.

Well, at last the powers that be have granted me one of my wishes! These two videos, released in June of this year satisfy my desire to have all of the promotional videos by Genesis in their proper condition and this should help those of us who have had to find poor quality copies which are frequently incomplete.

Over the years Genesis have released promotional videos to most of their singles and it is these videos which are contained within these two releases. I was surprised to see that the tapes had not been laid out in chronological order so they do not constitute a proper video “history”. It was also a bit of a disappointment to see that the only promotional video from Peter Gabriel’s days with the band had been left out. This was the video which the band did for the I Know What I Like single which had it been released may well have helped Genesis to their first chart success.

That aside, however, the rest of the videos are presented in their complete forms frequently interrupted on TV by advertisements or the demands of time on a programme, time which is frequently given to more “fashionable” acts these days.

Volume One contains several screen gems from the sinister atmosphere of Mama to the comic humour of Land Of Confusion and Anything She Does. It is also interesting to see the inclusion of Robbery, Assault & Battery which tells the story of the song. There is some controversy about this video for nowhere in any of the official discographies is this song mentioned as a single release and I would like to know why this remarkable video was filmed?

Volume Two contains some of the rarer Genesis videos including those for Ripples and A Trick Of The Tail as well as complete versions of two of my favourites; Illegal Alien and Many Too Many. This tape also has live versions of Home By The Sea/Second Home By The Sea and Man On The Corner and Turn It On Again, the latter two are taken directly from the Three Sides Live video which is slightly disappointing because there are proper promotional videos for these songs and since this is supposed to be a promotional video collection, their omission is a little puzzling. However, the lack of continuity is more than made up for by the sight of Phil Collins in flared trousers and woolly leg warmers in the A Trick Of The Tail video!