R-Kive

SUPER excited to hear that Genesis have a nice new 3CD set coming out in September.

Of course nothing on it will be new, as such. But the idea is the exciting part. This is a first for boxed sets of greatest hits. R-Kive will not only be the best of Genesis but also the best of the solo careers of those involved.

I would imagine that if you are reading this you are probably knowledgeable enough about those in the band but, in case you need some reminding, I'll give you a teensy recap. Genesis could be said to be one of the most successful groups of all time for several reasons, not least becase it is almost impossible to pinpoint its peak. Some will say the peak was during Peter Gabriel's stint as vocalist; others will say Phil Collins made the band what it is. The band began in 1967 at Surrey public school, Charterhouse, where Peter Gabriel and Tony Banks spent their formatve years. The original line-up consisted Gabriel's vocals and Banks' keyboard work with Mike Rutherford on bass and guitar, Chris Stewart on drums and Anthony Phillips on guitar.

I bet those names are ringing a few bells...

Stewart left in 1968 and was replaced by (Long) John Silver who lasted about a year before being replaced by John Mayhew.

In 1970, Mayhew and Phillips left. Genesis replaced Phillips with Mick Barnard and then the inimitable Steve Hackett; as for Mayhew's spot? well, enter Mr Phil Collins.

So all was going well for half a decade... But after a while Gabriel, the first to have a family, was contemplating his future with Genesis; he left the band at the end of the '75 tour. This, and the blossoming solo career of Steve Hackett made Genesis fans fear the worst was about to happen - Genesis was over.

When we consider the big shoes left by Gabriel for the next vocalist to fill it's amazing how close Collins' feet must have been in size! Collins stepped up as vocalist after a search for Gabriel's replacement was fruitless. Collins was said to be more Gabriel than Gabriel - I'll leave that one up to you.

Eventually Hackett left and Collins wavered too. Poor Banks and Rutherford were left with the remains of what had been one of the greatest bits of prog history ever to have happened.

Okay, so not a teensy recap... but this is where we are... a big career for the band and several huge solo careers later, we have R-Kive. Gabriel has had wildly successful tours - I was at both nights at the o2 Arena in October 2013 and it blew my mind. And who can forget Collins' "in the air tonight" - partly thanks to Dairy Milk, of course! As for Mike Rutherford, we've got Mike & The Mechanics. And Steve Hackett? Well he has filled the Albert Hall in October '13 on the last leg of his tour of Genesis Revisted - which also graced Hammersmith Apollo the year before. Tony Banks also went on to have a solo career beyond Genesis.

Many of those who were part of the genesis of Genesis held their own in the solo arena - and those involved in subsequent regenerations of the band proved equally successful. So let's consider a 3CD box-set which is made up of group and solo tracks. This is novel, and could really only ever be for Genesis. I don't think I can think of any other group through which has passed so many performers successful in their own right. So it is only fitting that the celebration of the whole group should include a celebration of the achievements of its parts.

And if it could be said that a band is as good as the sum of its parts, I'd say Genesis has done pretty damn well!

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You can read more about the announcement of R-Kive here:

http://www.genesis-news.com/news-Genesis-to-release-RKive-3CDset-n409.html

You can pre-order the 3CD box-set here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00MV5LR9K?creativeASIN=B00MV5LR9K&linkCode=w01&linkId=&ref_=as_sl_pc_ss_til&tag=genesisnewsco-21