Genesis - The Video Show
Once the early '80s ushered in the video age in earnest, few artists embraced the medium as willingly, or effectively, as Genesis. In fact,Genesis - The Video Show, a collection of 32 of the veteran British group's videos, includes more than a few items that pre-date MTV by several years, making this the comprehensive record of Genesis' post-Peter Gabriel era. There are all kinds of videos here, both black & white and color, somber ("No Son of Mine") and silly ("I Can't Dance"), topical ("Tell Me Why") and romantic, some with storylines and many that are simulated (i.e., lip-synced) performances, from both onstage and elsewhere. Song-wise, the best tend to be the hits, like "Misunderstanding," "Paperlate" (taken from England's "Top of the Pops" TV show), "That's All," and "Invisible Touch" (one of no less than six tracks taken from the 1986 album of the same name), although the '70s material, particularly fromA Trick of the Tail(when the group was a foursome, with guitarist Steve Hackett), is also strong. On the other hand, the lesser-known tunes yield some of the better videos, including "Land of Confusion" (with its bizarre puppet versions of Genesis members Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, and Tony Banks, not to mention Ronald and Nancy Reagan) and others ("Illegal Alien," "Jesus He Knows Me") that give Collins, a pretty fair actor, an opportunity for some full-on mugging. Granted, there isn't a lot of ground broken here; for the most part, Genesis has been a solid, journeyman band, andGenesis - The Video Showreflects that. But the 5.1 Surround Sound is excellent, there are full writing and production credits for every song and video, the packaging is classy…  founding member Gabriel even turns up on a 1999 version of "The Carpet Crawlers," perhaps the most imaginative video of the bunch. If you're a Genesis fan, this has to be the motherlode.--Sam Graham