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What began at the beginning, has five members, a fox's head and is eight Years old?

If You guessed Genesis that's good, but not great, because right now you are only one of a growing number of fans who think of Genesis as more than just another group.

Mind you it's taken time, because the group has changed its personnel, its managers, and its record companies at venous stages in its career and though the musical development has in a sense been constant in that the group's beliefs and instrumental formula have remained, there's always been that slight doubt that they would continue.

Indeed, in the early stages of their career Genesis were in serious danger of breaking up. At that time (1966) their lea guitarist was Anthony Phillips and their drummer John Mayhew.

You can still hear the results of those early days on their first album ''From Genesis to Revelation'' for Decca, which followed their discovery by the infamous (or was he outrageous then?) Jonathan King

The album exhibits a side of the band which might have led them along the path of another Kingly group, the Hedgehoppers, i.e. dignified obscurity and it's a good pointer to where the group was at, just out of Charterhouse public school and coyly baring their soul to a commercial world. Their attitude was lighthearted enough not to be too important, general enough to be forgotten and romantic enough to show their insecurity, while at the same time one felt they were holding to some moral creed.

It shows in the Lyrics:
Am I very wrong
To hide behind the glare of an open minded stare
Am I very wrong
To wander in the fear of a never ending lie
Am I very wrong
To try to close my ears to the sound they play so loud Am I very wrong The happiness machine is trying hard to sing my song

Note the lack of a question mark hinting perhaps that the 'question' is more of a statement

Basically the album is downbeat, with plenty of use of echo, for which incidentally Gabriel employs a smooth, rich voice instead of that rather hoarse desperation he was to become so fond of later

On the production side King counterbalanced their approach with a jaunty, mocking brass section at strategic points as if heralding the lads (he was at the same school and discovered them on a return visit there) to the world of selling and change It's a typically cynical approach for the time. The band's response can be found in ''In Hiding'':

Pick me up, put me down
push me in, turn me round
switch me on, let me go
I have a mind of my own

Looked at in total the album reminds me of a day in the country, sunny, with cotton-wool clouds chasing across a pale blue sky with a cool enough breeze blowing to make you want to walk and talk with some energy Yes, it's as nicely corny as that

Unhappily. nobody in the group was reported much pleased with those tracks by last year, perhaps because of commercial considerations, perhaps because the present always is more important and it's easy to decry the past

Anyway they changed their personnel and their record company, the former several times, the latter to Charisma. where they still are, after being rediscovered by John Anthony when he found them down at the Marquee one night He contacted Tony Stratton-Smith. The result was a beautifully constructed album ''Trespass'', which is one of the best examples of mood combinations I have heard within the classical rock formula. The contrast lies not only in the music but in the Lyrics which have been chosen for their sonic as well as their literary values

Two good examples appear from ''Stagnation'' and ''White Mountain''

In ''Stagnation''. the first verse leads in with the lively ''here today . . (following with a slow introduction to the second verse, ''wait there . . '', the whole song being pitted with long vowel sounds.'' . . is still time for washing in the pool, wash away the past/moon my long lost friend is smiling from above. smiling at my tears ''

Compare this with ''White Mountain's'' words on the other side with its widely differing chipped vowels which work the mouth and the mind towards the image.

thin hung the web like a trap in a cage
the fox lay asleep in his lair
fangs frantic paws told the tale of his sin
far off the case shrieked revenge

As an acoustic producer, John Anthony is second to none The separation and definition which he achieved on Lindisfarne's first Charisma offering exceeded anything that Bob Johnston produced for them and. As I say, ''Trespass ' is a great album

But Genesis wanted to move on, making more impact and felt that Anthony
would not be suitable.

''If you've got a very thick sound and the drummer's loose and very deep and not loud enough, then it's just going to sound well, it's not going to grab anybody at all,'' was drummer Phil Collins' opinion

So they moved on, but not without taking with them some continuity, for you can find on the second side of ''Trespass'' something of a prototype for ''Nursery Cryme'', another strange mixture of the tranquil and the deadly. Only this time their subjects are a little more impressionist, perhaps unconsciously following a Beatle influence, certainly Monty Python(which Charisma also produce), yet with more retrogressive an attitude. Two tracks are peculiarly relevant, ''Harold The Barrel'' (as in ''Lily The Pink'') and ''For Absent Friends'', well-observed and bearing the rueful, condescending approach to the church to which ''Eleanor Rigby'' also alludes.

"Nursery Cryme'' relied on Tony Banks' mellotron and the heavy single chord in unison with vocals, though you can begin to hear Phil Collins put out a more solid rhythm, and the whole album 'marks a more intense approach to their music quite a distance from their first objective, which was to write for Dusty Springfield. Yet with the exception of ''The Musical Box and For Absent Friends'', somehow undifferentiated One is always left with the feeling that each track is trying a new crescendo via cacophony.

In any event it has become representative of Genesis' music, mainly because ''Foxtrot'' arrived shortly afterwards and was in the same musical vein Unfortunately ''Foxtrot'' was subject to time hassles and there is little evidence of thought in the musicianship Phil Collins constantly employs a heavy, limiting beat which threatens the rest of the group rather than punctuates or prompts it. Steve Hackett's guitar is listless and Peter Gabriel sounds schizophrenic, as if trying to impose hastiness on the vocals whether apt or not

Altogether not a happy album, but it was a time when Genesis felt compelled to push product out for economic reasons

Nevertheless, Lyrically it is more directly allusive to humour a la Python though they take their anti-establishmentarianism much more seriously one feels. There is the futuristic announcement from Genetic Control: 'It is my sad duty to inform you of a 4ft restriction on humanoid height. 'In ''Get. Em, Out By Friday'' they tell the story of a big bad landlord, while in ''Supper's Ready'' Gabriel employs, banal Lyrics using an associationist technique to impel interest.

There's Winston Churchill dressed in drag
he used to be a British flag plastic bag What a drag
the frog was a prince. the prince was a brick. the brick was an egg and the egg was a bird hadn't you heard
Yes we're as happy as fish, as gorgeous as geese
and wonderfully clean in the morning

Or there's ''All Change
Feel your body melt Mum to mud mad to dad Dad diddley office, Dad diddley office
You're full of ball
Dad to dam to dum to mum
Mum diddley washing. mum diddley washing

You're all full of ball
Let me hear your lies we're living this up to the eyes
Oooe Ooee Ooee Ooee
Momma I want you now''

Get it? I'm not sure I do. But my suggestion is that it is simply watching the establishment, growing up with it and then seeing how it can be manipulated. either by other people or by maturity, using weapons of your own principle to strengthen your own lifestyle Anyway think of your own interpretation, then put on an old Cream LP have a stiff drink and forget it.

Visually Genesis are front runners in today's harum scarum of mock sex and mock violence Gabriel's bald patch and his outlandish headdress are only part and parcel of their determination to alert the audience by every means possible to their reality.

The result is evil drama, infiltrated by that insistent running instrumental effect from Tony Banks and Steve Hackett as they sit studiously over their instruments, and Peter Gabriel's slightly jeering delivery It can make you feel naked sitting powerlessly in the auditorium.

For Gabriel both incites and stills the audience In Ayelsbury once he encouraged the audience to boo ''It gave them something to do which was not just a considered, automatic and politely preconceived response, ''he said ''It backfired slightly when we got a 'section of boo boys following us about. full of good intentions but somewhat disconcerting!''

In America where they did their first gig around Christmas1972 (at a cost of $16,000), as part of a charity booking with String Driven Thing, life has not been so easy They were described then as 'hazy but lovable: comic jive' and it was true that the Americans enjoyed the show-then.

But when the group went back a second time they found they ran into complications, particularly with Lou Reed, their headliner, who proved difficult.

In Toronto Phil Collins explained that the PA was late because it was Lou's and it is the practice that top of the bill acts have their own system, ''The guy that was running it didn't know what was happening, an English guy who used to do the lights for Crimson, Bruce his name is.

''Anyway Lou Reed sound checked for two hours and we were setting up with the people coming in you know:

''We came onstage for the performance, very dramatically. We had ultraviolet light which makes everything very peculiar and Pete wears paint which brings out the ultra-violet light round his eyes

''And, er, we were greeted with things like 'you'd better be bloody good man' and 'piss off' They thought we had taken the time you know

''So that was a bit of a fright, so all through the quiet sections we were a bit vulnerable to abuse, but then 'Supper's Ready' started and they were very good and got into it ''

He admitted that the tour changed them. 'America does a lotto change you actually For a band that started to become relative' established here, you go to the States and it's about ten times as big and you realize that no-one knows who the hell you are So that has quite a devastating effect on one

''First of all it makes you grow up a lot -just the way things are done You have to realize that you have to be a lot more professional:

''I think it has loosened the rest of the band up I mean I've always liked the idea of going onstage with no fixed idea at all and just go onstage and play out of the top of your head.

''I wouldn't say anyone has gone as far overboard with me as that but everyone's getting more into the idea of maybe changing things and loosening up onstage ''

Since that American tour, Genesis have had two more albums released, ''Genesis Live!'' and ''Selling England By The Pound'', have finished another ,American tour in a bid to break the U S market, and switched their personal management from Charisma boss Tony Stratton-Smith. who has got further into horseracing and his already time consuming record and book publishing interests to Tony Smith. the father of the father-and-son promotion team

Their development during 1973 is unremarkable except for their popularity which reflects in album sales (''Selling England By The Pound''-100,000)and concert attendance. The group itself is merely consolidating its English market

And though ''Selling England By The Pound'' may be selling copies it gave the group the least work. Peter Gabriel is said to have written the lyrics in two evenings and if you listen closely you'll find that much of the chord and note sequences are unvaried, particularly on the second side.

Basically, the album is more conventional in its approach lyrically: Gabriel using direct analogies (''Dancing with the Moonlight Knight'' &''Firth Of Fifth'' particularly. but also ''Aisle Of Plenty'') to reiterate his doomy messages about the way our culture operates against nature (all very ecological). It also contains their very first 'straight' love song'' More Fool Me'' sung by Phil Collins, which talks of doubt and optimism in the face of hurt and rejection by the loved one.

That certain lack of imagination about the album, difficult to pin down. is apparent on ''Battle Of Epping Forest''. a straightforward narrative with little change in rhythm or mood throughout and only a neat ''Lord Of The Flies'' type ending to give the song a fillip.

I recommend ''Selling England By The Pound " only as long as you go to see them, so that the performance of it is given the added dimension of a: live: stage act. and if you do. save your money, on the ''Genesis Live!'' release because though the mix is adequate there, it does not overcome the sound recording problems of the big halls in which it was recorded(Manchester Free Trade and Leicester de Montfort) sufficiently to give you atmosphere or listening quality. Add to that the fact that all the tracks are on previous albums and you have an unnecessary purchase,

Despite the drawbacks though, Genesis are going to continue to be successful because they have given a lot of thought to the form of their birth. and their music is nurtured by that early upbringing

The length of tin1e they will be successful depends very much on which they decide to concentrate on, the music or the presentation. Hopefully it will be the music

Lyrics reproduced by kind permission of Quartet Music Ltd. &Carlin Music Corp., 17 Savile row, London W1.