I’ve never heard this album before…..until now. Why? Because now is as good a time as any to sit down and listen to something I’ve never heard, right? I’ve actually had them lying around and never bothered, or someone’s given me a copy, or I’ve bought it on a whim. Not Polish jazz. Ok here we go…
Genesis – Three Sides Live (1982)
Three Sides Live marked the tipping point where Genesis pivoted from prog-rock linchpins to pop-rock kingpins, and on this mostly live set containing recordings from their 80-81 tour, including a studio side (hence the title) the group’s second EP 3×3 (1982), the British three-piece (by now Collins, Banks & Rutherford) concentrate heavily on some fine material from Duke (1980), Abacab (1981). There’s one selection from Wind & Wuthering (1976) ‘Afterglow’, and while A Trick of the Tail (1976) is skipped over completely, they pleasingly roll out a 12-minute medley containing elements from Gabriel-era ‘In the Cage’, ‘Cinema Show’, ‘Riding the Scree’, and ‘The Colony of Slippermen’, the songs melded together beautifully and sung expertly by Phil, although crowd noise sounds like it was added as an afterthought. Another highlight includes the ultimate Genesis ballad ‘Follow You Follow Me’ from …And Then There Were Three (1978), and the studio set contains the toe-tapping and horn-driven ‘Paperlate’ hinting at what was to come with their pop zenith Invisible Touch (1986), or (gulp) Sussudio, however ‘You Might Recall’ is one of the best trio era songs. Secret weapon guitarist Steve Hackett is long gone, so the album is very keyboard heavy but is a good mix of all phases of their career from pop songs, ballads, and also successfully revisiting bit of prog, in other words something for everyone. 8/10
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