Eight 1990s live albums that badly fail to capture the magic

A double miss from Genesis

By 1992 Genesis had pretty much morphed from their prog rock days into a pop rock group. Some might even say it was more like Phil  Collins and his backing band. There’s a debate to be had on whether or not the newer Genesis was as good as the earlier version, even if still compared to a post-Peter Gabriel lineup. Their We Can’t Dance Tour in 1992 put the two into stark contrast with the material for a couple of live albums. 

Genesis - Live – The Way We Walk, Volume One: The Shorts

First up was this November 1992 album recorded on the tour and featuring the short songs. Typically the ones that were hits as singles and usually in the latter years too. To be fair the sound quality is great and the live performances are fine too.

That’s where I have an issue with it. The songs pretty much replicate the originals, the studio versions. There isn’t the same range of extra touches, segments, or variations that you want at a live concert or on an album from one.  The audience sound seems quiet and doesn’t add much in terms of atmosphere from the event. 

Genesis - Live – The Way We Walk, Volume Two: The Longs

Then we have the second album from the same tour. This has the longer songs. The ones closer in sound and time to the prog-rock days. It kicks off with a blast of those from the 1970s, early packaged up in a close to 20-minute long medley. So that’s shorter versions of the long songs combined into one long segment.

The album was released separately from and later than the short songs rather than as a double disc version. It sounds like a marketing idea more than a good one. If these are the long songs, you’d really want the full version. I’d also want to hear “Supper’s Ready”. But that’s not what they played on tour when perhaps the medley had a place as a nod to the past without taking over the whole show. 

Another element from this album that had a better place on stage than on record is the drum solo. They are rarely a highlight for the majority of fans, perhaps fun to watch at the time for a short while.  Adding one as a six-minute segment late in the album isn’t a huge success. This all proves there are some exceptions to be made when putting the show on a record.

There is another downside to the shorts and longs approach. It's always tricky when the songs are recorded from a variety of nights across a long tour and not always in line with the running order. It can sometimes give a disjointed feel to the album. With the two separate albums chopping and dropping songs in and around, that’s a feel that emanates from these two albums.

They are probably for dedicated fans only, but even then those that fit that bill perhaps have most to feel unhappy about. It all becomes just a bundle of songs with a bit of a crowd. That doesn't deliver enough for me to be an album I want to play again and again.

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