(Disclaimer: Those looking for an overall description of the album will find what they're looking for in the "Review Body" section. The section titled "Track Reviews" is meant only for those who want to read detailed descriptions of the songs, and they do not constitute the essence of this review. Lastly and most importantly, this review might not be written in the point of view of a Genesis fan.)

Overall Score: 8/15
Best song: “Old Medley”
Worst song: “Fading Lights”

Review Body:

I still feel like I'm in the land of confusion about why Genesis decided to split up their 1992 live album release like this. The release I reviewed previously that had all their short songs on it was alright, but now that I've gotten to the release with all their long, and ... er... it's a cumbersome one. I mean, wouldn't it have been better to let the shorter bits help break up the long, never-ending stretches of instrumental purgatory? ...Or was that just too sensible?

Of course, let's not forget that this was Genesis, and they had more than their fair share of phenomenal lengthy prog tunes in their repertoire. If only this album weren't released in 1992, a live album of “the longs” might have been pretty good! Unfortunately, their more recent lengthy songs isn't anything in particular to brag about: “Driving the Last Spike,” “Domino,” “Fading Lights,” “Home By the Sea / Second Home By the Sea.” ...Are they trying to slowly bore me to death, or something? ...I'll tell you what, come to think of it: I'm about three hours closer to death than I was before I started writing this review. Ooof. How's that for a morbid thought.

But before they begin to bore us with their boring songs, they do a toast to their olden days with a 20-minute medley that's aptly called “Old Medley.” They quickly rattle off a series of 10 songs from their old repertoire in a manner that sounds like they were reading off some sort of grocery list... Except they actually do a very good job of threading the songs together, so there's not much reason for me to complain. Also, by default, it's the best song of the entire godforsaken album.

A distant second is “Home By the Sea / Second Home By the Sea.” The first half was an excellent pop song from 1983's Genesis, but unfortunately the second half was a much less exciting instrumental from that same album. ...But what was a not-so-exciting instrumental on Genesis, it's a pure highlight on this live release considering it has pounding drums and an engaging electric guitar solo in it from our trusty friend Michael Rutherford.

Because, you see, the other extended songs are boring. “Driving the Last Spike,” from We Can't Dance, is still a needlessly lengthy adult-contemporary tune that's not so much a boring 10-minute adult-contemporary tune, but a boring five-minute adult-contemporary tune that someone played twice. “Domino” was a yawny yawn yawn thing from Invisible Touch; I suppose bringing it out live helped make it more gritty, but that could hardly save it from being one of the most underwhelming songs in their repertoire. The sprawling adult-contemporary epic “Fading Lights” also had might as well not exist; it not only takes itself too seriously and has nothing in terms of distinctive melody, but it swallows up 11 minutes of your time! ...I'm inching closer and closer to death, here, and that song makes me watch the time tick away...

And for crap's sake, why do they have a song in here called “Drum Duet?” I'll give them props for an honest song title, but come on, now, does anyone really want to hear Phil Collins battle it out on the drums with Chester Thompson? ...Well, I guess there's always someone out there on this planet who likes something, but it sure wasn't me. As we all know, I am the only person every musician in the world, past and present, strives to achieve the approval of. (I've never mentioned this before, but Chester Thompson was the guy who played drums for Genesis while they were on tour. I guess it was too important for Collins to hop around on stage while he sang, or something.)

By far the biggest problem with putting all the long songs on one disc is that the longer songs Genesis had been writing from 1983-1991 were by far the low-lights of their respective albums. I reckon that if it wasn't for the 20-minute “Old Medley,” this whole album would have driven me totally crazy. I mean, someone might have had to put me in a straight-jacket or something. ...So with that, I conclude my thoughts on the Way We Walk series. I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. (If you don't feel like stabbing a fork into your forehead right now, then I feel that I've done my job.)

Track Reviews:

Old Medley A-
This is the sort of thing I would have loved to hear them actually do live. Hearing this recording is just fine, but nothing would beat hearing them rattle off a laundry list of their old songs one-after-one when you're in the same house as they are. ...And, oh yes, this is a 100 percent crowd-pleasing gesture of them. Every single person at the live show has their favorite Genesis song, and by rattling them all off together, one after one, they're bound to hit somebody's favorite. Not that Genesis hadn't done a medley like this in their live albums before, but I don't remember one being quite as extensive as having 10 songs rattled off all in the space of 20 minutes! ...Fortunately, they're very good at weaving their old songs together, so I'm not going to criticize it mercilessly or anything... I mean, I would think that most bands would fall flat on their faces trying to do something like this. ...Unfortunately, this is the only place on this album where you're going to hear any of their '70s stuff. It would probably have been nice to hear one of those songs fully fleshed out on here, but count your blessings, I guess. We at least got these table scraps. (You might have noticed I didn't even tell you what these 10 songs were... What do I look like, Wikipedia?)

Driving the Last Spike B-
This is the song from We Can't Dance I criticized for being two five-minute songs played twice, and it's basically left unchanged here. It's a pretty decent adult-contemporary song if you're heart isn't too set on hearing a melody that's memorable in any way. I should stress that this isn't a bad song as far as adult-contemporary music goes... I've listened to songs so atrocious that I swear they suck the life out of me. This is more or less a pleasant song. It's something to zone out to if you don't want to listen to dead air. Collins, to his credit, sounds like he believes in it, giving a vocal performance that's loud, soaring, and passionate. This is Doritos for the brain.

Domino B-
Ugh... the problem with pilfering all the “longs” to one disc is that they have all constituted the worst of their last few albums. “Driving the Last Spike” and now “Domino?” Nobody cares about these songs. Nobody, nobody, nobody! (Except business-card-obsessed murderers.) As I was so reminded in “Old Medley” just now, these guys used to write lengthy songs that evolved consistently and unfolded like storybooks. This is just a boring Phil Collins adult-contemporary song that was dragged on for 11 freaking minutes. ...I mean, there are worse things than this in the universe of ours. The melody has some mildly intriguing hooks to them, and Collins' vocals are solidly delivered. The industrial-dance bit in the middle is left intact, and it's as ho-hum as ever. The instrumentals are altogether solid, playing it as closely to the original as they could. ...Now, please excuse me as I zone out for the rest of this song. (And try not to think too much about why I gave this version a higher rating than the other one... I guess it doesn't necessarily sound *that bad* considering the songs that surround it...)

Fading Lights C
I'm giving these songs higher ratings than I did to their studio counterparts. It's Christmas in two days, so I must be getting in the Christmas spirit. I haven't memorized the original song, and I can't remember if it was this energetic, but during that extended instrumental interlude, I'm only mostly bored with it instead of having been taken to utter tedium. ...All the same, this is not exactly a 11-minute song that I was hoping for Genesis to have repeated anytime soon. The problem with it is not its execution or manner of professionalism... these guys always had professionalism... The problem with it is that I can't think of a good reason for its existence. The melody is boring, the harmonies are pretty much non-existent... Tony Banks does a nice job noodling around in there, but I can't see that he's doing anything other than blindly filling up notes. What happened to the creativity? Come on, you guys were creative even after Peter Gabriel left the band! I have proof! This is just 11-minutes of something I'm going to forget about as soon as the next song starts playing.

Home By the Sea / Second Home By the Sea B
Well, they're doing a pair of songs from 1983's, which is at least a small glimmer of hope, right? I really loved the first song, if you might remember, because the melody is inspired, and it's a total blast for me to sit through! Naturally, the melody is completely intact, and Collins sounds energized singing it. ...I'm much less enthused by the second half, which is more of that blank instrumental meandering. I suppose it's not as boring as similar meanderings in the previous tracks. I like that the drums are loud and pounding. But still. Blah, blah, blah.

Drum Duet B-
...Really? Did they think we wanted to hear Phil Collins and Chester Thompson battle it out with the drums? …Well I suppose somebody does! ...Not me, though. ...At the very least, they're playing an actual rhythm, and it's a fairly complex one at that. If only they would have come up with a rhythm like this for We Can't Dance and built up an interesting song around it! How awesome that would be... Oh by the way, this song is shorter than some of the songs included on The Shorts. So, you weren't even keeping true to the concept!

Concluding Remarks:

While this isn't my idea of a great Genesis live album, it's something that Genesis completists might like to put on from time to time... But as much of a hardcore Genesis fan that I am, I sure don't listen to this very much!

Read more Genesis reviews by Starcollector!

From Genesis to Revelation (1969) | Trespass (1970) | Nursery Cryme (1971) | Foxtrot (1972) | Genesis Live (1973) | Selling England By the Pound (1973) | The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) | A Trick of the Tail (1976) | Wind & Wuthering (1977) | Seconds Out (1977) | And Then There Were Three (1978) | Duke (1980) | Abacab (1981) | Three Sides Live (1982) | Genesis (1983) | Invisible Touch (1986) | We Can't Dance (1991) | The Way We Walk, Volume 1: The Shorts (1992) | The Way We Walk, Volume 2: The Longs | Calling All Stations (1997) | Genesis Archive 1967-75 (1998) | Genesis Archive 2: 1976-92 (2000)

Recommended: No