Genesis & Solo – "It's Only Knock And Knowall" – review

Christian Gerhardts joined the it editorial team a few months after the release of the fan club CD It's Only Know And Knowall. In this article, he reviews the CD in retrospect and describes how he experienced its release as a club member at the time.

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Between 1996 and 2002, I was a 'normal' member of the fan club. I would occasionally call Peter to get something from the Shop-of-it-snips, and I would also correspond with Helmut from time to time, sometimes by fax. Every now and then, I would write an article for it magazine.

The announcement of the fan club CD in 2001 surprised me and, of course, I had spontaneous expectations that were totally illusory. A Milton Keynes live album, B-sides or even unreleased session outtakes? Dreaming was allowed, after all. In the end, however, the result still surprised me.

Unfortunately, I couldn't attend the Meeting 2002, where the CD was officially presented. So I had to wait a while until it arrived in my letterbox.

Cover and Booklet

I got number 72 out of 500. The cover shows a variation of a work by Paul Whitehead, the artist who designed the covers for Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot, among others, in the early years. I was never a big fan of his work myself (art is a matter of taste, after all), but using one of his works for this fan club CD is a perfect fit.

The booklet contains a brief summary of the fan club's history. It also includes some information about the cover artwork, Inner Space Is White, Outer Space Is Black and Life Is The Rainbow In Between by Paul Whitehead. Of course, the credits for the music used are also included, as well as a few acknowledgements. On the back of the booklet, you can see all kinds of letters with CDs and audio tapes that were sent to the it editorial team as part of the project.

The music

But now to the music – because that is the heart of the fan club CD. It contains a total of eleven tracks and twelve audio greetings. The selection of songs can be aptly described as 'interesting':

Ten tracks are well-known pieces, but some of them are rather unexpected choices. It is both a mix of old and new, as well as a mix of Genesis and solo, and an attempt to replace predictable classics with deep cuts. Overall, this works quite well.

Can-Utility And The Coastliners is certainly not the first track from the Gabriel era that springs to mind for such a compilation. But it fits – because it is definitely a deep cut from the early years.

Spectral Mornings by Steve Hackett, on the other hand, is probably one of his all-time classics and doesn't quite fit into this concept, even though the quality of the track certainly doesn't detract from the album.

With The Serpent Said, we now have another track, this time by Tony Banks or Strictly Inc, that fits into this category.

The situation is quite different with Domino. The long-running hit from the Invisible Touch album is one of the classics in the band's history, especially from their later years.

Since we are a German fan club, a German track by Peter Gabriel was an obvious choice. Schnappschuß (ein Familienfoto) is also more of a classic, but in the German version it is a nice change for the CD.

There Must Be Some Other Way represents the Ray Wilson phase of the band (and Ray Wilson himself, incidentally, as there are no other tracks by him on the CD).

Entangled falls somewhat into both the deep cut and classic categories. It represents the phase without Peter Gabriel, but with Steve Hackett.

Ant is represented with Pulling Faces, another track that can be classified as a deep cut.

The same applies to Do You Know, Do You Care by Phil Collins. This song from 1982 is certainly not one of the first tracks that comes to mind.

The highlight of the CD, however, is definitely Compression. I didn't know this track at all when I received the CD and had to do some research first. Unlike, for example, a B-side from the Mechanics' Beggar sessions, Compression has never actually been released on CD before – making it the crown jewel of the fan club CD. It wasn't until 2015 that the track was released on CD elsewhere – namely on Harvest For The Heart, Anthony Phillips' retrospective (!).

The finale is it – this is not the studio version from the Lamb album, but rather the version that ended up on a promo as a stand-alone track without a transition as part of the promotion for the Archive 1967-1975 box set. It is essentially a fake live version in the form of a new studio mix with new vocals. The same version can also be found on the box set, but here with a transition from the previous track, In The Rapids.

Greetings

Another surprise on the CD are the greetings from the band's circle. Tony Banks, Paul Carrack, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Richard Macphail, Anthony Phillips, Mike Rutherford, Chris Stewart, Daryl Stuermer, Chester Thompson and Ray Wilson (in alphabetical order) do the honours, and it's great that all the important Genesis members are there.

Tony Banks steals the show right at the beginning, challenging us with a German poem that he recites. He leaves out one line and wants to know which words are missing. It was Heinrich Heine's song of the Loreley. Phil has the longest contribution, thanking everyone for their support of the individual projects in a kind of speech and emphasising his special relationship with Germany. Peter, on the other hand, has one of the shortest contributions.

Steve, on the other hand, advises not to smoke anything on your birthday that he wouldn't smoke himself. Richard Macphail had no ambitions to write a book at the time, but the fan club reported on him and many of his anecdotes found their way into it magazine, for which he is very grateful (his Private Tales & Stories from it magazines also found their way onto the website and can be found here).

Ant naturally couldn't resist adding his typical humour to his thanks, referring to a recent football result – 'the time is five to one' – Germany had previously lost 1:5 to England. Chris Stewart is probably a surprise on the list, and he introduces himself accordingly, explaining what he is doing now (you can find out more about Chris Stewart in our interview with him).

Overall, this is a great thing and it also shows how important the fan club has become over the years.

Concusion

Even if you don't play the CD all the time, because most of the tracks are also available elsewhere and listening habits have often changed over time from 'putting on CDs' to 'playing playlists', this CD is more than just a gem of club history. The greetings and the rare compression, as well as the artwork and booklet, make it special – and valuable! Collectors now value this CD at up to £150. Such an increase in value is rare.

Author: Christian Gerhardts (March 2025)