Best (and worst) Genesis compilation

    Which is the best compilation? 15

    1. Rock Theatre (1975) (1) 7%
    2. The Story of Genesis (1978) (2) 13%
    3. Turn It On Again - Best of '81 - '83 (1991) (2) 13%
    4. Turn It On Again (The Hits) (1999) (0) 0%
    5. Platinum Collection (2004) (7) 47%
    6. Turn It On Again (The Hits) - The Tour Edition (2007) (0) 0%
    7. 14 From Our Past (2007) (0) 0%
    8. R-Kive (2014) (2) 13%
    9. The Last Domino? (2021) (0) 0%
    10. other (please specify) (1) 7%

    I have been comparing various Genesis compilations lately. It might be a bit nerdy but I actually like to muse about song selections and track orders. Also, Genesis is the only band I became a collector of compilations of, probably due to the fact I have long been familiar with all of their material and there's no new albums going to be made.


    A few general words on compilations: compilations are definitely not targeting the fans who already know everything. In contrast, they are aiming at the casual consumers who do not want to bother themselves with entire albums. A compilation will give you a condensed overview over an artist's hit singles or what is arguably the best of their entire career. I guess I am not the typical consumer as I always avoided purchasing compilations of bands I wasn't familiar with; however if I'm already familiar I will still get a compilation if it gives me songs in a different order that works well. For example: I got Queen's 'Greatest Hits' (I) just for the nice selection. I got the Pet Shop Boys' 'Pop Art' for the excellent selection and for a number of non-album tracks and differing single versions that I don't have on my albums. I could list more examples of other bands, anyhow Genesis still remains the only band I have a whole bunch of compilations of.


    For this poll, I picked those compilations that used to be easily accessible in stores, so chances should be high somebody purchased some of them at some time. It's a random selection though - discogs lists dozens of official and unofficial compilations, most of which I never saw or heard of, some of them with quite weird track selections:

    https://www.discogs.com/de/art…es&subFilter=Compilations

    https://www.discogs.com/de/art…al&subFilter=Compilations

    ...

    Let's start with Rock Theatre.

    https://www.discogs.com/de/mas…6234-Genesis-Rock-Theatre

    This was released as early as in 1975 on vinyl, so naturally it covers only songs from the Gabriel era. Later it came out on CD too, the track selection remained unchanged. I had to get it on CD just for the sake of collecting.

    I do enjoy listening to this one but admittedly it is quite odd: Its cover shows a photo from the Lamb shows (Peter as Slipperman), yet it does not include a single song off The Lamb. Instead it starts with I Know What Like - the only song off Selling England - concludes with Harold The Barrel and Harlequin, inserts Watcher of the Skies Single Version (!), and ends side A with Fountain of Salmacis. Side B entirely belongs to Supper's Ready. That's it. Judging by a number of comments, several people were tricked into believing this to be a live album, which would been pretty cool regarding the only official live album at that time was 'Genesis Live'. 'Rock Theatre' seems to pick particularly those songs that were missing on 'Genesis Live'. Except for WOTS which oddly appears in its rare single version... No matter what the selection seems somewhat random.

    By any means, this remains the only ever compilation to include WOTS single version, also Harold The Barrel, Harlequin and Fountain are all quite rare choices you will hardly ever find on any Genesis compilation.


    The Story of Genesis.

    https://www.discogs.com/de/mas…esis-The-Story-Of-Genesis

    This is the only one in the list I do not own, I included it because it looks to me as one of the best compilations listed on discogs.

    Released in 1978, it covers all the albums from Trespass to And Then There Were Three. However, it was released exclusively in Japan and only on vinyl.

    It goes chronologically through all the 70's albums and picks one track minimum, three tracks maximum off each album. Interestingly, it includes some rare choices: Dance On A Volcano, Eleventh Earl, and Burning Rope are all rarely found on other compilations.


    Turn It On Again - Best of '81 - '83.

    https://www.discogs.com/de/mas…It-On-Again-Best-Of-81-83

    This was put out by Vertigo who owned the rights for Abacab, Three Sides Live and Genesis (Shapes). So these are the only albums that songs could be picked of. We get a number of Shapes songs: Mama, Home By The Sea (fading out before seguing into Second Home!), Illegal Alien, and oddly, Taking It All Too Hard; also Paperlate plus No Reply At All and Man On The Corner. Nice selection from that era so far but it really gets interesting when we get to the live tracks that follow: Misunderstanding, Follow You Follow Me, and Abacab are all live versions off Three Sides Live; the CD ends with two live versions that were only released on B-sides: the Turn It On Again Medley, and - the jewel on this one - a 1983 live version of Firth of Fifth.

    Some people seem to have purchased this only for that Firth version. I like this compilation, it has its own oddness though with this selection. The live tracks make it much more interesting than other compilations. Also, this one is rare for including Taking It All Too Hard, also for fading out Home By The Sea, and even for juxtaposing Paperlate to No Reply At All. It's up to you what you make of this... Even more, this one is rare particularly for excluding I Know What I Like. IKWIL is the one song that appears on pretty much every compilation.


    Turn It On Again (The Hits).

    https://www.discogs.com/de/mas…Turn-It-On-Again-The-Hits

    Released in 1999, this was the first ever compilation that could cover the band's entire career. Its concept is simple: hit singles only. With that, it relies heavily on the pop period of the band. It does include I Know What I Like though, plus Congo, plus Carpet Crawlers 1999. Overall it is a nice listen, with no surprises though. Notably, it does not include Tell Me Why.


    Platinum Collection.

    https://www.discogs.com/de/mas…nesis-Platinum-Collection

    The first ever official compilation that covers the whole career of the band. 3 CDs including 40 tracks, it still appears to hold the record for most tracks on any Genesis compilation. It goes backwards-chronologically, picking between one and five songs off every album (except FGTR). Paperlate is the only non-album track; Calling All Stations is the only track clearly placed out of chronological order. Some rare picks on this one are: Behind The Lines, Undertow, In That Quiet Earth, Los Endos.


    Turn It On Again (The Hits) - The Tour Edition.

    https://www.discogs.com/de/rel…The-Hits-The-Tour-Edition

    This seems to be generally regarded as a "version" of the 1999 Hits compilation, I always saw this as a compilation in its own right though.

    Just like the 1999 compilation, this one too starts with Turn It On Again and closes its CD1 with Carpet Crawlers 1999 (also being the only other compilation to include CC1999 at all); just like the Platinum Collection it goes backwards-chronologically (with a few liberties) through the entire career. Rather than hits it focuses on single releases. Notably, this one does include Tell Me Why, also it includes Pigeons and Inside And Out - but omits Match Of The Day -, also Happy The Man and The Knife part 1. With five non-album tracks it has the highest number of non-album tracks on any compilation, also the highest number of Abacab album tracks (four). What's more, I'm pretty sure Afterglow wasn't a single release. Finally, just like on the Platinum Collection, the one CAS song (Congo) is placed completely out of chronology.


    14 From Our Past.

    https://www.discogs.com/de/rel…-Genesis-14-From-Our-Past

    Since this has only been available in American Starbucks stores I could not get hold of it yet. Imports are quite expensive, otherwise I would have got it just for the sake of collecting.

    Quite a simple compilation: 1 CD and it picks 1 song off each album (FGTR excepted) in forwards-chronological order.

    Notably, it picks Happy The Man in place for Nursery Cryme, making Nursery Cryme effectively the only album left out; also it picks Squonk over Ripples or A Trick Of The Tail, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway over Carpet Crawlers, and it includes Watcher Of The Skies which is a rare pick on most compilations.


    R-Kive.

    https://www.discogs.com/de/master/762988-Genesis-R-Kive

    This one confused the hell out of fans both for its name and for its cover art.

    As a Genesis compilation, this one is unique for including three solo tracks for each of the five core members, making up 15 non-Genesis songs. That aside, it covers 3 CDs and goes strictly chronologically (forwards) through the entire career, picking one to three songs off every album - FGTR left out as usual. This means its opening songs (The Knife, The Musical Box, Supper's Ready, The Cinema Show) alone make the first hour of listening. Compared to the Platinum Collection it has few surprises; it is notably though that it includes Back in NYC and the full album version of Tonight Tonight Tonight.


    The Last Domino?

    https://www.discogs.com/de/mas…9-Genesis-The-Last-Domino

    Out of all the official career-spanning compilations this has to be the messiest of them all. It tries to replicate the live set list of the Last Domino tour by giving the full album versions of what was parts of medleys or at least live versions that differ a lot to the studio versions. The result is the most uneven track selection you could think of, even though the songs are great. It picks up to six (!) songs off each album, however it ignores anything pre-Selling England as well as A Trick Of The Tail. It favours on Selling England as well as Invisible Touch and it includes some very rare picks: Fading Lights, Domino, Dancing With The Moonlit Knight - all as full album versions - and Duke's End which ironically is the opener. Also, for a non-chronological compilation, it rows up to four tracks from one album: Domino, Throwing It All Away, Tonight Tonight Tonight (album version) plus Invisible Touch appear in this order while the four Selling England tracks are scattered all over the place.

    It includes three songs that did not make it to the live set list: Jesus He Knows Me, In Too Deep and Abacab (single version!). Abacab is the only single version opposed to an entire collection of albums versions, adding just another oddity to this compilation. Other possible songs that didn't make it to the tour set list were not included: Blood On The Rooftops, Supper's Ready (for Apocalypse 9/8) should have been included. On top, Behind The Lines should technically have been included for Duke's Intro. Whatever... The Last Domino remains one of the weirdest compilations, official or unofficial.

    Quote from Schrottrocker

    The Story of Genesis.

    https://www.discogs.com/de/mas…esis-The-Story-Of-Genesis

    This is the only one in the list I do not own, I included it because it looks to me as one of the best compilations listed on discogs.

    One of the best? Admittedly I'm very biased against commercial compilations generally so I'm rarely going to like them but the choices and running order on this one are terrible. It's constrained by the dumb lumpen chronological approach, added to which the actual sequencing is ill thought-out. It has one track from their one double album, just IKWIL from SEBTP, but 3 from Trick and 2 each from W&W ATTWT.


    Ultimately though none of them are a patch on MY compilation. Obviously.

    Abandon all reason

    I've never been much on acquiring compilations from bands from whom I already have basically everything anyway, but I did get a couple of these.


    Rock Theatre - Back in vinyl days I got this one solely for the aforementioned WOTS single version.


    Turn It On Again (The Hits) - I really only got this one for the re-recorded "Carpet Crawlers," but I did find most of the single edits to be interesting, especially the one for "Congo" which gives it a better ending. I had to fix "Abacab" using some sound editing software to get rid of the weird vocal hiccup near the end. As for the packaging, I don't like the way it focuses on the albums represented as if they were the band's only albums.

    Little known fact: Before the crowbar was invented...


    ...crows simply drank at home.

    Not into compilations in any way, shape or form. But earlier in my career as a fan I did get the '81-'83 one, so I have a fondness for it plus it had live Firth of Fifth and Paperlate, tracks that weren't that familiar to the 90s teenager browsing shelves in the local record store.


    By the time R-kive came out, I was pretty confused as to why they were releasing it.

    Quote from rkive

    I would say that R-Kive compilation is indispensable, because they introduce us to the music of individual musicians' albums. 8)

    It's such a terrible format. I rarely like chronological compilations and having the odd solo track mixed in with them makes for a poor running order.


    They really should have checked with me first.


    I've just realised why I'm puzzled by the mentions of this 81-83 one and assumed I don't remember it. But it was never released in the UK, which explains it.

    Abandon all reason

    Quote from Backdrifter

    It's such a terrible format. I rarely like chronological compilations and having the odd solo track mixed in with them makes for a poor running order.


    They really should have checked with me first.


    I've just realised why I'm puzzled by the mentions of this 81-83 one and assumed I don't remember it. But it was never released in the UK, which explains it.

    R-Kive CD- 2.

    Genesis – Ripples.

    Genesis – Afterglow.

    Peter Gabriel – Solsbury Hill.

    Genesis – Follow You Follow Me.

    Tony Banks – For A While.

    Steve Hackett – Every Day.

    Peter Gabriel – Biko.

    Genesis – Turn It On Again.

    Phil Collins – In the Air Tonight.

    Genesis – Abacab.

    Genesis – Mama.

    Genesis – That's All.

    Phil Collins e Philip Bailey – Easy Lover.

    Mike + The Mechanics – Silent Running.


    I like shuffle music, it takes me by surprise! :)

    The best: Platinum Collection. Biased maybe because it was the first compilation I ever owned. But also I think it's possibly the best "highlights" compilation. They hit the nail on the head with this one, imo.


    The worst: The Last Domino. I never really understood the point of a compilation based on a ... tour set-list? And the inclusion of that Abacab cut as well. It looks like a commercialised Spotify play list. The only interesting feature is Duchess as a "standalone" track, without having the fading out of the last chord of the coda of Behind the Lines as intro.

    Quote from rkive

    I would say that R-Kive compilation is indispensable, because they introduce us to the music of individual musicians' albums. 8)

    This is why I bought it. I was just starting to dig deep and I thought this would be the perfect way to do it. But as I was already a massive Phil fan I didn't agree with the choice of either Easy Lover or Wake Up Call, and I don't really think Signal To Noise represents Peter all that well either.

    Re Duchess: Turn it on again Tour Edition, The Platinum Collection and The Last Domino have all different versions of Duchess. The TIOA Tour Edition has the single version - very short intro, early fade-out. The Platinum Collection has the album version with complete intro, the fade-out is the same as in the single version. The Last Domino has the album version and fades out later, it makes you wait for Guide Vocal to enter at any second.

    Quote from Schrottrocker

    I have been comparing various Genesis compilations lately. It might be a bit nerdy but I actually like to muse about song selections and track orders. Also, Genesis is the only band I became a collector of compilations of, probably due to the fact I have long been familiar with all of their material and there's no new albums going to be made.

    Sorry Schrottrocker, but you forgot to mention the Australian compilation from 1990 The Vertigo Years.


    It has the same cover as Turn It On Again: Best of '81-'83 (in fact it was the other way round as Turn It On Again: Best of '81-'83 took it from The Vertigo Years) and its tracklist includes all the songs from Genesis/Shapes album (but featuring Mama and Illegal Alien in their single versions) combined with three from Abacab (the opening track that gave its name to the album, Man on the Corner and Another Record), B-Side Open Door and the live version of Misunderstanding that would also appear in the next year in Turn It On Again'81-'83.


    In other words, it can be considered as Genesis/Shapes with bonus tracks, in fact this is the CD that I play when I want to listen to Genesis/Shapes, just because I prefer Illegal Alien in its integrity.


    Genesis: The Vertigo Years (Discogs)

    Well yea, the list I compiled is by no means complete, I was partly led by what I have in my collection - which means those that were easily available in record stores -, partly by what appears to be official or half-official, partly by what seems to make a good compilation in my opinion. Lots of the ones to be found on discogs do not meet any of these criteria for me. Disguising an entire album with some more or less randomly added bonus tracks as a "compilation" is a bit too cheap for me.


    There are indeed a few compilations listed on discogs that stood out for me as so bizarre I was tempted to include them just for the sake of hilariousness. I'd have to search the discogs list again - one of them starts with More Fool Me out of all Genesis songs, another one puts two FGTR tracks and jumps right to Illegal Alien, etc..

    Anyways, a particularly interesting one I could not find again was compiled by our German Genesis fan club who runs this forum, it has Genesis tracks as well as solo tracks and picks only the most unusual choices. I guess Christian can help here.

    Quote from Schrottrocker

    another one puts two FGTR tracks and jumps right to Illegal Alien, etc..

    😆 That's the kind of freewheeling association I feel their live shows could have benefited from, just once in a while. The Silent Sun-Illegal Alien-Harold The Barrel-Like It Or Not medley we never knew we needed.