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Book & Magazine Reviews
In The World of Genesis |
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GENESIS:
Il Fiume del Costante Cambiamento
written by Mario
Giammetti, Alessandro Berni, and Mino Profumo
© 2004 Editori Riuniti
(List Price: € 24.00)
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In the
Genesis fan community, few hold the reputation of Mario Giammetti. The
long-time writer of the Genesis fanzine/website Dusk has culled years of
knowledge on the band into one comprehensive 480-page tomb on the group
from their origins in the late 1960s through the band's 1997/1998
European tour. The detail provided by each album and tour provide a
lengthy chronology on the history of Genesis, which, combined with
numerous rare pictures, a discography, and other resources makes this book
a true find. The paperback also includes a special preface by Anthony
Phillips and a special message from Phil Collins!
The first part of the book features Mario's analysis and excerpts of
exclusive interviews he has conducted with the band members over the
years. The second half of the text
is
a thick appendix dedicated to Genesis' extensive history on tour. This
section of the book has been prepared by Mino Profumo (from 1968 to 1977)
and Alessandro Berni (from 1978 to 1998).
Sadly, the text is only available in Italian at the moment, and there are
no plans for an English edition (which is somewhat problematic if you
happen to not be fluent in Italian!). If you are fluent in Italian, I
strongly recommend getting your hands on a copy of this book. Even if you're
not, I think many people will find the discograhy, pictures, and other gems
to be a nice addition to their Genesis collections!
To get more information or to purchase this book click
here. |
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Phil
Collins: The Singing Drummer
written by Mario
Giammetti and Enrico Geretto
© 2004 Edizioni Segno
(List Price: € 20.00)
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As mentioned
previously, in the
Genesis fan community, few hold the reputation of Mario Giammetti. The
Singing Drummer biography on Phil Collins is the next in his series of Genesis related books (all in Italian).
This time out, Mario's sights aimed at Phil's career, with a 339-page
overview of the artist's history as a solo artist. From his beginnings
through 2004's First Final Farewell Tour, Mario offers 224-pages of
detailed information on Collins' musical journey. The biography includes
approximately 29 full color pictures, many of which I have never seen
before. Because I do not speak very good Italian, I was not able to read this text,
but if Mario keeps putting out tombs like this, I'm going to have to get
myself a tutor!
In addition, the text offers an overview of Phil Collins' side projects
which has been written by Enrico Geretto. Geretto's work even goes so far
as to include a flow chart outlining Collins' activity for his side
projects and related session work. Last but not least is a discography
that includes albums, videos, and beyond! Whether you speak Italian or you're just a collector of Phil Collins, you
will find it to be a great resource. Some time before it's release Mario
posted to the Official Genesis site's forum that he was looking for a
title to his Collins book, and I posted, "How about The Singing
Drummer?" I don't know if it's coincidence or not, but if I happened
to persuade Mario to use the title in any way, I am completely humbled.
Order yours today!
To get more information or to purchase this book click
here. |
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Genesis
Inside & Out
written by Robin
Platts
(Out of Print)
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Although
band activity might be dormant in the Genesis camp, a flurry of
biographical books have surfaced in the past several years. From a new
hardback reprint of Armando Gallo's incredible photo book, I Know What
I Like, to books by fans like Alan Hewitt's recent Opening The
Musical Box to name but two, Genesis fans have had plenty of
historical fodder to chew on of late.
As a fan, I have always enjoyed these books, but I wonder how many times
can you rehash the same old facts with a few new quotes spliced in and
call it original? Rarely are more than one or two new pieces of
information revealed in these unauthorized tell-alls about the band or
it's members. On top of that, the ultra-large type in most of these books
makes me feel like not only am I a moron for buying the same story again
and again, but that my intelligence is further in question for allowing
these publishers to print what would be a 40-page book and expanding it to
over 180 pages, including photographs, with a font size that a blind man
could read with ease! All that, just to be able to make a paltry book seem
comprehensive and more in-depth than the last six biographies that emerged
in the past few years before it.
Still, to Mr. Platts' defense, a few new chestnuts of data or, perhaps
more accurately, moments of historical clarity are revealed in his new
interviews with Anthony Phillips, Steve Hackett, and Daryl Stuermer... but
not too many. Perhaps more interesting were comments by Mick Barnard, who
served as a "fill in" guitarist for a few months after Anthony
Phillips' departure and before Steve Hackett's arrival to the group. |
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Platts
provides thoughtful attention to outlining each song as it was recorded
and what the behind the scenes environment was like in the evolving face
of the early days of Genesis both in the studio and on the road. Sadly,
more than half of the book offers this wonderful attention to the Peter
Gabriel years with the second half lacking Platts' same level of care or
interest, with the remaining pages coming off as being rushed and far less organized. The
addition of solo projects seems to distract Platts even further, with
certain well known elements of Genesis' history glossed over very
quickly. As further example of Platts' loss of attention to detail, several
inaccurate statements are made towards the end of the book. One such inaccurate
statement was that the band had discussions with ex-Marillion vocalist
Fish. While this was a rumor, I, personally, interviewed Fish around the
release of his 1999 album, Rain Gods With Zippos, and Fish himself
stated that he was NEVER in discussion with Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks,
or Genesis' management about replacing Phil Collins. Fish further stated
that by the time he heard that he was being considered by Genesis, he
called Tony Banks and was told that Ray Wilson already had the job.
Perhaps the worst mistake in the book was Platts' claims that when Genesis
reunited in September 2000 to honor their manager, Tony Smith, who was
receiving the prestigious Peter Grant Award, that Peter Gabriel got on
stage and performed "Turn It On Again" with Genesis. This is
also not true. Yes, Peter Gabriel was at the event (as Platts
acknowledges) and, yes, he posed for pictures with the band, but he did
NOT perform on stage with Genesis. These are just a few of the mistakes I
found in the second half of the book. While I don't want to be anal about
trivial information, and I realize that we're not reading Tolstoy here,
facts are facts. Besides, when the first half of the book is done so well,
it seems a shame to botch the job in the final chapters.
Following the end of Robin Platts' book is a basic discography. Again,
like the biography, there are some holes in the latter part of the
discography. According to Platts, there were no singles for the Calling
All Stations album in the USA. Again, this is false. "Not About
Us" was a commercial CD and cassette single. If you want to count
promotional singles you can also add "Congo" and "The
Dividing Line" which were also pressed as U.S. CD singles for radio
play. Platts also offers a very limited bootleg discography. While the
author offers a disclaimer that Inside & Out doesn't provide
every bootleg listing, Platts doesn't even offer a relatively complete
list of the shows that have been bootlegged (which is easy enough to do,
especially since many websites already provide this information). Still,
if you're going to include bootlegs at all, at least attempt to provide a
somewhat decent list of what was recorded or simply don't bother!
This combined with the other mistakes is just a terrible shame. By reading
this book, it's not difficult to surmise that Platts is probably a true
Genesis fan, but the author clearly has much more interest in the early
years of the band, which comes across crystal clear in this biography. While there is nothing wrong with that, Platts' bias
turns Inside & Out into a mix of well studied '70s Genesis
information with a seemingly blatant disregard for the same level of
interest on anything done by Genesis post 1980. As a reader and Genesis
fan, if you're looking for an excellent overview of the group's early
years, this is a great place to start, but there are other books that
offer much more accurate insight into the band's latter years. I can't say
that I didn't enjoy reading Inside & Out, and I won't say that
it's the best book ever written on Genesis. What I will say is that this
book would make a good first draft to a great, more thorough career
biography. If you are only looking to buy one Genesis book and get a
thorough, well-rounded overview of the band's entire history - this is not
it.
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Genesis Behind The Lines: 1967-2007
written by Robin
Platts
© 2007
Collector's Guide Publishing
(List Price: $17.95)
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Robin Platts'
first Genesis book, Genesis Inside and Out, left me more than a
little disappointed. While it was the first Genesis biography to recognize
the role of Mick Bernard as a temporary guitarist between Anthony Phillips
and Steve Hackett, it had a few serious mistakes and really had a huge
emphasis on the '70s with less than appropriate attention of the later
period of the band's amazing history. So, when I first heard that Platts'
was issuing a new Genesis book, I was skeptical that it would be little more
than a repackaging and slightly updated version of his last book. After
reading Platts' latest Genesis book, Genesis Behind The Lines: 1967-2007,
I'm glad to say that is it a much better book that his first attempt, but
still does not manage to overcome all of the issues that plagued Inside
and Out.
After having read the new book, I can say that Platts did not simply
repackage his old edition; this is clearly a more detailed version. The
content of the old book was worked carefully into an expanded yet concise
history with the glaring errors corrected. Platts does a much better job of
assembling the chronology and it is very clearly written, but there is still
a heavy emphasis on the '70s with far less detail on the '80s, '90s, and
beyond. In fact, the first 110-pages focus on the late '60s and '70s with
only 47-pages covering the three decades that followed! This is especially
disappointing. Especially, since Platts' book incorporates the band's solo
projects in Behind The Lines, and as most people know, the '80s in
particular was a very fruitful period. Its not that the high points of the
'80s and beyond aren't there - they are, but the lack of detail in
comparison to the first part of the book is grossly evident. If Platts had
provided the same level of detail in the '80s onward as he did in the
1967-1979 period, this would possibly be one of the best biographies
available. Sadly, once again, the latter years feel rushed and once again
leave you with the feeling that Platts interest is predominantly in the
early years of Genesis. |
The book also provides with a limited discography that covers the basics
including Genesis albums, singles and solo projects through 2007, but it
will leave die-hard collector's disappointed in its lack of detail as far as
catalog numbers and various pressings from different countries, etc. are
concerned. Fans will also enjoy the 8-full color pages, but the images are
just random albums covers and singles, and I think this was a real lost
opportunity where Platts could have focused on rare items exclusively or
perhaps band pictures, live shots, etc that can't easily be found elsewhere.
All in all, Behind The Lines 1967-2007 is well written and gives the
overall history of the band at a reasonable price. Many people will find
this an enjoyable and insightful read despite very few new revelations. That
being said, I still don't think Behind The Lines is a "definitive"
biography on Genesis and its members, but it's certainly a step in the right
direction.
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