R-Kive

A decent compilation of the works of Genesis as a whole but not perfect.... Very good for someone who wants to explore Genesis a little more but aren't a diehard fan.

I am a fan of Peter Gabriel era Genesis, and Peter Gabriel, but one have to admit that Genesis was a band made of musical geniuses whose solo career were as good as the band itself, off-course with various levels of success. What's so good about this collection is that it flows so spontaneously that you feel is a complete record, and you can sense that whatever the individual members did, there was an underlying connection that always led back to classic era Genesis. My only complaint is that there wasn't a song from supergroup GTR. Other than that, very good collection!

Not easy to select only 33 songs among a vast collection of Genesis and solo songs… of course a lot of great songs from Peter’s Genesis and Peter’s solo, but it is already a great job I would say… great compilation album!

It’s a cool idea to compile some of the noncommercial and solo works of Genesis (But A NEW ALBUM IS WHAT WE REALLY WANTED)… but you gotta do it right if you’re gonna do it at all. To have “Easy Lover” on here is a stupid idea. Songs like Narnia and Star of Sirus are where Hacket shines brightest, and they’re missing. Worst of all, the version of Carpet Crawlers here is a bad remaster, and is not as great as the original recording. Give this a miss if you really want to explore genesis. Get the Platinum collection, or just buy the albums. as of now, iTunes doesn’t have Mike or Tony’s solo works, so I guess here is a decent enough place to grab a couple of their songs.

To summarize the lengthy (and largely successful) career of Genesis and it's solo projects on a 3-CD collection properly seems like an almost impossible task. You can't include all the massive radio hits and great album cuts by Genesis, Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel - much less the succcess of Mike Rutherford (Mike and the Mechanics) and the unfortunately often overlooked work of Tony Banks and Steve Hackett. So, if you are looking for that complete collection... This is not it. This is a sampler of the band and the solo works of the 5-primary members of Genesis (there were others, but these five made up what many consider to be "classic Genesis"): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, and Mike Rutherford. I would go on record as saying this is not a die-hard fan's album. The die-hard fan has had these tracks for years (there are no rarities here - just album tracks). This is really for the person who never really explored the band's music fully and never really grasped the connections to mega-successful solo artists like Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel. It also gives the casual fan a chance to probably hear Tony Banks' and Steve Hackett's work for the first time. Music downloaders will note that in America, this is the first time you can get two of Mike and the Mechanics hits ("Silent Running" and "The Living Years" as well as the international hit single "Over My Shoulder") as digital downloads, making it again desirable for the music lover that didn't have those albums already. So, in conclusion, while its a nice mixture of songs representitive of the many facets of the band and its primary members, R-Kive won't be for everyone.

Great Music but not a perfect collection. Missing some great tracks from the Peter Gabriel era.

They could do covers of the Knack and I would buy it. Check out Tony Banks solo stuff - especially “For A While”.

Anytime you have a "Best of” album there are going to be a whole slew of songs that are going to be left out of the mix. This is no more true than for this album. As a whole, i.e. Genesis, there is 23 plus years if material. Add in two of the three singers who did pretty well for themselves on their own. THEN throw in the Hackett, Rutherford, and Banks for extra measure. They could’ve made several discs from this compilation. For Banks’ and Mike’s material, this album makes those tracks available. Long story short, great album for people willing to dabble into the waters of this great band. For the diehards, just appreciate the vast catalog and change in the band’s style and its members. Cheers to all!