Genesis fans fall into a few different camps-the die hard prog rockers who worship the Peter Gabriel/Steve Hackett early years, the loyal fans who eat up everything they ever recorded, and the casual fan who can name their hits of the 80's but never knew that Gabriel sang with the band a decade before. Well, this new compilation titled Platinum Collection not only caters to all of these audiences, but is perhaps the best classic song collection ever put together of the band. Many of the songs that adorn the 3 CD's in the set feature sparkling remixed sound by Nick Davis, which adds a crispness to the 70's & 80's material especially. The layout is rather odd, as the song tracking works in a reverse chronological order, starting off with the 90's material on CD 1 and working backwards. The good thing is there is plenty of material here from every era of the band, and although the hardcore fan will certainly grumble about a song omission here and there, the song list is pretty well put together. For some good reading be sure to dig into the very informative booklet.
All of the 80's and 90's hits are here, like "I Can't Dance", "Tonight Tonight Tonight", "Mama", "Jesus He Knows Me", "Home By the Sea", "Abacab", and many others, including the adventurous "Land of Confusion". CD 2 dives into the late 70's material when Collins first took over the vocal slot, and features gems like "Misunderstanding", "Turn it On Again", "Ripples", "Your Own Special Way", plus some unexpected classics like "Behind the Lines", "Duchess", "In That Quiet Earth", and "Los Endos". Of course the third CD houses the early 70's creations , and although songs like "The Battle of Epping Forest", "Watcher of the Skies" (how they can omit this signature song is beyond me), "The Return of the Giant Hogweed", and "The Fountain of Salmacis" do not appear here due to time constraints, many signature tunes from the Gabriel era are, like "The Musical Box", "The Cinema Show", "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway", "Firth of Fifth", and of course the epic "Supper's Ready".
It's fun listening to this collection all the way through and revisiting just how much Genesis changed and evolved over the years, from a lumbering and creative prog monster to a chart topping hit machine, it all came down to quality music in the end. Those who have followed the band for many years probably have everything in this collection already, and don't expect any rarities other than the hard to find single "Paperlate", but it's pretty cool to hear all these songs in one set. With all the recent rumors of a 70's line-up reunion floating around, Platinum Collection is actually pretty timely and will no doubt bring some focus back on one of the most important bands in the history of rock music.
Track Listing
Disc: 1
1. No Son of Mine
2. I Can't Dance
3. Jesus He Knows Me
4. Hold On My Heart
5. Invisible Touch
6. Throwing It All Away
7. Tonight Tonight Tonight
8. Land of Confusion
9. In Too Deep
10. Mama
11. That's All
12. Home By the Sea
13. Second Home By the Sea
14. Illegal Alien
15. Paperlate
16. Calling All Stations
Disc: 2
1. Abacab
2. Keep It Dark
3. Turn It On Again
4. Behind the Lines
5. Duchess
6. Misunderstanding
7. Many Too Many
8. Follow You Follow Me
9. Undertow
10. In That Quiet Earth
11. Afterglow
12. Your Own Special Way
13. A Trick of the Tail
14. Ripples
15. Los Endos
Disc: 3
1. Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
2. Counting Out Time
3. Carpet Crawlers
4. Firth of Fifth
5. Cinema Show
6. I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)
7. Supper's Ready
8. Musical Box
9. Knife
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