Live: The Way We Walk Volume One - The Shorts Idaho

Live: The Way We Walk Volume One - The Shorts

Genesis

Atlantic Records, 1992

http://www.genesis-music.com

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 10/15/1999

If I had really thought about things back in the early '90s, Iwould not have been surprised to eventually hear that Phil Collinswas leaving Genesis. Sure, they had just scored a big hit withtheir album We Can't Dance, and some of the music on that disc wasabsolutely incredible. But underneath it all, the band was reallystarting to sound bored.

You need proof? Check out Live - The Way We Walk Volume One: The Shorts. Though I havenever had the privilege of seeing Genesis live, it absolutelysounds like the band is just going through the motions over thecourse of these 11 songs -- and if the band is bored, you can betthe listener is going to feel the same way.

True, there are moments when things seem like they're clickingwell. "Jesus He Knows Me" sounds like Collins is having some funmocking the liars-posing-as-men-of-God who waste bandwidth on mytelevision. Chester Thompson's drumming is especially noteworthy onthis track.

But there are other times where the rhythm section sounds fartoo plodding. Ozzy Osbourne once said he didn't like working withBritish drummers because they sounded like a Space Invadersmachine. While Thompson didn't write the drum beats on songs like"That's All" and "I Can't Dance," there are times I found myselflistening to the beat and imagining the invaders coming down toearth, the beat was that blah. Not a good sign.