Here’s another another blog post with a Dutch twist. In 1973, in between ‘Foxtrot’ and ‘Selling England By The Pound’, Genesis released their first and only live album from the Gabriel era. Genesis ‘Live’ has a cult status amongst fans and it contains some of their greatest classics. Also, the album has a rather raw edge to it, different from its successors. Even now, more than 50 years later, you’re hearing a band at the top of their game. Genesis ‘Live’ was recorded at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester on February 24th 1973 and the De Montfort Hall in Leicester the next day. Both dates are on the ‘Foxtrot’ tour flyer.
I’m not the kind of fan that wants to have all the different versions of every Genesis album, but I do have some variations from ‘Live’ to choose from. Recently, I added a cassette tape from Saudi Arabia to my collection. It has a slightly different cover than the original release, with little pictures of Gabriel and Hackett put in the original framework. Strangely enough, the original version of ‘Blood On The Rooftops’ opens side B. Look in the gallery below. There’s also the Italian vinyl pressing and two other different cassette tapes.
Genesis ‘Live’ possibly may have been planned as a double-album. A test pressing for this double-album was printed in The Netherlands in 1973, by Philips. It is by far the rarest (official) Genesis record known to exist. The test pressing contained all tracks of the original ‘Live’ album, but it also included ‘Supper’s Ready’ on side C. Robin Platts writes in his book ‘Inside & Out’: “Whether this was ever intended for release is open to speculation. However, the idea of a double-album would seemingly have gone against the intention of making ‘Genesis Live’ a budget-priced release.”
I happened to have a cassette which is a copy of the Dutch test pressing with ‘Supper’s Ready’ on it. Although it’s been bootlegged for years, I still like to think this is the real thing. The former owner obviously made a mistake by penning down that the recording is from the Rainbow Theatre, October 1973.
About 20 copies of the original test pressing are known to excist. As I’m writing this blog post, there’s a copy for sale on Discogs, if only you have 6000 New Zealand Dollars to spend. Good luck with that!