the Buzz for February 23rd, 2015

23
Feb

Genesis — “I Can’t Dance” (from R-Kive) —

“Progressive rock bands, according to their fans, are supposed to stop about two albums into progressing and progress no more. . . . I think the secret to Genesis’ longevity is that they are the progressive rock band who progressed. And that’s why they’ve survived.”

— British comedian (and rabid Genesis fan) Al Murray, simply shedding light on the band’s four-decade-plus status as one of the world’s pre-eminent rock bands, at the end of Genesis: Sum of the Parts, a riveting documentary that premiered on cable’s Showtime last November. (Parts has just been released on DVD and Blu-ray and includes candid, no-holds-barred interviews with all the band’s principals — including Mike Rutherford, Phil Collins, and even Peter Gabriel, who split from the band in a hellacious huff in the late 1970s before embarking on one of the most magnificent solo careers in music history — and is exceedingly worthy of a couple of hours of your time. As, for that matter, is the album linked above: R-Kive, a first-of-its-kind three-disc, thirty-seven-track compendium of the greatest of Genesis’ hits alongside hits and highlights from Collins’ and Gabriel’s ravishing solo work, plus selections from Rutherford’s hit-making side gig Mike + the Mechanics. Taken as one, a veritable Genesis-inspired abbondanza awaits you, people.)