Hard to recommend

First off, I don't own it, but I've seen the tracklisting and the
dates for live material.

If you're a fan of Pop era Genesis, this album is missing the hits and what they have that you'll like isn't enough to justify the price.

If you're a diehard fan, you have the B-Sides, and some live material. The problem with the live material is that it is most of it is from previously released videos (Brazilian, Man on the Corner, Dreaming While You Sleep), radio broadcasts (Ripples, Illegal Alien) or very common bootlegs.

Even songs like Evidence of Autumn, Paperlate and open door were on the 3 Sides Live CD (GECD 2002) and the domestic Vinyl.

Missing is the Duke Suite, which was a 25 minute piece that they later broke up into seperate songs (Behind The Lines - Duchess - Guide Vocal - Turn It On - Duke's Travel/Dukes End). Ideally they would have released the original Studio Mix. Instead we just get the last 2 pieces from the often Booted (and at least partially broadcast) Lyceum show.

What would have made this better is a complete concert or 2 and all the B-Sides/EP songs. The excuse, "The songs are bad," is irrelevant. Fans who buy a boxset like this are completists. And one things Bands (not just genesis) always seem to forget is that they're not FANS. They're members of the band, but when your tour guitarist has to teach you the words/chords to your old songs, you're not a fan.

For me it's very tough. There's a bout a CD's worth of material I want, and 1/2 CD of stuff I'm ambivalent about. The other half is stuff I'm completely uninterested in.

It's pretty sad, because I'm actually a pretty big fan of the first 4 or 5 albums that Phil sang on, yet this set isn't even close to the first archive in depth and quality.

Ironically, fans of the early phil years will like the first archive with Pete singing more. It's a better set. It didn't have to be that way.

Keep It Up

Let's see, Genesis fan's are so sad that they might not get another new album from their band, with new material. But look, her's a set of rare b-sides and live stuff. Oh good, i'm happy. Oh wait, i don't like this, and this is done bad...
No wonder nothing new is coming, they release something we've been dying for them to release and then we rip it to shreds. Don't want any new material, Keep It Up!
Overall this is a good set as was the first, both the Gabriel & Collins era's were good, as was Calling All Stations, are there any other ACTUAL Genesis fans out there that will allow the group to grow. Sure you might has a preference, but there is no "best" era of Genesis. Peter Gabriel=Phil Collins=Ray Wilson
Take your pick, don't condone the other one(s).
Disc one has some nice takes from We Can't Dance and other instrumentals, Disc two has great live material like Ripples & It's Gonna Get Better, Disc 3 finishes with an interesting version of Mama, in the demo stages. Good job GENESIS, please Keep It Up

They missed again

I know, Shameless of me to use a Phil Collins solo song as a title of my review, but "missed opportunity" is the term this box is best catagorized by. I'm a pretty big Genesis fan, and while it would have been virtually impossible to surpass the near perfect Archives Vol 1, something along the same lines in terms of thoroughness was expected with this one. Likewise, as exciting as it is to finally have some of these tracks in all their remastered glory, it is equally disappointing to know that there are countless more previously *officially* released tracks still floating around out there.

What is here that's good? Well, even in their pop heyday, Genesis was a pretty experimental band in a lot of ways. Their b-sides and leftovers are NOT generally better songs than the ones that made the cut, but a lot of them are quite good. Notably: "You Might Recall" "Inside and Out" "Evidence of Autumn" and "Open Door." Also, what live cuts are here, were not played live often and hardly any of them have been previously released on live albums in the past. They're great to have. Some have also bemoaned the inclusion of the handful of 12" remixes included. I sympathize with these folks because they, like me, know what's been left off in their place. Still, I like having the remixes. They're a big part of what 80's radio rock was all about and some of them are pretty fun.

That brings me back to my original point. It is unforgivable that Genesis would release an entire rarities box and not include key parts of the EPs "Spot the Pigeon" ("Match of the Day") and "3X3" ("Me and Virgil"). I repeat: Unforgivable. It's amazing that given all the work they did on the Lamb portions of Vol 1, that the band didn't see fit to include the original "Duke Suite" as played live on the first part of their 1980 tour. For those of you who don't know what this is, it's a medley made up of the songs from the original "Duke" concept [Behind the Line/Dutchess/Guide Vocal/Turn It On Again/Duke's Travels/Duke's End] that were broken up on the album at the last minute. I also agree with other reviewers who have pointed out how little of Steve Hackett's work is represented here. There are a number of other glaring omissions but these are as good examples as you should need to understand my point of view.

What was needed was a 4th disc to match the 1st Archive set. The band may not have been as inspired from 76-92 as they were from 67-75, but in nearly twice the amount of time they created enough material to justify this set being at least as long. B-sides, outtakes, demos, live cuts and yes, even remixes. We should be arguing about what the best stuff on the set is, not which favorites were left behind and what should've been cut to make room. It ALL should have been here. Under the circumstances, it's hard believe that the band were involved in this project at all, let alone completely in charge of it. I love what I got, but I'm afraid we'll never get the chance to get the rest. Who knows though, maybe they'll make another box. It's not like they'll be working on a new album... um... EVER.