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Artist: | Genesis |
Title: | Watcher Of All |
Date: | July 25th 1972 |
Venue: | The Civic Hall, Solihull, England |
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1972 was indeed a busy year for Genesis. As detailed in Alan Hewitt's book, “A Genesis Chronicle”, the total number of gigs they played that year alone may have approached 160, in addition to which the band found time to write, rehearse and record a new album - the groundbreaking “Foxtrot”. A grueling schedule to say the least, but all this hard work was beneficial in many ways. Almost constantly on the road, the group was growing into a tighter and more proficient unit. Phil Collins and Steve Hackett were gaining confidence and their contributions were already proving to be vital to the classic Genesis sound. The spring and summer of 1972 saw Genesis drawing more and more attention from progressive music fans throughout Europe, with first a milestone appearance at the Great Western Festival in Lincoln where they premiered a new song, 'Watcher Of The Skies', which was destined to become one of their all-time classics. This was followed by unforgettable performances at Watford Town Hall on June 25th and the Olympia in Paris the next day.
By the time Genesis reached the Civic Hall in Solihull on July 25th, the “Nursery Cryme” show had become a well-oiled machine that was earning new fans for the band all the time. PRRP recently released a sparkling remaster of the aforementioned Watford concert, a fine example of the power and energy of a Genesis show from those formative days. In Solihull, the band offered yet another polished performance of most of their stage favourites, including the manic “Twilight Alehouse”, which many expected to find on the next Genesis album. As we all know, it wasn't to be. Fans would have to wait another year or so for a studio version of the song to finally surface as a B-side of the 'I Know What I Like' single.
The Solihull concert, which we bring you here, clearly demonstrates the band's continued process of evolution. When presented at Watford Town Hall in June, 'Watcher Of The Skies' was still very much a work-in-progress, but by the time of the Solihull show, only a month later, it was already fast-approaching its definitive version. Furthermore, the song was now steadily performed as the opening number, a position it would hold for two years until the end of the “Selling England By The Pound” tour in 1974. It never failed to set the atmosphere for the concert and grab the audience's attention from the start. At Solihull, 'The Musical Box' was played towards the end of the set where its powerful climax pave the way for an energetic and devastating rendition of 'The Return Of The Giant Hogweed', the band's favourite closing number at the time. Sadly, 'The Knife', another fan favourite that the band often played as an encore, was omitted that night but the great performance of all the numbers more than made up for that.
Things were indeed going well for Genesis in the summer of 1972, creatively if not financially. From Charisma's point of view, the band were still a financial nightmare, but Tony Stratton-Smith's unfailing confidence in them was still as strong as ever and he kept on backing them all the way. His faith in Genesis would soon be rewarded. On October 21st, 1972, the band launched their fourth album, “Foxtrot”. It would explore new frontiers in rock music and open many doors for Genesis. The epic 'Supper's Ready' was rightfully hailed as the band's masterpiece. That song would become the centerpiece of the increasingly elaborate stage shows that the band would soon start to devise. If there is one year that can be defined as pivotal for Genesis, it most certainly was 1972 -the year of the making of a great rock band. Enjoy the show!
PRRP Staff
We began with a CD copy of the master tape for this project. The complete show was here so no patches were needed. After loading it onto the system it was clear that Hiss was a major problem. Many techniques were evaluated before selecting the proper one for noise reduction. The tonality was off, requiring a boost in the bass and a dynamic midrange reduction for harsh-ness during the louder sections. The balance was also off and was equalized. The dialogue was low in volume compared to the rest of the show so it was boosted for better clarity. A few dropouts were found that required patching but no material outside of the original recording was needed to correct these imperfections. The dynamics were also found to be very irregular. Knowing these songs well, the dynamics were adjusted to produce a more natural, expected feel to them. Songs were re-tracked and the show was saved.