From Genesis to Revelation

 

From Genesis to Revelation was released in 1969.  

Track Listing

1. Where the Sour Turns to Sweet

2. In the Beginning

3. Fireside Song

4. The Serpent

5. Am I Very Wrong?

6. In the Wilderness

7. The Conqueror

8. In Hiding

9. One Day

10. Window

11. In Limbo

12. Silent Sun

13. A Place to Call My Own

Genre: Pop (psychedelic/baroque/other various flavors)

I've listened to this album a few times and nothing ever sticks.  It was recorded by a bunch of 20 somethings living with their parents.  The album sold like 600 copies initially, because the made the stupid decision to make the album title sound religious, which made record companies put it in the religious section.  Couple that with the blandest possible artwork, I'm amazed it sold that many.  But at least the artwork matches the music.  Whats crazy is their producer took it upon themselves to add orchestration to the music without consulting the band.

When The Sour Turns to Sweet - Uninteresting guitar, overdone orchestration and obnoxious finger snaps.  What a mess to start the album.  Usually you want to start with a bang but they started with this forgettable nonsense.  

In the Beginning - A bit more upbeat, which is an improvement, sounds almost like some of what Pink Floyd did a few years earlier on Piper.  That flange effect on the guitar is doing this song no favors.  If this was cleaned up a bit they might have a good song here.

Fireside Song - Weird unrelated piano interlude that probably should have been its own song.  The lyrics here are awful and the acoustic guitar is boring with no discernible bass guitar or drums.  Honestly this would be much worse without the ham fisted orchestration.

The Serpent - Oh this guitar is pretty cool.  Aaaaand its done.  Apparently another unrelated interlude just tacked on there.  This one has an almost Doors feel to it, the keyboard are a good addition and the guitar is pretty good.  The choir-esqe vocals are bad, is he going for some like heavenly angels kind of thing?  

Am I Very Wrong - This one is okay.  The acoustic guitar is meh, the piano is a good addition.  The lyrics aren't great again.

In the Wilderness - Okay song.  The orchestration is distracting and overblown though.  Could have done a bit more work on the song instead of singing the chorus times though.  I expect that "Music, all I hear is Music" will be stuck in my head.  Also the song fade outs are getting old.

The Conqueror - I actually like this one.  Full instrumentation makes this song sound completely.  There's some depth here and they lyrics aren't as bad as most of the others.  Could have brought the guitar more forward in the mix since its clear they're doing interesting stuff.

In Hiding - This song is boring as hell.  Nothing happens whatsoever.  I can't even imagine this without the bad orchestration, it'd somehow be even more boring.

One Day - They really liked that choir sound didnt they.  It still sounds like shit.  

Window - Another just boring song.  Nothing happens here.

In Limbo - Alright, I'm back with a fresh cup of coffee so I can stay awake for the final stretch.  Oof, it sounds like Gabriel is really struggling on ths chorus high notes here.  The instrumentation is promising but doenst actually go anywhere 

The Silent Sun - This one feels like they care.  Full instrumentation like The Conqueror which again, helps a lot.  Actually feels like a full song. The orchestration is bad and out of place.

A Place To Call My Own - The final track on the album.  Just piano and vocals. Feels like they're wrapping up whatever story they tried to tell on the album.  But, they never actually made the story clear so this falls flat too.

Boring songs, weird out of place interludes and a lack of originality really bring this one down.  The album gets very same-y as it goes on.  You can feel that they had a grand vision for the album, they just shit the bed trying to accomplish it.  It feels they they recorded this album in a library and were trying their hardest to not disturb anyone. 

Play this and then listen to Piper at the Gates of Dawn.  Now, imagine if Genesis went into From Genesis with that energy, it might not have put listeners to sleep.  

5 red and 1 green, this feels like a slapped together collection of unrelated demos.  If they'd cut the stupid interludes it might have been a bit better, but most of these songs are just boring.  I don't recommend this one

2/5