Seconds Out

Infobox Album
Name = Seconds Out
Type = Live album
Artist = Genesis


Released = 21 October 1977
Recorded = 1976-1977
Genre = Progressive rock
Length = 1:35:31
Label = Charisma, Virgin, Atlantic
Producer = David Hentschel and Genesis | Reviews =
* Allmusic rating|3.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:1e851vgjzzma link]
Last album = "Wind & Wuthering"
(1976) [http://www.genesis-music.com/discog/?v=&a=4&id=9] . www.genesis-music.com. Retrieved on 21 August 2008.]
This album = "Seconds Out"
(1977)
Next album = "…And Then There Were Three…"
(1978)

"Seconds Out" is a live double album by Genesis, released in October 1977. The performances were recorded in Paris in 1976 and 1977 on their tour in support of "A Trick of the Tail" and "Wind & Wuthering". At the end of several songs the crowd can be heard encouraging the band to play another song by chanting "Une autre!" which literally means "another one".

History

"Seconds Out" is the band's second live album following "Genesis Live" in 1973. While the earlier live set had been released by the band's label to mark time while they recorded "Selling England by the Pound", "Seconds Out" was planned as a major release, an authoritative document of Genesis' sound with Phil Collins as frontman and lead vocalist. The recording includes former Weather Report drummer Chester Thompson at the start of his long tenure as concert drummer for the band. Former Yes and King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford, the first drummer to take over for Collins on the stage after Gabriel's departure, is featured on "The Cinema Show". Guitarist Steve Hackett left the band during mid-1977 as "Seconds Out" was being mixed. A critical and commercial success, the album hit #4 in the UK and #47 in the US, where their popularity was still gaining steam.

"Seconds Out" is commonly regarded as the end of Genesis' progressive rock era, as they would begin exploring shorter and more direct song formats beginning with their next studio release, "…And Then There Were Three…", which would prove to be their American breakthrough album. To many fans, this live set is notable for its combination of classic Gabriel-era songs redone by the musical virtuosity of the later Genesis, mixed with favourites from the first two post-Gabriel releases.

Until "Genesis Archive 1967-75" (1998), "Seconds Out" contained the only official live recording of Genesis concert staple "Supper's Ready", a 23 minute long opus which many have considered the band's signature piece. As the band would slowly phase out this intricate quasi-orchestral piece, and lose Hackett while this album was being mixed, this album marks the end of the 'classic' Genesis lineup. Perhaps ironically, this album also prominently features Steve Hackett's live guitar work in a manner that overshadows his recorded solos (see for example, the live version of "Firth of Fifth").

On the "Genesis – A History" video (1990), Banks dryly jokes that, after Hackett announced his departure from the band, "we just mixed him out of the rest of the album and that was it, really." Thanks to this quip, it has been rumoured among Genesis fans that Hackett was, in fact, "mixed out" of "Seconds Out", although, by listening to the album it is possible to hear Hackett’s guitar along with the other instruments. Hackett later said that Banks' remark was simply "British humour". As Banks' joke was made in the context of a longer, more serious discussion about Hackett's departure, that would seem to be the case. However, Hackett has been quoted as saying he was not happy with the sound on the album, but, having already decided to quit the band, did not want to fight to have input during the mixing sessions.

The album's credits include details of which drummer(s) are playing on each song. These include statements like "drums Chester, keyboard solo Phil." These have been misinterpreted as saying that Phil plays the keyboard solo (see the All Music Guide article linked to above for one example), but in fact they refer to his playing drums "during" the keyboard solo.

ong notes

"Firth of Fifth" is performed here without the piano introduction, beginning immediately with the lyrics. A similar recording appears on "Genesis Archive 1967-75". Tony Banks stopped playing the piano introduction in concert during the "Selling England by the Pound" tour, as there were no electric pianos in existence at the time which were sensitive enough to allow Banks to recreate the "classical" feel of the introduction.

This album's version of "I Know What I Like" includes an extended instrumental section which makes more or less subtle references to "Stagnation" and "Visions Of Angels" ("Trespass"), "Dancing With the Moonlit Knight" ("Selling England by the Pound") and "Blood On The Rooftops" ("Wind & Wuthering").

Like many of the band's studio albums, this live album also features a "book-end" effect where musical themes and ideas used in the beginning reappear at the end of the album (such as on "Selling England By The Pound", "A Trick Of The Tail", "Wind & Wuthering", and "Duke" for example). The ending of "Los Endos" features themes from the live album's opening track "Squonk".

A digitally remastered version was released on CD in 1994 on Virgin in Europe and on Atlantic in the US and Canada.

Track listing

All songs by Tony Banks/Phil Collins/Peter Gabriel/Steve Hackett/Mike Rutherford, except where noted.

ide one

#"Squonk" (Banks/Rutherford) – 6:39
#"The Carpet Crawlers" – 5:27
#"Robbery, Assault and Battery" (Banks/Collins) – 6:02
#"Afterglow" (Banks) – 4:29

ide two

#"Firth of Fifth" – 8:56
#"I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" – 8:45
#"The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway"/"The Musical Box (Closing Section)" - 8:17
##"The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" – 4:59
##"The Musical Box" (closing section) – 3:18

ide three

#"Supper's Ready" – 24:33

ide four

#"The Cinema Show" – 10:58
#"Dance on a Volcano" (Banks/Collins/Hackett/Rutherford) – 4:24
#"Los Endos" (Banks/Collins/Hackett/Rutherford) – 7:14

Personnel

*Tony Banks - RMI Electric Piano, Hammond T. Organ, ARP Pro Soloist, Melotron 400, Epiphone 12 string, Backing voices
*Steve Hackett - Gibson Les Paul, Hokada 12 string
*Phil Collins - Voice, Premier and Gretsch drums
*Mike Rutherford - Shergold Electric 12 string & Bass, 8 string bass, Alvarez 12 string, Moog Taurus Bass pedals, Backing voices

Additional musicians

*Bill Bruford - Ludwig and Hayman drums and percussion
*Chester Thompson - Pearl drums and percussion

References