Three Sides Live (Remastered)

The American version of Genesis' second double live LP set was originally a mix of three live sides with about 60 minutes of music and a fourth side containing 24 minutes of studio material, most notably the hit "Paperlate" — the British version, however, had four live sides with 92 minutes of music, and that's been the version on CD since 1994, with the release of this remastered edition. There's a little over an hour recorded on-stage in Germany in 1981, with Daryl Stuermer and Chester Thompson in the group's lineup, doing the leaner, more pop-oriented repertory that constituted the group's sound by the early '80s, with a fleeting glance at the band's progressive rock origins in the medley containing "Cinema Show"; added to that are three songs recorded on the group's 1979 tour, with the lineup featuring Steve Hackett and Bill Bruford on guitar and drums, respectively. The presence of those tracks, totalling 27 minutes of music, spins the song lineup backward a bit in the group's history, to Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot, with versions of "Fountain of Salmacis" and "It/Watcher of the Skies." The late-'70s/early-'80s pop/rock sides still dominate but not nearly so overwhelmingly. The musicianship is still quite prodigious — perhaps even more so with Bruford present on those four songs — and this release in its remastered version is now an essential companion to the earlier Seconds Out live set.