Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There can be no doubting the cultural impact that legendary British Progressive Rock Giants Genesis have had on the conscious of the nation and the wider world, the exuberance of performance maintained in the early days of shifting the focus on to visual aid and story-telling and through to the final glory in 2008, and the trip down memory lane in 2022, all lights, camera, action, and spellbound audiences wishing to live just for a while in the core of a genre they helped shape and illuminate.

Whilst there is a plethora of material that showcases the live experience from the period where the band trimmed down to the threesome of Phil Collins, Tony Banks, and Mike Rutherford, it is perhaps the less endowed period which encompasses the near mythical addition of Steve Hackett and Peter Gabriel to which the fans old and new would wish to search out; for what would Genesis have been without these two men in the group, a visual master of description, and a guitarist to whom almost single-handed has kept the concert goers and gig attendees awe struck with music from 1971’s Nursery Cryme and 1976’s Wind and Wuthering being part of his touring schedule.

Unless you have been privy to a private collection, or indeed are friends or confidents of the band, a lot of those old recordings are unavailable to the ears of the genuine fan and newcomer wishing to explore, and whilst headway has been made, to hear the classic line up at their most serious pomp and glory, and before the recording of arguably the most dynamic, and important Prog album of all time in The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, in any shape or form is special and fabled.

The release of Genesis: New York By The Pound from the Felt Forum in NYC, 1973 is a stepping stone of illumination, a cascade of reveal for those not privy to the feeling of seeing the band claw their way to the top and in a city that might never sleeps, but almost certainly struggled to understand the British eccentricity at the heart of the performance.

Even the inclusion of background voices, whilst muted enough to not spoil the proceedings, adds a charm and flavour to the recorded gig at the Felt Forum, and the side bar of several songs recorded in 1972 the Paris Theatre in London.

The sense of nervousness is palpable, but so is the belief, the sheer will of the band as they perform tracks such as Watcher Of The Skies, Dancing With The Moonlit Knight, The Musical Box, The Battle of Epping Forrest, The Knife, The Return Of The Giant Hogweed, and the gigantic and image-laden Supper’s Ready to audiences on both sides of the Atlantic; it is real, it is within the listener’s grasp, and one that never fades out of context or joy.

Genesis: New York By The Pound is admirable, it is fierce, it is playful, British eccentricity colliding with the New World in a way that arguably would rarely be felt again.

A production that is to be thanked for, a release that scratches even further below the surface of the illustrious nature of the band; this is Genesis without filters, and one that is a pleasure to listen to.

Ian D. Hall