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'''From Genesis to Revelation''' was the first album by Genesis, released in March 1969 on Decca Records in England (London Records in North America). It was produced by Jonathan King, the man who discovered them back in 1967 while the members of Genesis were pupils at Charterhouse School, King's alma mater as well.
Upon their inception in early 1967, Genesis originally consisted of Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, and Anthony Phillips, sans a drummer. Once one of their demo tapes caught the attention of Jonathan King, he took them under his wing and - with the addition of schoolmate Chris Stewart on drums - recorded "The Silent Sun" as their first single. It was later described by the band as a "Bee Gees pastiche" to win King's approval. Its February 1968 release on Decca Records - where The Rolling Stones were contracted at the time - was not a commercial success. Neither was the follow-up "A Winter's Tale" three months later. Undeterred, King decided that Genesis would be best heard on LP. After replacing Chris Stewart with John Silver on drums, Genesis' producer had them compose an album's worth of songs loosely based on the Bible. This slightly pretentious venture was cut in August 1968 - while the boys were on school holidays - and later overdubbed with strings and horns, much to the band's chagrin.
Sequenced together like a concept album (with no gaps in between the tracks), the music sounds nowhere near what Genesis would be producing even 2 years later. It is important to note that in 1968 when this was recorded, the ages of the band members ranged from 16 to 18, and none of them considered themselves proficient musicians at the time, with hardly any studio experience. Still, there were some very good tracks and Genesis already had a knack for melody, even in these embryonic times. The accepted standout track, "In The Wilderness" is indeed a fine song - despite the intrusive strings.
''From Genesis To Revelation'' was issued several months later in a black sleeve with its title scribed in gothic gold on the top lefthand side. With little else to go by, the record shops stacked the LP in the religious sections and it was consequently impossible to find. Its initial sales tally was an embarrassing 600 copies (compared with the 20+ million worldwide sales of ''Invisible Touch'' and ''We Can't Dance'' roughly 20 years later). However, once the band began achieving worldwide success, ''From Genesis To Revelation'' briefly dented the US charts in 1974, peaking at #170.
Other than being part of the album title, the band's name was omitted from the sleeve because Decca had recently discovered an obscure American act also calling itself Genesis, and asked the band to consider changing its name to avoid confusion. Needless to say, King declined. [1] The American "Genesis" in question was probably the LA-based one that released an LP called ''In The Beginning'' on the Mercury label in 1968. [2]
Genesis soon split with both Decca and Jonathan King, preferring to strike out on their own musical terms. Although King had more experience and was aiming to present Genesis in a marketable way, they were feeling more and more constrained by King's attempts to curtail and limit their increasingly lengthy and adventurous new compositions. The band went professional in the autumn of 1969, and after replacing John Silver with John Mayhew - Phil Collins' predecessor - on drums, the five-piece Genesis began formulating the music that would lead to ''Trespass'' the following year and were soon signed to Charisma Records.
Although initially released on Decca Records, ''From Genesis To Revelation'' has since been licensed to many smaller labels, who often issue it with different artwork - even different titles. It may not bear much of a resemblance to ''Selling England by the Pound'' or ''Invisible Touch'', but for those predisposed to leave all expectations at the door, ''From Genesis To Revelation'' - despite its naivety - is an endearing and historical listen.

Contents

Track listing

Personnel

Releases

UK LP Releases

U.S. LP Releases

Track listing

All songs by Tony Banks and Peter Gabriel, except where noted.
#"Where the Sour Turns to Sweet" – 3:16
#"In the Beginning" (Gabriel, Phillips) – 3:44
#"Fireside Song" (Banks, Phillips, Rutherford) – 4:58
#"The Serpent" – 3:58
#"Am I Very Wrong?" – 3:31
#"In the Wilderness" (Banks, Gabriel, Phillips, Rutherford) – 3:39
#"The Conqueror" – 3:22
#"In Hiding" (Gabriel, Phillips) – 2:38
#"One Day" – 3:21
#"Window" (Phillips, Rutherford) – 3:33
#"In Limbo" (Banks, Gabriel, Phillips, Rutherford) – 3:30
#"Silent Sun" – 2:13
#"A Place to Call My Own" (Gabriel, Phillips) – 1:59

Personnel

★ Peter Gabriel: Vocals, Percussion

★ Anthony Phillips: Guitar, Vocals

★ Tony Banks: Organ, Guitar, Piano, Keyboards, Vocals

★ Mike Rutherford: Bass guitar, Guitar, Vocals

★ John Silver: Drums, Vocals except on "Silent Sun"

★ Chris Stewart: Drums on "Silent Sun"

Releases

UK LP Releases

★ Decca LK 4990 (1969): Mono 1st issue, contains insert with art, lyrics and credits. Record has red labels with an unboxed Decca logo and a red "peep hole" on the back of the cover. Mono copies are extremely rare and fetch very high prices (upwards of $1,200 USD for a copy in good condition).

★ Decca SKL 4990 (1969): Stereo 1st issue, contains insert with art, lyrics and credits. Record has blue labels and a blue "peep hole" on the back of the cover.

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★ On the labels, 1st issues contain both the boxed Decca logo and the unboxed logo. The labels were used interchangeably. The unboxed logos are more rare.

★ Decca SKL 4990 (1974): Reissue, retitled ''In The Beginning''

U.S. LP Releases

★ London XPS 643 (1969): 1st issue, with art, lyrics and credits.

★ London 820 496-2 (1987): CD reissue, retitled ''And The Word Was...''

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★ This release included four additional mono tracks. The first two appear before the contents of the original album (which are in stereo), the other two afterward:

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★ A mono version of "The Silent Sun"

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★ "That's Me"

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★ "A Winter's Tale"

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★ "One-Eyed Hound"

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★ This reissue marked the first U.S. availability of ''From Genesis To Revelation'' on CD. It was apparently meant to capitalize upon the group's surging popularity in the U.S., as suggested by the timing of its release (closely on the heels of ''Invisible Touch'') and its liner notes which document the band's early history, up to ''...And Then There Were Three...'', which was not familiar to most of the group's American audience. [3]