Welcome to The Waiting Room - the Genesis web-fanzine featuring all the news, reviews, interviews and more concerning Genesis and related projects - first, a word from the creators of TWR...
WORDS FROM THE EDITING SUITE….
Hello, and welcome to our new edition!
News has reached us that Esoteric Records have made something of a coup by acquiring
the rights to the remaining unreleased Decca recordings by Genesis. As far as can be
ascertained at the moment, these span the entire period from the band's inception in 1967 to
the beginning of 1970 when they signed to Charisma. At the moment Tony Banks and others
are working on this material and a reissue of From Genesis To Revelation is in the offing.
How much of this material may appear on it is, as yet, unknown but it does hold out the hope
of some more gems from this formative period being released.
In a similar vein, it looks as if there is movement with the 50th anniversary boxset issue of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. Multiple sources are suggesting that the release date is 28th March 2025. So far it looks as if there will be both vinyl and CD versions with extra material in the form of live and demo tracks. It looks like the end of the Shrine Auditorium show has been found and added, including the encores as well as some tracks from the Headley Grange demos. It also comes with a 60 page coffee table book and reproduction tour programme. Several websites are listing the boxset for pre-order, but please be careful when ordering as with everthing on the internet, some sites are not necessarily legitimate. The good news is that the official Genesis Music website is also listing it.
Exciting news too if you are an Anthony Phillips fan. Not only have Esoteric Records
released a further two reissues from his back catalogue (Strings Of Light and Gypsy Suite -
both reviewed elsewhere in this edition) but more importantly, a brand new album: Private
Parts & Pieces XII - The Golden Hour which was released on 24th May 2024. A full review
can be found elsewhere in this edition and we hope to have a chat with Anthony about these
and the Genesis project mentioned above in our next edition.
Steve Hackett concluded his much delayed and extended Foxtrot At Fifty tour with a further
series of US gigs before beginning his Lamb Highlights tour in Europe. Steve brings this to
the UK in the autumn. Steve will also be undertaking further shows with Hungarian jazzers,
Djabe in the summer and we have a brief chat with Djabe main man, Attila Egerhazi later in
this edition.
In the meantime, Steve's new album; The Circus And The Nightwhale continues to garner
excellent reviews, and ours can be read elsewhere. We hope to catch up with Steve for a
chat about this and the tour for our next edition.
Nick Magnus also treated us to a new album: A Strange Inheritance which was released on
16th September and you can read our review in this edition. A chat with Nick about it is on
the cards for our next issue too.
Ray Wilson continues to tour throughout mainland Europe and is also at work on a new
album, more about that in our next edition we hope.
Mike & The Mechanics will be returning to live duties next year as part of the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the band. FORTY years eh? So far dates in South Africa, the UK and Germany have been announced with more to follow possibly.
That's all of the news for this edition but before I go and let you get on with reading the rest, I would like to take this opportunity of dedicating this issue to the memory of Kate Green, a dear friend and supporter who will be greatly missed - this one's for you, Mrs Woman!
Alan Hewitt
Liverpool
October 2024
News has reached TWR that Richard Macphail died on 26th August, aged 73. He played a pivotal role in the Genesis story, first as singer in Anon and later when that band merged with Garden Wall to create Genesis he became tour manager and one-man road crew to the band in their formative Charisma years. Wikipedia has as page dedicated to Richard so I don't feel the need to put his life story here. I had the pleasure of meeting Richard on several occasions. The first time was in 2015 for a TWR interview at Ant Phillips' house. He was very chatty and gave Alan and I a lot of insight into Genesis and his time on the road as Peter Gabriel's tour manager in he 1970's. The resulting interview can be found in TWR #93. As you will see by the tag line for the article, and also by the length of his replies to questions, 'very chatty' is an understatement. I was also fortunate enough to be invited to the launch of his book, "My Book of Genesis" at Daunt bookstore in Notting Hill, London. My lingering memory of that evening was seeing Richard bobbing around the crowded room with a huge smile on his face. In the heat of the moment and with camera in hand I turned around to see Peter Gabriel and Hugh Padgham chatting with Richard standing between the two of them, facing me. He looked and me, smiled and as I raised my camera, he gave two thumbs up. His hands moved to quick for the camera to focus properly but you can clearly see what he was doing. That one photo summed him up to me.
Richard Macphail
17 September 1950 - 26 August 2024
This edition of TWR is also dedicated in Richard's memory.
Stuart Barnes
London
September 2024
Click here for the full press release (PDF)
For more info and pre-ordering, please visit Wymer Publishing.
DON'T FORGET THAT STEVE HACKETT'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE IS NOW AT WWW.HACKETTSONGS.COM.
Genesis Revisited, the latest book from TWR editor Alan Hewitt is now available
to order online at Record
Corner's Amazon webshop
According to their profile, they will post internationally.
Save on postage...!
Genesis Revisited is now available over the counter at:
Record Corner
Pound Lane
Godalming
Surrey
GU7 1BX
Tel: 01483 422006
Paperback edition only at the moment!
Also, in an exclusive deal with Willow Farm Publishing, Genesis tribute band Los Endos are selling brand new copies of both versions of the book at their gigs, at heavily discounted prices!