Prog rock audiences have always been receptive to box sets, especially sets that include an abundance of rare material – witness the success of the numerous King Crimson sets. When it came time to assemble their own box sets, Genesis chose to follow the path of rarities instead of merely rehashing their old hits. That means, of course, that Genesis Archives, Vol. 1: 1967-1975 is the province of hardcore fans and collectors, not casual listeners, since there is nothing but unreleased material on the four-disc set…

The first Genesis Archive made sense. It covered the Peter Gabriel years, an era that was not only supremely creative for the band, but filled with rarities, forgotten tracks, outtakes, B-sides, BBC sessions, and live performances begging for a collection. It was a box set for fans and it filled its purpose splendidly. Its sequel, Genesis Archive 2: 1976-1992, attempts to fill the role for the Genesis Mach II, otherwise known as the Phil Collins years, but the problem is, the Collins era was completely different from Gabriel's…

What happens when you take a master of progressive rock and an accomplished Nashville producer engineer, and put them together with a host of top-flight Nashville session players to reinterpret one of the most revered 70s prog double-albums? In the case of Spock s Beard drummer Nick D'Virgilio and producer engineer Mark Hornsby, you get Rewiring Genesis A Tribute To The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, and it's fantastic. While the original featured layers of classic synthesizers (ARP, Mellotron, etc.), there's none of that fake string or choir stuff going on here. Besides rock guitar, bass, and Nick's great drumming (and tasteful lead vocal work), The Lamb is filled with real strings, huge vocal arrangements, horn sections, and even some accordion! Clearly, it's not attempting to simply re-record the classic, it's a fresh and beautiful sounding reinterpretation.

Stephen Richard Hackett (born 12 February 1950) is an English musician, songwriter, singer, and producer who gained prominence as the lead guitarist of the progressive rock band Genesis from 1971 to 1977. Hackett contributed to six Genesis studio albums, three live albums, seven singles and one EP before he left to pursue a solo career. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010…

In early 1973, Genesis allowed the taping of a couple of live shows for broadcast in America as part of the King Biscuit Flower Hour syndicated radio show – most of their current set, drawn from their albums up through 1972's Foxtrot, was represented. A few months later, Tony Stratton-Smith, the head of Charisma, to which the group was signed, approached them about allowing him to fill the extended gap between Foxtrot and their next album, Selling England by the Pound, by releasing a live album from this same taped performance. The bandmembers, who now say they were somewhat distracted at the time by their work on the new album, agreed to it. And the result was Live, which was originally the only official document of the group in performance with Peter Gabriel in the lineup.

From the 70's right through to the 90's Genesis was one of the most consistently successful Rock acts on the scene. They enjoyed a longevity exceeded only by the likes of the Rolling Stones, in the process providing a launching pad for the superstardom of members Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel. Together with Yes, they were also without doubt the most influential of all progressive rock bands. Over the years Genesis then succeeded a victorious transition from theatrical art rock to the mainstream Pop market and the pinnacle of hit parades. Our Own Special Way, A Tribute To Genesis, contains inspired interpretations of memorable Genisis songs, performed by recognised progressive rock artists such as Brand X Ii, Mother Gong, The Flower Kings, Nick D’virgilio of Genesis, Patrick Moraz of Yes and The Moody Blues, John Ford of The Strawbs, Daevid Allen of Soft Machine And Gong, John Wetton of Asia And King Crimson…

Mike Oldfield, watch out. This all-instrumental album, consisting of two long pieces ("Slow Dance Parts 1 and 2") that mix new age sounds with rock, crosses into territory staked out most successfully by the tubular bell-ringer, and comes off as sort of Windham Hill with a beat. This material features clarinet, oboe, flute, trumpet, harp, and percussion as well as guitar, and it does sort of resemble the spacy synthesizer interludes and bridges found as parts of the longer pieces on Genesis's progressive-era albums…