Genesis: Sum of the Parts Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Genesis: Sum of the Parts Blu-ray Movie Review

Not just in the beginning.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 14, 2015

They’ve lasted an astounding 48 years in one form or another, having made their debut when hippies and “flower power” were all the rage, at around the same time that the Summer of Love was reinvigorating the American musical scene. They’ve sold well over 100 million records throughout that time, charting a passel of Top 10 albums (including several that made it all the way to Number 1) as well as close to twenty singles that made it well into the Top 40 in the United States. At least two of their present or former members have become bona fide superstars in their own right, and several other members past and present have released solo albums (or other group efforts) that have sold incredibly well and introduced any number of contemporary standards to music lovers globally. They even made it to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a few years ago, arguably (along with ABBA) the biggest act of that year’s inductees. And yet—Genesis, to paraphrase a certain Rodney Dangerfield, often “don’t get no respect.” For whatever reason, the band is sometimes relegated to a second tier in the prog-rock universe, never quite climbing to the stratospheric heights of, say, Yes or Emerson, Lake and Palmer, two bands with roughly the same, er, genesis (from a time perspective) and in some cases even the same personnel (e.g., Bill Bruford) and certainly some of the same musical vocabulary and approaches. One doubts the relative dearth of sincere critical appreciation for the band has had a serious impact on any of its members, and while Genesis: Sum of the Parts does touch on various “issues” the band has encountered through the years, there’s a generally sanguine quality to these now middle aged (or maybe beyond) gentlemen’s memories of what they’ve achieved throughout their remarkable, and still ongoing, careers.

Many Genesis fans have already been ensconced in the aural pleasures of Genesis R-Kive, the multi CD set that aims to give an overview of Genesis’ several decade musical journey, as well as offerings by the various members in both solo and ensemble iterations. And it’s probably fair to consider Genesis: Sum of the Parts as a video analog to those recordings (many of which are in fact heard, in largely edited form, throughout the documentary). After a brief prologue showing the reunion of Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford in 2007 in Helsinki’s enormous Olympic Stadium (during the band’s Turn It On Tour), Genesis: Sum of the Parts then gets into a more or less straight chronological review of various biographical data bits and of course information on all of the albums.

There’s not much here that is going to be all that surprising to longtime Genesis fans, though it still surprises me when supposed Genesis aficionados sometimes mention Phil Collins “replacing” Peter Gabriel. While that’s technically accurate, considering the fact that Collins stepped into Gabriel’s vocal shoes (so to speak), Collins and Gabriel of course collaborated for some time together during Genesis’ early years, something that’s quite nicely documented here. In fact, it’s kind of funny to hear Gabriel and his former school cohorts laughing about how they were a dysfunctional family unit of sorts and newcomer (and putative interloper) Collins couldn’t quite understand what all the arguing was about when such great music was being made.

In fact all of the guys—including early “drop out” Anthony Phillips—seems to have wonderful senses of humor about what they’ve been through, at one point mentioning watching This Is Spinal Tap and thinking, “Yeah, I was in that band. It was called Genesis.” While the actual information in this documentary may not be the stuff of headline news, it’s undeniably fun and even invigorating to see the members laughing and reminiscing together, and that may ultimately be the main draw for many viewers.

There’s also a ton of great, and sometimes rare, archival footage stuffed into this piece, going back to the band’s very first demo when they were still in school. Unfortunately (at least for those wanting more music), as with so many “biographical” documentaries, the actual tunes tend to be used in snippet form, providing a ubiquitous but never completed backdrop for the action.

Some of the additional talking head contributors are people like music journalists who attempt to place the band within an historical context, while also rightly noting that Genesis sometimes seemed to exist in a kind of "not quite hip" bubble for at least some supposed cognoscenti. With R-Kive and now this very interesting documentary, maybe the band will finally get its due.

Genesis: Sum of the Parts Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Genesis: Sum of the Parts is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Vision (part of Eagle Rock Entertainment) and Universal Music Group with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer (largely) in 1.78:1. As should be expected in a documentary cobbled together from a wide variety of video sources, there's a rather disparate array of quality on display. The contemporary interview segments look just fine, with appealing sharpness and clarity and good, accurate looking color. The archival elements are a varied lot, with some relatively recent television and live concert footage looking very good to excellent, while older material tends to get into the fuzzy, unstable realm that again should not come as any large surprise to anyone used to these kinds of outings. There are occasional very minor combing artifacts evident, especially during very fast motion (typically some of the live concert footage, and then just as typically more in terms of the audience than the performers), but overall this looks fine with no major issues.

Genesis: Sum of the Parts Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Genesis: Sum of the Parts features both an LPCM 2.0 and a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, though as mentioned above in the main body of the review, since the music tends to exist more as (edited) wallpaper than actual performance footage, the difference between the two tracks is a bit less noticeable than it might otherwise be. Both tracks offer excellent support for the talking sequences, which are fairly nonstop, and the music sounds just fine (absent inherent archival issues) on both tracks.

Genesis: Sum of the Parts Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bonus Interviews (1080i; 27:46) include:

  Phil Collins on Costumes

  Phil Collins on the Future

  Mike Rutherford on America and "The Lamb"

  Mike Rutherford on the Double Neck Guitar

  Mike Rutherford on Phil the Writer

  Tony Banks on the Loss of Anthony Phillips

  Tony Banks on Peter and Phil

  Tony Banks on His Classical Work

  Peter Gabriel on His Teenage Years

Genesis: Sum of the Parts Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Genesis: Sum of the Parts is fairly formulaic in its presentation and frankly doesn't offer much in the way of "new" information, but it's buoyed by the natural ebullience of the participants, and it's just great to see these great musicians sitting down separately and together and reminiscing about all they've been through, both as partner-collaborators and even as occasional nemeses. Genesis fans will certainly want to pick this up, but anyone who ever enjoyed one or more of the band's songs may want to consider checking this out as well. Recommended.