Genesis - Abacab (Double album version 1981)

I've always been into progressive rock, and I loved Gabriel-era Genesis, and even stuck with them for a couple of albums after he left, but I felt that they went for the commercial buck from 'Follow You, Follow Me' onwards, and despite a couple of songs that I did like in 'Illegal Alien' and 'Land Of Confusion' I've given them a pretty wide berth since then. Consequently I've never heard 'Abacab', and was intrigued to learn that when they were recording it in 1981 they actually taped enough music for a (shortish) double album, but it was decided to just release the single album that eventually came out. A couple of the tracks were just extended versions of songs which showed up on the album, but there were also songs which were shelved completely. If they had have released a double album they would probably have had to include the extended 12" versions on there just to make up eighteen minute sides, so perhaps it was never really a viable proposition. However, I decided to give it a go to see what it might have sounded like, and this is the result, including the legendary 'Dodo Suite', made up of tracks four to six. 

Track listing

01 Abacab
02 No Reply At All
03 Me & Sarah Jane
04 Naminanu
05 Dodo/Lurker
06 Submarine
07 Paperlate
08 You Might Recall
09 Man On The Corner
10 Like It Or Not
11 Keep It Dark
12 Whodunnit
13 Me & Virgil
14 Another Record