Genesis Live – The Way We Walk Volume Two – The Longs (1993)

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Review by UMUR

The Way We Walk Volume Two – The Longs was the second of two live albums released after the tour supporting the We Can´t Dance album. The other album is called The Way We Walk Volume One – The shorts and as the name suggests it contains the short songs performed on the tour while The Way We Walk Volume Two – The Longs contains the long songs performed on the tour. I haven´t yet reviewed volume one and haven´t really listened to it either but I´ll get to that one in time. Volume two is definitely worth a listen though and I´m happy I took my time to review this one.

I´ll be the first to admit that I haven´t been very impressed by anything Genesis released after …And Then there Were Three, but there have been some good songs on most of the later albums even though the majority hasn´t been to my liking. Those good ones are almost all here on this album and that makes The Way We Walk Volume Two – The Longs a worthy purchase IMO.

The album starts with a medley of seventies Genesis songs. The medley is 19:31 minutes long and consist of parts of Dance On A Volcano, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, The Musical Box, Firth of Fifth and I Know What I Like. It´s a good medley but I can´t say that it´s above average. The performance is good but I just don´t enjoy medleys much. I want to hear songs in their entirety or not at all. This medley was actually the reason I purchased the album in the first place, but today I normally skip the medley and go straight to song number two.

Driving The Last Spike is one of two 10 minutes epics from We Can´t Dance and it´s a great emotional song that I enjoy very much. The performance is flawless and passionate.

Domino is one of the highlights for me on The Way We Walk Volume Two – The Longs. It´s one of the few good songs on the weak Invisible Touch. This live version is better than the original.

Fading lights is the other 10 minute epic from We Can´t Dance and it´s of an equally high quality as Driving the Last Spike. Tony Banks could still make beautiful things with his keyboards when he wanted to.

Home By the Sea/ Second Home By The Sea is probably my favorite post …And Then There Were Three Genesis song. It comes from the 1983 self titled album which by the way is a pretty good album. The original is hard to beat but this version is also good.

The album ends with the classic drum solo and I´m bored. It´s very seldom drum solos interest me even when I´m at the actual concert and listening to them on album is almost always a trying experience for me. Drummers might find this exciting but to us regular folks this is a waste of time. And for six minutes! That´s way too long.

The musicianship is flawless. Genesis was always very professional on stage and there are no errors in the performance here. The two hired musicians Daryl Stuermer ( Lead guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals) and Chester Thompson ( drums, percussion) are accomplished and professional.

The production is excellent. Clean and alive.

This is one of the best releases Genesis have made post …And Then There Were Three IMO. This is due to the fact that the best songs from that period of Genesis career are here. I think The Way We Walk Volume Two – The Longs deserves 3 big stars from me. This is a very enjoyable album even though there are some obvious flaws that I already mentioned.

Review by SouthSideoftheSky

This live album compiles the longer and more progressive tracks from the We Can’t Dance tour in 1992. There is also a companion album subtitled “The Shorts” that compiles the shorter and more commercial tracks from this same tour (plus a few tracks recorded on the previous tour). In addition, there is also a DVD called simply The Way We Walk holding the whole set list over two discs. In my opinion, the DVD is preferable over the CD albums partly because this was just what the audience saw that night and partly because the longer, more progressive, tracks sound better side by side with the shorter, more commercial, songs. Still, the longer tracks are the best ones from that show and here we have them all in one place. This album should silence those who think that Genesis turned into a strictly commercial Pop band after album X (insert album of your choice; some say it is Foxtrot, others say The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, yet others say Wind And Wuthering and some say Duke).

First out is the brilliant Old Medley which is a near 20 minute medley consisting of bits and pieces of older songs. Some of these songs are from the Peter Gabriel-era and I think that Phil sings those songs originally sung by Peter perfectly. The whole medley is indeed excellent and features bits of songs from the early 70’s to the early 80’s including Dance On A Volcano, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, The Musical Box, Firth Of Fifth, I Know What I Like and others. The Firth Of Fifth-section contains that brilliant, classic guitar solo originally played by the great Steve Hackett here played excellently by Daryl Stuermer who makes it his own. Simply wonderful!

Next out is Driving The Last Spike, a very moving song from the We Can’t Dance album. This one is perhaps only moderately progressive, but definitely one of the better songs from that album. The two-part Domino from the Invisible Touch album follows. This one too is only moderately progressive, but without doubt the best song from that otherwise weak album. Then comes the excellent and certainly progressive Fading Lights. This song features a superb instrumental break (the best they did at least since Duke!) and it sounds even better live than it does on the studio album which indeed is true of almost all of the songs here. The sound is a bit less “artificial” and the songs have more of a Rock edge when performed live.

Finally, we get to hear the great Home By The Sea/Second Home By The Sea. Again, this song is the best one from the album it is taken which is the self-titled one from 1983. Like Invisible Touch, this album is uneven but this particular song is outstanding! Strangely, the album ends with the Drum Duet between Collins and Chester Thompson. I strongly feel that this otherwise nice drum solo should have been left off this live album and that it fits much better on the DVD where you can see the two great drummers in action. I would have preferred having Dreaming While You Sleep in its place here, but you can’t have everything. Or can you? Well, actually you can if you get the DVD!

There is no need for you to buy this live album if you already have the DVD. But on the other hand there is no great need for you to buy the DVD if you already have this live CD. Make your choice! You do need one of them!

The Way We Walk – The Longs is one of Genesis best live albums. Only Seconds Out and Genesis Live being even better.