Three Sides Live

Three Sides Live is the third live album by the English rock band Genesis, released as a double album on 4 June 1982 on Charisma Records in the United Kingdom. It was released by Atlantic Records in the United States. After touring in support of their studio album Abacab ended in December 1981 the band entered an eight-month break in activity, during which they selected recordings from their previous tours for a live album. Three Sides Live includes recordings between 1976 and 1981; the UK edition contains additional live tracks while the international edition features tracks from their 1982 EP 3×3 with B-sides from Duke.

Three Sides Live
Live album by Genesis
Released	4 June 1982
Recorded	1976–1981 in various locations[1]
Genre	Progressive rock art rock pop rock
Length	92:42
Label	Charisma Atlantic
Producer	Genesis
Genesis chronology
3×3 (1982) Three Sides Live (1982) Genesis (1983)

Three Sides Live received a mostly positive critical reception and was a commercial success, peaking at No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 10 on the US Billboard 200, where it sold 500,000 copies. Its release coincided with the band's Three Sides Live concert film. It was remastered in 1994 and 2009, the latter for their Genesis Live 1973–2007 box set.

Background

In December 1981, Genesis wrapped their four-month tour of Europe and North America to support the release of their eleventh studio album, Abacab (1981). The band then entered an eight-month break in activity, during which they each pursued solo projects and selected recordings from their previous tours for inclusion on a new live album.[2] All editions of Three Sides Live contain recordings from their 1980 and 1981 tours across the first three sides.[1] The fourth side of the UK edition contains additional live tracks from 1976, 1978, and 1980, while the international edition contains tracks from the group's second EP 3×3 (1982) – "Paperlate", "You Might Recall", and "Me and Virgil" and two B-sides recorded during the sessions for Duke (1980) – "Open Door" and "Evidence of Autumn".[3]

Release

Three Sides Live reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 10 in the US. It was certified silver and gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 14 June 1982, the latter for 100,000 copies sold.[4] In the United States, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on 4 October 1982 for 500,000 copies sold.[5]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[6]
Rolling Stone	[7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[8]

In a review published in Record Mirror by Robin Smith, the album received a mixed response. The atmosphere he experienced in concert at one of their Wembley Arena gigs in 1981 was absent from the album, which he deemed "hardly a sparkling addition" to the Genesis catalogue. Smith attributed this to the lacklustre track selection and the seeming lack of interest from the crowd noise. He praised the performances of "Dodo/Lurker", "Behind the Lines", "Duchess", but picked the third and fourth side as stand out tracks. Smith concluded that he would be listening to Seconds Out, the band's second live album, "for years to come".[9] Rolling Stone gave the album a rave review, particularly praising Genesis's advancement to more refined and concise material: "Unlike Seconds Out, where the concert versions of Genesis' songs were shrouded in virtuosic bluster, this album offers incisive, sharply focused performances uncluttered by theatrics or instrumental tedium."[7] AllMusic's retrospective review asserted that the performances were impressive and exciting throughout, delivering nothing but "lean, crisp, and generally bracing accounts of the group's then-current sound."[6]

Reissues

In 1994, Three Sides Live was remastered and reissued with the UK edition worldwide. Four of the five additional studio selections from that out of print release were issued in 2000 on the Genesis Archive 2: 1976–1992 box set (all but "Me And Virgil"), and all five songs have since been included on the bonus disc of the Genesis 1976–1982 box set.

Track listing

Track listing is adapted from the album's 1982 liner notes.[1]

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recording date and location	Length
1.	"Turn It On Again"	Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford	29 November 1981 at Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York	5:16
2.	"Dodo"/"Lurker"	Banks, Collins, Rutherford	23 December 1981 at National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, England	7:19
3.	"Abacab"	Banks, Collins, Rutherford	23 December 1981	8:47

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recording date and location	Length
1.	"Behind the Lines"	Banks, Collins, Rutherford	29 November 1981	5:26
2.	"Duchess"	Banks, Collins, Rutherford	29 November 1981	6:43
3.	"Me & Sarah Jane"	Banks	29 November 1981	5:59
4.	"Follow You Follow Me"	Banks, Collins, Rutherford	7 May 1980 at Lyceum Theatre, London	4:58

Side three

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recording date and location	Length
1.	"Misunderstanding"	Collins	28 November 1981 at The Savoy in New York City	4:06
2.	"In the Cage (Medley – Cinema Show – Slippermen)[lower-alpha 1]"	Banks, Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Rutherford	23 December 1981	11:53
3.	"Afterglow"	Banks	23 December 1981	5:14

Side four

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recording date and location	Length
1.	"One for the Vine"	Banks	5 May 1980 at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London	11:04[lower-alpha 2]
2.	"Fountain of Salmacis"	Banks, Collins, Gabriel, Hackett, Rutherford	24 June 1978 at Knebworth Festival	8:37
3.	""it."/"Watcher of the Skies"	Banks, Collins, Gabriel, Hackett, Rutherford	8 July 1976 at Apollo Theatre, Glasgow, Scotland	7:03

Side four (Original North American Edition)

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Paperlate"	Banks, Collins, Rutherford	3:20
2.	"You Might Recall"	Banks, Collins, Rutherford	5:31
3.	"Me and Virgil"	Banks, Collins, Rutherford	6:20
4.	"Evidence of Autumn"	Banks	4:57
5.	"Open Door"	Rutherford	4:06

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's 1982 liner notes.[1]

Genesis

• Phil Collins – drums, lead vocals
• Tony Banks – keyboards, backing vocals
• Mike Rutherford – guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals
• Steve Hackett – guitar on "it."/"Watcher of the Skies"

Additional musicians

• Daryl Stuermer – guitar, bass
• Chester Thompson – drums, percussion
• Bill Bruford – drums on "it."/"Watcher of the Skies"

Production

• Genesis – production
• David Hentschel – engineering on "Follow You Follow Me", "One for the Vine", "The Fountain of Salmacis", and "it."/"Watcher of the Skies"
• Geoff Callingham – technical engineer on everything else
• Craig Schertz – sound engineer
• Bill Smith – cover
• Martyn Goddard – photography

Notes and references

Notes

1. The track is a medley of "In the Cage", "The Cinema Show", "Riding the Scree", and "Raven"
2. On some editions, "One for the Vine" is incorrectly divided into two separate tracks, leaving the second part titled as "The Fountain of Salmacis", while "The Fountain of Salmacis" and "it./Watcher of the Skies" follow as a single track.

Citations

1. Three Sides Live (Media notes). Charisma/Virgin Records. 1982. GE 2002.
2. Collins, Phil. Interview with Mal Reding at 00:00–00:17
3. "New Genesis LP, "Three Sides Live," released; "Paperlate" 45 climbs charts". Atlantic Records. 8 June 1982. Retrieved 27 December 2017 – via The Genesis Archive.
4. "BPI Awards - Certified Awards Search - "3 Sides Live"". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
5. "Gold & Platinum Search – "Three Sides Live"". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
6. Three Sides Live at AllMusic
7. Considine, J.D. (5 August 1982). "Genesis: Three Sides Live : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 1 December 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
8. Nathan Brackett; Christian David Hoard (2004). The new Rolling Stone album guide. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 328. ISBN 978-0-7432-0169-8.
9. Smith, Robin (1982). "Live and dead - Genesis: 'Three Sives Live'". Record Mirror. Retrieved 27 December 2017 – via The Genesis Archive.

Interviews

• Reding, Mal (1982). "The Mal Reding Interview Archive - Genesis frontman Phil Collins talks Three Sides Live". Mal Reding. Retrieved 27 December 2017.

External links