Genesis 9th January 1970 Early Demos with Anthony and John

Anthony Philips and John Mayhew were still in the band, when Genesis played a few songs, which were supposed to be used for kind of a movie. The funny thing is, these demos contain parts of Looking For Someone, Anyway and The Musical Box. These are sadly only 20 seconds long snippets. The full songs can be found by other uploaders on Youtube, i don't want to get copyright problems. These songs were officially released 2008 on the Genesis Boxset, directly transfered from the master tapes :) Here are some interesting notes _________________________________________________________________________ The recording was originally made for a film on the painter Mick Jackson. The only part of the project to see completion was the music. The tape comes from the estate of a Producer who was involved with the recording and who has archived it carefully since then. It was recorded in studio on the 9th Jan 1970 and is in Mono and of studio quality. It has 4 tracks and runs for 15 min and has never been issued anywhere, EVER. In fact in the recent Genesis archive box set this is the first recording Tony Banks mentions when talking about lost recordings and certainly when compared to the Nightride sessions from the BBC recorded a month later, these recordings are much more powerful, experimental and progressive. The combination of the film project and the related music and lyrics make this the bands first attempt at a concept work. This is obviously a find of GREAT importance to Genesis and their fans. Certainly quality wise there is no reason why this can not be released. After 30 years and perhaps 10 plays on a reel to reel in that time, the quality is exceptional. It is obvious from the tape that this is not the master recording, the location of which is unknown. The producer who archived the tape insists that Genesis were given a copy. But this was 30 years ago and obviously not everyone's memory is infallible as Genesis insist that they were not! This is from a very important time in the career of Genesis, the band had released their first album mid-way through 69 under the (mis)guidance of Jonathan King and in the ensuing months they were on the verge of breaking up. On Sept 25th 69, they played their first professional gig. Then in Nov 69 the parents of the then manager allowed the band to spend 6 months in a farmhouse they owned near Dorking, rent free so that the band could rehearse and record, one of the band members has since described this as the bands first truly creative period and certainly when the second album was released towards the end of 1970 the evidence of the work is there. The producer actually met the band at the farmhouse but the intervention of 30 years has clouded his memory as to which members he met. The tape was recorded 3 months into their stay at the farmhouse and is undeniably Genesis. Although this is relatively early in their career the sound is un-mistakable. It is much more like the progressive sound of Trespass and has already moved well away from the muddy and overproduced (Thanks JK) sound of the first album. The first 2 tracks have lyrics and the last 2 are instrumental. Although these tracks have never been released there are some similarities to other released tracks. TRACK 1.Provocation The very start of this track is similar to the first track on Trespass "Looking for Someone" The rest of the track and the lyrics are unheard. TRACK 2.Frustration The melody at the start of this track is the same (different Key) as the melody on "Anyway" from the Lamb... album. TRACK 3.Manipulation An acoustic instrumental version of the classic "The Musical Box" TRACK 4.Resignation Unreleased but possibly played live. It seems unlikely that these names were not from the band, possibly being more in relation to the film. There are 4 pages of hand-written notes with the tape that relate to an uncompleted film that was to accompany the music. The notes contain specific references to the band and ideas that relate to what was obviously going to be a fairly risqué and arty film. The Jackson in the title on the box relates to the rather obscure UK artist Mick Jackson who seems to have painted rather graphic depictions of B and D. The notes are worth reading as they are very evocative of "liberated" swinging London. When this site was originally set up, the tape was to be for Private Auction ending March 31st 2001. However Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks and Genesis have all expressed an interest in the tape, making a private sale unlikely if not impossible. The greatest percentage of the great deluge of emails I received, were from Genesis fans concerned that they would not have a chance to hear this little gem and considering its quality and importance it should be released. While I am obviously not in the position, nor in the mind to bootleg these recordings (so please do not ask) The concern of Genesis fans to be able to hear these recordings is not lost on me.

Added 26 Mar 2026