The Way We Walk, Volume 1: The Shortsby Genesis

In 1992, Genesis band mates Phil Collins, Tony Banks embarked on a world tour, bringing along with their long-time road guitarist Darryl Steurmer and drummer Chester Thompson, performing mostly in large stadiums. The tour was an incredible success. It had been ten years since the release of their last live album, “Three Sides Live”, so they decided it was time for another. Genesis fans had been split into two segments: fans of the newer, top 40-style songs, and fans of their more progressive material. Progressive songs tend to be longer, and feature extended instrumental sections, two factors that generally prevent such songs from getting much radio airplay. They wanted to please all of their fans, so they decided that rather than making a two-disc set, which would have a high price point that might dissuade the casual fans from buying it, they would release two separate albums. The first release was called “The Way We Walk, Volume One: The Shorts”. The name was a play off the lyrics of “I Can’t Dance”, the big hit from the “We Can’t Dance” album, and also from the Gabriel-era song “I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)”, which would appear on the second volume. The qualifier “The Shorts” was an indication that the album was focusing on their hit singles. Shortly after, they released “The Way We Walk, Volume Two: The Longs”, which contained the longer, more instrumental and progressive songs performed on the tour.

“The Way We Walk: Volume One” is basically a greatest hits live album. The opening track is “Land of Confusion”, one of their most popular hits. This is one of their strongest rock songs, with a biting guitar riff repeated throughout. The album closes with three of the other four single releases from “Invisible Touch”, including the soft ballad “In Too Deep”, “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight” and the title track from that album. On the last several tours with the Collins/Banks/Rutherford lineup, the last two always went together, with “Tonight” fading into “Invisible Touch”. “Tonight” is an interesting case, the album version contains a long instrumental section that was mostly edited out for release as a single; the performance here is of the shorter version, still a good song, but fans of the progressive side of the band will be disappointed by the edit. “Invisible Touch” is an excellent choice for the end of the album, as it usually closed the main performance. It’s a high-energy song that builds to a crashing crescendo, ending the show on very high note.

“In Too Deep” and two other songs on this album were not taken from the “Way We Walk” tour, but rather from the “Invisible Touch” tour, six years earlier. Most fans likely won’t notice much difference, but Collins' voice is a bit deeper in the newer tracks. The others from the “Invisible Touch” tour are “That’s All” and “Mama”, the two big hits from their self-titled album. “Mama” is a darkly intense tune, strongly punctuated by Collins’ vocals. A song of similar musical structure, but completely opposite tone is “I Can’t Dance”. This song plays more to Collins personality, a much more upbeat and lighthearted feel over a simple but strong guitar riff.

Collins has always been a consummate performer, and always manages to capture his audience. The band are all masters of their craft, and play with incredible precision and energy. The main complaint about this album would be that the songs are kept so short, they don’t really get a chance to show what they can do. But the point of the album is to bring their live performances to as many as possible. The band delivers on all their songs here; perhaps the tone is a bit uneven, as most songs come from different shows, even from different tours, but as a live greatest hits album this certainly gives the audience what they want.