Dance On a Volcano

I have been listening to my on board computer playlist this morning; specifically my Genesis collection. I first noticed them when I saw their first album in the back of the record delivery van who made bi-monthly stops at Clark's Tank n Tummy in Sanbornville, New Hampshire in the summer of 1969. I was a pump jockey there for the summer.

The van was out of Boston and the route went through New Hampshire and into Vermont every other week to restock record shops and 8 track racks found almost everywhere at the time. I remember I asked delivery guy if 8-tracks were all he carried. He took me to back of his van and opened the door. In the van were crates and crates of LPs and boxes of 8 tracks. He asked if I was interested in anything. His prices wee $1.50/ vinyl album or $2.00 / 8 track. 

My eyes must have glazed over. I was speechless. "Go ahead", he said, flip through this one and see if you like anything. These are the newer releases." As I flipped through the crate, I did not recognize any of them. But I picked 10 albums. When he asked me why I chose them; "I liked the covers", I said.

Genesis' first album was one, as was "Garbage" by the Deviants, "Workingman's Dead, by the Grateful Dead, "This was", by Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin's first album. As it turned out, I would buy over 70 albums from him by the end of the summer; most of them picked because of the cover or the recommendation of the delivery guy. He turned me onto Fleetwood Mac, during their blues beginnings and Frank Zappa during his early years.

I would only own those albums for less than a year. In the Spring of 1970, my room at Charlotte Hall Military Academy was broken into the week before I graduated  and my collection of over 100 albums was ripped off. Later that summer I found out who did it. One of my first experiences at how there was no loyalty among junkies. We used to share needles for Chrissakes. 

I got on with my life and did my best to replicate that collection over the following years. I was never able to replace all of them. Genesis' first album was one of them. So, today, I chased down "Genesis to Revelation", their debut album on YouTube. After sampling their music on that first album, I can understand why I never found another copy. I didn't then nor do I now consider it a great album, but closer to a mediocre one. I did buy their second album, "Trespass", but would also lose that one because I left it at Snake's house after I lived in his basement the summer of 1971. Seems Genesis was destined to remain off any playlist I had. 

I really did not appreciate Genesis I guess until I drove a truck on 2 legs of their 1977 North American tour. I was in between tours and SHOWCO, the sound and light company I drove for, needed some equipment hauled up to the tour. I would connect with them in the Mid West and then finish that leg of the tour with them replacing a driver who had pissed off the road manager one too many times for being well, an asshole. He was particularly unhappy about me replacing him for the final so many gigs on the tour. We had history. But then he seemed to create history wherever he went. That was the first time I drove for Genesis. The second time was another part of the same tour that happened later that year in July, 1977.

Of all the bands I hauled, I have to say Genesis impressed me the most; even more than Led Zeppelin or The Who. I never heard them miss a beat or a note. They were perfection. When CD's made their debut some years later, I began to collect their music again.

So, please enjoy "Dance on a Volcano", from their 1976 album, "Trick of the Tail". When they fired up this song, the crowds went ballistic. It always sent chills up my spine..... Still does. This video is a live version from the tour I was on. It includes "Los Endos", the song they they usually ended their shows with. The visuals aren't great but the sound is excellent. (740)

Keep it 'tween the ditches ..........................................

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