Once the early '80s ushered in the video age in earnest, few artists embraced the medium as willingly, or effectively, as Genesis. In fact, Genesis - The Video Show, a collection of 32 of the veteran British group's videos, includes more than a few items that pre-date MTV by several years, making this the comprehensive record of Genesis' post-Peter Gabriel era. There are all kinds of videos here, both black & white and color, somber ("No Son of Mine") and silly ("I Can't Dance"), topical ("Tell Me Why") and romantic, some with storylines and many that are simulated (i.e., lip-synced) performances, from both onstage and elsewhere. Song-wise, the best tend to be the hits, like "Misunderstanding," "Paperlate" (taken from England's "Top of the Pops" TV show), "That's All," and "Invisible Touch" (one of no less than six tracks taken from the 1986 album of the same name), although the '70s material, particularly from A Trick of the Tail (when the group was a foursome, with guitarist Steve Hackett), is also strong. On the other hand, the lesser-known tunes yield some of the better videos, including "Land of Confusion" (with its bizarre puppet versions of Genesis members Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, and Tony Banks, not to mention Ronald and Nancy Reagan) and others ("Illegal Alien," "Jesus He Knows Me") that give Collins, a pretty fair actor, an opportunity for some full-on mugging. Granted, there isn't a lot of ground broken here; for the most part, Genesis has been a solid, journeyman band, and Genesis - The Video Show reflects that. But the 5.1 Surround Sound is excellent, there are full writing and production credits for every song and video, the packaging is classy… founding member Gabriel even turns up on a 1999 version of "The Carpet Crawlers," perhaps the most imaginative video of the bunch. If you're a Genesis fan, this has to be the motherlode.

Videos:
01 No Son Of Mine
02 I Can't Dance
03 Hold On My Heart
04 Jesus He Knows Me
05 Tell Me Why
06 Invisible Touch
07 Throwing It All Away
08 Land Of Confusion
09 Tonight, Tonight, Tonight
10 Anything She Does
11 In Too Deep
12 That's All
13 Mama
14 Illegal Alien
15 Home By The Sea/Second Home By The Sea
16 Paperlate
17 Abacab
18 Keep It Dark
19 No Reply At All
20 Man On The Corner
21 Turn It On Again
22 Duchess
23 Misunderstanding
24 Follow You Follow Me
25 Many Too Many
26 A Trick Of The Tail
27 Ripples
28 Robbery, Assault And Battery
29 Congo
30 Shipwrecked
31 Not About Us
32 The Carpet Crawlers 1999