| length = 43:25
| label = Decca
| producer = Jonathan King
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| next_title = Trespass
| next_year = 1970
| misc =
From Genesis to Revelation is the debut studio album by the English rock band Genesis, released on 28 March 1969 on Decca Records. The album originated from a collection of demos recorded in 1967 while the members of Genesis were pupils of Charterhouse in Godalming, Surrey. The band gave the demos to Jonathan King who named the group, organised deals with his publishing company Jonjo Music and Decca, and got them studio time at Regent Sound Studios to record a series of singles and a full album. A string section arranged and conducted by Arthur Greenslade was added later on some songs. By the time Genesis had finished recording, John Silver had replaced original drummer Chris Stewart.
The album and its singles were a commercial flop, and received a mixed to negative reaction from critics. By mid-1969, the group had severed ties with King and resumed education until they reformed and turned Genesis into a full-time band. The album was preceded by two singles; "The Silent Sun" (later becoming part of the album) and "A Winter's Tale" were released in 1968, followed by album track "Where the Sour Turns to Sweet" in 1969. In October 1974, after the group had grown in popularity, it peaked at No. 170 on the Billboard 200 in the US.
From Genesis to Revelation is the only Genesis album which the band themselves do not own the rights to. Jonathan King retains the rights to the album, which he has reissued multiple times since, including a 1974 release as In the Beginning and a 1987 release as And the Word Was.... A reissue in 2005 included a bonus disc with extra tracks.
Background
The founding line-up of Genesis consisted of guitarist Anthony Phillips, bassist Mike Rutherford, lead vocalist Peter Gabriel, keyboardist Tony Banks, and drummer Chris Stewart, all pupils of Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey. The five had played in the school's two active bands; Rutherford and Phillips were in Anon while Gabriel, Banks, and Stewart made up Garden Wall. During the Christmas holidays of 1966, after both groups had split, Phillips and Rutherford wrote some songs together at Rutherford's grandmother's house and asked Banks to play piano on a demo they were planning to record. Banks agreed under the condition that they also record a song he and Gabriel had written, "She Is Beautiful". During the Easter school holiday they entered a primitive recording studio run by Brian Roberts in Chiswick to record the material. Some sources claim all five members of what became Genesis were present, while others say Stewart was not involved at this point and that the drums on the demo were played by Gabriel. They assembled a tape of six songs originally intended for someone else to perform as the group saw themselves foremost as a collection of songwriters. This included five songs from Phillips and Rutherford: "Don't Want You Back", "Try a Little Sadness", "That's Me", "Listen on Five", and "Patricia", an instrumental, plus one from Gabriel and Banks, "She Is Beautiful". "Patricia" was later reworked into "In Hiding" and "She Is Beautiful" was later known as "The Serpent". Banks described the material as "straight pop music" as it was the direction the band wanted to explore. The second was sent to former Charterhouse pupil Jonathan King who had scored commercial success as a singer-songwriter and producer with his UK top five single "Everyone's Gone to the Moon" in 1965, and therefore seemed a natural choice. King visited the school during Old Boys Day, so the group had a friend give the tape to him. He listened to the tape in his car on his drive home and, despite its roughness, was immediately enthusiastic, particularly about Gabriel's vocals.
King noticed the band's tendency to expand and complicate their arrangements, which he disliked and suggested they stick to straightforward pop songs. This culminated in King either trimming Banks's solo spots or removing them entirely, much to his annoyance. King later explained that because Genesis were still learning to play their instruments, he felt that they were not ready to take on longer works yet. In response, Gabriel and Banks wrote "The Silent Sun" as a pastiche of the Bee Gees, one of King's favourite bands, though King later claimed the Bee Gees pastiche description was inaccurate. The song was recorded at Regent Sound studio A in December 1967, with a section arranged and conducted by Arthur Greenslade added later in production. King came up with the group's name, thinking it marked the beginning of a "new sound and a new feeling", and that it was the true start of his career as a producer. and the album was put together in ten. King was the producer, and brought in Brian Roberts and former Charterhouse pupil Tom Allom as recording engineers.
Prior to its release, Decca discovered that an American act had also called themselves Genesis and asked the band to change its name to avoid confusion. King reached a compromise so the band's name would be omitted from the sleeve, leaving the album's title written in gold text in a Gothic style in order to evoke mystery when presented in music shops.
The album sold 649 copies. Banks later deemed the material as merely poor renditions of their songs, rating "Silent Sun" and "In the Wilderness" as the strongest cuts.
|rev2 = Classic Rock
|rev2score =
| rev3 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide
| rev3Score =
| noprose = yes
When the album failed to become a success, the group decided to split and resume education. This marked the end of their association with King, who had grown increasingly dissatisfied with the band directing their material away from mainstream pop. In addition, Genesis had fulfilled their contractual obligation with Decca with the release of "Where the Sour Turns to Sweet", and neither they nor King were interested in renewing the deal.
Reissues
Although King initially had From Genesis to Revelation licensed to Decca Records on a short-term basis, he continues to hold the rights to the album and has re-released it several times under a variety of titles. He chooses to reissue it when there is demand for it, and claimed that Genesis have not attempted to purchase the rights from him. The album was not included in their Genesis 1970–1975 box set which covers the rest of the band's era with Gabriel.
Some material that was put onto tape during 1967-1969 but remained unreleased was included on 1998 box set Genesis Archive 1967–75. This included tracks on From Genesis to Revelation without the string arrangements. On 25 October 2010, the album was released as a special edition on iTunes. It includes the bonus tracks from the 2000 reissue.
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!Label
!Format
!Notes
|-
|1969
|Decca
|LP
|SKL 4990 (stereo) LK 4990 (mono)
|-
|1974
|London
|LP
|XPS 643 (stereo)
|-
|1974
|Decca
|LP
|Released as In the Beginning, SKL 4990.
|-
|1976
|Decca
|LP
|Released as Rock Roots, ROOTS 1.
|-
|1977
|London
|LP
|Released as In the Beginning, LC 50006.
|-
|1986
|Rock Machine
|CD
|Released as Where the Sour Turns to Sweet, MACD 4.
|-
|1987
|London
|CD
|Released as And the Word Was..., 820 496-2.
|-
|1993
|Music Club
|CD
|Released as From Genesis to Revelation - The First Album, MCCD 133.
|-
|1996
|Disky Communications Europe B.V.
|CD
|Released as From Genesis to Revelation - The Original Album, DC 863092
|-
|2000
|Original Masters
|CD
|2xCD, 142952
|-
|2005
|Edsel Records
|CD
|2xCD, MEDCD 721
|-
|2007
|Weton-Wesgram
|CD
|Released as Genesis, 2xCD, DL 1017
|-
|2008
|Varèse Sarabande
|CD
|30206689525.
|-
|2017
|JonJo Music
|Digital
|Released as Genesis: 50 Years Ago, featuring previously unreleased multitrack recordings.
|}
Track listing
All songs written by Tony Banks, Peter Gabriel, Anthony Phillips, and Mike Rutherford.