Los Endos “Bills” (Highland HL396/397)
Lorelei Freiluftbuhne, St Goarshausen, Germany – July 3rd, 1976
Disc 1 (54:36): Dance On A Volcano, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Fly On A Windshield, Carpet Crawlers, The Cinema Show, Robbery Assault & Battery, White Mountain, Firth Of Fifth
Disc 2 (61:06): Entangled, Squonk, Supper’s Ready, I Know What I Like, Los Endos, It, Watcher Of The Skies
Los Endos “Bills” documents one of the very few German shows Genesis performed during the A Trick Of The Tailtour. The July 3rd show at the Open Air Festival in St. Goarshausen is also the only outdoor show. Highland utilize a good audience tape of most of the show. It’s very top heavy, favoring the high frequencies which make it sound rather brittle and distorted in places. The bass also tends to be distorted in louder parts. There are several cuts between songs and Mike Rutherford’s introductions before “White Mountain” and “Supper’s Ready” are completely eliminated.
The tape picks up “Dance On A Volcano” a few beats in. Genesis deliver the standard set from the tour, but they had become extremely tight by these summer dates. Bill Bruford, temporary drummer, in particular is still experimenting with various fills never heard before or since in these arrangements.
After the opening song Phil Collins greets the crowd saying: “guten abend Frankfurt, weisbaden, Dusseldorf…Does everybody here speak a little English? Good. Some Americans as well. I think tonight we might solve the world’s problems.” Unlike later tours when Collins would speak in the native language, his stories are spoken in English.
The Lamb medley is called “Lamb Stew” this night. With Genesis doing extensive touring in Germany the previous year the songs are very much familiar to the audience and they sing along to “Carpet Crawlers” in particular.
There is a small cut in Collins’ intro to “Robbery, Assault & Battery” but most of the story is intact. It’s interesting for being one of the very few times he speak of himself in the first person instead of speaking about “Harry.” The audience likes the new song, but “White Mountain” comes off much better with a more enthusiastic reception from the crowd. Collins introduces Bruford before “Fourth Of Fifth” which unfortunately suffers from noticeable distortion during the guitar solo and loud, ringing feedback at the end.
Steve Hackett gives his introduction for “Entangled.” He makes a strange reference to an event on stage when he says: “without any more scares I hope, no more fires we should start with ‘Entangled.'” There is no other mention of it so it’s left for speculation. The gentle ballad segues explosively into “Squonk.”
Collins thanks everyone for coming up the mountain before playing the final song of the set “Los Endos.” The encore is “It” and “Watcher Of The Skies.” Many tapes from this tour are missing the latter but thankfully it’s intact in this recording. The deterioration on the tape makes the final two tracks sound a bit more fuzzy and light than the rest of the recording.
Los Endos “Bills” is an adventurous release by Highland. It’s a good, but not great recording, but is an interesting show from an under represented period in Genesis’ live history. It is packaged in a double slimline jewel case. The artwork recycles the same Trick Of The Tail tour photos that are seen on almost every other release. It is boring to look at and makes one wish Highland used more imagination and creativity with the packaging. However, this is a good release from the tour and worth having.
