So there was I was, at Fry’s, replacement parts in hand for the kids’ broken anime-viewing computer. Dawn had her Stellvia DVD and was looking for other stuff to buy tax-free at the Geek Mecca Of Portland, and Lil’ was outside waiting patiently with Geoffrey after having picked out her iPod. (She chose the 4GB model, in silver, in case you’re wondering.)

For some reason I ended up wandering from poring over the anime box sets to poring over the music box sets. I didn’t find what I was looking for on the first shelf, but I turned around and discovered it on the other.

It, in this instance, is the Genesis Archive #2: 1976-1992. The three CDs cover the usual boxed-set gamut from unreleased tracks and B-sides to live material and demos. Once I got home (after dinner at Kell’s… my tummy and Dawn’s both thank Lil’ very much!) I spent the first entire hour listening to various tracks and poring over the nifty booklet insert.

So, why did I get it? You mean other than the fact that I’m a die-hard Genesis fan, that is? Well, this box has some tracks from the Invisible Touch and We Can’t Dance sessions that you can generally only find as B-sides, my favorites of which include “Feeding the Fire”, “On The Shoreline” and “Do the Neurotic.” There’s a song I’d never heard before, called “Naminanu.” (The geeky fanboy in me goes “Yay,” while the jaded media employee in me nods knowingly at the lack of mystery behind why the song didn’t make it onto the album.)

The live tracks I was most excited about include cuts from the generally-disregarded And Then There Were Three… album, which is admittedly not one of the band’s strongest works. I got a kick out of hearing live renditions of “The Lady Lies” and “Burning Rope,” as well as “Ripples” and “Entangled” from the Trick of the Tail album.

Included are a few tracks I’d consider filler, like the contents of the Pigeons EP, the fourth side of Three Sides Live, and a few remixes. On the other hand, it’s sort of nice to have even these not-so-rare birds collected in one place.

The track I got the biggest kick out of hearing for the first time, though, was “It’s Yourself,” another bit of the Trick of the Tail sessions that didn’t quite make it on the album. I say “quite” because the bridge section does make it on… as the opening salvo of “Los Endos,” the instrumental power-medly that closes the record.

So, yes, for the first time in many years I’ve had the chance to buy Genesis music and actually have something new to enjoy. It’s a damned shame that I’ll probably never have that pleasure again.