"We were always trying to push technology," Mike Rutherford, the guitarist of Genesis from its origins as a group of art-rock pioneers in 1967 with Peter Gabriel, tells me of the band's groundbreaking early albums. "The early albums were quite hard work. Technology was not really on our side."

Genesis will be the subject of a new documentary called Sum of the Parts, premiering on Showtime on October 10, that brings together all five members of Genesis over the years — Rutherford, Gabriel, Phil Collins, keyboardist Tony Banks, and guitarist Steve Hackett — for the first time. There's also a new three-CD set, R-Kive, which chronologically traces the Genesis story, mixing hits and deep tracks with some of the members' best and most interesting solo work. It all came about after Rutherford shared his forthcoming book about his relationship with his father with his former bandmates.

Watch an exclusive clip from Sum of the Parts, featuring a segment about the 2007 reunion of Rutherford, Collins, and Banks:

preview for Genesis: Sum of the Parts Clip

GENESIS – SUM OF THE PARTS premieres Friday, October 10, at 8 p.m. (ET/PT) on Showtime.

"When I finished the book I sent it out to the band," Rutherford says. "The hard part was trying to get that generational change, from my father's life to mine, because that's the story really. That's what the book is about and the band fits right into that. So I think reading it warmed everyone up a bit because they remembered what a great time we'd had. So that got the documentary rolling."

Sum of the Parts is shorter than most rock documentaries at 90 minutes, but it's an engaging trip through Genesis's history and uniquely reunites the bandmembers on camera. R-Kive grew from the collaboration that had blossomed anew among the five members of what was once one of the biggest bands in the world.

"We realized, in putting R-Kive together, that if you don't go chronologically, you're in trouble," Rutherford says. "Because then you just argue over the order. But I also think that there was a better story to tell in doing that. People don't put it together — all the different eras of Genesis — as one thing. You've got the Gabriel career, the Collins career. The variety of songwriting is actually quite different. You see it's a huge range of material."

As for the famously rancorous early years of Genesis, Rutherford is circumspect.

"There were just too many ideas," he says of the days when Gabriel and Hackett were in the band. "Plus, we were young in those days. When we argued about something, maybe we didn't really care, but we'd stick to it. But there were so many ideas, even with just the three of us later on. So imagine when there were four or five. It could never last. There was no room to fit all those ideas onto one album per year."

And now, so many years later, and after collaborating on the documentary and new best-of, the old wounds appear healed.

"Working with Steve [Hackett] was so easy and nice," Rutherford says. "He said yes to everything. It was wonderful. And Phil's funny again. His humor's back. And I've always enjoyed seeing Pete and Tony. So it's all been great and I see them quite a bit."

As for those old days, Rutherford remembers a story that underscores the band's English roots.

"I remember we were in the studio years ago at this place out in the country," Rutherford says. "Somebody played a part, and the engineer went, 'Eh, not too shabby.' In America, he would have been saying, 'Oh my God, that was incredible!' So that's our kind of humor. It's our nature not to take it all too seriously."