Leon Alvarado Plays Genesis on Sale for only $6.99

Here is a reminder of what's in the deal:

A CD in a mini-LP styled packaging containing some cool artwork evoking the golden era of great album covers. The package is gate-fold and opens up revealing what looks like a New York City subway map where some of the stations have been replaced with the titles of the songs. Also, the "track schedule" actually reflects the duration of each song instead of an actual train schedule. Some of the music is derived from Genesis' masterpiece "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" so, if you pay close attention to the back cover, you would be able to see an actual lamb sitting in the middle of the street in the intersection of Broadway and 42nd street. The disc itself is silk-screened in very opaque inks and continues the subway map motif using the reflectivity of the disc itself to show the typography. The contrast of printing processes and textures give the packaging a true best-in-class presentation.

 

The music inside the CD has been recorded with the same care for detail as the artwork containing it. The Genesis compositions include "Hairless Heart", "Cinema Show Part II" and "Fly On A Windshield". The three songs come from the Gabriel-era of the band which was well-known for its creative output. The arrangements made by myself, reflect different treatments on the music. For example, "Cinema Show" is recorded as if it were "live" and in the style of the Genesis shows from 1976. It is not intended or pretending to replace the version on "Seconds Out" but rather complement it by being adding an alternate version with a different beginning and a different ending. "Fly On A Windshield" takes a modernised approach that suits more-or-less the Trevor Horn-produced "Carpet Crawlers 1999", a re-recording of the band's classic tune for its 25th anniversary.

 

There are also some original songs in the style of the various incarnations of Genesis. For example, "Of Wind & Sorrow" fits right in between the "Lamb Lies Down" and thru the "Wind and Wuthering" era of the band with Mellotrons and synthesized pads running through it. "Earthbound/Albert's Returns" attempts to capture the sound from the "Duke" era and "Broken Promises" does the same with the post-Collins era of the band. On top of that, some of the mastering was done by Tony Cousins, Metropolis Mastering, London. Tony did lots of mastering for the Genesis box sets. He has also worked with Peter Gabriel and a myriad of big names. I used Tony expressly because of his knowledge of the material. The other portion of the mastering was done in the U.S. by Ty Tabor. Most of the people know Ty for being the guitar player for the prog-metal band King's X.