GENESIS 1970 -75

Unfortunately, the main thing these mixes are missing is TLC. I don't think there was a fan of this music in the control room, and I'm including the contributing band members.

The earlier albums, "Trespass" and "Nursery Cryme" are tolerable, even enjoyable at times. There are some strange eq and compression choices, (this is the case thoughout the boxset and don't let anyone tell you differently), but I think the net increase in clarity and separation make for some good listening. Some parts that were not present on the originals simply prove distracting, not adding anything to the proceedings. "Fountain...", in particular, benefits most from its clear, crisp presentation.

"Foxtrot" is probably the album that would benefit most from some remixing. It's flat, indistinct production always seemed inferior to even the muddy John Anthony treatment, which actually seemed to fit the early Genesis songs. I have always preferred the songs from this album as they appear on "Genesis Live" and considered "Suppers Ready" a bloated, over-rated hodge-podge.This one's a wash, about as enjoyable then as now, just a little clearer.

Initially, "Selling England..." sounded disappointing. I think the problems are more with the 5.1 versions rather than the CD's. While compression/eq could be different, repeated listenings to the CD have proven fairly satisfying.

Then finally, the Lamb, possibly my number 1 desert island album, and the real reason I purchased this box set. Wow. A short list of camel-back straws:

1) Almost all the additional little overdubs that had been muted the first time around have come to rear their ugly heads. Many feel like improvisational attempts at something that never really get fully fleshed out, resulting in a net detrimental effect, satisfying neither on the curiosity nor aesthetic levels.This version of the album will really help you to appreciate John Burns' production ability, knowing when to not include something.

2) Phil Collins. In case anyone forgot, Phil was not the lead vocalist yet. With this record a decision seems to have been made to include every harmony, aside, onomatopoeia, whoop and yelp eliciting from Phil's mouth. "Counting Out Time" is rendered almost as a Phil solo vocal, reducing the verses to an out-of-synch cacophony. Don't get me wrong, I like Phil. But his vocal parts are mixed too up front.

3) Mixing. It feels like Pixar has been contracted to restore the Sistine Chapel. I'm not sure that you should use the same approach with Genesis from 1974 as you would Nine Inch Nails.You can hear the compression sucking at the music throughout. Gabriel's vocals are a compressed, brittle assault, especially apparent on the softer sections like "The Lamia". Use of echo takes the snap out of many sections, washing out the vocals on "NYC", the guitar bursts in "Counting Out Time". The acoustic guitar intro to "Hairless Heart" was so poignant in its simple statement of the melody, then being replaced by the robotic electric, now plays through in a non-imaginative Hackett solo kind of way. The snare snaps after the "gives me one hell of fright" in "Slippermen", what's up with that? Actually, I did get a fright, frightened I'd wasted my money.

There are some cool low-fi videos that are nice if you haven't seen them. They don't even bother to clean these up/enhance them. And the interviews: I have never seen anyone more embarassed by their previous work, unable to render one kind word in its defense. They all seem to wish this era of their lives could be forgotten and they could be remembered for the tripe that afforded them their fat bank accounts.

In conclusion, I don't want their negative insight into their music nor a re-imagining of how good it could have sounded if you found a totally unsympathetic technophile with a tin ear to mix it. If you already have these albums, those copies probably sound better than this and if you are thinking of buying this, you probably already have these albums.

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