Genesis SACD's

[Haselsh1]

I would like to discuss my findings of some of the newish releases on SACD of early-ish Genesis albums.

To test the water, I bought Trick of the Tail and Wind and Wuthering on SACD a month or so back and to summarise, I am quite disappointed.

The detail contained in these recordings is obviously a lot more than we have ever been used to in the past, but, the overall sound is very annoyingly thin, light, trebly and gutless. It appears to me that the producer of these recordings has opened them up a lot by giving the sound a very bright and thin mix. There is little to no bass weight at all and this is appalling considering the nature of the music. There is a saving grace though.

I am a major fan of Steve Hackett's guitaring and the amount of guitar information contained herein is astonishing. Of all the instrument threads running through these recordings, the guitar has gained the most. You hear things in these mixes that I never even heard on vinyl.

OK, I now have on order: Trespass, Foxtrot, Nursery Chryme and Selling England. I still am a very early Genesis fan and I make no excuses. I also love Tortoise and Ozric Tentacles. Now they would be nice on SACD although doubtful.

Whilst typing this it has become apparent to me that Amazon have removed all of the early SACD's from their site. I have heard a rumour that Peter Gabriel has stopped the issue of these discs. Now I don't know about you but this sounds like the Pink Floyd story all over again. Why don't these arrogant idiots grow up...???

[andrew ivimey]

'Why don't these arrogant idiots grow up...??? '

um, I'm missing the point here. Who are the arrogant idiots and if SACD sounds so crummy then maybe the back catalogue should be removed.

I've got Yes' Fragile in both SACD and DVD-Audio format (and vinyl) and I'm impressed. I have 'In a Silent Way' and quite a lot of other SACDs and they are lovely. No Peter Gabriel, though his HDCD remasters are very good, imho.

[Richard]

Coincidentally I just bought a nice copy of Selling England on vinyl from the charity shop last week but haven't given it a spin yet. I have Wind, Trick and Selling on both standard cd and vinyl now. None are very good recordings imho, more a jog for the memory these days. The quality is really pretty dire compared with later stuff. Played loud on a woolly system with a bottle of newky brown and something of those halcyon days might emerge for those of us who learned the lyrics from the word sheet, but I'm not so keen on newky these days....

[pre65]

Originally Posted by Richard

but I'm not so keen on newky these days....

Last time I tried it (many years ago the night before a Pre65 scramble) it made me fall over, and wake up with a throbbing head !!

[david counter]

oh memories

when I was young the only place in the south to get newky was Eel Pie Island, where most of the greats played gigs,

I well remember the headaches

[Haselsh1]

Originally Posted by Haselsh1

Why don't these arrogant idiots grow up...???

I do apologise for not being more precise. The arrogant idiots I refer to are the artists who think they are just so good they can make decisions for the whole band. As I said, "It's the Pink Floyd story all over again" re: Roger Waters.

[Ali Tait]

I've been known to quaff the odd bottle of Newkie.One of my faves

[alnewall]

Always tasted better straight out of the bottle. Putting Newkie in a glass would have resulted in ridicule when i were a lad.

Richard said.

I have Wind, Trick and Selling

Thats the downside of drinking straight from the bottle.

[Richard]

Originally Posted by alnewall

Always tasted better straight out of the bottle. Putting Newkie in a glass would have resulted in ridicule when i were a lad.

Richard said.

Thats the downside of drinking straight from the bottle.

he he yeah, stand well back err, maybe I should become a politician

[Richard]

Actually, red face time , this prompted me to give Selling a spin and it sounds blooming wonderful even sober. Too late though they must have heard my slightly derogatory tone and this record is crackly - looks good but is worn oh well, will hunt out a better one. So put on the cd and wow, not played this for maybe years, could be this amp changed a couple of years back or maybe Pre3, superb, not quite as 3 dimensional as the vinyl but not as crackly either and very dynamic ah well, I know what I like and it's one o'clock and time for lunch....reminds me...