It is Here, It is NOOOOW !!! - The Genesis 1970-1975 Box Set

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ponkine

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TRESSPASS
CD/SACD
1. Looking for Someone - 7:02
2. White Mountain - 6:44
3. Visions of Angels - 6:51
4. Stagnation - 8:46
5. Dusk - 4:11
6. The Knife - 8:53

CD/SACD TOTAL: 42:27

DVD
1. Looking for Someone - 7:02
2. White Mountain - 6:44
3. Visions of Angels - 6:51
4. Stagnation - 8:46
5. Dusk - 4:11
6. The Knife - 8:53

1. Reissues Interview 2007 - 42:35


NURSERY CRYME
CD/SACD
1. Musical Box - 10:31
2. For Absent Friends - 1:48
3. Return of the Giant Hogweed - 8:09
4. Seven Stones - 5:09
5. Harold the Barrel - 3:00
6. Harlequin - 2:56
7. The Fountain of Salmacis - 8:00

CD/SACD TOTAL: 39:33

DVD
1. Musical Box - 10:31
2. For Absent Friends - 1:48
3. Return of the Giant Hogweed - 8:09
4. Seven Stones - 5:09
5. Harold the Barrel - 3:00
6. Harlequin - 2:56
7. The Fountain of Salmacis - 8:00

DVD EXTRAS
1. Reissues Interview 2007 - 36:19



FOXTROT
CD/SACD
1. Watcher of the Skies - 7:22
2. Time Table - 4:46
3. Get 'em out by Friday - 8:36
4. Can-Utility and the Coastliners - 5:45
5. Horizons - 1:41
6. Supper's Ready - 23:04

CD/SACD TOTAL: 51:14

DVD
1. Watcher of the Skies - 7:22
2. Time Table - 4:46
3. Get 'em out by Friday - 8:36
4. Can-Utility and the Coastliners - 5:45
5. Horizons - 1:41
6. Supper's Ready - 23:04

DVD EXTRAS
1. Reissues Interview 2007 - 34:18
2. Brussels, Belgium - Rock of the 70's 1972 - 29:22
3. Rome, Italy - Piper Club 1972 - 4:07


SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND
CD/SACD
1. Dancing with the Moonlit Knight - 8:02
2. I Know What I Like (In your Wardrobe) - 4:10
3. Firth of Fifth - 9:35
4. More Fool Me - 3:10
5. Battle of Epping Forest - 11:44
6. After the Ordeal - 4:15
7. The Cinema Show - 10:41
8. Aisle of Plenty - 1:56

CD/SACD TOTAL: 53:33

DVD
1. Dancing with the Moonlit Knight - 8:02
2. I Know What I Like (In your Wardrobe) - 4:10
3. Firth of Fifth - 9:35
4. More Fool Me - 3:10
5. Battle of Epping Forest - 11:44
6. After the Ordeal - 4:15
7. The Cinema Show - 10:41
8. Aisle of Plenty - 1:56


DVD EXTRAS
1. Reissues Interview2007 - 32:38
2. Shepperton Studios, Italian TV 1973 - 1:00:50
3. Bataclan, France 1973 - 33:52



THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY
CD/SACD
1. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - 4:51
2. Fly on a Windshield - 2:44
3. Broadway Melody of 1974 - 2:11
4. Cuckoo Cocoon - 2:13
5. In the Cage - 8:09
6. The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging - 2:44
7. Back in N.Y.C. - 5:36
8. Hairless Heart - 2:06
9. Counting Out Time - 4:12
10. The Carpet Crawlers - 5:11
11. The Chamber of 32 Doors - 5:39
12. Lilywhite Lilith - 2:48
13. The Waiting Room - 5:15
14. Anyway - 3:08
15. Here Comes the Supernatural Anaesthetist - 2:56
16. The Lamia - 6:56
17. Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats - 2:58
18. The Colony of Slippermen - 8:11
19. Ravine - 2:06
20. The Light Dies Down on Broadway - 3:32
21. Riding the Scree - 4:06
22. In the Rapids - 2:18
23. It - 4:17

CD/SACD TOTAL: 1:34:07

DVD
1. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - 4:51
2. Fly on a Windshield - 2:44
3. Broadway Melody of 1974 - 2:11
4. Cuckoo Cocoon - 2:13
5. In the Cage - 8:09
6. The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging - 2:44
7. Back in N.Y.C. - 5:36
8. Hairless Heart - 2:06
9. Counting Out Time - 4:12
10. The Carpet Crawlers - 5:11
11. The Chamber of 32 Doors - 5:39
12. Lilywhite Lilith - 2:48
13. The Waiting Room - 5:15
14. Anyway - 3:08
15. Here Comes the Supernatural Anaesthetist - 2:56
16. The Lamia - 6:56
17. Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats - 2:58
18. The Colony of Slippermen - 8:11
19. Ravine - 2:06
20. The Light Dies Down on Broadway - 3:32
21. Riding the Scree - 4:06
22. In the Rapids - 2:18
23. It - 4:17

DVD EXTRAS
1. Reissues Interview 2007 - 50:00
2. Melody - French TV 1974 - 30:25





EXTRA TRACKS 1970 TO 1975

CD/SACD
1. Happy the Man (7" single) - 3:10
2. Twilight Alehouse (B-side - I Know What I Like) - 7:48
3. Going out to get You (Demo) - 4:55
4. Shepherd (BBC Nightride) - 4:04
5. Pacidy (BBC Nightride) - 5:44
6. Let us now make Love (BBC Nightride) - 6:16
7. Provocation (Genesis plays Jackson) - 4:10
8. Frustration (Genesis plays Jackson) - 3:42
9. Manipulation (Genesis plays Jackson) - 3:49
10. Resignation (Genesis plays Jackson) - 3:01

CD/SACD TOTAL: 46:39

DVD
1. Happy the Man (7" single) - 3:10
2. Twilight Alehouse (B-side - I Know What I Like) - 7:48
3. Going out to get You (Demo) - 4:55
4. Shepherd (BBC Nightride) - 4:04
5. Pacidy (BBC Nightride) - 5:44
6. Let us now make Love (BBC Nightride) - 6:16
7. Provocation (Genesis plays Jackson) - 4:10
8. Frustration (Genesis plays Jackson) - 3:42
9. Manipulation (Genesis plays Jackson) - 3:49
10. Resignation (Genesis plays Jackson) - 3:01

DVD EXTRAS
1. Reissues Interview 2007 - 6:00
2. Box Set 1967 - 1975 VH1 Special - (tbc)


:drool::drool::drool::drool:

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Genesis - Shepperton, The 16mm film
Shepperton Studios, Borehamwood, UK: 30th-31st October 1973


1. Opening Credits

2. Watcher of the Skies

3. Dancing with the Moonlit Knight

4. I Know What I Like

5. The Musical Box

6. Supper's Ready

7. Closing Credits



Plus Easter Egg!
Pro-shot film, footage digitised frame by frame direct from 16mm master reel to PAL 25fps. (See below for exact details!)


Credits:
Source: King Lerch and the members of MeeksGenesis

Video Transfer, Source Clean Up, DVD Authoring and other general extreme hard work : King Lerch

Audio Remastering: SAB (DanLore)

Artwork: RH Productions



Adam's Production Notes on "Genesis @ Shepperton - the 16mm film":


Summary
I originally thought I should not create an essay like this as it is rather pretentious and long-winded. I certainly don’t expect most people to read or even be interested in it. But I know that if I don’t write down the process when I am able to remember it, I most likely won’t be able to remember it at all when someone does ask something about it.

As a quick summary, this source was not perfect and suffered from some damage. Also, this is a dark 16mm film not Hollywood film quality. I did the best I could, learned a lot about the process, and never took shortcuts. A big thanks to Gunnar Thalin, the Swedish video expert who helped with great information. Several times I went back to the first step all over again to compare and get the best possible final product.

Test versions were sent to 4 testers in different parts of the world. Their suggestions were some of the best I’ve ever received and I was able to incorporate almost all of them. As one of the testers said, “This may not be the holy grail…but it is his older brother.”



Auction
It was over 6 months ago when I noticed a 16mm Genesis film was being auctioned from a NY estate sale. There was no way to be sure of the contents, quality, authenticity, or value. After discussing it with some collectors I know, I was prepared to make a high bid. But adding the costs to do a proper transfer, I didn’t know if my bid would be high enough to win.

Then I read that a small group wanted to pitch in and buy this film. Rather than bid against each other, we thought it was much better to join resources. We were able to come up with enough to make a substantial bid and help pay for the transfer as well.

It was explained that no one had any idea of the film’s condition. It could be damaged, worse than existing copies, untransferable, etc. We all took a risk in hopes we could benefit from a great film, or reduce the losses if it was not good. We won the auction, sent a huge money order, received the film, packed it up again, sent it fully insured to the lab, and hoped for the best.



Source
The source was a 16mm film shot at 25 frames per second. It is Kodak date coded with a triangle and plus which indicates 1973. This is significant in that it is not a recent production or a copy of a copy. However, there are old Kodak films that suffer from “red shift” where the organic parts of the film change over time leaving extra amounts of red. This film was no exception.

Although I don’t remember where I got this information, I remember hearing that several copies of this concert were printed on 16mm film for distribution to schools or small theatres. It is unknown how many of these films exist or where they were used. There is no doubt in my mind that these are a professional production, and a distinct “Charisma Reel One” can be heard at the very beginning of the film.

[UPDATE: I spoke with a friend about this film and he only recently mentioned that he saw this film not just on video but in the spring of 1974 on 16mm. He is the only one I have spoken to who has actually seen this film in regular use. It was at an Atlantic Records hotel suite at a national college radio convention in NYC. They dimmed the lights, wheeled out a 16mm projector, and showed the film on the wall. Everyone thought it was amazing. More amazing is that our print from "a NY estate sale of someone in the music business" is possibly the exact same print.]

Also, there are artifacts in the film like spots, marks, etc that are on all copies of the film. These are not removable or cleanable, just a clue that all of these films have the same “parent”. Another clue that these 16mm film(s) have the same source is the audio.

16mm audio is very distinct. Not only is it rather poor quality, but because of the unique 25 fps speed it is often played at the more common 24 fps speed where the sound is 4% slow. All of the sources we have seen (correct me if I am wrong) such as the Old Grey Whistle Test, Speakeasy, documentaries, etc all have this 16mm audio. If something better than a 16mm film exists, it is not easily available.



Transfer
Because the 25 frames per second film matches perfectly the PAL video standard, a 720x576 transfer was done. This has better color than NTSC, 100 more lines of resolution, and does not require any speed changes or frame blending.

The film was slowly projected 1 frame at a time directly onto the 3CCD chip of a PAL DV digital video camera. This allows corrections for brightness and color with each frame of film and gets the most detail. Instead of trying to catch 25 constantly moving frames per second, this process can examine each frame as slow as necessary.

The biggest disadvantage of the frame-by-frame transfer (other than the higher cost) is that sound cannot be captured at the same time. It must be added later. Also note that with my agreement the transfer lab did a 5% underscan of the film with a small black border around the edges. Since TVs usually overscan by 5%-10%, this keeps more of the picture viewable without zooming.



Sound
The sound from this and most 16mm films is printed along the side of the film like waveforms. This is read by a bulb in the projector so the quality is not great, somewhere around a 8.5 kHz spectrum. The sound remastering was done by SAB so I don’t know all of the specifics. I know he was able to get a great result from a mediocre 16mm source. It has a stereo simulation and increased low end which adds great depth. I corrected the sound for speed and pitch, the first time for this concert that I know of.



Color
The first major task was to correct the color. The amount of red in the film is simply ridiculous. It washed everything else away. The color red is also the most difficult for compression and encoding software to deal with. It causes unnatural lines, compression artifacts, almost all video problems show themselves in the color red (lucky us). To see just how red the original film was, look for the DVD Easter Egg.

It appears as if on previous film transfers that this red was reduced, but much of the image details reside in the red so it cannot just be turned down. I struggled with the color for a long time and did several comparisons to A History video to get it as close as possible.

Also, the film is not 100% consistant. Some parts are redder than others, some are brighter than others, etc. So certain corrections could not be applied to fix one scene without adversely affecting another scene. And as a general rule, all changes have at least one side-effect. So a happy medium had to be reached between redness, detail, noise, brightness, darkness, etc. All color was changed with TMPGEnc.



Filters
I used a few filters with VirtualDub and AVISynth. Each filter was applied with only lossless compression (averaging 10-30GB / 15 minutes of video) so more filters did not reduce image quality. I won’t go into every filter but the most major improvement was from the Temporal Smoother.

Most films are 35mm (4 times the size of 16mm) or even larger. So when this 16mm film is expanded on large TVs, the film grain can be seen in the form of dots or blobs of color. When watching the raw film, it looks as if non-moving objects are bubbling or crawling or something. The Temporal Smoother looks for these spots that show up for only one film frame and smoothes them out. The image and structure are more visible but the effects of video noise or grain is significantly reduced.



Sound Sync
Because of the slow film transfer, sound had to be added afterward. This was a long process for several reasons. One reason is that two transfers are never exactly the same. Even a small change in speed would lose total sync by the end of the film. The other problem with this film is that it was recorded over 2 days. While the sync may look good during one part of the song, it may not exactly match another part of the song from the other day.

The first sync pass was done entirely by sight. As a double check, I examined sound frames from other real-time 16mm film transfers to verify accuracy. It should also be noted that at 25 fps, each frame of film covers 40 ms of sound. While this may not seem like much, being off by only a few frames of film can be very distracting.

I used Pinnacle Studio for the syncing and also the credits. This program is great in both features and bugs. Still I really like it. Over 100 of my rare photos were scanned to create interesting credits.



Compression
In order to work with the DVD standard, the film had to be compressed into MPEG-2 format. To do this I used the trusty TMPGEnc at a constant bitrate of 8000 MBPS. This compressed the film for DVD while retaining the closest possible result to the source. Also note that the total maximum bitrate allowable for DVDs is 9800 MBPS, more than 1500 MBPS of which is taken up by the uncompressed PCM audio. So 8000 MBPS is the true maximum for the video.

As a test I ran TMPEnc see what it “thought” the ideal bitrate would be before compression would begin to alter the image. It calculated 6500 MBPS so any differences from the DVD compression should only be a result of the MPEG-2 or TMPGEnc limitations, not bitrate.



NTSC
Because many people cannot use PAL DVDs, I thought it would be best to create an NTSC version too. This will have slightly lower quality at 720x480 and a converted frame rate of about 30 frames per second, but using the source video transfer will get the best possible result, much better than converting the PAL DVD later and compressing twice.

Converting from 25 to 30 frames per second is not easy. Most hardware and software that simply duplicate frames make very stuttery video. So for the PAL -> NTSC transfer I used Canopus ProCoder. This is a highly respected transfer program that converts the frame rate, blends frames when necessary, and creates very smooth running film.

However, my personal opinion is that the MPEG-2 tools in ProCoder alter the source too much so I again sent the lossless result from ProCoder over to TMPGEnc for DVD compression at 8000 MBPS.



Authoring
There are many programs to author DVDs and although I know it is not the best, I use DVD Workshop because it is very compatible and I am used to using it. I created a great custom menu with motion buttons, film motif, and background music to go with the credits.



Conclusion
I have worked on more than 15 film transfers and countless video transfers. Honestly, this project (Genesis at Shepperton) has taken much more time than I ever expected and had many more film problems than any I have seen. But my goal was not to have a perfect DVD nor is this possible. There are 1,000 ways to do things and it would take years to explore them all.

What I wanted was a Genesis film transfer that was significantly better than any that came before and one where I didn’t say, “I wish I would have done…” So I read a lot, did everything I knew how to do, and talked to several experts. I give you the Holy Grail…’s older brother.


- King Lerch


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THE VYNIL BOXSET IS ON THE WAY!!!! :D

Amazon.co.uk: Genesis 1970 [VINYL]: Genesis: Music

The long anticipated 7SACD/6DVD-Boxset 1970-1975 will be released on 10th November (11th November on CD/DVD in North America). EMI Europe has announced another box set - all the albums from 1970 to 1975 will be released on November 10 on vinyl. The vinyl box set 1970-1975 contains all studio albums from that era (excluding extra tracks) in their original covers in gatefold sleeves. This is premium-class 200g vinyl. The records were produced in a so-called "high quality half-speed-mastering". The box will be released as a clipcase and it will be a limited edition. Watch this space for further information and photos

more info here :wave:

Genesis News Com: All recent NEWS [Genesis, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike & The Mechanics etc]

Deutscher Genesis Fanclub it / Genesis / Genesis: 6LP-Boxset 1970-1975 im Slipcase angekündigt

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German review of the Genesis 1970-1975 promo CD & DVD :hyper:

(may anyone translate it? :drool:)

Deutscher Genesis Fanclub it: Genesis - 1970-1975 CD/DVD Promo Sampler - Rezension


Genesis - 1970-1975 Promo Sampler (CD+DVD)


Aisle of Plenty ... oder die Frage: Was sind die definitiven Versionen?

Nun ist es soweit - die Veröffentlichung des SACD/DVD Boxsets 1970-1975 steht in den Startlöchern. EMI lieferte vorab an die Medienpartner wie schon bei den letzten beiden Boxsets einen CD-Sampler und einen DVD-Sampler aus. Diese sind als Appetizer zu verstehen und sollen einen Eindruck zu den neuen Stereo und 5.1-Mixen vermitteln.



A History...
Bereits 2004 sollte The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway als SACD und DVD-Audio erscheinen. Was folgt, war eine lange Odysee voller Verschiebungen und Mißverständnisse. Schließlich entschied man sich, das ganze "richtig" zu machen und alle Alben als SACD-Hybride mit Bonus-DVD zu veröffentlichen. Einer der Gründe für die Verschiebung war der Perfektionismus von Peter Gabriel. Dieser war nach dem ersten Hören nicht mit The Lamb einverstanden und schickte Nick Davis zurück ins Studio, um es "richtig zu machen" und die "Möglichkeiten des Surround Sounds" zu nutzen. So verwunderte es nicht, dass parallel zur Turn It On Again Tour 2007 zunächst die Jahre 1976-1982 und später die Spätphase 1983-1998 als SACD veröffentlicht wurde. Tony Smith räumte Anfang 2008 darüber hinaus dann ein, dass man bzgl. des Gabriel-Ära Boxsets ein wenig auf eine mögliche Reunion-Tour mit Gabriel spekuliert hatte.

Bereits nach den Veröffentlichungen der ersten beiden Boxsets haben Fans über die Legitimation der "neuen Mixe" teilweise hitzig diskutiert und gnadenlos Abweichungen und Fehler aufgedeckt. Zur Erinnerung: Auf Basis der alten Mastertapes wurde neue Stereo und 5.1-Surround-Mixe erstellt. Dies geschah möglichst nah am Original, so dass die Songs im Optimalfall deutlich besser, aber nicht anders klingen. Deswegen wurden auch keine neuen Aufnahme oder Effekte verwendet - manche Hall-Effekte mussten aber neu produziert werden, da sie in den Mehrspurbändern nicht enthalten waren.

Nichtsdestotrotz wichen z. B. die Laufzeiten der Songs ab - in manchen Fällen wurden falsche Aufnahmen verwendet - so ist der Basslauf bei Anything Now an manchen Stellen ein anderer, Dreaming While You Sleep enthält ein "oh" zu viel und Anything She Does weist gleich eine ganze Reihe Abweichungen auf. Dies sind nur drei Beispiele. Aus diesen Gründen kann erwartet werden, dass die Songs der Gabriel-Ära in ihren neuen Mixen eine leidenschaftliche, wenn nicht sogar verbissene Diskussion provozieren werden.


Die Promo-CD enthält folgende Tracks:

Happy The Man
Resignation
The Knife
Harold The Barrel
Musical Box
Get'em Out By Friday
I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)
Cinema Show
Counting Out Time
Carpet Crawlers

Vorab muss gesagt werden, dass die neuen Mixe zu Happy The Man und I Know What I Like schon bekannt sind, diese wurden bereits auf Turn It On Again: The Hits (Tour Edition) veröffentlicht. Dennoch wurden erst vor kurzem, sozusagen posthum, von einigen Fans Abweichungen zum Original festgestellt - bei I Know What I Like ist das Flötensolo - oder zumindest Teile davon - in den Hintergrund gemischt worden. Außer den beiden genannten Tracks wurde auch bereits The Cinema Show in der neuen Version veröffentlicht - auf einem Mail On Sunday Promo-Sampler.

Die meiste Aufmerksamkeit dürfte das bislang unbekannte Stück Resignation wecken. Es ist Teil der legendären Jackson-Tapes und wurde mit auf den Promo-Sampler gepackt. Allerdings ist Resignation ein Instrumental, dazu ein relativ unspektakuläres, vielleicht mit der Ausnahme des Schlusses. Dazu ist es wenig aussagekräftig, so dass man davon ausgehen kann, dass bei der Auswahl der Songs für diesen Sampler wohl nicht die geballte Fachkompetenz am Werk war.

Weitere Highlights des Promo-Samplers: Counting Out Time und Carpet Crawlers - beide waren schon auf der Platinum Collection in neuen Versionen zu hören, diese hier sind noch einen Tick schärfer und präziser. Counting Out Time "spielt" mit den Lead-Vocals, man merkt nicht mehr, wenn mal Phil, mal Peter dem Lead-Part übernimmt. Faszinierend...
Carpet Crawlers gewinnt an Kontur, wirkt belebt, erfrischt. Als hätte jemand den Song kalt geduscht und den Kreislauf damit in Schwung gebracht. Kurios: Am Ende fehlt ein Teil von Phils Background-Gesang - Fans merken eben alles ...

Zu guter Letzt sei noch Get'em Out By Friday hervorgehoben. Dieser Song ist zum ersten Mal in einer neuen Version zu hören und auch hier gilt: Frischzellenkur-Alarm. Während Watcher Of The Skies (siehe unten) in der Studioversion nie wirklich funktioniert hat, ist es bei Get'em Out By Friday genau umgekehrt. Und so entfaltet sich der Song, Höhen klingen nun treffsicherer, die Drums präziser und Nebengeräusche können deutlich wahrgenommen werden. Hier steigt die Vorfreude auf den 5.1 Mix...



Der DVD-Sampler vereint nun ein paar neue Surround-Abmischungen. Diese liegen im normalen Dolby Digital 5.1 vor, aber auch in sattem dts 5.1, was einer SACD relativ nahe kommt. Wir haben die Songs im dts-Sound getestet und liefern hier einen - zugegebenermaßen subjektiven - Überblick:





The Knife

Wenn es so etwas gibt, wie den Song, "mit dem alles anfing", dann hat The Knife gute Chancen, diesen Titel zu erhalten. Auch die Promo-DVD fängt mit The Knife an, dabei war der Song vor allem immer eines: eine Zugabe. Doch mit The Knife begann der Kult der frühen Genesis und kurioserweise spielten Genesis den Song 1980 zum letzten mal - spätestens mit Duke erklärten die Fans der frühen Genesis die progressive Phase für beendet. Das Album Trespass hatte immer diesen anderen Klang - und es hatte einen anderen Drummer und Gitarristen als die anderen Alben der Gabriel-Ära, die im Boxset enthalten sind. Und schnell wird klar: Hier wird nichts aufpoliert, damit die Drums plötzlich wie Collins klingen. The Knife ist eigentlich ein unspektakulärer Remix. Es klingt allgemein relativ dumpf, wie schon im Original, hier und da hört man die Becken etwas klarer. Der Gesang ist nicht nur auf den Center-Speaker konzentriert. Gelegentlich, vor allem bei den "stand up and fight"-Passagen, wird Gabriels Stimme auf mehrere Boxen verteilt. Die Vermutung liegt nahe, dass aus The Knife nicht mehr herauszuholen war. Definitiv werden Puristen diese Version als Highlight bezeichnen.





The Musical Box

Mit Spannung erwartet werden natürlich die Surround-Versionen der Klassiker, darunter auch The Musical Box. Nick Davis hatte allerdings schon angekündigt, dass die Möglichkeiten bei Trespass und Nursery Cryme begrenzt sind, da hier noch keine 32 Spuren aufgenommen wurden, sondern nur 8 oder 16. Vor diesem Hintergrund könnte The Musical Box einer DER Gewinner der Neuabmischungen sein. Es klingt frischer, gewaltiger, an ruhigen Stellen vernünftig dezent und Surround-Effekte werden dort eingesetzt, wo sie Sinn machen (z. B. Phils Stimme, wenn er "here it comes again" singt). Der Gesang profitiert wieder durch die Center-Abmischung. The Musical Box wirkt als Gesamtpaket verbessert, weitere Einzelheiten herauszuheben, wäre hier völlig fehl am Platz.





Watcher Of The Skies


Der Live-Klassiker wurde erst in den letzten Jahren wieder eindrucksvoll durch die kanadische Band "The Musical Box" wiederbelebt. Die Impressionen der Live-Aufführung sind noch so frisch, dass man sich fragt, ob im Original nach dem Intro Phils Becken wirklich "nur" eingefadet waren - aber das war in der Studioversion tatsächlich immer so. Das Intro wirkt im Surround-Sound gleich viel dramatischer, die einsetzenden Becken klingen brillant, die Bass-drum ist wuchtig - und das alles klingt klarer und erdrückt sich nicht gegenseitig. Die Snare-drum könnte hier und da lauter sein, dafür sind die Drums im Surround insgesamt interessant verteilt. Über den Center-Speaker wird hauptsächlich Gabriels Gesang ausgegeben, der dadurch wie bei zahlreichen anderen vergleichbaren Beispielen sehr klar rüberkommt. Steve's Gitarre wandert im Surround durch den Raum und das Finale des Songs ist furios. Aber dennoch: Watcher Of The Skies war nie ein Studio-Track - es ist ein Live-Track ...





Firth Of Fifth

Der Klassiker von 1973 enthält das definitive Steve Hackett-Solo. Dies wurde oft kopiert, aber nie erreicht. Technisch nicht das anspruchsvollste Solo, aber dieser Stil ist unkopierbar. Stuermer hat das gar nicht erst versucht, sondern spielte eine höher-schneller-weiter-Variante und Drennan war 1998 zwar nah dran, aber niemals beeindruckend.
Der Song bliebt bis heute einer der stärksten Genesis-Songs überhaupt - nicht zuletzt deswegen hat er selten im Live-Repertoir der Band gefehlt - bis heute.
Die 5.1-Version auf dem DVD-Sampler wird diesem Anspruch mehr als gerecht. Wie zu erwarten war kommen Percussion-Elemente zum Vorschein, die vorher kaum oder gar nicht zu hören waren. Gabriels Stimme kommt schwerpunktmäßig aus dem Center-Speaker, die Drums sind druckvoll und der Bass den verschiedenen Phasen des Songs angemessen druckvoll oder dezent. Der absolute Höhepunklt ist der Instrumentalteil. Auch hier beginnt es mit vielen aha-Effekten bzgl. der Percussions, ehe Hacketts Solo den Zuhörer verzaubert. Die Lead-Gitarre ist auf den Center-Speaker konzentriert, genau wie die Lead-Stimme zuvor. Dieser Effekt rückt Hacketts Arbeit ins Zentrum des Geschehens. Und plötzlich hört man auch die 12-string-Gitarre in den Rear-Speakern. Collins Drums treiben den Song an, ehe am Ende Tonys Klavierspiel den Song leise ausklingen lässt.
Viele werden Firth Of Fifth in dieser Surround-Version neu entdecken, ein absolutes Juwel feiert eine frischzellenkur-inspirierte Wiederauferstehung.




Twilight Alehouse

Der Song wird auf der Extra-Tracks SACD/DVD enthalten sein, Twilight Alehouse war seinerzeit eine B-Seite (auf der Single I Know What I Like). Der Song entstand aber bereits wesentlich früher während der Sessions zu Nursery Cryme. Entsprechend muss man auch den 5.1-Mix vor diesem Hintergrund bewerten. Die luftigen Stellen, wie z. B. der Beginn, profitieren deutlich vom 5.1-Sound und der neuen Abmischung. Bei den dichter instrumentierten Elementen des Songs kann man keine deutliche Verbesserung feststellen. Grund dafür dürfte das Basismaterial sein, das zu Zeiten von Nursery Cryme einfach weniger ausdifferenziert war als später zur Selling England By The Pound-Zeit. Positiv fällt auf, dass die Bass-Drum nicht planlos, sondern ausgewogen abgemischt wurde - je nach Gesamtatmosphäre der entsprechenden Songstellen. In der ruhigen Phase bei etwa 5.00 min kann man dann wieder erstaunliche Effekte hören, besonders die Flötenparts kommen gut zur Geltung. Das Finale ist druckvoll und klingt auch besser als die "lauteren" Passagen zuvor.




In The Cage

Die größten Erwartungen liegen seit Jahren auf den Neuabmischungen des Mythos The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. Es gibt bessere Genesis-Alben, A Trick Of The Tail und Selling England By The Pound stehen bei Genesis-Fans durchaus höher im Kurs. Gleichzeitig sind diese beiden Alben auch besser produziert als The Lamb. Und so fragt sich der Fan, was Nick Davis aus dem Album rausholen kann - zumal er von Peter Gabriel zwischenzeitlich zurück ins Studio geschickt wurde, um vor allem aus dem 5.1-Mix mehr herauszuholen. Mit einer dezenten Version ist also angesichts von Peters Faible für Effekte nicht zu rechnen. Bei In The Cage fällt im Vergleich zu zum Beispiel Firth Of Fifth schnell auf, dass man beim Selling-Album sorgältiger aufgenommen hat. Der gesamte Grundsound des Lamb-Albums fällt im Vergleich dazu ab. Der 5.1-Mix von In The Cage ist aber ein erfreuliches Erlebnis. Zwar ist es nach Jahrzehnten irgendwie komisch, dass Peter Gabriel diesen Song singt (Phil Collins sang das Stück auf fast jeder Genesis-Tour seit 1976) und es ist auch unbestritten, dass die Live-Versionen dieses Songs eine Steigerung im Vergleich zur Studioversion sind - jedoch entlockt Nick Davis dem Song ungeahnte Tiefen. Das ein oder andere Percussion-Element wird nun aus den Rear-Boxen gezaubert und ist nicht wie in den alten Stereo-Versionen vom Gesamtklangteppich zugekleistert worden. Das Schlagzeug erreicht nicht die Brillanz wie auf der Live-Aufnahme des Archive 1967-1975-Sets, dafür verfehlt Mike Rutherfords Basslauf nach der Textzeile "my little runaway" seine Wirkung nicht. In The Cage ist als 5.1-Version ein echtr Appetizer und deutet vermutlich nur an, was mit dem 5.1-Mix von The Lamb wirklich auf uns zukommt.




Fazit
Wie schon bei den Promo-Samplern des zweiten Boxsets ist auch bei diesen Samplern die Songauswahl etwas merkwürdig und es darf bezweifelt werden, dass diese Songs einen repräsentativen Eindruck des gesamten Boxsets vermitteln können. Auf jeden Fall deuten die Songs der Sampler an, was auf uns zu kommt und sie machen Lust auf mehr. Und schon muss man einsehen, dass der Zweck erfüllt ist. Ob dies allerdings auch bei Journalisten der Fall sein wird, bleibt abzuwarten.

Die größte Prüfung sind am Ende ohnehin die Fans. Sind das nun die definitiven Versionen der Songs? Oder sind es Variationen, die mehrheitlich als Bonus gesehen werden, nicht aber die Ursprungsversionen ersetzen können? Das werden die Fans entscheiden ...



Autor: Christian Gerhardts

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Genesis News Com / Genesis Fanclub "it" / All about GENESIS and its solo members

You may have seen on our news page that the bonus DVD for The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is to include "slides from The Lamb". Those very slides we all could see on The Musical Box's Lamb tour.

We are very pleased to be able to announce that well-informed sources now confirmed:

The bonus DVD will have ALL the original slides that could be seen in the show.
The slides can be seen in groups of three next to each other (as in the show)
They will be shown in front of a black backdrop or unobtrusive photos from the shows
During those parts of the concert without slides Super 8 or video snippets from the show will be shown
Genesis asked Serge Morissette, artistic director of The Musical Box)
to consult the band about it and put this slideshow together and make it this complete product that can be seen on the Lamb bonus DVD of the box set.


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:heart::hyper::love::drool::applaud::up:
 
Genesis: 7 CD/6DVD Boxset (1970 -1975) Streets 11/11/08


GENESIS, IN THE BEGINNING

Rhino Concludes an Upgrade to the Group's Catalog With the Third and Final Box Set of the Series That Will Cover the Critically Acclaimed Peter Gabriel Era

Contains 5 Studio Albums (1970-1975) Expanded with Bonus Audio and Video, Plus an Exclusive Disc of Rarities

7-CD/6-DVD Boxed Set will be Available November 11 From Rhino

LOS ANGELES ‹ Since launching an upgrade of the entire Genesis catalog last year, the comprehensive series has followed Genesis' transformation from prog-rock pioneers to stadium-filling power trio. With the final installment, Rhino ends at the beginning with a set covering the band's early years with lead singer, Peter Gabriel. GENESIS: 1970-1975 will be available November 11 from regular retail outlets and at Rhino Records - Your One Stop Pop Culture Shop for a suggested list price of $139.98.

Produced by Banks, Collins, and Rutherford, GENESIS: 1970-1975 presents five of the band's studio albums as CD/DVD sets featuring new stereo mixes of the original albums on CD, along with a DVD that includes the original album in 5.1 DTS (96/24) and Dolby Digital Surround Sound, plus bonus videos and new interviews with band members filmed exclusively for these reissues. The set contains hours of previously unreleased video as well as photo galleries featuring rare pictures and tour memorabilia.

One of the top-selling recording artists of all time, Genesis has sold more than 150 million albums so far. This 7-CD/6-DVD set collects some of the band's most adventurous and ground-breaking albums, covering Peter Gabriel's tenure with the group.

GENESIS: 1970-1975 spotlights five albums TRESPASS, NURSERY CRYME, FOXTROT, SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND and THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY, plus EXTRAS 1970-1975, a newly assembled compilation only available with this collection.

Featuring favorites like "The Knife" and "White Mountain," Genesis' second album, TRESPASS (1970), marked the beginning of a five-year journey that saw the band create ever-more daring albums of progressive rock. The album includes guitarist Anthony Phillips and drummer John Mayhew, who were replaced on the following album by Steve Hackett and Phil Collins respectively.

NURSERY CRYME (1971) opens with "The Musical Box," a beautiful 10-minute sprawl that captures the essence of the band's sophisticated musicality tweaked with freewheeling theatrics. Genesis' new lineup starts to define its unique voice on songs like "The Return Of The Giant Hogweed" and "The Fountain Of Salmacis."

The band returned the following year with FOXTROT (1972), a breakthrough album hailed by critics and embraced by fans, especially in England where it reached #12. Two tracks in particular "Watcher Of The Skies" and "Supper's Ready" became live staples for years to come. Nearly filling the album's second half, "Supper's Ready" stands as an avant-garde showcase for each member's individual talents. DVD extras include: over 30 minutes of live video from 1972 of the band performing on Belgian television's Rock of the 70s and on stage at the Piper Club in Italy.

Genesis' popularity continued to grow with its fifth studio album, SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND (1973). These eight songs find the band's inventive storytelling and imaginative arrangements coming into sharper focus with "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" Genesis' first hit single in the U.K. The album also introduced audiences to "The Cinema Show" and "Firth Of Fifth," songs that would become popular concert staples. DVD extras

include: video from 1973 recorded during a performance on Italian television and on stage in Bataclan, France over one and a half hours of live performance.

The band wasn't at a loss for inspiration for THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY (1974), a double album about a Puerto Rican hood searching for his brother. It was to be Gabriel's final release with Genesis. The band toured for the album, performing the entire 90-minute album along with an ambitious stage show complete with costume changes, theatrical lighting and pyrotechnics. The title track, "Carpet Crawlers" and "In The Cage" remain popular parts of the band's live show. The album will be presented with the Surround Sound mix. Additional bonus features will be included on a DVD, including a performance on the French television show Melody.

GENESIS concludes with EXTRAS 1970-1975, a disc of rarities offered exclusively as part of this boxed set. The compilation contains 10 tracks, including the 7" single "Happy The Man," a demo of "Going Out To Get You,"

and the b-side "Twilight Alehouse." A trio of songs "Shepherd," "Pacidy"

and "Let Us Now Make Love" are taken from the BBC program Nightride. The disc also includes a VH1 Boxed Set Special on Genesis 1967-1975 and a performance from the Midnight Special.

The final four songs on EXTRA TRACKS 1970-1975 "Provocation,"

"Frustration," "Manipulation," and "Resignation" are the legendary "Genesis Plays Jackson" tapes. The band recorded these songs in 1970 for a documentary about painter Mick Jackson. The documentary never happened and the songs were lost until now. Fans will notice how sections of this music evolved into other songs. "Frustration" is an early version of "Anyway"

from The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, while "Manipulation" features themes heard later in "The Musical Box" from Nursery Cryme.

For additional information regarding GENESIS 1970-1975, please contact Christoph Buerger in the Rhino Records Media Relations Department at

818-238-6248 or Christoph.Buerger@wmg.com.



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So what are the reissue interviews like?

These are 2007 interviews will all the band members involved on the albums. In this case, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Tony Banks, Steve Hackett, Anthony Phillips (Trespass) and Mike Rutherford :wave:

The interviews on the previous boxsets (76-82 and 83-98) were rather short (about 15 minutes long each) but these ones are lenghty (above 30 minutes long each!) :hyper:

:heart:
 
These are 2007 interviews will all the band members involved on the albums. In this case, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Tony Banks, Steve Hackett, Anthony Phillips (Trespass) and Mike Rutherford :wave:

The interviews on the previous boxsets (76-82 and 83-98) were rather short (about 15 minutes long each) but these ones are lenghty (above 30 minutes long each!) :hyper:

:heart:

30 minutes is a long time. Hopefully they'll go in depth about each song especially on Lamb. I love stories from the studio and writing process. :drool:
 
30 minutes is a long time. Hopefully they'll go in depth about each song especially on Lamb. I love stories from the studio and writing process. :drool:

I really hope too :wave:

PS: Here are the lenghts of the Reissues interviews:

Trespass: 42:35
Nursery Cryme: 36:19
Foxtrot: 34:18
Selling England By The Pound: 32:38
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway: 50:00


:applaud:
 
Genesis: 1970-1975 Box Set

For many Genesis fans, the final box set of the progressive rock group's series of remixed and remastered studio albums is the one they've been waiting for the most. 1970-1975 documents the period when Peter Gabriel was the band's lead singer, before the group began a gradual move away from its art rock beginnings towards a more pop-oriented, radio-friendly sound.


The previous two boxes—1976-1982 (Rhino, 2007) and 1983-1998 (Rhino, 2007)—while perhaps musically controversial to longtime fans for the apparent desertion of the music that garnered the group its early reputation, were nevertheless welcome for the unequalled sonic upgrades to discs that, when first released, often suffered from poor sound quality. While the five albums covered in this box set, originally released on Charisma—Trespass (1970), Nursery Cryme (1971), Foxtrot (1972), Selling England By the Pound (1973) and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974)—did demonstrate gradually improving production values, the versions in this box set are so rich and full of depth that it's difficult to believe that some of the music is nearly 40 years old.

Like the previous boxes, each album is a double-disc set (with the exception of The Lamb—originally a double album, it's now a three-disc set)—a CD with the remixed and remastered stereo upgrade, and a DVD that contains a 5.1 surround sound mix as well as a number of bonus video features. The benefit of going beyond mere remastering from the original master tapes to performing complete remixes has provided an opportunity to create far more three-dimensional soundscapes. The music, at its most powerful, bursts out of the speakers on both the CD and DVD-Audio versions, while at its most subtle, reveals nuances that have never before been heard. While all five albums are also available separately, the box set contains a bonus CD/DVD of rare material—some previously available on the Genesis Archive 1967-75 (Atlantic, 1998) box, some never before available on CD. It's an early glimpse and contains three songs, in particular, that foreshadow later Genesis tunes and prove the group to be already surprisingly mature, even in 1970.

There will undoubtedly be purists who feel the idea of remixing the original recordings is tantamount to blasphemy—as was the case when Bob Belden remixed Miles Davis' Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1969) for the Complete Bitches Brew Sessions (Legacy, 1998)—and there's a plenty of controversy about the current use of compression during the remastering process to make music sound better on MP3 players. It would, however, be difficult to argue such a case here. The depth of the stereo field and room-filling surround sound mixes are incredibly vivid, and the acute attention to detail paid to the remix, especially the vocals, leaves little doubt that, sonically speaking, 1970-1975 is one of the finest reissue sets ever released.

In addition to the DVD-Audio mixes, there's hours of video interview footage describing the group, in the artists' own words, from Genesis' earliest days through to Gabriel's departure after The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway tour, with everyone except Trespass drummer John Mayhew involved. There's also hours of video concert footage dating from 1972-'74, making 1970-1975 the definitive document of Genesis' early years, as it gained the confidence and acclaim that would lead to its later mega-success.


Chapter Index

Trespass
Nursery Cryme
Foxtrot
Selling England By the Pound
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Extras: 1970-1975


Trespass wasn't Genesis' first album—that would be From Genesis to Revelation (Decca, 1969)—but it was the first to possess the compositional and stylistic markers that can be heard, to varying degrees, throughout the group's history. Listening to the interview on the DVD, it's not all that surprising to hear that Fairport Convention was a significant influence on the band. Despite harder-edged tunes like the concert favorite "The Knife," Trespass is Genesis' most folkloric album, with a pastoral ambience that imbues tracks including "Vision of Angels" and the 12-string guitar-heavy "Dusk."


What is surprising is to hear Gabriel speak with fondness for The Nice, keyboardist Keith Emerson's first group before moving on to the hugely successful Emerson, Lake and Palmer. There's little denying the confluence of classical influences and Emerson's inimitable style on Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks, and he's always been a fine player; but early on, Genesis differentiated itself from many of its progressive rock cousins by being more about the song and less about the playing. Its progressive tendencies meant, as was the case with groups like Yes and ELP, that the songs were episodic and featured long instrumental passages. But Genesis always managed to avoid the trappings of excess and bombast that torpedoed some of the best progressive rock groups. The instrumental sections were still fundamentally parts of the songs; Genesis was not a solo-heavy band; instead, many of Banks' feature spots were scripted, and performed faithfully in concert rather than acting as jumping-off points for extended and often superfluous displays of technical virtuosity.

Drummer John Mayhew and guitarist Anthony Phillips would leave soon after the release of Trespass, and their replacements—guitarist Steve Hackett and drummer Phil Collins—were such powerful musical personalities that these two early members would quickly become footnotes in the band's history. Still, their roles have been sadly undervalued. Phillips' subsequent solo albums would suggest that he was one of the responsible parties for Genesis' early folksy flavor; he was, in fact, one of the members pushing for a harder edge, alongside bassist/guitarist Mike Rutherford. He'll not go down in history as one of rock's great electric guitarists, but his solo on "The Knife" is still an example of a player equally capable of gentle acoustic interaction and more visceral edge.



Genesis would gradually evolve away from Trespass' pastoral feel, but the carefully crafted interaction of up to three guitars created a unique sound that was a group's signature straight through to Wind and Wuthering (Atco, 1977). "The Knife" may have become the most popular concert song from Trespass, but it's "Stagnation" that represented an early pinnacle and album highlight; a marvelous mix of soft, acoustic passages, propulsive rock sections, and the distinctive sound of Gabriel's rough-hued voice and lyrical flute.

What's perhaps most remarkable about Trespass—especially now that its finer details can be heard with crystal clarity—is how advanced the group already was at this early stage. This was a group of players that absorbed everything from folk music to R&B, and who composed collectively to create a truly democratic sound that reflected, in its own very personal way, those many interests. But from the very first notes of "Looking for Someone" Genesis had a distinct identity, and while its later pop-friendly songs would leave some of its markers behind, it retained many of them, simply honed, reduced and refined into more bite-sized portions.



With Phillips and Mayhew gone, the addition of Hackett and Collins created a stable line-up for the balance of the albums in 1970-1975. Hackett brought a greater virtuosity to the band, one of the first guitarists—in rock, perhaps the first—to utilize two-handed tapping, but that didn't change the group's emphasis on writing. Collins was a powerhouse drummer capable of navigating more complex arrangements while bringing a more firm sense of groove. He also brought a strong second voice to the group, and one that resembled Gabriel's so much that few even recognized it when he took a lead spot on the brief "For Absent Friends," on his Genesis debut Nursery Cryme. More importantly, he gave Genesis' background vocals greater personality.

The rapid evolution of the group, from album to album, can be found from the outset on Nursery Cryme, with its opener—another tune that would enter the Genesis canon as an in performance classic, "The Musical Box." It signaled an even more concerted shift toward storytelling than heard on Trespass, but this time, with a more immediately potent Victorian-flavored story about a young girl who removes the head of her childhood friend with a croquet mallet. Opening the boy's musical box, she frees his soul in a body that quickly begins to age while still retaining the mind of a child. Alternating between soft, pastoral passages reminiscent of Trespass, where Rutherford, Banks and Hackett create an even richer guitar trifecta, and music more aggressive and complex than anything heard on Trespass, this was also the beginning of Gabriel turning more theatrical in performance. Using masks and costumes, Gabriel began to bring Genesis' stories to life onstage, although a 1972 Belgian Rock of the 70s performance on the Foxtrot DVD still finds him a more conventional front man—though there were no other front men at the time with a bass drum that they'd kick with abandon, as Gabriel did during some of the group's instrumental sections—a response, along with his flute, to wanting to have something to do while the group performed its long instrumental passages.

Genesis had the uncanny ability of announcing significant change within the first few notes of every album, and "The Musical Box" was no different, with the intertwining acoustic and electric guitars of its opening section sounding especially beautiful with this new remix. Epic as that song is, however, Nursery Cryme—also featuring the absurd and dense "The Return of the Giant Hogweed," and more mythical "The Fountain of Salmacis," which tells the story of the child of Greek gods Hermes and Aphrodite and a lake that would turn any who bathed in it into hermaphrodites—was also notable for four shorter songs, ranging from the gentle "For Absent Friends" and pastoral "Harlequin" to the darker, Beatles-esque "Harold the Barrel" and more despair-laden "Seven Stones." For a group of musicians just into their twenties, more than being musically sophisticated they demonstrated a distinctive lyrical slant as well. While Yes was struggling with Jon Anderson's oblique lyrics, Gentle Giant was, in its early days, battling with self-indulgence and King Crimson was working with the flowery verse of Peter Sinfield, Genesis differentiated itself with an ability to write lyrics that were both poetic and direct.

But for many progressive fans, it's the move towards a more symphonic approach (Banks' mellotron figured far more prominently here), and the emergence of a consistent line-up that now possessed five distinct and strong musical personalities, that made Nursery Cryme a watershed for the group.



From the opening mellotron intro to "Watcher of the Skies," Genesis announced yet another leap forward with Foxtrot. Still considered by many to be a pinnacle of the early group, retrospectively it's both hard to argue—and hard to agree. With the more straightforward "Time Table" the album's only possible weak spot (and it's still a strong tune), the album introduced two of the group's most enduring and classic tunes—"Watchers" and the sweepingly ambitious, side-long "Supper's Ready." But with each album possessing its own strengths, it's more a case of yet another career high point amongst many.

With greater compositional confidence, Genesis was beginning to gain commercial ground as well, with Foxtrot the group's first album to enter the UK pop charts (peaking at #12). It's hard not to see why. "Watcher of the Skies," once the group enters, becomes a potent rocker with plenty of dramatic twists and turns (and an equally dramatic costume for Gabriel that, while looking a little low-tech and even hokey now in concert footage from the 1973 Shepperton Studio, Italian TV performance, was still captivating and thrilling in the day). "Get 'Em Out By Friday" was another episodic classic, this time addressing social concerns with a hint of science fiction thrown into the mix, another early concert favorite.

The benefit of the remix can be heard to great effect, with the vocals clearer, and transitions like the entry of the group on "Watchers" more smooth and seamless. Like "Musical Box," it featured Gabriel playing a number of characters, moving the group further into theatrical territory. Unlike most progressive bands of the day, and in clear view on the DVD video performances, Genesis did everything to de-emphasize attention on the individual players, and more on the visuals—lights, later slides, and always Gabriel and his "in character" approach to relaying the group's stories in song.



Despite the greater virtuosity of Hackett and Collins, and the increasing strength of Rutherford and Banks, Genesis remained a band that avoided lengthy solo posturing. It wasn't necessarily intended as such, but Hackett's solo spot, the Bach-like "Horizons," which shone a spotlight while avoiding all suggestions of excess, set the tone perfectly for the 23-minute "Supper's Ready." The suite would quickly became the high point of Genesis' live sets with Gabriel's numerous costume changes, and a gradual build to one of the most orgiastic releases in the history of progressive rock, paralleled only, perhaps, by Van Der Graaf Generator's "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers," from its career-defining Pawn Hearts (Charisma, 1971). The first fifteen minutes of the suite are filled with vivid lyrics, strong melodies and challenging arrangements, but it's the suite's final minutes, with the instrumental, riff-driven "Apocalypse in 9/8," segueing into the climactic "As Sure as Eggs is Eggs (Aching Men's Feet)," where Genesis make the leap from being a strong group to an important one that would, had it dissolved immediately after this record, still gone down in the history books as one of progressive rock's seminal acts.

It's a career-defining moment. In the 30-minute interview on the Foxtrot DVD, Rutherford talks about the first time the group heard the entire piece start to finish, realizing they'd created something powerful and special. The three video performances of "Supper's Ready"—two full versions, one from 1973 and the other from 1974, and an abbreviated one from a 1973 French performance—again demonstrate an almost innocent naivete to Gabriel's emerging theatrics that look dated today. Still, when the magnesium flares went off at the end of "Apocalypse in 9/8" and Gabriel seemed to magically appear in a white sequin suit, it became an iconic performance still remembered clearly by those fortunate enough to have seen the group back in the day.



The remix brings the entire album to life, but it also provided the group an opportunity to fix a significant flaw. With parts of "Supper's Ready" recorded separately and then literally spliced together (this was, after all, pre-digital and ProTools days), there were two segments that were slightly out of tune with each other. With today's more advanced studio technology, this was a relatively simple fix to make, and yet another reason why there's nothing sacrilegious about doing a remix, when the end result far surpasses the original.

With three strong epics, it's no surprise that "Can-Utility and the Coastliners," which closed side one of the original album, was overlooked. But it's a hidden gem in the Genesis songbook, a song that, over the course of just six minutes, encapsulates everything this era of Genesis was about—mythic storytelling, rich acoustic textures, powerful rock rhythms and increasing complexity that never feels over-considered or simply there for its own sake—combined with an avoidance of the usual rock posturing to make instrumental virtuosity an end in itself, instead always using it in service of the song.

Return to Index...


Following up a classic like Foxtrot and a definitive piece like "Supper's Ready" would be a challenge for any group, but Genesis simply moved forward with a number of new songs on Selling England By the Pound that, again, embodied its core values while, at the same time, demonstrating creative progression. With four of the album's eight tracks (seven, really; the closing "Aisle of Plenty" is more a coda to "The Cinema Show" that brought the album full circle to the themes of the opening "Dancing With the Moonlit Knight.") in excess of eight minutes, the group continued to weave compelling tales while also making Selling England its most instrumentally-focused album to date.

Real solos become a key part of the songs, but as unmistakably impressive as Hackett's tapped solo is during the middle, high energy section of "Dancing With the Moonlit Knight," Genesis still avoids the self-indulgences of other progressive rock groups. In performance, Hackett would take some liberties with this solo and his other lengthy feature on the majestic "Firth of Fifth," but he never deserted the core lyricism and melodic signatures. The same can be said about Banks, whose lengthy solos on "Firth of Fifth" and the 7/4-driven "Cinema Show" are, like Hackett's, considered some of progressive rocks most memorable solo moments.

In addition to its longer instrumental passages Selling England also featured "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" which, despite its absurd lyrics, was the most pop-oriented song the group had recorded to date. While a 1972 single, "Happy the Man," included on the bonus CD/DVD that comes with the 1970-1975 box, came close, it lacked "I Know"'s memorable hook, which peaked at #21 in the UK charts, while the album made it to #3, Gabriel-era Genesis' most commercially successful album in the UK. It was also the group's first album to make the Billboard chart in the US, reaching #70 and going gold.

Genesis' increasing strength was an ability to create accessible music that would appeal to a broader pop public, while still retaining the earmarks of progressive rock that attracted an audience in the first place. Banks' mellotron has never sounded better (more so here, with the remix/remaster), the choir part at the end of Hackett's solo on "Dancing With the Moonlit Knight" still capable of sending chills up the spine, the orchestral strings on "Firth of Fifth" and "The Cinema Show" as boldly dramatic as ever. Selling England was also Banks' first significant foray into synthesizers, using them to great textural effect on "I Know What I Like" and creating a personal tone for his lengthy solo on "The Cinema Show" that manages to still sound good (and not cheesy) 35 years later. He also delivers some of his best acoustic piano work to date on his solo intro to "Firth of Fifth."

Being the bassist and rhythm guitarist for Genesis, Rutherford's significance has often been overlooked. But effortlessly moving from bass to twelve-string guitar on his custom-built Rickenbacker double-neck guitar while, at the same time, creating a distinctive, deep bottom end with his Moog Taurus bass pedals, Rutherford was a virtual one-man rhythm section. He locked in hand-in-glove with Collins, whose ability to mix impressive chops and solid groove is even more impressive on Selling England. Collins also gets another brief lead vocal spot on the folksy "More Fool Me," a concert respite, in duet with Rutherford, from the group's more powerful theatrical presentation.

The two overlooked tracks on Selling England—the episodic "The Battle of Epping Forest" and instrumental "After the Ordeal," that provides a balladic, lyrical interlude between "Battle" and "Cinema Show"—have always deserved more attention than they received at the time. "Epping," in particular, is an engaging story that expands the narrative approach of Foxtrot's "Get 'Em Out By Friday." But neither would become the concert favorites that "Cinema Show" and "Firth of Firth" not only were at the time, but continued to be throughout the group's post-Gabriel years, with a portion of "Cinema Show" appearing as recently as Live Over Europe 2007 (Atlantic, 2008), from the group's 2007 reunion tour (without Hackett and Gabriel).

In addition to the same improvements in sound, depth and detail that the remix of Selling England provides, there are small things peppered throughout that are heard for the first time, making this remix/remaster, like the rest of the releases in this box, the definitive edition.



Following up the group's most commercially (and, some might argue, artistically) successful record to date with a two-disc concept album may well have been a tactical mistake. While other groups had done so, by the time The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway was released in 1974, progressive rock was already in trouble. The punk movement had yet to emerge, but concept albums from Yes and Jethro Tull—Tales from Topographic Oceans (Atlantic, 1973) and A Passion Play (Chrysalis, 1973)—had been met with critical accusations of excess and self-indulgence. In that climate, The Lamb was almost doomed from the start, despite Genesis' ongoing and steadfast avoidance of the qualities (or, some might say, flaws) that caused its peer groups to begin falling out of favor with both the press and public.

The Lamb may not have been as successful as its preceding two releases, but it still managed to go gold in the US, Canada and UK, reaching #41 on the Billboard pop charts and #10 on the UK charts. And while there are plenty of instrumentals on this oblique tale of the fictitious Rael and his journeys, The Lamb was, in fact, the most pop-friendly disc of Genesis' career to date. The propulsive title track, "In the Cage," harder-edged "Back in N.Y.C." and soft "The Carpet Crawlers" were all songs that could have achieved significant radio play. While there are recurring themes and motifs, The Lamb is more a collection of songs linked by a lyrical narrative—controversial in itself, as Gabriel was largely absent from the writing process for personal reasons, though he did insist on writing the lyrics in their entirety, which was met with no small resistance from the rest of the group. That said, it's that very fact that makes The Lamb, despite its length and musical diversity—undeniably the most stylistically broad-scoped album the group ever released—such a cohesive work, and one that has gained more critical and popular acclaim over the years.

It's also the most urban album the group had released to date. Gone were the pastoral British-isms, replaced by a harder edge that makes songs like the synth-laden, 7/4-driven "Back in N.Y.C." a foreshadowing of the kind of music Gabriel would make early in his career as a solo artist, starting with Peter Gabriel (Atlantic, 1977). "Lillywhite Lilith" is the closest thing to a flat-out rocker that the group had in its repertoire, and the album's closer, "It," is another vigorous tune that pointed towards the group's later radio-friendly mix of progressive sounds and accessible pop melodies.

It was the last album Gabriel would record with Genesis, and his voice was never better. While he possesses one of the most instantly recognizable voices in rock, at the time he lacked the stamina to maintain power and range in performance. Still, by this time, he was beginning to correct the problem, and his delivery on the poignant "Chamber of 32 Doors," visceral screams on "Back in N.Y.C." and strength and range on the largely instrumental "Riding the Scree" represent some of his best singing on any Genesis album.



With ex-Roxy Music keyboardist Brian Eno providing "Enossification"—his term for sound effects and processing—the textures of The Lamb are rich indeed. With the benefit of the remix, what was once nothing more than an instrumental interlude—"Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats"—becomes a sonically rich transition point that harkens to Eno's later ambient music works like Music for Airports (EG, 1978), while his treatments of Gabriel's voice throughout the disc sound more alive than ever. With The Lamb Genesis' best produced album of that era, the remix/remaster only broadens the aural landscape, making the two-minute instrumental intro to "The Colony of Slippermen" a miniature that commands attention rather than being something to simply get through in order to reach the core of the song.

There are plenty of strong solos throughout—Banks' synth on "Riding the Scree" and "In the Cage," and Hackett's brief but letter-perfect solo on "Anyway" and his humorous, effects-laden turn on the Beatles-esque "Counting Out Time." The group even enters some free territory on "The Waiting Room," though there's still an underlying structure. But individual aspects of the music aren't what The Lamb is about. Despite friction during its writing, and Gabriel's decision to leave the band early into the 102-date tour that began in the fall of 1974 (though Gabriel kept his decision to leave out of the press until after the tour was completed), The Lamb may be the Genesis album that's weathered the best over time. It may not have been a classic in the day, but it's achieved that status in the intervening years. The biggest shame is that while there's a live audio recording of The Lamb, available in its entirety on Genesis Archive 1967-75, it was never filmed, and those who saw the show know it was the culmination of Genesis' early, theatrically focused years. For those who didn't get to see the show, Genesis tribute band The Musical Box managed to acquire all the props and projection slides from Genesis a number of years ago, along with the permission to use them in launching full-scale performances.




The bonus CD/DVD that comes with 1970-1975, while crossing over some of the material on Genesis Archive 1967-75, also has a number of tracks that reveal just how advanced the group was from its earliest days. "Happy the Man" and Twilight Alehouse" are worth having as early attempts by the group at a more radio-friendly sound, and a handful of tracks from a BBC Nightride radio show are further examples of the group's early pastoral days, with the Fairport Convention influence even more pervasive.

But it's the four tracks from an aborted project called Genesis Plays Jackson, an abandoned documentary about painter Mick Jackson, that are the real gold of this bonus disc, as they reveal a number of themes that would reappear in more well-known Genesis tunes. "Provocation" opens with themes that would become part of Nursery Cryme's "The Fountain of Salacmis," as well as an instrumental section that would be reused on Trespass' opener, "Looking for Someone." "Frustration" directly foreshadows "Anyway," from The Lamb, right down to the instrumental break that would lead into Hackett's solo in the later version.

"Manipulation" possesses many of the passages that would ultimately be expanded on Nursery Cryme's "The Musical Box," including an intro that's almost identical. Only the instrumental "Resignation" has no reference to later songs, though it fits comfortably within the musical context that Genesis was already beginning to shape.

The accompanying DVD includes a final interview, as well as a 45-minute VH1 television documentary originally aired at the time Genesis Archive 1967-75 was released, and two 1973 performances from the American The Midnight Special show—the clearest video of "Watcher of the Skies" in 1970-1975 as well as "The Musical Box."


While the video performances on the six DVDs accompanying the seven CDs of 1970-1975 are clearly a case of working with what was available—often taken from videotapes that may not have been first generation—they provide an opportunity for Gabriel-era Genesis fans who missed the opportunity to see the band at the time a chance to see what they missed. And taken together, the three hours of brand new interview footage shed considerable light on a group that has never truly been heard properly...until now. The remix/remaster work is absolutely top-notch, bringing clarity and depth, detail and transparency to music that still holds up nearly 40 years later.

With the entire Genesis studio discography now reissued and sounding as good as it likely ever will, the only question is: will there be an accompanying box set that includes remixed and remastered versions of Live (Charisma, 1973), Seconds Out (Atlantic, 1977) and Three Sides Live (Atlantic, 1982), Live: The Way We Walk Vol. 1 (The Shorts) (Atlantic, 1992) and Live: The Way We Walk Vol. 2 (The Longs) (Atlantic, 1993)? Given the live material released on Genesis Archive 1967-75 and its accompanying follow-up, Genesis Archive 2: 1976-1992 (Atlantic, 2000), it's almost certain that there's plenty more live material in the archives, so perhaps there will be more to come. In the meantime, 1970-1975 fulfills a significant need, and is the best of the three Genesis studio box sets. Taken together with 1976-1982 and 1983-1998, however, these three boxes not only document, in the best possible way, the entire studio career of one of rock's most important and influential bands, but represent, without question, the best reissue series ever undertaken.


Tracks and Personnel


Trespass (CD1/DVD1)

Tracks: CD: Looking for Someone; White Mountain; Visions of Angels; Stagnation; Dusk, The Knife. DVD: Looking for Someone; White Mountain; Visions of Angels; Stagnation; Dusk, The Knife. DVD Extras: Reissue interviews (2007).

Personnel: Peter Gabriel: vocals, flute, accordion, bass drum, tambourine; Anthony Phillips: acoustic 12-string guitar, electric guitar, dulcimer; Mike Rutherford: acoustic 12-string guitar, nylon-string guitar, cello, bass instrument, background vocals; Tony Banks: guitar, piano, organ, , mellotron, background vocals; John Mayhew: drums, percussion.


Nursery Cryme (CD2/DVD2)

Tracks: CD: The Musical Box; For Absent Friends; The Return of the Giant Hogweed; Seven Stones; Harold the Barrel; Harlequin; The Fountain of Salmacis. DVD: The Musical Box; For Absent Friends; The Return of the Giant Hogweed; Seven Stones; Harold the Barrel; Harlequin; The Fountain of Salmacis. DVD Extras: Reissue interviews (2007).

Personnel: Peter Gabriel: vocals, flute, bass drum, tambourine; Mike Rutherford: acoustic 12-string guitar, bass instrument, background vocals; Tony Banks: guitar, piano, organ, mellotron, background vocals; Phil Collins: drums, percussion, background vocals, lead vocals (2); Steve Hackett: guitar, 12-string guitar.


Foxtrot (CD3/DVD3)

Tracks: CD: Watcher of the Skies; Time Table; Get 'Em Out By Friday; Can-Utility and the Coastliners; Horizons; Supper's Ready. DVD: Watcher of the Skies; Time Table; Get 'Em Out By Friday; Can-Utility and the Coastliners; Horizons; Supper's Ready. DVD Extras: Reissue interviews (2007); Video: Brussels, Belgian Rock of the 70s television performance (1972); Rome Italy—Piper Club (1972).

Personnel: Peter Gabriel: vocals, flute, bass drum, tambourine, oboe; Mike Rutherford: acoustic 12-string guitar, cello, bass instrument, background vocals; Tony Banks: guitar, piano, organ, mellotron, background vocals; Phil Collins: drums, percussion, background vocals; Steve Hackett: guitar, 12-string guitar.


Selling England By the Pound (CD4/DVD4)

Tracks: CD: Dancing With the Moonlit Knight; I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe); Firth of Fifth; More Fool Me; The Battle of Epping Forest; After the Ordeal; The Cinema Show; Aisle of Plenty. DVD: Dancing With the Moonlit Knight; I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe); Firth of Fifth; More Fool Me; The Battle of Epping Forest; After the Ordeal; The Cinema Show; Aisle of Plenty. DVD Extras: Reissue interviews (2007); Video: Shepperton Studios, Italian television performance (1973); Live in Bataclan, France (1973).

Personnel: Peter Gabriel: vocals, flute, bass drum, tambourine, oboe; Mike Rutherford: guitar, bass instrument, background vocals; Tony Banks: guitar, piano, organ, mellotron, synthesizer, background vocals; Phil Collins: drums, percussion, background vocals, lead vocals (4); Steve Hackett: guitar, 12-string guitar, electric sitar.


The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (CD5-6/DVD5)

Tracks: CD5: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway; Fly on a Windshield; Broadway Melody of 1974; Cuckoo Cocoon; In the Cage; The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging; Back in N.Y.C.; Hairless Heart; Counting Out Time; The Carpet Crawlers; The Chamber of 32 Doors. CD6: Lilywhite Lilith; The Waiting Room; The Supernatural Anaesthetist; The Lamia; Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats; The Colony of Slippermen: The Arrival/Visit to the Doktor/Raven; Ravine; The Light Dies Down on Broadway; Riding the Scree; In the Rapids; It. DVD: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway; Fly on a Windshield; Broadway Melody of 1974; Cuckoo Cocoon; In the Cage; The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging; Back in N.Y.C.; Hairless Heart; Counting Out Time; The Carpet Crawlers; The Chamber of 32 Doors; Lilywhite Lilith; The Waiting Room; The Supernatural Anaesthetist; The Lamia; Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats; The Colony of Slippermen: The Arrival/Visit to the Doktor/Raven; Ravine; The Light Dies Down on Broadway; Riding the Scree; In the Rapids; It. DVD Extras: Reissue interviews (2007); Photos, Slides; Melody—French TV Performance 1974: I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe), Supper's Ready).

Personnel: Peter Gabriel: vocals, flute; Mike Rutherford: 12-string guitar, bass instrument, background vocals; Tony Banks: keyboards, background vocals; Phil Collins: drums, percussion, background vocals, vibraphone; Steve Hackett: guitar, 12-string guitar, electric sitar; Brian Eno: Enossification (sound processing and effects).


Extras 1970-1975 (CD7/DVD6)

Tracks: CD: Happy the Man; Twilight Alehouse; Going Out to Get You (demo); Sheperd (BBC Nightride, 1970); Pacidy (BBC Nightride, 1970); Let Us Now Make Love (BBC Nightride, 1970); Provocation (Genesis Plays Jackson); Frustration (Genesis Plays Jackson); Manipulation (Genesis Plays Jackson); Resignation (Genesis Plays Jackson). DVD: Happy the Man; Twilight Alehouse; Going Out to Get You (demo); Sheperd (BBC Nightride, 1970); Pacidy (BBC Nightride, 1970); Let Us Now Make Love (BBC Nightride, 1970); Provocation (Genesis Plays Jackson); Frustration (Genesis Plays Jackson); Manipulation (Genesis Plays Jackson); Resignation (Genesis Plays Jackson). DVD Extras: Reissue interviews 2007; Video: Boxed Set 1967-1975 VH1 Special; Midnight Special Performance: Watcher of the Skies, The Musical Box.

Personnel: Peter Gabriel: vocals, flute, bass drum, tambourine; Anthony Phillips: acoustic 12-string guitar (3-10), electric guitar (3-10), dulcimer (3-10); Mike Rutherford: acoustic 12-string guitar, nylon-string guitar, cello, bass instrument, background vocals; Tony Banks: guitar, piano, organ, , mellotron, background vocals; John Mayhew: drums (3-10), percussion (3-10); Phil Collins: drums (1-2), percussion (1-2), background vocals (1-2); Steve Hackett: guitar (1-2).
 
New albums featuring Seal | The Sun |Showbiz|Something For The Weekend

“ME, I’m just a lawnmower, you can tell me by the way I walk.”

Bands just don’t write lines like that any more.

Back in the day when Peter Gabriel was the flamboyant frontman of Genesis, lyrical quirkiness bordering on insanity and set to melodic prog-rock noodling was all the rage.

The line comes from I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe), a classic piece of so very English whimsy on 1973’s Selling England By The Pound.

Part of a stunning new box set rounding up the Gabriel-era albums, it still stands as the band’s finest offering, up there with Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon and Fragile by Yes.

Keyboard whizz Tony Banks was in his element on big set pieces like Cinema Show and Firth Of Fifth while barking mad Battle Of Epping Forest is a hilarious attempt by a bunch of ex-public schoolboys (Phil Collins excepted) to sound all working class.

Gabriel’s epic swansong The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, also in the box, runs it a very close second. SC


:applaud:
 
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