Customer Reviews

Foxtrot: +DVD

5 star:		(3)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was actually a little sceptical of the Genesis SACD releases from the 1976 - 1980 period, where I was able to detect quite clearly (to my ears)some unwanted compression when directly comparing the SACDs to the standard Re-mastered CDs. Although a little disappointed, I still believed the SACDs were greatly superior.

However, these earlier Genesis SACD releases are nothing less than a "revelation". The depth, clarity, and separation are superb, and (unlike the later releases IMO) they have all the punch one could reasonably hope for.

In "Supper's Ready", I heard detail and even complete melodic threads I had never noticed before - I even wondered if some overdubbing had occurred in the re-mastering process, but after comparing to the CD I was able to confirm that these new details were indeed present on the original recording, as long as you strained hard to hear them that is. This new accuracy in detail reveals all sorts of previously unheard syncopation and subtleties in rhythm, adding greatly to the emotional impact of the music. I was astonished, these discs are a joy.

Anyone who purchased the recent 2006,2007,2008 remasters from Genesis for the CD/Stereo sound completely missed the whole point.

CD's are so old hat now and limited in there dynamic range, Nick Davis championed the Genesis remasters to be placed into a SACD Hybrid Multi Channel surround sound, this means you can still listen to it as a CD or with an SACD player and a 6 channel input amp you can have the SACD level of dynamics either as a Stereo SACD or Multichannel SACD (in this case 5 surround channels and Bass (sub)). OR you can pop in the DVD and with a home cinema set up of 5 speakers plus a subwoofer for bass you can enjoy the album in 5.1 DTS, or 5.1 Dolby Digital or 2.0 Dolby Digital.

Once you have heard the album in SACD multichannel or DVD 5.1 DTS you will wonder why you bothered listening to the Stereo CD layer.

Enjoy the albums as they were intended in surround sound and not in stereo for those who do not understand the potential of the formats.

Bare in mind any addition footage aside from Interviews was intended as a bonus not main feature, the main feature is the Surround Sound.

Regards

Mark

Finally a version at a decent price as usual the record companies doing their level best to rip the buying public off by either grossly overpricing products or putting out sub standard product!

Nick Davis has done amazing work in the past. Actually, ALL of his work up until these Genesis remixes was excellent! Has he lost his touch? Why do these Genesis sets sound so harsh? I wonder what Nick's reasoning for this is? Does he even realize this work is much worse than what he's capable of? He's a world class engineer so why did he make so many newbie mistakes with these Genesis remixes? Too much EQ? Really? That's what interns do when they're learning how to mix.

It's not the compression that makes these remixes bad, it's all the console EQ that was added that makes them sound shrill and hollow. Lots of top and bottom end boosting going on. I know that sound well from my early days of learning how to mix (on this same SSL console I might add). I was trying to make everything as punchy and aggressive as I could and my mixes came out sounding just like these Genesis remixes. When you have that much EQ on EVERYTHING things are going to sound a bit off.

Those SSL EQs have a very distinct sound to them, so do the compressors on the channel strips. Nick Davis just wanted these things to jump out at you and in the process he over-did everything. I think he was simply trying too hard to impress everyone with brute force and not sound quality. If you dig it, good for you. I can heard the EQs ringing and that really bothers me but the lack of good midrange and the shrill top end make my ears shut down.