Genesis - 1976-1982 (+6DVD/NTSC) (CD 2007)

I've rated this Good rather than Excellent because although the packaging is excellent (finally, decent on-disc printing), you get a whole bunch of live footage, a cd of rare tracks and such, Genesis have unfortunately fallen into the trap of remixing their albums for the sake of hi-fi, losing a lot of the emotional impact of the original mixes.

Some will say i'm just being luddite, but i maintain that a large part of the appeal of a record is in how it sounds - the particular instrumental balance, the equalization of tones, the specific reverberations added to the mix, the fade-outs! You couldn't remix Phil Spector's records and expect them to sound as good. The Beach Boys realized this and when compiling their Pet Sounds Sessions box-set wisely kept the original mono mix along with their brand new stereo edition. The Who made the mistake especially with their first album, missing the point that the excitement of the original Shel Talmy production was in the particular way he mixed, and vital elements like double-tracked vocals and extra lead guitar lines were lost to the remixes because they were never on the original multitrack tapes.

And so, for me, the new mixes ARE ACTUALLY INFERIOR to the 1994 'Definitive Edition Remaster' series. The original, sweeping dynamics of such tracks as Eleventh earl Of Mar and Undertow are lost in favour of a more compressed sound, but even a rockier album like Abacab doesn't seem to have quite the punch of the original. And in any case, who can listen to A Trick Of The Tail and honestly say that it needs a remix? Its one of the best sounding records i ever heard! Nick Davies stated that he only tried to enhance the originals, but he actually changed quite a lot. If you've never heard these records before you probably won't mind at all, but for me, they don't cut it. Perhaps the boys in the band were keen to remix, to fix things they didn't like, but as far as i'm concerned they ruined something special.

But not to worry too much, because really you're buying this box set for the surround sound mixes (naturally going to be different and so therefore excellent) and the DVD extras (especially the 1976 concert footage).


In conclusion - close, but no banana...die-hard Genesis fans - don't throw away your 'Remasters'!!!