Top Artists – Genesis

Nursery Cryme on Classic Records – What System Can Make It Sound Good?

Hot Stamper Pressings of Genesis Albums Available Now

Sonic Grade: F

The Classic Heavy Vinyl pressing from 2000 is a smeary, lifeless mess next to the best early tan label British pressings. No Classic pressing of any of the Genesis albums that we’ve played sounded right to us.

The Peter Gabriel albums they remastered were just as bad. All of them earned a grade of F. We made no effort to do listings for most of them because they all were bad sounding, and bad sounding in the same way.

If I were to try to “reverse engineer” the sound of a system that could play this record and compensate for its many faults, I would look for a system that was thick, dark and fat, with added richness and a heaping portion of euphonic tube colorations.

I know that sound. I had a stereo in the 90s with many of those same shortcomings, but of course I hadn’t a clue about any of that. Back then, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I needed to put together a system with a lot more “Hi-fi” and a lot less “My-fi,” a process that took many years and a great deal of effort.

I’m glad to say things are different now.

What to Listen For

As a general rule, this Heavy Vinyl pressing will fall short in some or all of the following areas when played head to head against the vintage pressings we offer:

Further Reading

The sonic signature of the modern Heavy Vinyl Classical reissue in five words: diffuse, washed out, veiled, and vague.

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Helpful Stamper Information You Can Use – Episode 108

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Genesis Available Now

British Pressing? Check.

Pink Label? Check.

Sound Quality?  Side One:: 1+ (dubby). Side One of another copy: NFG (no good).

Apparently something went wrong, but exactly what, nobody really knows.

And if for some reason somebody actually believes they know what went wrong, we tell them that that kind of thinking is detrimental to whatever success they hope to achieve in finding better sounding records, if our experience over the last fifty years has any bearing.

We don’t know it all and we’ve never pretended to. All our knowledge is provisional. We may not be the smartest guys in the room, but we’re sure as hell smart enough to know that much.

If somehow we did know it all, there would be no need for the two hundred entries in our live and learn section about all the mistakes we’ve made over the years trying to understand record pressings at the sonic level.

We take a different approach to searching out better sounding pressings. Instead of reading about them — who made them, how they were made, where they were made, all that sort of thing — we instead devoted our efforts to cleaning and playing them, so that we could make our own judgments about the sound and the music we heard.

Our experiments, conducted using the shootout process we’ve painstakingly developed over the course of the last twenty years, produce all the data we need: the winners, the losers, and the rankings for all the records in-between.

Free Stamper Info

By my count this is the 108th stamper sheet we have posted on The Skeptical Audiophile.

In the case of this title, these are what we would call bad stampers for Genesis’s 1973 prog album Selling England by the Pound (a record we rarely have in stock because the best stampers are just too hard to find, at least they are on copies in audiophile playing condition).

If you are looking for top quality sound — and seriously, what else would you be looking for if you are reading this blog? —  then make sure not to buy just any old early Pink Label UK pressing of the album. You may end up with one that sounds as bad as this one did.

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Genesis – And Then There Were Three

More of the Music of Genesis

  • With a KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side two mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side one, you’ll have a hard time finding a copy that sounds remotely as good as this vintage Charisma import
  • Forget the dubby domestic LPs and whatever dead-as-a-doornail Heavy Vinyl record they’re making these days – the UK pressings are the only way to fly on And Then There Were Three
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • “And Then There Were Three, more than either of its immediate predecessors, feels like the beginning of the second phase of Genesis… [they] don’t quite want to abandon prog at this point, but the increasing emphasis on melody and tight song structures points the way toward the group’s 80s work.”

This vintage UK Charisma pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records can barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to “see” the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with the band, this is the record for you. It’s what vintage all analog recordings are known for — this sound. (more…)

Genesis – Trespass

More Prog Rock

  • An early Charisma import pressing that was giving us the big and bold sound we were looking for, with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them
  • The sound here is rich and Tubey Magical (particularly on side one), two qualities the CD made from these tapes surely lacks and two qualities which are crucial if this music is to sound the way the band intended
  • Forget the later reissues on the Blue Label – we have yet to hear one that can compete with these good originals
  • Probably for the more serious fan, but Melody Maker found it “…tasteful, subtle and refined.”

Take it from us, the guys who play every kind of pressing we can get our hands on, the UK pressings are the only way to go on Trespass. (more…)

A Trick Of The Tail – A MoFi Disaster to Beat Them All

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Genesis Available Now

This review is fairly old, probably from 2005-2010.

Not long ago I played the MoFi pressing of Trick of the Tail and could not believe how ridiculously compressed it was.  Rarely have I heard sound as squashed as that which is heard on this LP.

On top of that, the midrange is badly sucked out (as is the case with most Mobile Fidelity pressings) making the sound as dead, dull and distant as can be.

Is it the worst version of the album ever made? Hard to imagine it would have much competition. I have the CD and it’s fine. It sounds like a digital version of the British pressings we favor (the domestic pressings having been made from dubs of course).  The MoFi is bad enough to have earned a place in our Mobile Fidelity hall of shame.

You think Modern Heavy Vinyl pressings are lifeless? Play this piece of crap and see just how bad an audiophile record can sound.

And to think I used to like this version! I hope I had a better copy back in the 80s than the one I played a few years ago. I’ll never know of course. If you have one in your collection give it a spin. See if it sounds as bad as we say. If you haven’t played it in a while (can’t imagine why, maybe because it’s just plain awful), you may be in for quite a shock.

If you are still buying these audiophile pressings, take the advice of some of our customers and stop throwing your money away on Heavy Vinyl and Half-Speed mastered records.

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Genesis – Foxtrot

More Genesis

More Prog Rock

  • Outstanding sound throughout this early Peter Gabriel-led Genesis album from 1972, with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades
  • One of the tougher Genesis albums to find with good sound – this British Charisma LP is much more impressive than most of what we played in our most recent shootout, and guaranteed to trounce any domestic or Heavy Vinyl pressing you may have heard
  • 5 stars: “Foxtrot is where Genesis began to pull all of its varied inspirations into a cohesive sound — which doesn’t necessarily mean that the album is streamlined, for this is a group that always was grandiose even when they were cohesive, or even when they rocked, which they truly do for the first time here. This is the rare art-rock album that excels at both the art and the rock, and it’s a pinnacle of the genre because of it.”

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Genesis / Selling England By The Pound

More of the Music of Genesis

  • An early UK Charisma pressing (only the second copy to hit the site in over three years) with two solid Double Plus (A++) sides
  • If you’re a fan of early Genesis, or 70s progressive rock in general, it’s hard to do much better than this outstanding import
  • One of the Must Own Genesis recordings but also one of the harder titles to find with the right sound and audiophile surfaces in our experience
  • Which we hope will explain the pricing – so many copies come with marks and other surface issues that it does indeed take us three years to get a shootout going
  • 5 stars: “… the album showcases the band’s narrative force on a small scale as well as large that makes this their arguable high-water mark.”

What do the better Hot Stamper copies give you? Remarkable dynamics and clarity, a huge, open soundstage and rich, full-bodied tonality.

It’s beyond difficult to find good sounding copies of the early Genesis albums, but we recently managed to pull together enough clean copies to get this shootout going again and came up with some real knockout sides! Anyone who has tried to find good sounding copies of this album knows what a tough task it can be. We’ve tried to do this shootout a number of times since 2005 and until 2012 had almost nothing to show for it. But Hot Stampers copies do exist, and this very one proves it!

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Genesis / Nursery Cryme

More Genesis

More Prog Rock

  • With superb Double Plus (A++) grades from top to bottom, this vintage UK Charisma reissue was giving us the big and bold sound we were looking for – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • These sides have the bass, real rock energy and lovely midrange transparency that was missing from many of the others we played
  • For fans of the Classic Lineup involving Phil Collins and Steve Hackett — this being the first album with them on board — this Brit will show you a Nursery Cryme the likes of which you have never heard
  • If you own the Classic Records pressing you are really in for a shock – that one is a smeary lifeless mess next to this LP (and don’t even get us started on the domestic copies)
  • “If Genesis truly established themselves as progressive rockers on Trespass, Nursery Cryme is where their signature persona was unveiled … these are the songs that showed what Genesis could do, and they still stand as pinnacles of what the band could achieve.”

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Genesis – Abacab

More Genesis

More Phil Collins

  • Abacab is back with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them throughout this vintage UK pressing – remarkably quiet vinyl too
  • Forget the thin sounding domestic pressings – these British sides are rich, full-bodied and spacious with real bottom end weight
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Abacab was where this new incarnation of the band came into its own. Working with producer Hugh Padgham, the group escalated the innovations of Duke, increasing the pop hooks, working them seamlessly into the artiest rock here… as bright, bold, and jagged as the modernist artwork on the cover.”

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Genesis – Seconds Out

More of the Music of Genesis

  • This is an excellent set of songs and a surprisingly good recording
  • After suffering through so much bad Genesis sound over the years — their pressings are all over the map — it was a real treat to hear the better copies of this one let these classic songs really come to life
  • “Indeed, part of the beauty of this album is the sheer flexibility of the band during this period — in addition to superb vocals by Collins throughout, the drumming by Chester Thompson is at least a match for Collins’ best playing.”
  • If you’re a Genesis fan, this title from 1977 is surely a Must Own.
  • The complete list of titles from 1977 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here

This live album from 1977 has some of the best Genesis sound we’ve heard. Their studio recordings are often a bit flat and dull, so it’s really a treat to hear those songs with this kind of big, open, dynamic sound! Phil Collins handles the lead vocals here, but he does a great job even on the Peter Gabriel material.

This vintage British Charisma pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records can barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to “see” the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with the band, this is the record for you. It’s what vintage all analog recordings are known for — this sound. (more…)