Joseph P. Mosher | San Diego, CA United States | 03/26/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)
"The sound on this Genesis boxed set is frustrating. There are so many areas of the sound that are improved. Primarily resolution/detail/clarity. But in my opinion, the mixing is not homogeneous and natural on the CDs. The dts surround sound is much better, but I cannot enjoy these outside my home surround sound system.
On the CDs, lower midrange seems to be missing. Piano sounds clear, but tinny and without body (Firth on Fifth piano solo on dts is so much more realistic and balanced compared to the CD) Cymbals are too forward and splashy. They overexpose the distortion of the old recordings, and would have been much better pulled back to the drum set. Bass is over-the-top, but I like it. Voice is clear, but lacks heft and feels overpowered by all the other detail brought forward. The new detail is incredible compared to past releases, but is presented on the CD in a manner that throws the "new" detail in your face. As much as I love this music, I can hardly turn these CDs up half way without wear and tear. Small changes in the equalizing and mixing could have made such a difference on the listenability. A missed opportunity in my book.
Rating: 2 for CDs, 4+ for surround sound, 3 average"
The audio is enough to get it...
joe1713 | fort worth | 05/18/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The only reason to repurchase is audio, and if you are fortunate to have a 5.1 audio system, the dvds reproduce it wonderfully, no need to get the high end sacd set, it all comes down to your home audio system. I wont type here and try to explain the differences, but in a nutshell, it is like hearing brand new music from a cd you have heard literally 1000 times.... i wish other bands would do this type of sound reconstruction, especially the alternative type sounds....all sets are worth getting A++++++++, all sets are wonderfully packaged, a wonderful way to discover the bands music, especially peter gabriel era, the most underrated group of all time, to not make the rolling stone top 500 of all time is a industry travesty, the lamb and selling england should both be in the top 50....enjoy your purchase"
Volume & censorship
Coen from Amsterdam | Amsterdam, The Netherlands | 06/16/2010
(2 out of 5 stars)
"I give two stars for the clarity but, it's been said before, in these mixes there's only one volume for every instrument: LOUD. For example on Foxtrot. The soundlevel of the solo acoustic guitar at the very beginning of Horizons is as loud as the full blown ending of "Can utility and the coastliners" which precedes it.
And where's the ripping sound of the castration on The colony of Slippermen which should be there between 4.00 and 4.15 minutes? Pure censorship."
THE *BEST-SOUNDING* GENESIS EVER!
G. Chandler | San Francisco, CA USA | 07/28/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Wow! The sound quality on these are SO much better it's beyond amazing. And it confirms for me,
that the Beatles catalog *should* have been done the same - just as it was done for "Yellow Submarine
Songtrack" (NOT 'Soundtrack'!), instead of just the remastering of the original mixes.
I didn't read many of the reviews for this box set (I can't believe all the one-star reviews!) on Amazon,
but on the first page, there's a review from an audio engineer that sums it up pretty well, that the original
mixes were very poor to begin with. (Which makes me realize now, why the remastered CDs from the
early '90s were so bad. It brought out what was wrong to begin with, in a much more revealing format!)
"Foxtrot" was from the beginning (in 1972) and *still is* their hands-down best album. 'Super's Ready' has
to be the greatest musical creation of the entire decade! It is so good, I went to Amazon to see if it's
available as a single-disk. It is not. But believe it or not, when I did the math of all my favorite tracks
from their first 3 albums (minus their actual first album on Decca, which I have on CD - it's not very good
by-the-way) from the box set, it honestly is 79+ minutes in length!! (And that's ALL of 'Foxtrot', except
for the first track, which ironically was the sole Single taken from that album. And 'Foxtrot' is a *long*
album too.
It's hard to explain (actually, there's a few Genesis fans that say this same thing on Amazon), but the
first three albums in the box set (1970, 1971 & 1972) *all go together musically* (style/instruments/etc.).
And when you listen to 'Selling England By The Pound" (which I've always loved), it becomes very clear!
And one last thing - the second disk is what's called DVD-Audio (in Surround Sound). Almost NOBODY
knows about this format, let alone OWNS the player! So except for some minor *regular* DVD video on
that same second disk, I don''t think many people will be listening to the audio portion of those disks!
(Especially considering HOW many people are happy with MP3s! That is SO absurd, it almost hurts.)"