A Trick of the Tail Vinyl

Love the group's music with all my heart and like the OP the remixed box sets were also my introduction to their music. I've owned A Trick of the Tail numerous times on vinyl. First I got was a 1976 Scandinavian Charisma, and it was there the flatness occurred to me first, though I liked it. Totally different take on it than the remix I had listened to and loved so much for a couple of years at that time. Made me hound down the non-remastered CD. Then I heard the remixed version from the 1976-1982 vinyl box set. Then, a couple of months ago, I borrowed a Canadian ATCO press. Always a sucker for North American pressings, don't know why, the thickness of the sleeves and the oftentimes solidity of their sound probably did it and the fact that they're quite rare here might also have something to do with it.

I twiddled every knob I could think of to get it to sound good. Same for: Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Selling England by the Pound and Voyage of the Acolyte. Tried different presses and all of them sounded lifeless to me. Then the old man came by to help me with all of this and he looked at the record before the needle got put down and went "Look at the grooves! There's no room to breathe on these records". I suppose this explains why.

A thing I've also thought of regarding original Genesis LP's might also be a generation thing. I do my best when I listen to records to not touch any treble or bass or whatever, and just play it the way it was meant to sound... Sometimes the only plus with this, I found, is the natural sounding bass... Especially Trick of the Tail, big fat Moog Taurus pedals sweeping up the rug. Love it. But the drums are kind of tinny, and if the record is just a tiny bit dirty then every quiet passage sounds distorted and wrong. Don't know if it's a gear thing, a bad press or simply a dirty or unkempt record that's to blame here.

Anyway... I'll follow you guys' leads and seek out German and/or UK firsts. Don't think I've done that, ever. Had a German Selling England... For a brief while and I hardly remember if it was bad or good.

 

Hopefully no one out there listened to me. I re-listened to this pressing and yes, it sounds good, but I can't believe I didn't notice its major fault when I first listened to it. Apparently in order to get more volume and bass in the cut, they sped up the tape. So the entire album runs noticeably fast. Don't ask me how I didn't notice this before!!

So one should actually AVOID the mid-80s pressings with the green-blue-red-black "Atco" on the white background unless your turntable happens to run slow.

 

I've had an Atco or two which sounded good and was reasonably quiet. But took many to get there. An option to consider. Don't rule it out.

 

I found Atcos that sounded fine in terms of pressing/vinyl quality. But finding one that is also precisely centered (so you don't get hideous wow in the dying notes of Mad Man Moon)--a lot tougher.

 

Agreed with that, off center was quite the issue in that era on Atlantic/Atco pressings.

 

I am a Genesis lifer and have lots. I recently found a clean copy of the MoFi at Creme Tangerine Records in Costa Mesa, CA. Actually he had two copies and I couldn't tell them apart, both discs looked mint to me. So I tossed a coin and it is all I hoped for (at a price!) dead quiet. I paid this much for MoFi Crime Of The Century and I would grab both of them if my house was on fire. I love the old MoFi albums on Japanese vinyl. These two I mentioned are very nice sounding, not etched and weird like some of the newer MoFi stuff. I shouldn't be so harsh but I think they are just trying too hard to make their albums jump out and grab you by the lapel these days. The bass on this is Trick Of The tail album is to die for, and it is very warm, I'm sure this is the way Genesis intended this album to sound. Anywhoo, if you are in O.C. and love Genesis there's another copy as of a few days ago. You'll have to explain to your family why you won't be with them at Disneyland today. I can't help you with that!

 

I don't remember "Trick Of The Tail" being an especially expensive old MoFi?!

 

I have listed to this album hundreds of times over the years and still nothing beats hearing it on a crappy 8-track driving around in the car with high school friends.

 

I finally settled on the Japan for US CD of TOTT. Magnificent!

 

I'd go back to those days... but only for the riding around in a car part, not so much the sitting in a classroom part! This is what 8 Tracks were like for you younger peeps:
"...and she's buying a stairway to... CLUNK!... heaven..."

 

Thanks for reviving this thread. It prompted me to pull out my UK original LP that I bought last year, and listen to it w/ my new phono preamp. It does indeed sound wonderful, and that bass pedal is amazing rich and deep. My copy has a few annoying pops, but otherwise sounds very good.

Something I never noticed before: the cover and inner liner illustrations were done by the same artist, but the liner drawings look less detailed, as if they were an early uncompleted draft. Any history on this? Thanks.

 

I have to say that Atco CD had the best bottom end of this record of any version I've heard including remixed CD, the MFSL vinyl and UK first Lp edition...the Taurus pedals simply erupt on this version like no other and there is warmth and specificity to the soundstage which is wonderful.

 

Actually, I've since changed my tune. I think the Japan vinyl slaughters them all. The Japan vinyl I heard at that time wasn't a very good copy. I since heard a better one. But there is one track that is botched and that's Entangled. So for that track I prefer the Diament CD.

 

...got MFSL today - dead quiet, pleasing old release. My go-to is of course the 5.1 SACD, but for 2ch analogue this seems about as good as I need it to be.