I have a few (Foxtrot, Selling England, The Lamb...), but have only listened critically to The Lamb Lies Down.. What a wonderful job they did with this one!! It is an absolute winner. I highly recommend it. As for the others, during the casual listens I gave them, I found them to be excellent as well. But The Lamb Lies Down really stands out as an accomplishment for Classic. I very much look forward to scoring the whole Peter Gabriel catalog on LP from them. If they don't brighten up "Melt", I'll be even happier! The temptation is probably there (since it is a muddy sounding mix by design).
"Supper's Ready" on the Classic Recs "Foxtrot" is killah. Lamb, like Mike mentions is possibly the best ever.
How do they compare to the remastered cd's and regular vinyl. I have them all on both. Foxtrot and Nursery Crymes I have in German vinyl pressings that sound very good. Lamb I have on Japanese vinyl (though I got it used, and it has some minor surface noise).
I have the original Virgin UK CDs of Foxtrot and Nursery Cryme. The covers are not complete, and looks like a shrink-to-cd rush job, but they're mastered flat from the original tape. The CD reissue of Foxtrot & Nursery now sounds a bit bright, but not too far away from the original UK CDs on Charisma/Virgin. You see, I got these original Charisma CDs late in the game, so I was re-educated. Wow. The only poor copies on CD or LP I've heard were certian UK and Japanese pressings, although I think the Japanese pressing of "Foxtrot" didn't sound bad to someone who I know, reported to me to get the UK copies. That being said, and to be perfectly honest, the biggest LP upgrade across the whole Genesis catalog was the 180'gers of Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. The ATCO Lps didn't sound bad, and the "Definitive issue" Virgin or Atlantic CDs (both clones) sound great, but for analog, "Lamb" sounds absolutely wonderful. They did a wonderful job. I need to buy a second copy of it for safe keeping, it's that good.
I already got my second copy of Lamb Lies Down. They are on sale now so you can get them for a good price.
All early Genesis albums on Classic are highly recommended for sound and surfaces. You all know how hard it is to find a quiet Charisma pressing from any country unless you were the original owner.
According to ICE, the original tapes for these two are lost, and that all CD version ahve been made from production or safety masters. .
That's news to me. You can't hear any obvious generational loss through them both. Even the original Virgin/Charisma UK discs sound pheom.
I always thought the original UK/Virgin CD's sounded great too. Even though the artwork was incomplete the CD's sounded good and compared to even a quiet LP pressing,(of which I don't think any exist of Foxtrot), sounded better. Up until this Classic LP pressing and the Fontana Rock Roots german LP, I have never heard the closing section of Supper's Ready sound more clear. Those Virgin/UK Cd's sounded clear.
My take on Genesis LPs I regestered on this forum primarily so I could throw my 2 cents in on this one. I have essentially every Genesis LP in both UK and Japanese pressings including Tresspass, Wind and Wuthering, Trick of the Tale etc. When I noticed that the Classic re-issue price had dropped to $20 I figured I would try out Foxtrot. (I pretty much stay away from re-issues because I've had too many $30 burns from Simply Vinyl, and I thought that the Chesky classical re-issues as good as the Classic Records versions.) Anyway, I just got Foxtrot last week. So I sat down and evaluated the UK Charisma pressing (which is quiet BTW), the Japanese version, and the Classic re-issue. No surprise that the Japanese bested the UK pressing. The UK version sounds closed down in comparison, the Japanese version significantly more dynamic and open. Then I went to the Classic, its even more open then the Japanese, textures are resolved better, dynamics and low end extension about the same. The overall experience was wonderfull, the best Foxtrot yet. So I just ordered Selling England, Nursery, and the Lamb. The Gabriel I has also just been released. Now the Lamb Japanese is particularly good so it will be interesting to hear if the Classic can beat that one out. I don't know if they plan on releasing Trick and Wind, but the latter Japanese pressing is rather poor and it would be great to have that one. The Japanese Trick is just awesome sonically and I prefer it to the MoFi version. Looks like a really cool forum. John Moschella
