What is your favorite CD mastering of Genesis "Selling England by the Pound"

Also, I am wondering which of the tapes used for the CDs were first generation?

 

I have the V/C Sonopress (no bar code). I'm very happy with it. No compliants. Pure musical bliss.

 

I remember Barry Diament talking about how one of the V/C discs he listened to was weak compared to his unreleased remaster. This disc is the one I am trying to avoid. I wonder which is this bad V/C, Nimbus or Sonopress?

 

I have the two box sets which are DADC Austria picture discs. The first box contains Trespass, Nursery Cryme, and Foxtrot. The second box contains Selling England By The Pound and the two Lamb Lies Down On Broadway cds.

They are uniformly excellent -- certainly the best masterings I've ever heard. Got rid of all my remasters afterwards.....

 

bump

Which one of these sounds more liked it was sourced from a first gen tape: The Atlantic or V/C Nimbus

I don't want to buy the V/C Nimbus if it is inferior to the Atlantic

 

V/C (nimbus) for me

 

SACD box set?

 

Er, don't you have like four choices up there that are basically the same thing?

A couple of those first four you list have the phase inverted or slight volume differences. That's about it from what I recall.

 

CASCD1074 is a forum favorite. If you can find it.

 

Easy to find. Just ping eBay UK and Amazon UK marketplace sellers.

Maybe Black Elk can check in. I also thought the 1st 4 are essentially the same thing. My notes say the 1st two are. (Maybe not identical, but with some level shifts in there. Can't remember.)

 

I have finally emailed Barry about this matter and he told me that his copy of the V/C was indeed the sonopress. After reading through Black Elk's EAC comparison thread, I have come to the conclusion that the Sonopress was the original CD mastering used by Atlantic and Virgin. Eventually, Atlantic used a Level Shifted version of this mastering while Virgin used a new (but phase inverted) mastering. Another level shifted version of the Sonopress mastering was probably used by Virgin for the DADC picture disc box set.
All this probably means is that that the Nimbus (and Swindon) mastering might be the best.

 

For reference, here is Barry's original comment on his Selling England CD:

 

for owners of the Nimbus mastering, is there more clarity and air than the Sonopress mastering (thus worth tracking down and buying)?

 

mornin bump

 

Barry mastered a bunch of Genesis titles, but they were not all released. According to his Essential Mastering thread, this is one of those unreleased titles.

Has he now confirmed one is his work or am I misreading the posts?

 

I have the DE......assuming that means definitive edition. I've never heard any of the others.

 

Hi Darcy,

To my knowledge, none of the Genesis CDs I remastered after leaving Atlantic has been released. The version of "Selling England.." I did would be my pick and would quickly replace the version I currently own. There was just so much more information, so much more music, on those tapes than I've heard on any of the CD releases.

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

FYE-Buddah-Charisma pressed the first run in the US before Atlantic-Charisma, although I have not heard that pressing yet.

Bill

 

When level matched, these all sound the same to me:

Original Atlantic
V/C DADC Austria
Atlantic and V/C Sonopress pressings (made in Germany)

And frankly, I'm not sure these really sounded any different, but it's been a while since I compared. Other than the phase being inversed (arguably inaudible) I am having trouble remembering how they were different?

V/C (nimbus , japan black triangle)

 

Is it possible that all of the old Selling England CDs were based on the same digital source?

 

Very.

 

Shame then. I was hoping there was a CD master that could compare to the sound quality of the original Atlantic/Virgin mastering of "Trick of the Tail."

 

Totally different albums; recording studios, engineering teams, production approaches, etc ...

I think the pre-DE Selling England sounds really good, but I think you need to compare apples with apples. Compare the Selling England CD to Selling England vinyl copies if you want to judge the old digital mastering and/or source. I suspect it'll hold up pretty well.

 

To be honest, I really do enjoy the old atlantic and DADC picture disc (and the DE too, though I have to pretend there is no noise reduction) I have of Selling England. My problem is that I really want to hear this album unadulterated (no top end filtered out, no noise reduction added, no compression, good tape source). Based on comments that forum member Jamie Tate made about the V/C Nimbus Selling England, I am hoping that the disc comes close to how Barry's unreleased version may have sounded like.