Genesis 'Seconds Out' Question

I have the original vinyl and cd copies and a couple of the remastered cd's.

Cant tell you the numbers as they are boxed up.

The original cd and vinyl are still my faves, same goes for all their albums.

Mud

Put simply, yes, buy it.

I bought GECD2001 off Ebay after comparing it and the remaster at a fellow/old forum member's house on a top end Naim system (50K territory).

The sound is much less 'brittle' than the remaster, especially the cymbals on 'Firth of Fifth', a much gentler listening experience, even on my much lower end Naim system.

To be honest having compard a number of remasters to original releases, almost all the remasters have a much harsher sound, probably a little clipping in the cymbals and snare drum as a result of lifting all the levels, then trying to restore some dynamics.

It is definitely worth getting original CD releases for Genesis, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Pink Floyd and Rush.

For the King Crimson and Van Der Graaf Generator remasters I have not noticed a great deterioration in the sound. I still have almost all the originals though.

I haven't compared the Bowie, Tull and Tangerine Dream remasters, and haven't bought the Kraftwerk ones, as I just love the albums as they sound on the first issue CDs.

I do now find my self trying to find original issues of some albums I foolishly replaced with remasters on Ebay.

Interestingly I have found that importing CDs into I-tunes (compressed junk I know) to listen to in the car and workshop, undynamic remasters sound better, as MP3s have problems sometimes with dynamic sound. Perhaps it takes a piece of junk to make a piece of junk in compressed audio terms.

Thanks Jamie for your fulsom response.  I tend to avoid remasters for the reasons you cite and will check the Steve Hoffman forum for particular advice regarding the best pressings but, strangely, there was little info on 'Seconds Out'.  I have 'Foxtrot' and 'Wind & Wuthering' originals too and they do trounce the remasters by some margin.  Best sounding are the MCLD Steely Dan releases which 'make the remasters sound broken by comparison'.

I have the original LP version (GE2001 - ??), which is quite good, IMHO. A very good live album (but not as good as Made In Japan).

All my old Genesis stuff is still on LP - never felt the need to get the CD's....

Genesis without Gabriel is not Genesis for me.

Funny, for me it has always been whether Hackett was in the band that mattered, his playing on 'Seconds Out' is amazing, the same for 'Wind and Wuthering'. I always thought that 'Spectoral Mornings' sounded more like Genesis than the albums they were producing around that time.

Perhaps one of the real Genesis gems for me is the BBC soundboard recording of the Hammersmith 1976 gig with Bill Bruford on drums, and when he and Collins play together it is a real treat for drummers.

I must say the same goes for Yes for me, it only works if Steve Howe is there, so the current outcry from fans about Anderson not being there is irrelevant to me, it is the best Yes lineup I have seen, not having been around to see them before the 80's band with Rabin, which I certainly had no interest in. 'Drama' is an album I love, and I have (small) hopes of the new album being in that vein.

Sorry to digress.

Good album.

Just sourced a CD 2001 1985 original release and it is indeed far superior to the 'Definitive Remaster'.

Same here. And lest we forget, Voyage Of The Acolyte - the best album Genesis never recorded.

Digressing somewhat further.

> A very good live album (but not as good as Made In Japan).

I'm not sure it is etiquette to mention an album as good as Deep Purple's wonderful Live in Japan set hereon. Oh doh ... I've gone an' done it as well.  Live in Japan along with Chas & Dave & Albert Live At Abbey Road (a seriously stunning live set with amazing guitar from Albert Lee) and ELP's Welcome Back My Friends is just about the pinnacle of live rock elpees for me.

I still find Trespass the only Genesis album that has stood the test of time though there are some nice moments on the subsequent albums up until Peter G found he no longer needed the band. Without Gabriel, I'm uncertain why the others didn't call it day; perhaps it was the vast wad of money they acquired. In fairness Steve Hackett did move on to better things. Gabriel's subsequent records were much better than any of post-Trespass Genesis material in my humble opinion. Some may disagree, but I know what I like in my wardrobe.  

But just listen to The Knife and ask yourself if they ever sounded quite this good again. 

They alway's sound good to me.

I love every album they have done EX the greatest hits and two scott eggs and a jar of Marmite.