Finding The Best Sounding Genesis (Part 1), Album By Album...

D'OH! How copies of this thing do I have to buy??

 

V/C on the ATTWT IMO

 

Unfortunately Dave, I agree with, uh, Dave. The Target seems to have a slight top-end boost that doesn't appeal to me.

 

Here's another UK vinyl:

http://www.tim-anderson.co.uk/another_uk_vinyl_trespass.mp3

I don't think it's exactly the same as yours but it's hard to be sure with vinyl I like it better than the CD though. Especially the DE - what is that curious echo effect at the beginning of Looking for Someone?

Tim

 

I have been listening to all the needledrops and I think I prefer the UK version from my 2U/3U LP. I find it to have a fuller (espesially drums sounds softer) sound than the rest. What I find interesting is that V/C cd actually seems to be a little brighter sounding than this UK vinyl.

Anyway; my main conclution is that the original V/C cd stands up very well against these vinyl competitors. And that the the MCA sounds nothing like these samples.

 

I just got a copy of Abacab (CBRCD102) and have to say that it is a very pleasant listen. Not muffled like the DE and not loud like the Gold CD. DE is dead last, followed by the Gold and then the Charisma CBRDCD 102. I have not heard the standard Atlantic.

 

Yep. I recently did a lot of comparing and determined that the Atlantic has some top end boost. The target has this also.

The V/C is just, well, mesmerizing. One of the best sounding discs one is likely to hear.

 

Anyone else care to comment on these samples? I'll be talking them off the server soon otherwise.

 

I listened to them yesterday but got interrupted. BTW I'm still awaiting my V/C in the mail.

I agree with the others, the V/C sounds better. It sounds like on the Target there is a boost in the lower upper midrange compared to the V/C. The drums do sound much better to me on the V/C, fuller and rounder, and I am hearing the cymbals and high-hat taps more clearly.

Somebody probably also mentioned already that the channels are reversed on these two.

Thanks for posting these!

 

Re: And Then There Were Three

Only on the Target. The V/C has the correct channel placement.

 

That's what I meant, not both reversed, or I wouldn't of noticed!

 

Okay, there are two different masterings of Selling England, but I can't hear much difference. Here is the info and a couple of samples if anyone wants to play:

CASCD 1074 Nimbus pressing TT: 53:43

Track 1 Peak level 96.2 %
Track 2 Peak level 93.0 %
Track 3 Peak level 98.9 %
Track 4 Peak level 61.3 %
Track 5 Peak level 91.6 %
Track 6 Peak level 58.2 %
Track 7 Peak level 90.4 %
Track 8 Peak level 64.6 %

CASCD 1074 DADC Picture Disc TT: 53:48

Track 1 Peak level 99.5 %
Track 2 Peak level 96.5 %
Track 3 Peak level 97.7 %
Track 4 Peak level 62.4 %
Track 5 Peak level 78.2 %
Track 6 Peak level 53.9 %
Track 7 Peak level 75.4 %
Track 8 Peak level 61.1 %

Samples:

Nimbus

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=E96A13B54B59E5D6

DADC
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=898AB07110AC90CD

 

I'm stuck with computer speakers for the near future, and I don't trust them enough to do any really critical comparisons. From what I do hear, though, the difference seems so small that one doesn't need to agonize over which V/C pressing to get (unless one wants to, of course ). Do you have a preference, Jeff?

I'm also curious now about what you previously said (in post #28 of this thread):

Does this still apply to either one of these V/C masterings?

 

Mine says "marketed by phonogram" on the back. I am not familiar enough with the music to say whether channels are reversed or not. I didn't find the disc harsh when I listened to it, but it didn't seem wholly satisfying either.

 

Is this a Polygram WG pressing?

 

When I compared them I think I had the DADC picture disc and the Atlantic. I even posted samples here and, iirc, someone determined that they could cancel out.

Anyway, I don't hear much difference in the two samples above. Unless something changes I think we can conclude that any version of Selling England prior to the DE should do the trick.

 

I think the V/C of Abacab is the best pick. The hardest one for me to find, as well. the Target and the regular Atlantic are too harsh.

 

Funny, the V/C Abacab was one of the first things that popped up when I first started looking for the older Genesis CDs. I was going to look for an Atlantic too, but maybe I won't bother now.

For me, it's the V/C Lamb that's being a bugger to find. I thought I'd found the picture-disc box set that also comes with Selling England, but it turned out to be the DEs! My fault, though. I went with what the seller described, and he did answer my questions truthfully. It just never occurred to me that there was a DE version of this picture-disc box set.

Oh well, the search continues...

 

There's a couple on eBay right now, and they come up regularly, so just keep checking.

 

I have the opposite problem...Own a V/C Lamb and no V/C Abacab.

 

Of the samples you posted, the DADC picture disc seemed to have a touch more fullness to it. Loading these two into my computer side by side, I discovered that the Nimbus is sped up. For such a short sample the difference should be considered rather large and may explain (or may not, just theorizing) the slightly different sound I notice as "fullness" with the DADC.

The Atlantic Selling England is the one I just received recently and I've compared it to the DADC picture disc sample you posted. I can't get the two to cancel out completely. Almost. The Atlantic is slightly quieter. Beyond that they are identical in every way. When I normalized them both, they cancel. Not sure what is going on here, but anyway, for all practical purposes I would say they are identical like you've said.

Selling England
Atlantic 19277-2
1) 95.09%
2) 92.23%
3) 95.50%
4) 60.99%
5) 76.47%
6) 52.75%
7) 73.69%
8) 59.76%


Back to the Nimbus being sped up. I don't really know if that is the case or the other is slowed down. I checked the DE, and it is between the two (is that thing good for anything? ).

Here's a screen shot. All of these samples were started together, and about 57 seconds later, this is how they lined up. The top is the Nimbus sample you posted, the one under is the DADC picture disc you posted, the one under that is my Atlantic, and the last one is the DE.

The difference is about 75 milliseconds at this point in the song between the Nimbus and the DADC/Atlantic. (75 seconds sooner for the Nimbus). I wonder if anybody could shed some light on this and we could determine which is most likely to be the closest to the correct speed. Perhaps referencing the original vinyl. Or maybe I'm just obsessing.

Oh, one more thing, the Nimbus has the phase reversed on both channels (compared to the others).

 

Nice work, Dave!

 

Thanks, but I think maybe I was obsessing a little last night over the sped up issue, 75 milliseconds isn't all that much perhaps over 57 seconds. AFterall, the two cds are only 5 seconds different all the way through. Probably not much to be quibbling over! But when you hear them at the same time, and one is clearly echoing away as things proceed, well it just seems wrong!

I'm inclined to like the Atlantic I have (which is more or less the same as the picture disc) and be done with it.

Anyway, moving on, you had said you needed the V/C Lamb. Is that superior to the Atco Lamb? I didn't know this had been determined. I have the Atco.

 

I think this may have been subject to debate earlier on, I never had the Atco Lamb and and only the V/C. I also remembering reading a post saying that disc 2 for both Atco and V/C's were the same.

 

Well I'm less than thrilled with the sound of the Atco, it seems a little dull. Maybe that's what people remember the vinyl sounding like? It's not horrible by any means. I guess I'm so used to the DE which I find more lively, shame about the NR on it. If there's not a better version than the Atco I'm going to toy around with the eq on it.