High-Resolution Genesis

June 1, 2007

Genesis fans everywhere should be ecstatic: Trick of the Tail, Wind & Wuthering, And Then There Were Three, Duke, and Abacab are now available as hybrid SACD/DVD sets. Well, Genesis fans everywhere except in the US. Here, the double-disc sets are CD/DVD only -- no SACD. Why? Ask the RIAA, or ask WEA, which owns the US rights. Just don’t ask me because no one would care for my answer, and it would probably be unprintable in a family publication like SoundStage! anyway.

For those outside the US, or those in the US smart enough to look outside its borders for a retailer with which to place an order, you will be getting quite a desirable collection of music. These remastered hybrid stereo/multichannel SACDs and bonus DVDs include 24-bit/96kHz DTS and 24-bit/48kHz Dolby Digital mixes. Interviews and bonus concert footage are lovely extras, but the chance to hear some of our favorite prog. rock in high-resolution stereo or multichannel sound is reason enough to make these discs a no-brainer purchase.

But these releases are only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. If rumor is to be believed, there is a lot more of the same on the horizon. The balance of the Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel eras is set to receive the same treatment in the next year or so. Imagine Selling England by the Pound, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, and the rest of the Genesis catalog redone in the same manner. I'm swooning.