Genesis – Selling England By The Pound

A masterpiece of an album. This pressing is quite good. The bass can be a little muddy at times but the guitars and synths cut through

I have one with "Small hatter" label on side B and "large hatter" label on side A. what's it worth?

Not a great pressing. It's probably the loudest cut I've heard of this LP, but it has some obvious clipping and compression, and a decent amount of the low end presence has been rolled off. Nice to have the lyric insert printed as an actual inner sleeve, though.

I’m satisfied with this. Some sibilance for sure in more fool me, otherwise no complaints in sound quality on my modest setup and it’s a nice package. My friend abhors the ‘08 remixes and I think maybe I’m lucky to have not heard this before the remixes because I hear them as different but not worse.

It's a long record (over 53min) but George Piros made an incredible job here with this pressing. He cut the record to maximum area that is possible to use and you can hear it. Bass is deep and high are audible. Maybe the best single lp pressings of this album. Highly recommended. Only donwside is that the vinyl is a bit noisy.

I’m beginning to believe there’s more than one pressing of this carrying the Atlantic 75 logo. After hearing a friend’s rip of the accompanying SACD edition’s DSD, I was expecting to be somewhat disappointed, but decided this was the best title amongst those I personally love (within the AP/A75 series) to bring into my collection. AND WOW! Faraway from my own setup, even this Ortofon Red cartridge on a Pro-Ject turntable with a noticeable yet minimal hum transferred through the platter to the stylus (piped through a Cambridge Audio Topaz AM10 amp and a borrowed pair of Audio Technica ATH-M50x headphones which I would estimate cost about $250-$300 new to purchase), I am _amazed_ at everything I can hear through this ittedly limited audio chain setup! The copy to which I’m listening (so far only on Side 1) is surprisingly realistic and precise (to the point that one notices the point in “Dancing With the Moonlit Knight” at which either Peter’s vocal changes from one take to another, beginning on the word “Paperlate,” or he takes a serious step away from the microphone to compensate for volume (thus thinning his voice out, EQ-wise, in the process). I had to listen to the intro to “I Know What I Like (in Your Wardrobe)” FOUR times in a row, as this is the first time ever I’ve been able to recognize the sustained acoustic piano’s overtones (processed through a long delay plate) in the musique concrete at the song’s beginning, a section which sounds VERY much like a lawnmower now, and atop that the first hit of the simulated “talking drum” in the right channel sounds vertically 3D. To my understanding, all other pressings of this release have a 24-minute side and a 27-minute side, meaning the mastering engineer or cutting engineer would need to reduce the stereo separation and/or cutting head… or the mixing engineer would need to compensate ahead of time for the mix. Thankfully, the mixing engineer did not compensate by limiting stereo separation or bass frequencies… and I hear it in this pressing (down to the premature pan of the vocals to the right channel for the raspberry in “I Know What I Like…” which ends up placing the last syllable of “lovebirds” about 66% in the right channel instead of the raspberry itself which returns approximately 15% left. I now hear tuned “coconut shells” in the second chorus of the song (likely played at the top fret of on a guitar’s muted, lowest strings muted at the highest “fret”). Things aren’t perfect all around, however: the drums (or perhaps only the cymbals) suddenly contain a noticeable shrillness after the second chorus.

Of course, I also have frustrations about this pressing. I’ve yet to buy an AP pressing of _anything_ which is properly centered (and I’ve bought four titles so far… quite bad luck if someone is to tell me AP’s pressings are usually centred and I just happened to pick _four_ uncentered pressings… not majorly offcentred, and thankfully 45-rpm speeds and a generously-sized inner deadwax/outtake groove minimizes pitch fluctuation to pretty much negligible levels). Does anyone else hear the dropout on the word “drowned” in “Dancing With the Moonlit Knight” (mostly in the right channel, although the left channel is also partially affected), or is it just my copy? Okay, okay, _maybe_ my Side 2 sounds a little flatter than Side 1, but it’s not enough to make regret buying this copy… and it may be from the master tape itself, because when the synth solo comes in on “Firth of Fifth” (following a now extremely obvious edit), the synth and slightly distorted bass come to LIFE, with tons of stereo separation, and Phil’s hi-hat suddenly sizzles dominantly in dead centre… and hard-panned maracas pairs (one left, one right) even sparkle (if that could ever be possible) while Steve’s guitar tone sounds round, albeit a bit recessed. Mike’s 12-string in the left channel is a bit more present in the hi-mids than anywhere else, but with such a busy mix how can one expect it could be brought out across the complete spectrum? Thankfully, his bass pedals do more than compensate, and his slightly-right-of-centre electric bass is _well_ reproduced. Peter’s twinned vocal is nowhere near as warm as it was at the beginning of Side 1, but he’s also singing much louder and in a MUCH busier mix. (Wow! There’s phasing on the outro piano in “Firth of Fifth”?) And yes, Phil’s voice sounds a little two-dimensional in “More Fool Me” (as if someone placed quite a bit of compression on his take), but the guitars provide an appreciable amount of sparkle in compensation. Two sides in and I’ve yet to regret my purchase. And yes, my Side 2 also has Chris Bellman(?)’s initials “CB” in the deadwax.

Yes, the Mellotron flutes sound flat at the beginning of “The Battle of Epping Forest,” but the guitar in the left channel compensates, the stereo-panned footsteps (starting from being panned hard left before literally alternating left, right, left, right until they’re all panned into the far right… in fact, everything’s panned hard right, _except_ for the guitar which is still hard left). Once the band kicks in, I could complain that the bassEQ has been reduced (making Mike’s bass sound somewhat toppy/hi-middy), but once again I seriously believe this is from the original mix itself. The drums sound reasonably detailed, the chorus on Tony’s piano adequately gives it a bit more life, and Steve’s trickling-treenuts and crow-call effects are quite present in the far left channel). Steve’s voice, you ask? Still not as warm as the beginning of Side 1, but quite appreciable. Tony’s synth after the words “all together” are quite centre and deep in the soundstage (a placement further intensified by the reverb placed on it). Steve’s plucked chords after the word “picnic” echo across the soundstage (real guitar at far-left, reverb/echo somewhere about 50%, perhaps 40% right). By the time the reverend appears, the lone cymbal bell hit peals cleanly and the acoustic guitars (Steve to far left? Mike at perfect centre?) compensate in both hi-end and detail for anything which might have been missing beforehand. Phil’s drums are somewhat deep in the soundscape and somewhat lower in volume from the rest here, but considering I’ve been annoyed by mixes which placed _everything_ up front, I will avoid complaining here (and concede this may once again be due to the original mix). Does anyone hear either Steve’s sustained notes or Tony playing a rather square-waved lead in the right channel just before the momentarily “barrelhouse” (and continuously chorused) piano comes in just before Peter intones, “That’s why we’re in…”)? Another edit now become obvious on this pressing, as a noticeable click can now be heard an extreme split-second before the following “…battle of Epping Forest, this is the Battle of Epping Forest…” (The trade-off in getting a detailed copy…) Tony’s long-attack synth lead after the next series of “picnic(s)” now reveals a synthesized “breathiness” and a slight envelope filtering similar to a subtle wah-wah pedal while the handclaps are impressively lifelike. Yes, the B3 sounds flat, but it’s a _B3_ played clean without any Leslie rotation… and by the time Tony plays chords on it, the reverb and possibly a very subtle chorus rounds out it sound somewhat. A tiny bit of sibilence on “There’s _no_-one left alive, must be a draw,” and some noticeable distortion in the low end before Steve Overall? I will it the mix isn’t computer-mix-era perfect… but there’s a LOT here in this recording for any one human to handle!

Steve’s guitars sound somewhat hollow and toppy at the very beginning of “After the Ordeal,” and without his classic guitar’s roundness I’d be ready to say perhaps the wrong mics were used (apart from when Steve briefly twins higher harmonies), but the piano sounds impressively reproduced (although I could use a bit more low end in the piano). I really wanted this particular section to sound vivid and alive, and maybe it does on a more expensive system, but not this Pro-Ject/Ortofon Red/Cambridge Audio/Audio-Technica ATH-M50x setup… Okay, when the drums and bass guitar come in, things start sounding a bit more lifelike, but I’m left thinking, “Man, I wish they’d used better mics or more appropriate mic-ing on the classical guitars.” Someone compensates on the lovely electric guitars and Tony’s synth lead (although the flute sounds shrill and sibilant when it emerges in the right channel (30% right with reverb placed deeper right?)… Interestingly, Tony’s synth lead becomes more present and more accurately represented as the track fades.

One thing I have yet to mention is that I’ve been hearing background sizzle on all sides so far, but considering the turntable’s felt slipmat just came off and remained glued to the vinyl, I need an anti-stat gun and pronto (note: these vinyl were taken fresh out of th QRP rice-paper inner sleeves which, I will it, were sticking to them quite tightly, a telltale sign of static charge). Verdict? Not likely the pressing itself, but I found it fair to mention, just in case…

Okay, Side 4. WOW! Suddenly the right mics were found for Steve’s guitars! They _shine_ at the beginning of “The Cinema Show,” and Phil’s subtle percussion (two separate shakes, that’s all) placed centre in the mix chirp. Once again, I have to say I would love more low EQ… but the cymbal brush between the first two verses was so realistic that I thought someone who simultaneously walked behind me had audibly hiss-sighed… until I played the section again and heard the cymbal brush once more. If what is meant by “flat” is simply the absence of low end, then I can sympathize. Otherwise, I don’t think I could ever hear a more convincing reproduction of this recording from any LP side onto which 27 minutes of dynamic music has been squeezed. Peter’s voice comes out on the first “Once a _man_, like the sea I raged.” Steve and Mike’s guitars chime impressively in the subdued acoustic section (and are accurately reproduced to the point that I can hear the occasional string buzz, string squeak, and fumble… okay, only one apiece, to be fair). The more I listen, the more I feel compelled to say the only thing I’m missing is low-end warmth. There’s suddenly something resembling channel overload/limiting on Peter’s last “Tyresi_us_”… but maybe it’s an effect from his own larynx? (I know, I’m getting quite a**l here.) Okay, here we head into the instrumental section… yippee! Phil’s snare sounds vivid, Tony’s synth lead sounds just a _tiny_ touch closed/muddy, the bass is low in the mix (or maybe there’s no bass and I’m just hearing the lowest strings on one of the electric guitars). AHH! Much low end on the bass pedals, and the reverbed choir Mellotron sounds as lifelike as a _Mellotron_ can. Tony’s synth lead sounds more throaty and defined for the second half of the instrumental section, emerging more out of the mix. And the B3, while perhaps a little restrained, doesn’t disappoint that much (the reverb on it does tend to wash out its presence, ittedly). The string Mellotron haunts (again, with heavy reverberation, so no high detail from this instrument… but then again, it’s a Mellotron). And finally, the bass guitar’s presence is much welcome (and even the B3 begins to sound more realistic during the band fade). Acoustic guitars and Peter’s voice sound a bit more convincingly real on “Aisle of Plenty” (although they could still use more low end… or are my ears just tired now?). The drums sound accurate, although that _one_ bass drum hit and the two low-tom hits which precede it sound distorted. (I am aware that my complaints of distortion all occur near the end of each album sound and I am playing these with an elliptical stylus instead of my preferred shibata needle).

Okay, all four sides done. I enjoyed this enough on the first listen that, at more than one point, I replayed certain sections up to four times. Cueing up Side 1 once more, my suspicions are confirmed: INDEED, Peter’s voice has more low end in the first minute or so of “Dancing With the Moonlit Knight” (up to and excluding “Citizens of hope and glory…”). But MAN, do I hate hearing that serious dropout on “drowned”… Does anyone else hear that? It’s so dead quiet during that very brief drop-out that I’m left wondering if it really is the master tape… but overall, I’m very glad I bought this edition. Now, to stop myself from buying “A Trick of the Tail” (which I suspect the original master tape’s sound is more compressed and subdued) and the “Foxtrot” (from which it will likely be impossible to avoid paying tariffs with the Canada-US economic Chess match). But I repeat, I am _really_ glad to have bought this (with the caveat that, ittedly, I have yet to hear a German press or an original UK pressing… but with 27 minutes of music on the original Side 2, I sincerely have to say… Really? A 27-minute Side 2 at 33 rpm would sound better than this? I sincerely have difficulty believing it.) Hoping your listening experience, whatever your copy may be, is as enjoyed as this one I just had (and I’m _still_ spinning Side 1 yet again as I type this… hands down, it’s the best sounding side IMHO). My sole worry? How is the next album or single I place on this turntable ever going to compare?

This is a great album by Genesis. Recording is really good but mix and mastering maybe could be better.

Tremendous sounding. Competes with the AP 45 and may even be preferred by some.

Bought brand new sealed from an independent seller. The record is mostly flat but not perfectly centered. Jacket is thin and pretty simple (no gatefold), but it’s not too bad. Included lyrics is a nice touch. Pressing quality is okay, but nothing amazing, some small tics and a tad bit of surface noise here and there.

Sound wise, I’m not the greatest fan of this 2007 remaster to begin with (vocals and cymbals are pushed too upfront to a degree they sound too forced and too thin on most tracks to my ears). A4 is by far the worse: it sounds like a distorted and sibilant mess. Bass is muddy and lacks texture and definition, especially on A3, which is disappointing IMO. Soundstage is not very wide but has okay depth. Overall, I miss some of the richer tone of the original mix.

I also have Tres and Nursery Cryme from these Rhino/Craft 2024 reissues, and this one is probably the most disappointing to my ears. It's not bad, it's just different, but it's definitely not my cup of tea. I'll look for a better version personally... 4.35 / 5

The inner sleeve on my copy has the manufacturing code N 17/75 4912 000 1533.1, does the 17/75 part indicates that it was pressed in 1975? I also have the variant 3 runout