Genesis LIVE Classic Records 45 rpm 200g Clarity Test Pressing (5 disc set) MINT

$

439

Genesis LIVE Classic Records 45 rpm 200 gram Clarity Test Pressings (5 disc set)

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Tracklist

• Matrix / Runout (Side A runout etched): CAS-1666-A1-45
• Matrix / Runout (Side A runout etched): CAS-1666-A2-45
• Matrix / Runout (Side A runout etched): CAS-1666-A3-45
• Matrix / Runout (Side A runout etched): CAS-1666-B1-45
• Matrix / Runout (Side A runout etched): CAS-1666-B2-45 CB

     This auction is for a Near Mint, NUMBERED (15 of 20), 45rpm 5LP CLARITY Test Pressing Box Set. This set consists of 5 single sided discs, for optimal sound performance, of the Classic Records 200gram reissue of "Genesis Live". This title was planned, but never released as a 45rpm set or on clarity vinyl, thereby making this an ultra collectible set.

     These highly collectible test pressings are from the first stamper. Test pressings reflect the closest you can get to the lacquers and hence have a special collectible value and store of value.

     Only a very small number of these unreleased sets exist and thus this is a special opportunity to hear your favorite title on Classic's 200g Super Vinyl Profile on Clarity Vinyl at 45 rpm - it doesn't get any better than this!

     This set is packaged in a white special edition box and each test pressing comes in a white jacket. Original jacket also included as a bonus. Jacket in near mint condition.

     *45 rpm records have long been recognized as providing a higher fidelity musical experience resulting purely from the cartridge being able to extract more of the nuance from the complex vertical and horizontal groove modulations in stereo LP’s. Further, Classic Records 45 rpm “single sided” pressings dramatically reduce the mechanical resonances created by the cartridge during playback by allowing these resonances to be more fully transmitted to and absorbed by the turntable platter.  Classic Records Clarity Vinyl 45 rpm pressings are designed and manufactured to provide the “LOWEST DISTORTION” in every aspect of LP playback resulting in putting the listener as close to the music as possible.  With only 20 copies of this definitive reissue, don't hesitate before the price on the secondary market skyrockets!

Allmusic review by Bruce Eder

     In early 1973, Genesis allowed the taping of a couple of live shows for broadcast in America as part of the King Biscuit Flower Hour syndicated radio show -- most of their current set, drawn from their albums up through 1972's Foxtrot, was represented. A few months later, Tony Stratton-Smith, the head of Charisma, to which the group was signed, approached them about allowing him to fill the extended gap between Foxtrot and their next album, Selling England by the Pound, by releasing a live album from this same taped performance. The bandmembers, who now say they were somewhat distracted at the time by their work on the new album, agreed to it. And the result was Live, which was originally the only official document of the group in performance with Peter Gabriel in the lineup. And it's not just the singer, but everyone who shines here -- it's doubtful that anyone ever got a richer sound out of a Mellotron on-stage than Tony Banks does on this album, and Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford, and Phil Collins' playing is all quite amazing as a whole unit, holding together some very complex music in a live setting. And on that basis alone, this album was an essential acquisition for fans of the group, as well as a key link in solidifying their growing popularity -- the intensity of the performances on "Watcher of the Skies," "Get 'Em Out by Friday," "Return of the Giant Hogweed," "The Knife, and, especially, "The Musical Box," easily transcend the work (superb though it was) on the studio originals, and is an in-your-face presentation of the theatrical intensity that Gabriel and company brought to their work on-stage. What's more, the very fact that the band could pull off some of what they do on-stage -- and this was in an era where other prog rock bands, such as Emerson, Lake & Palmer, were running up against a brick wall in terms of re-creating their complex studio sounds in concert -- is mighty impressive. Additionally, in the case of "The Musical Box" and "The Return of the Giant Hogweed," both songs originally recorded on Nursery Cryme, the versions here documented this lineup's true approach to these pieces -- at the time when Nursery Cryme was recorded, guitarist Steve Hackett had barely joined the group (and fragments of music composed by his predecessor, Anthony Phillips, still exist on the album), and most of the guitar parts there were actually the work of bassist Mike Rutherford (who did, in fact, take over most of the group's guitar chores after Hackett's departure in the late '70s). So what we hear on this album are the definitive interpretations of these pieces by this version of the band, more so than the studio originals. And one also gets to hear the classic version of the band tackle the oldest part of their repertory, "The Knife," which went back to their first Charisma album -- and it's a killer compared to the original. And one could say that about the whole album, as well as being the best representation of this version of the band at this point in their history, but for one glaring flaw -- the original King Biscuit broadcast included the epic "Supper's Ready" from Foxtrot, which Stratton-Smith was compelled to leave off of the album, rather than face the economic challenge of issuing a three-sided double-LP. That flaw aside, this is about the best single-LP representation of what this band could do on-stage, and to the surprise of a lot of people, it actually won them lots of new fans ahead of the release of Selling England by the Pound.