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Platinum Collection

Genesis - Platinum Collection Audio CD

A fair review of the Genesis "Platinum Collection" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Genesis reviews here, or go back to the Genesis tabs.

Band: Genesis
Title: Platinum Collection
Rating:

Release Date: 2005-03-15
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: No Son of Mine 2: I Can't Dance 3: Jesus He Knows Me 4: Hold on My Heart 5: Invisible Touch 6: Throwing It All Away 7: Tonight Tonight Tonight [Edit] 8: Land of Confusion 9: In Too Deep 10: Mama 11: That's All 12: Home by the Sea 13: Second Home by the Sea 14: Illegal Alien 15: Paperlate 16: Calling All Stations 17: Abacab 18: Keep It Dark 19: Turn It on Again 20: Behind the Lines 21: Duchess 22: Misunderstanding 23: Many Too Many 24: Follow You, Follow Me 25: Undertow 26: In That Quiet Earth 27: Afterglow 28: Your Own Special Way 29: Trick of the Tail 30: Ripples 31: Endos 32: Lamb Lies Down on Broadway 33: Counting Out Time 34: Carpet Crawlers 35: Firth of Fifth 36: Cinema Show 37: I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) 38: Supper's Ready 39: Musical Box 40: Knife

Great, but missing some great songs
In any case, this is a must-have for any die-hard Genesis fan. What "platinum" collection would not include "In the Cage" or "Squonk", either of which could arguably be the best song Genesis ever made? I agree with another reviewer that there isn't anything here I would necessarily cut, but with such strong material left on the cutting room floor, they could have squeaked out a fourth CD to the set.

Great For A Great Band
The CD is the same of US & UK version, only is MADE IN ANGENTINA. Hello! First of all: This is a Argentina IMPORT of Platinum Collection. If you would like of have a south america version of this album, this is for you!!!.

GENESIS COLLECTION
THIS COMPLILATION IS A VERY GOOD OVERVIEW THAT COVERS THEIR HISTORY. FROM THE FORMATION OF GENESIS THEIR LINE-UP AS WELL AS THEIR MARTERIAL HAS EVOLVED FROM THE MUSICALLY EXOTIC TO COMMERCIAL CHART OFFERINGS. I FOR ONE AM A PETER GABRIEL FAN AND HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENESIS ARE MY FAVOURITES. I ALWAYS THOUGHT OF PHIL COLLINS AS A "DRUMMER" WHO SINGS, AND THIS LEADS TO THEIR RISE TO A BROADER FAN BASE. THIS RELEASE IS WELL WORTH ADDING TO YOUR COLLECTION. DAN SNEDDON.

to remix, or not to remix?
"Newly remixed?" I thought. I bought this collection because something called my attention: more than 50 % of the songs were indicated as "Newly Remixed by Nick Davis". . . "did they do to other songs what they did to 'Carpet Crawlers' in the last collection?" I asked myself. Then I remembered that 'Carpet Crawlers' was then RE-RECORDED, not just remixed, so this new collection would possibly retain the spirit of the original songs, making them more polished. So I took the risk.
(The remixed songs are, from the first CD, Illegal Alien and Paperlate; from the second CD, ALL except Behind the lines and Your own special way; and from the third CD, ALL except Supper's Ready).

Overall, I was pleased to hear that most of the original sound was respected, in the sense that you don't hear different rhytms or shortened or extended parts. And my expectations were met about the better sound: in most remixes, you hear a clearer voice (specially in "Follow you follow me" and "Carpet crawlers"), and from there you have more clarity in all the instrumentation.

Of course, any remix have the risk of enhancing instruments that were not as sharp in the original mix, and lower some others that were more present before. So there might be a possibility that for those very familiar with the original songs, you will identify something that was not originally clear, while miss something that originally was.

That would be the reason why purists will reject "remixes". Why change things? Why not to leave the sound alone, as part of the history? A classic old painting might look dark to some, but nobody will ever dare to suggest to release it with enhanced colors and contrasts just to make it "look better".

And the remixing proccess has another consequence: the sound of the songs is kind of leveled, very alike. But if you are familiar with a group, you know that part of its history is not only the style, but also the recording sound of the time in which the songs were recorded. If you take a song like "The musical box" from the early 70's, and remix it now, no matter how close to the original sound you stay, there's no doubt that you are "modernizing" it.

Is that allright for you? If so, you would like this collection. It didn't bother me a lot: in a time in which songs and complete CDs are remixed in five channels for DVD audio, SACD, DVD video and others, I'm more than used to rediscover, through a new mix, the sound of a song or cd that I knew. And I'm disappointed when they sound almost the same.

When you hear the oldest songs, like "Musical Box", "The Knife" of "Firth of fifth", you have to admit that the clarity provided by the new mix really does them a favor. But there are exceptions of course: "A trick of the tail" and "Ripples" come from the CD "A trick of the tail" from 1976. If you take the REMASTERED version of that cd, you have to say that there's nothing wrong with the sound, it couldn't be better. So, why remix those songs for this collection?. The truth is that in these two cases, and "Illegal alien", the sound is "overloaded": instead of give clearity to the sound and instruments, everything is in a high level. That "overload" is more favorable to a song like "Los Endos" because of its rockish sound.

But as I said, I was overall pleased with this collection of alternate sound songs. At least, they provide something different. If you don't like it, just stick to the originals, or better, the remastered versions. I've got nothing against them, for nostalgia's sake.

I give only 4 stars because of the "Illegal-Trick-Ripples" flaw, and also beacause songs like "Man on the corner" "Robbery assault and Battery", "In the cage" or "Dance with the Moonlit knight" are missing.

Go back in time with Genesis
It covers every era except their 1960's period (but I don't think they own the rights to those songs). This is probably the best compilation collection Genesis has released yet (not including the archives).

It's not perfect though, there a quite a few gems missing, and I probably would have switched out more than a few tracks in favor of others. I also think they put too much focus on the 3 albums from 83-91, and too little focus on the 6 albums from the Gabriel era (particularly since one of them was a double album). Still, this is a good way to introduce someone to Genesis, in a backwards fashion (especially since it saves the best for last).

Every major release except their first album is represented here, some more than others, but you get the general idea of how this band evolved from its prog rock beginnings.

Aside from all the songs being remixed, there is nothing new here, so it's clear this is targeted to the new potential fan who is just getting introduced to Genesis. Unfortunately, because of the price, it may be hard to convince a casual listener to buy this 3 disc set. Perhaps a cheaper 2 disc set would have been more appropriate. A track listing like this would have satisfied both those look for hits, and those who want to get a taste of all eras of Genesis:

Disc One
1. The Silent Sun
2. Dusk
3. The Musical Box
4. Watcher of the Skies
5. Can-Utility and the Coastliners
6. I Know What I Like
7. Firth of Fifth
8. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
9. Fly on a Windshield
10. Broadway Melody of 1974
11. Anyway
12. Carpet Crawlers
13. Blood on the Rooftops
14. Ripples
15. Follow You Follow Me

Disc Two
1. Dance on a Volcano
2. Turn it On Again
3. Misunderstanding
4. Abacab
5. Mama
6. That's All
7. Takin' it all Too Hard
8. Invisible Touch
9. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight
10. In Too Deep
11. Throwing it all Away
12. No Son of Mine
13. I Can't Dance
14. Never a Time
15. Hold on my Heart
16. Shipwrecked
17. Harlequin.

You can see a complete list of all Genesis discography, or go back to the Genesis tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.