After taking a few days off from my Genesis binge, I sat down with Selling England. (I am listening to the SACD.) It feels like Nick Davis went with an approach similar to Foxtrot on this one, still plenty of discrete information coming from the rear corners, but also creating a bit more of an immersive feel with Banks' organ and Mellotron being spread across the room. One constant across these early Genesis titles is that when a song has several acoustic guitar parts going at once, Davis mixes individual guitars to opposite sides of the room. It's a wonderful effect that works beautifully on songs like "More Fool Me" and "Cinema Show." There are other highlights as well. The percussion spread around the surround field in "I Know What I Like" is very fun. At the beginning of "The Battle of Epping Forest" the opening processional marches past you. The synthesizer fill announcing the arrival of the cavalry comes from the rear right to great effect, as does one of Gabriel's Python-esque characters which is very amusing. "After the Ordeal" unfortunately is not a highlight. I really love this piece and think it's a very underrated bit of early Genesis, but the mix doesn't really offer anything. In contrast, the closing "Aisle of Plenty" is a real highlight of the disc. A solo nylon string guitar opens the song appearing only in the right rear. The rest of the instruments enter and are spread around nicely. Gabriel's multiple vocal parts in the coda are spread all around. It's a very effective way to close the album.
As for fidelity, I did find the SACD to be a little fatiguing. Not nearly as bad as Invisible Touch, but it's there nonetheless. I will have to give the DVD version a spin and see how it compares. Going from comments above, I guess I should have bought the Blu-ray when I had the chance.
And as for the music..... They really stepped things up (yet another) notch here. Collins has said that Selling England was the first time the band played really well on an album and I have to agree with him. The sloppiness of the performances on Foxtrot are replaced by a band that has now been gigging across the world for two years. There is a higher level of energy here and a tightness that was previously lacking. Collins really shines. The songwriting is a welcome step up as well. Multiple songs that are not only highlights of the Genesis catalog, but of the entire progressive rock genre as well. Even during their later more mainstream period, several songs from this album would remain in their set lists. On the band's final tour in 2007, three songs (well one song and significant chunks of two others) were played every night. It would be tough to pick a favorite Genesis song, but "Firth of Fifth" would be very high up on my list. However I will say (and I know that there might be some folks lining up with pitch forks outside my home after I say this) but there is one song on this album that I have always felt was substandard. As much as I love a lot of prog-rock (ELP, ELO, Yes) I always felt that some other prog bands had a tendency to get a bit obnoxious when it came to trying to make their songs overly long and/or complex. Mind you, I do feel that if you have enough solid musical ideas for a twenty minute song, go for it. (I love "Supper's Ready" and "Tarkus" for example.) However I always felt that some other prog bands would stretch songs out longer than necessary, throw in crazy chord changes and odd time signatures just because they could, not because they should. What I always loved about Genesis was that they (almost) never fell into that trap. If they had a ten minute song, there was enough there to hold your attention. If they were playing in an odd time signature, it was still musical. Unconventional chord changes still managed to flow nicely. Which brings me to "The Battle of Epping Forest." The song has always felt very bloated to me. Too many lyrics, time signature changes not smooth, chord sequences that feel like they're trying too hard. It's the only Genesis tune that pre-dates "Me & Virgil" that didn't get into my iPod. Enough said.
As I work my way through the Genesis catalog (this is the seventh title I've listened to in the last month,) I find that the most rewarding titles so far have been Trespass and Nursery Cryme. This one comes close to matching those but seems to fall just a little short. A few songs the mix is less adventurous, the fidelity is not quite as nice, and then there's "Epping Forest." However, there's the seven other wonderful songs, a band that has a new level of energy and a mix that more often than not makes me very happy sitting in my sweet spot. I will go with a very strong 9.