This month I’m going to be focused on issues involving collecting comics and a few of the topics pertaining to the comic book retailing industry in general that seem to be pissing me off of late. And you know me, when it comes to the subject of reading and collecting comics, it’s worse than being addicted to crack cocaine.Towards the end, I’ll be providing a short capsule of review of the new Genesis CD box collection of their BBC radio concerts entitiled (natch) BBC Recordings which is giving me hours upon hours of satisfaction (and glasses of wine for accompaniment surely enhances the overall listening experience). I should be done listening to all 5 CDs by the time this goes to post. Throughout the coarse of this blog entry interspersed with photos of this year’s Wonder Con cosplayers, it should be one hell of a soiree.
ITEM! I was fuming over one of Brian Hibbs’s Tilting at Windmills columns posted on Heidi MacDonald’s comicsbeat website this past January 19th echoing his concerns on how variants and the manipulative proliferation of them are exploiting and destroying the industry. And now online auctions are riding shotgun and taking the fun out of ‘the thrill of the hunt‘ when I attended big and small comic book conventions.
I could be wrong though or at least be in the minority to be considered as one of the dying breed of the ‘old school’ type of collector or reader. I’m more in the category of seeking out a comic that I like or love or stumble across in a dealer’s bin in just a plain old mylar bag and board – not one of these ‘slabby’ elitist jerks who go around spouting off digit point digit judge points like they’re some kind of fucking brainiac math expert. The digit point digit system is now turning into the new norm on how we measure the condition of our comics. Now dealers at conventions and shows have the propensity of mixing in the old with the new. Not your regular fresh faced periodical released in your LCS or newstand mind you, but strictly the VARIANTS, signed, sealed and delivered slabbed, I’m years, as Peter Frampton would be wont to say if he were a comic book collector, of that same issue you would normally pay the cover price (usually $3.99 to $4.99 a copy) but since this variant is a *ahem* collector’s item, you’d probably be paying the same price for it as a dog-eared copy of the first Silver Surfer Number One that originally came out in 1968 goes for today. I notice lately that a normal comic book dealer who usually specializes in Silver and Bronze age delights will go for these deals as they’re usually the ones to engage in a dick measuring contest on a Ebay auction to get these ‘unattainable’ treasures, of which they usually end up mostly selling. I’m talking about the usual one in a hundred or so copies found like a needle in a retailer’s haystack. The caveat in striking lucky in attaining the unattainable is usually only reserved for that special customer – or is pulled aside for a retailer’s relative. And the reason I say this, is that I recently found out that the store I currently utilize to pick up my books on the way home from work has an employee working for them that has a nasty habit of pulling a incentive cover from a heavily ordered title and will pass it on to her husband without any customers getting to see it displayed on their shelves. And I heard she does the same thing with Magic cards too. Not that I give a shit, but I think it’s very unfair to conduct business this way.
Now Brian Hibbs in this columns addresses the over-saturation of variants and pointing the finger at Marvel in practically any given month he states: “Marvel has a staggering 229 periodicals (though only representing 67 distinct titles – the rest are variants)” 229 minus 67 is a staggering 162 variant editions of any single comic book title. Some of them divided up as 10, 20, to 50 different covers to any one title, mostly dedicated to anniversary events such as when a issue of Fantastic Four or Spider-Man reaches that milestone 700 or 800 issue. Lately, as I tune in to YouTube for my weekly dose of what’s shipping to your LCS on any given Wednesday (my go-to store tells me their comics are now arriving on Monday nights), I find that now even a underwhelming title such as a Mile Morales Spider-Man issue No 4 will have five different covers to that one particular issue.
But why?
What is so special about that issue that warrants different variations of the theme?
Well, for one thing, Marvel specifically hires (and Dynamite Entertainment is also guilty of this same practice) a cover artists such as Peach Momoko to render a variant cover for practicially every title that they ship. It doesn’t matter if she paints a Rocket Raccoon onto a Captain America title even though Rocket Raccoon doesn’t have a damn thing to do with the story inside the book whatsoever – PEOPLE WILL EAT THEM UP AND SPEND EXORBITANT PRICES just to have them. There will be lines stretching across any given comic book convention dealer’s room floor just to obtain one. I saw it all on a youtube video. Look it up if you don’t believe me. Most popular are the celebratory themes. Last February it was Black History Month and both DC and Marvel did variants on that, just as they’re doing with Women’s History Month this month. Variants are also often utilized for in-house promotional events, such as having Marvel characters face off against members of the The Planet of The Apes to increase awareness that Marvel has once more procured the property once again from 20th Century/Disney (in addition to both Predator and Alien) when they begin anew with publishing a new monthly book to herald in another set of films. So you can have your Spider-Man and banana cake too when you see Spidey or Captain America face off against General Urko on the alternative cover of your favorite title. I admit when I see them flash across my screen through the kind courtesy of Comics with Brueller that some came out absolutely gorgeous looking, but then I get fucking annoyed when they employ a artist such as Todd Nauck to contribute these atrocious looking head shots to fill up covers. What’s even goddamn worse, a small percentage of them usually wind up in my pull box even when I specifically asked not to get them and that usually happens when Diamond shorts my store on certain products and the only alternative of wanting your books in on time is to bend over and accept one up the ass, you know, IN FEAR OF MISSING OUT (FOMO). Dynamite Entertainment is also notorious for mixing their covers around, fully knowing that the most of the alternative covers they commission are going to wind up in the bargain bins somewhere down the line with the exception of the cosplay covers- they seem to sell like gangbusters. I always usually order the A cover, but it always a crapshoot with what I find in my pullbox. I could end up with cover C, D. or GG, or whatever the fuck they decide to send to the door. It also depends on the quanity a dealer will order. So a seperate cover will be commission for every quarter increment, 25, 50, or 100 – and sometimes those too will show up in my box EVEN though I never asked for them.
Repeat Variant Cover Offender: Todd Nauck and his abominable head covershots. This is variant cover abuse!
Next month, I’m going to probably be covering more ground on this subject. I wanted to go into this whole spiel into this nutty change I’ve been noticing amongst hard core collectors and that’s mxing in new facsmiles in with the old originals. Anything to make a quick buck and that can turn out to be bad thing all around for everybody.
ITEM! I once had the distinct pleasure of running into Patrick Fabian or rather he had the distinct pleasure of running into me at a Sherman Oaks Starbucks maybe five or six years ago. I was sitting around writing one of my blogs and he walks up to me and asks me if I’m a Porcupine Tree fan. I told him, ‘yes, why do you ask?’ He noticed that I was wearing a Steven Wilson t-shirt. So he struck up a conversation with me about progressive rock music and throughout this conversation I find out that he’s a big fan of Gentle Giant. I advise him to start picking up the new 5.1 remixes of theirs and he’s floored that I know the 411 on all his favorite bands – but anyway, he wanted to sell me his seats to the Steven Wilson concert coming up because he got a immeidate call back to fly out to Albuquerque to finish up whatever was going on with the 4th season of ‘Better Call Saul” and that’s when it dawned on me, I shot him ‘oh shit, that where’s I recognized you from’ look. I couldn’t take him up on his offer – because I ALREADY HAD front row seats to Steven Wilson, but I’m sure he found someone to take them off his hands before heading back out to work.
I was sad to see the way his character ended on “Better Call Saul” and incidently I occasionally still run into Ed Begley Jr. who played his dad in Studio City on the show. (Just stand on the corner of Laurel Canyon and Ventura Boulevard and he’ll eventually show up).
Anyway, Patrick Fabian, great guy to talk progressive rock politics with and NOW, I’m really looking forward to grabbing my copy of Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham, the latest in the series of DC Original Animated Movie home video releases, based on the works of Mike Magnola and Troy Nixey of which he provides the voice to Harvey Dent . Fabian, as it turns out is a big fan of H.P. Lovecraft in which this material pays homage to.
Unfortunately I was booted from attending a Q & A that involved Fabian’s participation in the movie last Friday night as our next ITEM! will obviously cover.
ITEM! Wonder Con came in like a lion and went out like a lamb. And by a lamb, I mean that nothing really major or newsworthy came out of the convention this year to really bowl over the entertainment industry trades. It just seemed like a normal everyday big gathering of comic book, anime, nerd culture geek fans and dealers. I hardly seen any pop culture icons or stars of any television shows lingering around other than Gigi Edgley of Farspace fame. I could probably point the finger of blame towards the economy and either all the major autograph seeking celebs are saving up table space for the next big brother show in July which is San Diego Comic Con International (of Wonder Con happens to be the small sister to – as they’re run by the same organization) or the recently announced show happening up in Ontario that’s happening in May that is boasting plenty of star power. As lowkey as the celeb signings were, I was glad to see plenty of golden/silver/bronze age dealers making bank all around. Unfortunately, I had to spread whatever small wealth I had on fewer keys as possible since I’m going to undergo a financial metamorphosis this spring that will require me to cut back on my regular comic book buying habits and concentrating instead of getting this comic strip web universe idea of mine up online. But in keeping in vogue with obtaining key issues, perhaps this was my biggest buy in reuniting with this Marvel character I remember from when I was eight years old:
Adam Warlock‘s first ongoing series that lasted initally for eight issues, got put on pause then resumed for another nine issues when Jim Starlin took over the title and now he’s going to be a full fledged movie star with the release of the last of the three and a half trilogy Guardians of The Galaxy Vol 3 movie opening in theaters coming this May. This particular issue is only worth $160 or so, but I got it for a steal @ $65. Adam’s first physical appearance was in Thor #165 and dealers were asking a couple of grand for that one. I bought the following issue #166, which is the 2nd part of that tale for $125. So I’m pretty much got my Adam Warlock angles covered in anticipation of his cinematic debut. The big villain of the third Guardians movie, The High Evolutionary also debuted in #134 of Thor and that was way beyond my price range as retailers were selling what few SLABBED copies they had for thousands upon thousands of dollars.
Once I got my preliminary silver and bronze age buys out of the way, with the threat of next month’s rent hanging over me like a albatross, I only managed to drop $400 and change on important additions to my arsenal. Four Warlocks, Four old Tales To Astonish, Four Phantom Strangers and Four Detective Comics to tide me over until the local shows hit my area next month. The local shows are usually the ones where I drop the most money on because the dealers there are familiar with my buying habits where I play for higher stakes. Then it was upstairs for at least one panel that appealed to me concerning some of San Diego Comic-Con’s staff of yesteryear that begged the question, ‘how has comic-con changed my your life?’
I wanted to share my story since I regard my internship as a Small Press Coordinator back in 1997 as my prelude to all my Hollywood Studio gig and it was the Comic Con office who gave me their finest recommendation when Warner Bros called them for a reference, but alas, I ran into the same problem that I had from attending on Sunday: the time keepers kept things running too precise. They control the flow of the questions. How much time you had to finish up and if you ran over, you were told to stop. Only one attendee managed to get a question in. I went up to the panel to have a few words with the female seated two seats from the left, Sasha Achrem who claimed to be Twlight Zone/Logan’s Run writer George Clayton Johnson’s last apprentice and I was curious to find out why she was using that moniker. Turns out she used to send her writings to George for evaluation and he would send her back notes suggesting what changes she could make. I told her, I knew George a little bit too since I was introduced to him at one San Diego Comic Con and I would up sharing several of my Deposit Man issues with him, but I never knew he would mentor people or critique anyone’s work before. I was happy to hear they dedicated a good portion of the panel to regale us with tales of George. He was a kind soul and I miss him tremendously.
Before departing that evening, I made sure to catch some cosplay action before heading back to the ARTIC station to catch my train back home.
The Spider-man beggar looking for a handout was a nice touch. The Mr. Knight and Iron Fist costumes were impresively realistic. I totally forgot about Dr. Orpheus from The Venture Bros – I even had to ask the fellow who he was dressed up as. I suggested he go next year as The Phantom Limb.
This dude did a half way decent job on his Prince Namor, Sub-Mariner outfit.
Of all the pics I posted up on facebook, this Spider-Man Noir got the most likes.
My personal favorite cosplay of the year goes to this guy. This image really pulls at the heartstrings. Kevin Conroy is another shift off the mortal coil that I’ll never seem to get over.
I’m drawing a blank on this one.
I thought this one was clever. Don’t know the exact name of this character, but I do recognize him from a video game. This cosplayer did a remarkable job of stringing the bottom pair of arms to the top (with fishwire, it seems) so any sudden rise of his upper arms, the bottom half would follow suit.
Some popular artists from my era of high school comic book reading enjoyment such as Michael (Micronauts) Golden made it to the show. I hung out with the usual sort of people I’ve associated with over the years like Rafael Navarro. Michael Boheem, Randy Reynaldo, Lonnie Millsap and Jan Ultstein, who’s now an accountant for Marvel Studios. She and her husband William used to put out a independent assortment of comics.
As the show was ending for the night, I went to see if I could sneak back in for the Q & A portion of the ‘gala premiere‘ of the new H.P. Lovecraft inspired DC Original Animated Movie, Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham, but they shut people out after an hour the screening commenced. I didn’t want to see the movie, but rather wait to view my personal Ultra 4K copy at home for next Saturday on my far superior tv screen and 5.1 sound system. So I was kind of miffed about that and instead of walking back to Disneyland to take the shuttle back to the ARTIC station, I decided to hoof it all the way up Katella Ave from Disney Avenue and boy, did my corns ever ache.
My train back didn’t leave until 9:30, and I had two hours to kill since the dealer’s room closed for the night. So I thought I get to know a little bit more about Anaheim since I’ve never had a close pedestrain’s view of the town before. I’ve been here dozens of times in the past, even going back to my teenage years when my Aunt Priscilla would drive me on this street once to get to Disneyland and to Angels Stadium to pick up tickets for when Electric Light Orchestra was going to play back in 1978. It wasn’t far from her when she and my cousin used to live out in Westminister. I’m pretty sure that one of the few steady girlfriends I had out here by the name of Jennifer used to live off of Brookhurst and I must have driven past it a few times to visit her at her condo in Fountain Valley or where she worked in Seal Beach (back when I owned a Ford Pinto in North San Diego). It’s just a popular boulevard you can’t miss when in Orange County, but I’ve never walked a stretch of it before. It took me one heck of a flat footed hour and by the flower tile pictured above, I was trying to find ways to amuse myself. One noticeable difference between my regular terrain and here is the lack of poverty stricken people in pop up tents or homeless encampments. I hardly encountered any undesirables or a vile hive of scum and villainy during my travails.
The ARTIC Station is the center transportation hub of Anaheim and located directly across the street is the Honda Center where the Mighty Ducks hockey team regularly play or where big concert events are held. It just happened I stumbled across fans of rock band Greta Von Fleet by the plume of marijuana smoke that was thick and pungent in the air. I had to look them up on Google, having not really hearing of them and I was impressed to find out they were on LAVA Records, the same American label that Porcupine Tree once occupied. If I had known that my train was going to be a half hour late, I probably would’ve scalped a ticket and opted to take the last train back.
The ARTIC station is a acronym for Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center and is a $185 million constructed tubular steel-framed 67,880-square-foot building has a compound curved shell that is covered with a 200,000-square-foot ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) roof system. At night, the structure can be illuminated in any color with the 1,354 energy-efficient lights glowing through the air-filled plastic pillows which make up the arched roof. It serves as a central hub for both Amtrak and Metrorail. Greyhound has a hub there as well as Megabus and Flixbus and a few OC buses like the line 50 that goes east and west down Katella Ave – which is the stupid line I should’ve waited for to take me back instead of putting undue stress on my arches. It’s also supposed to be the supreme hub to house the proposed supertrain that’s supposed to go to Las Vegas which never materialized. A bunch of tv shows have been shot here including True Detective, Ray Donavan, The Morning Show, Star Trek: Picard and served temporary as Hydra Headquarters in the 4th season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Hail Hydra Headquarters of Anaheim!
So I took off Saturday to watch cartoons.
On the third day I returned, since I was going to be taking Monday and Tuesday off from work to compose the majority of this blog (hey, I’m getting paid to sit at home and compose blogs and comic strips -so what?),I spent the majority of that Sunday checking out panels that harken back to 90’s nostalgia rather than spending loads of cash in the dealer’s room.
Looking down from the 3rd story terrace.
On my way to the 3rd floor to check out more panels.
The first panel I checked out was the X-Men 31st Anniversary Panel hosted by Larry Houston. I’ve been to other X-Men animated series panels in the past only on the lark that I’m going to find out some spectacular news that I’m going to overhear some scoops on the new Disney+ show revival that Houston is only serving as a consultant on, but this reiteration did offer something interesting that I didn’t really know before: that Larry left the X-Men in the show’s final season to work on the 2nd season of The Fantastic Four animated series that used to share the same Marvel Action Hour slot as Iron Man. Three things that Larry demanded before he raised a brushstroke on a cel – and that’s 1), He only wanted to adapt stories from the first hundred issues of Lee and Kirby‘s original Fantastic Four run, (2.) more money and (3) lemme the hell alone to work. The first season of that particuliar fiasco was argued by the panel that kids don’t like Dick Clark who had the audacity to show up as a occasional guest star and it was produced by Ron Freidman, who was worldly reknown as a Love Boat writer.
I already covered this book in a previous installment of PPGuru – AND I still haven’t purchased a copy yet. I was thinking of picking up one at the newly opened Von Eaton Galleries over in Studio City where they have enough copies in stock to practically reach the ceiling.
Larry Houston left before the final season of X-Men to work on the 2nd season of the Fantastic Four animated show that shared the 2nd half of the syndicated Marvel Action Hour in 1995. The first half was a new revamped Iron Man show that mainly adapted stories from the David Michelinie/Bob Layton Armor Wars era of Shellhead’s comic book.
Interesting, the large gentlemen, David, something (I can’t read his last name on the card) originally got his foot in the door to working on the show as a temp. Imagine that, you’re simply hired to answer phone calls, pick up the mail, file the artwork that comes in, and later after lunch, you get to pitch and write ideas for episodes. Not one studio I ever worked with never gave me that sweet deal.
Immediately following after the X-Men panel, it was time for Malibu’s 30th anniversary celebration of Malibu Comics Ultraverse imprint line.
Moderated by David Olbrich, the panel delved into his once prosperous past by citing its’ humble beginnings when it was simply the small comic book company that could get a giant movie deal when they were the ones who published Men in Black that garnered a series of 4 movies including the most recent one, Men in Black: International released in 2019. Then with partner, Chris Ulm they developed a whole new super-hero line that managed to get sold to Marvel Comics (and unfortunately disbanded by them) that managed to get a two season order of Night Man sold into syndication. Night Man created by Steve Englehart was a unique contribution to the ensemble, whereas he was a superhero by night and a jazz musican by day- at least with the way Glen Larson portrayed him (utilizing tropes that Larson had created for other shows like Battlestar Galactica, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Fall Guy and BJ & The Bear that certain scripts got recycled over and over for various shows- Harlan Ellison used to refer him to as Glen Larceny). I happen to be facebook friends with one of the writers of the show, Steven Kriozere, who I was introduced to through the kind auspices of Michael Aushenker and he doesn’t really remember much about those days as he gone on to bigger and better things. There was talk about working with certain creators like Barry Windsor Smith and his contribution to the creation of Rune, The various heroes that made up the team book, Ultraverse, which spawned a short animated series, and a small budgeted movie based on one of their earliest creations, Firearm.
Rune merchandise, including a rejected idea for a Rune Pez Dispenser that never materialized.
Funny story: I was working as a temp in Calabasas right off Las Virgenes Road right across the street from where Cheesecake Factory has their corporate headquarters (it’s also the place where they train all their staff) and the place was a temp pool for scientists and lab workers. I was just there to help filing. During one of my breaks I walked around the corporate offices and I stumbled upon a office where I observed people through a window computer coloring some comics that looked like material from Marvel Comics. So I went in the office to inquire who these people were and I found out that this was the headquarters for Malibu Comics, but technically Marvel bought them out at the time, so they were omputer coloring some of Marvel’s comics (it suspiciouly looked like material from the Heroes Reborn era, real Rob Liefeld type of stuff) and some guy (I think it was Chris Ulm, I could be wrong) was kind enough to give me a guided tour of the coloring process. It was pretty cool experience and I went to brag about it to the owners of Rookies & Allstars, the comic book store of which I was associated with and still ordering for even though I wasn’t employed by them full time), but I didn’t last in that temp position too long, probably no longer than a week.
I only wound up staying for that panel for a half hour so I could saunter across to another building to check out the latest news on the sublime rendered childrens’ (but I think it caters to adults too) animated show The Dragon Prince which recently completed its’ fourth season after a long absence due to COVID. The panel was moderated by one of the lead voice actors, Jack De Sena (who plays the role of Callum) and he and his cohorts went through the entire rigamarole of what it takes to produce an entire episode in 8 easy steps.
Here is a conveniently provided outline:
Short video samples of music being composed and recorded, telecine touch ups and editing were shown to provide examples of how the process works. I came in late, so I missed what was said about the scripting and animatics steps.
However, I was there for the big announcement of when the series returns for its’ fifth season and here it is:
Oh, here we go – whenever it comes to animated shows, no summer vacation for me it seems.
I stayed in the same room for my final panel and it was none other than nonsensical celebration of:
For whatever reason this panel came together, I’ll never know. The reason why I was curious enough to stay because I thought there was going to be a announcement of a blu ray collection, of which I would greatly be interested in purchasing. Since I knew I was be living on gas fumes for cash after this convention finished, I had to prioritize which blu ray or 4K I could afford to buy: either The new animated Batman: Doom That Came to Gotham 4K or The Complete Duck Dodgers in the 25th Century series blu ray collection. I figured just wait on the latter for maybe I could pair it up with a remastered version of Freakazoid.
But I figured wrong. It was just a bunch of mishegoss from a group of schmendricks for no reason but a couple of cheap laughs.
Ok, so I did laugh. A little. Okay, more than a little. Especially when they showed archive material of auditon reels. Look who tried to make the cut:
That’s right, Orson Welles once read for the role of Dexter Douglas (aka Freakazoid), but he sounded way too mousey for the role.
No. Don’t believe a word I just said. I’m lying through my ass.Maurice Lamarche actually snagged that role. The mouse that is.
But the voice of Freakazoid himself, Paul Rugg and his gaggle of panelists including Batman: The Animated Series director Dan Riba went through an entire spiel of the show’s shortened two season span which incidently was commisssioned by Steven Spielberg for Bruce Timm and Paul Dini to come up with a funny superhero to fall in line with the other Tom Ruegger produced series such as Animaniacs and Tiny Toon Adventures, but Timm and Dini wanted it to be a sort of serious show with comedic undertones, most likely their homage to Shazam!, but Spielberg won out in the end and even though it wasn’t a ratings smash, it later enjoyed cult status on The Cartoon Network. The show parodied pop culture both past and present. Politican and lobbyist Jack (My Cheeks) Valenti who went on to develop the MPAA film rating system was often parodied and voiced by Valenti often demonstrating that he was a good sport about it.
Lon Chaney and Spielberg himself often showed up in episodes. I wish I had interjected Harlan Ellison’s name into the mix. I remember him popping up occasionally and who could ever forget the triumphant return of Jonathan Harris of Lost in Space‘s Dr. Smith fame to a regular paying gig? I don’t know if people would believe me if I told them that the only time I ran into Harris in person was at the unemployment office out in Canoga Park.
When the series was either cancelled or wrapped production – this cake was served to the husband/wife composer team of Steve & Julie Bernstein,
I wanted to ask the inevitable question of ‘will this series ever get the blu ray treatment?’ but someone beat me to it, and by that time, I was tuckered out of attending any more panels, so I went down to the dealer’s room, bought s few more bronze age gems and settled out to take more pictures of cosplayers.
These were my favorites:
Brother Spideys in arms.
I haven’t the foggiest of what this was – but it sure seem impressive.
I recognize these characters from somewhere- is it Chainsaw Man, a anime show that’s currently on Hulu?
Currently one of my favorite DC Comics character, The Question. You’d think by now, he would be easy to adapt in a DC movie or show. Maybe he’ll show up in the upcoming 2nd season of Peacemaker?
And here comes the parade:
How does that Aerosmith song dedicated to the third on the top right side go? Oh yeah, “Electro dude was a Lady?”
There were a lot of Velmas to be found, but unfortunately they were portrayed by middle-aged gals who looked way too old to be rocking the outfit. You can tell the phenomenon that is The Last of Us is quickly catching on. I’m curious about the last photo: is this supposed to be a anime costume pep talk from the coach in the mini-skirt?
My final image before saying a final goodbye to Wonder Con 2023: a good old fashioned Lightsaber practice battle between father and son.
ITEM! A few words about the brand new released Genesis boxset, Genesis: BBC Broadcasts.
Having a nostalgic blast listening through the five discs of this set. I’m just on my last one that features a bunch of selections from the 1992 We Can’t Dance tour. They are gems aplenty on this 53 song set meticulously recovered and remastered by Tony Banks and Nick Davis harkening back to the early BBC broadcast transmission appearances of Peter Gabriel/Anthony Phillips years up to when both Phil Collins and Steve Hackett joined the band in the early 1970’s. Crystal clear versions of “Twlight Alehouse” “Get ‘Em Out By Friday” and “Harold The Barrel” are absolute standouts on the first disc. I was completely floored by how flawless the entire 1980 Duke tour performed at the Lyceum in London turned out. I remember taping that one directly off the radio with my portable tape-recorder when it first broadcast on the King Biscuit Flower Hour, and I can bet you if I ever put that same tape in my current sound system, it would immediately disintegrately before my very eyes, but thanks to the magic of remastering, it is forever perserved without the hiss, pops and distortion of aged out Memorex cassette tapes. I mean, I could rant and rave on how much dimension a 5.1 remix could improve the product, but I’m happy with mostly what Mssrs Banks, Collins and Rutherford deliver right here in the attractive package that I’m happy to add to my other two previous box sets and remastered DVD Audio collections. Just be wary, you 180 gram vinyl hipsters and millennials – the CD collection is the only way to go. If you fall for purchasing the LP collection, you’re only going to get almost half of the product for the same price of the CD collection. I don’t know why people fall for that kind of stuff.
It’s going to be a great year for Genesis related live shows as both Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett have announced late fall American tours. Gabriel will be out promoting his upcoming I/0 album while Hackett looks upon performing in its’ entirety a more than 50 year celebration of 1972’s Foxtrot.
ITEM! Sorry, I have no new PROJECT: EARTHMARK updates. The June launch date is still tentative. Next month, we’ll be prepping for the new Free Comic Book Day releases as I clasp on a monthly slave ball and chain in providing timely reviews and a few words about the new Blackfield remastered collection and the brand new Jethro Tull album entitled RokFlote.
PPGuru 