Unfortunately I can’t really justify forking out £88.98 on this Genesis Box Set of 12 discs, but it is tempting. It has the albums A Trick of the Tail, Wind & Wuthering, And The There Were Three…, Duke, and Abacab on hybrid SACD with 5.1 sound, the same albums on DVD with live footage, interviews and other extras. To make up the set there is an SACD and a DVD of odd singles including Match of the Day, Paperlate and Pigeons.

All the SACDs are 2007 remasters as well. If it was half the price and just had the SACDs I might go for it , despite this confusing bit of technical advice from Amazon:

Please Note: Requires SACD-compatible hardware It doesn’t need SACD compatible hardware. The Stereo CD element can be played on a standard CD player. The SACD 5.1 surround sound required a SACD-compatible hardware.

I hope the sound is clearer than the description!

I know all about the relative artistic merits of Genesis before and after Peter Gabriel left and everything, but I really only started listening to them when Wind & Wuthering came out so much as I like the earlier ones I only heard them when I was catching up whereas I listened to the others as they came out.

In fact I think I bought Duke on the day it was released, in the middle of the post-punk heyday, much to the amusement of my college chums.

I have ordered A Trick of the Tail on SACD though. I really fancy hearing Los Endos coming from all directions, and the title track and Robbery, Assault & Battery should sound good in surround too. And Entangled (an overlooked classic – I have a soft spot for the Tony Banks compositions). And the mighty Ripples of course.

If the rest end up reduced to bargain prices one day I might pick up some of the others, but ‘Trick’ is the essential one for me. Now what about some 5.1 remixes of Foxtrot, Nursery Cryme, Seconds Out and Lamb?