Japanese edition of 2002 album featuring Yngwie's pre-Rising Force material, remixed & remastered. No other territory is currently scheduled. Canyon.
CD Reviews
Great!
Benner | USA | 03/14/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Most of the material on this cd has been circulating via bootlegs for a while now. This cd was done by Yngwie in response to another cd (Birth of the Sun) put out by the original bassist, apparently without Yngwie's permission, who played on some of the tracks. I believe the bass tracks were all redone on this release. The first 6 tracks are from 1980. There is also a spoken track and 2 other much more recent tracks. Personally, I didn't care too much for the 2 recent tracks mainly because to me they sound way overplayed, by both yngwie and the singer, in the case of "voodoo child", and the last track I thought was ok but somewhat boring.I'm mainly a big fan of Yngwie's early work, from 79/80 - 85. Imo, this period finds Yngwie at his best. His playing was fresh, creative and mindblowingly flowing. Also, the compositions were cool. You could hum them later. In fact, you had no choice because they just stuck in your mind. The riffs were very rocking. There is some very emotional soloing here. I don't know yet which of the first 6 tracks are my favorite, but I think I lean toward Black Magic Suite. It has a lot of changes and some really very nice intricate understated soloing in addition to more crazy stuff. But all 6 tracks have some really great soloing and musicianship. Yngwie would go in the next few years to completely develop his virtousity, especially his very fluid and very fast and precise alternate picking technique, where the very fast lines would be accompanied by a fluid machine gun-like clicking sound, the sound of the pick buzzing across the strings. But you can clearly hear the genesis of it on these tracks from 1980.Also, I don't know if it's because Yngwie redid the bass and the sound of this cd just has a super bass punch, but I think the drumming, by Zepp Upgard, is really, really excellent. He's very in the pocket and flowing like Yngwie himself. Pure ear candy. I've listened to the cd a few times just for the drumming.If you are a fan of his early work, you have probably heard some or all of the first 6 tracks. But if you haven't, this is very worth getting. I've found that even people who do not like Yngwie's music, have very good things to say after hearing early tracks like these.In all, excellent early stuff from a true virtuoso of the guitar."
It's a history thang!
Oscar Jordan | Los Angeles, CA | 08/23/2003
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This CD blows in comparison to Yngwie's best work but it's more of a historical document of where Yngwie was coming from in his teens.The guy was 16 or 17 years old and of course the production is bad and the playing is nowhere near the caliber that we now expect. I challenge any of the Steve Vai's or Satriani's of the world to put out their teenaged demos and display such conceptualization, vision, and facility on the instrument that would later create an entire genre of music.Anyone who whines about this disc, I ask you, "What musical vision did you create when you were 16?" Yngwie had a dream, believed in it, and pursued his vision with steadfast decisive execution of a plan. A lesson for us all."
Y. MALMSTEEN - Genesis [IMPORT]
JOHN L. KOWAL | QUEENS, NY, USA | 04/04/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"GENESIS - This is a must for MALMSTEEN fans. "BIRTH OF THE SUN", the openeing track, is worth the price of this disc alone. It's about 10 minutes long and is loaded with traditional vintage guitar jam with yours truely on vocals.Y. MALMSTEEN does make shred out of godfather JIMI HENDRIX's VOODOO CHILD. Other songs on this disc are pretty worthy listening.This gems were recorded in the late 70's before Y. MALMSTEEN had forsakened his Swedish homeland for the glam riches of the U.S. of A.Please get this if you love vintage METAL-ROCK guitar work."
A comparison sound review: Birth of the Sun VS The Genesis
jj | Los Angeles, CA. | 05/14/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I am posting this review under both "The Genesis" and "Birth of the Sun" albums.
First, let me make one thing perfectly clear: I do not now, nor have I ever, worked for or been associated with either Yngwie or Marcel Jacob in any way. The following is just my personal unbiased opinion as a guitarist and fan. Take it for what it's worth.
I have Yngwie's "The Genesis" as well as the demos released by Marcel Jacob under the Rising Force name entitled "Birth of the Sun", and although they both have basically the same demo tracks there is an interesting difference between the two in sound quality.
Marcel's disc is slightly louder in volume and to my ears more "pure" (for lack of a better word) in that it sounds closest to the original demo tapes (of which I have a crumbling cassette copy from eons ago). It seems that Marcel did not do any major reprocessing to the tapes, so what you get is basically the raw, straightforward 8 track demo sound from 1980, which some listeners may prefer. I feel that Marcel wanted to keep things as original as possible and I believe that he did just that. In his liner notes he explains the technical process and the problems he had finding an 8 track Tascam machine to play the tapes on. The results are not bad, but what you end up with is a recording that is still quite a bit rough around the edges.
Yngwie, on the other hand, has chosen to remix his distant past. He has re-recorded all of Marcel's bass tracks, effectively cutting his old bandmate out of the demos completely, so no credit is given to Marcel on the disc. Zepp Urgard's original drum tracks remain, so it would seem that some animosity exists between Yngwie and Marcel. Or maybe Yngwie liked Zepp's drumming but not Marcel's bass work on these tapes. Of course, it is also possible that Yngwie wanted to re-record Zepp's tracks as well, but perhaps he reasoned that since the drums leaked onto the live guitar tracks it would have been more problematic to replace them. Possibly it was merely due to the fact that drums are not Yngwie's forte. So for whatever reason, Zepp's tracks remain.
Purists may scream "sacrilege" at this remixing of a notable piece of modern electric guitar history but as Yngwie says in his own words, "It's my creation after all". Normally, most bands use a more collaborative process in the creation of their art, but not in this case where it is obvious that the man had his own vision and the creation sprang from one mind alone. The truly talented artist (in any genre of art, be it painting, sculpture, or music) must always pursue his own vision, and who are we to question his methods. We can only accept or reject his results. Anyway, the newly recorded bass tracks give these aging demos a more streamlined and, shall we say, "produced" sound than before. He also did a better job of remastering the original tapes to produce a less compressed and clearer sound spectrum with a much heavier punch to the drums. Overall, it's a smoother, more aurally pleasing sound.
Therefore, in my humble opinion (and with all due respect to Marcel, who did the best he could), Yngwie has released the superior set of demos here. They are much better sounding and more polished than Marcel's version. It is most likely Yngwie who has the first generation tapes, so he has the highest fidelity copy to work with. In the end, I really like what he did with these raw demos. So my vote goes to Yngwie.
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1