[dorio]

Submission courtesy of grandrebelmaster

Band: Genesis
Album: Selling England By The Pound

Released: 1973



1. Dancing With the Moonlit Knight ? 8:02
2. I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) ? 4:03
3. Firth of Fifth ? 9:36
4. More Fool Me ? 3:10
5. The Battle of Epping Forest ? 11:43
6. After the Ordeal ? 4:07
7. The Cinema Show ? 11:05
8. Aisle of Plenty ? 1:35

Peter Gabriel - vocals, flute
Phil Collins - drums, vocals
Steve Hackett - lead guitar
Mike Rutherford - bass guitar, 12-string guitar
Tony Banks - keyboards, synth bass

One of the most well known albums released by Gabriel-era Genesis, the band is in fine form, producing accessible music that is a notch above the average. The album opens with "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight," which start's with Gabriel's naked voice, and contains both a brilliant guitar solo (one of the first instances of tapping being used, Hackett was also one of the first rock guitarists to use sweep picking) and keyboard solo. There is a relaxed piece at the end with ambient keyboards and flute.
It is followed by their biggest single, "I Know What I Like" with catchy lyrics based on the cover painting and a flute solo at the end.
"Firth of Fifth" follows this, and it is quite possibly the best song on the album. Grand piano solo, mythic lyrics, flute and piano piece, synth jam, and soaring guitar solo. A great work of symphonic prog.
"More Fool Me" features Phil Collins on lead vocals, accompanied by an acoustic guitar.
"The Battle of Epping Forest" is either an excellent piece of work or terribly obnoxious, I haven't decided yet. It's the album's longest song, based on an article nobody's read (and one that's over 30 years old at that) and Peter Gabriel got the idea that it would be cool to do voices for each character in the song. However, the way he presents it, I can still relate to at least most of it, and I can never bring myself to skip this one when it comes along, although I can easily skip "More Fool Me."
"After the Ordeal" is an instrumental piece, and a very beautiful one. Banks and Hackett put on quite the performance.
"Cinema Show" is another epic, with poetic lyrics and large instrumental sections. In my mind, this competes with "Firth of Fifth" as the albums best song.
"Aisle of Plenty" is based around the same riff as the album's first song, but in a stripped-down way. It is minimalistic, but works well to close the album.

Despite the datedness and extreme Britishness of the concept of this album, it still comes highly recommended for its great songwriting and stellar instrumental work.

[dorio]

This one is a true classic. Whenever I hear their first albums, it takes me down memory lane. They were really unique for that era and live they gave a hell of a show with all the gimmicks. They really had the way to be different than the rest and they really were. Also i've always been a Steve Hackett fan, and I have some of his solo stuff. "Selling England..." may only be equaled by " Lamb Lies Down on Broadway." Nice little review . Short, but nice.