Introduction
Genesis is a band most famous for their 80s and early 90s top 40 pop hits with Phil Collins on the mic. However, when the band started back in 1969, there was another man on the mic who is also mostly known for his 80s pop hits. That man was Peter Gabriel, and with him at the helm in the 70s, Genesis was one of the best progressive rock bands of all time. It was in the middle of this progressive rock era where they produced what I believe to be the band’s best album: Selling England by the Pound. Over the course of 53 minutes and 8 songs, the five man lineup of Peter Gabriel on vocals, Steve Hackett on lead guitar, Mike Rutherford on rhythm guitar and bass, Tony Banks on keys, and Phil Collins on drums, deliver an album of nearly pure excellence.
Dancing With the Moonlit Knight
The opening song of this album is one of the best openers that has ever graced my eardrums. Over the course of 8 minutes and 3 seconds, the band takes you through epic lyrics about the slow Americanization of British culture, with numerous guitar licks played perfectly and precisely by Steve Hackett, Tony Banks’s amazing keyboard, organ, and mellotron work and Phil Collins just destroying the drums and not missing a single beat. They sounded almost exactly the same live as they do on the record. All in all, the opening of this album is an absolute joy to listen to. This song would not really be a staple of live shows, only being performed in full on the tour for Selling England, and once at the 1982 reunion show with Peter Gabriel, who left the band in 1975. Otherwise, it was either not performed at all, or just the opening few lines, with those being performed the final time on March 26th, 2022, during their final show which took place at the London 02 Arena.
I Know What I Like
The second song is actually a short comedy number, running at a little over half the length of the opener. This was actually one of the band’s first real commercial successes, as it was released as a single a few months after the album and actually wound up reaching number 30 on the British pop charts. The lyrics describe what a landscaper, or as he’s referred to in the song, a lawnmower, hears when he’s on his lunch break. I don’t really have much to say about the instrumentation on this song apart from it fits the goofiness perfectly. Most of the interesting things I have to say about it actually come from the live performances of it after Peter left the band. I’ll actually start with how it was performed before he left. It’s precisely as it is on the record for the most part, the only difference was it being given an extended vocal introduction by Peter Gabriel. After Peter left in 1975, Phil would handle the vocals. This song would remain in the live sets until about 1982, after which it was retired, only to return for a few shows in 1992 where it was performed as part of a medley of old songs. It returned again for both the 2007 and 2021 reunion tours, being performed for the final time by the band, also at their final show in march of 2022. In all performances with Phil on vocals, apart from the 2021-22 shows, he would do this goofy tambourine dance that was probably an unnecessary addition musically, but is nonetheless really fun to watch. It would also involve him egging on the crowd, the most impressive instance of which happened at their 2007 free concert in Rome, Italy, in front of 500,000 people. I would encourage everyone who reads this to watch that performance; the man has the attention of all 500,000 people. (video here)
Firth of Fifth
The third song on the record is yet another epic. Over the course of 9 minutes and 35 seconds, Tony Banks plays some of the best piano, synth, and organ music he has in his entire career, Peter Gabriel delivers some of his best vocals ever, and Steve Hackett rips out one of the greatest guitar solos of all time. It starts with this very complicated sounding piano intro, which becomes the chord sequence which underlays the entire song. It goes on for over a minute, but once the organ, guitar, vocals and drums kick in, this song rocks. Gabriel is putting his absolute all into this very difficult to sing song. I’m serious, I’ve tried it myself and it left me lightheaded; these vocals are seriously impressively awesome. The song also changes time signatures quite frequently, going from 17/16 to 15/16 to 13/16 to 8/16, all the while mixing with 4/4, better known as common time. The guitar solo kicks in almost 6 minutes into the song, and it is among the best of all time, easily within the top 20 at least. It’s essentially just a bunch of sustained notes for about 3 minutes, but when it comes after the 6 minutes of excellence that precedes it, it absolutely earns the legendary status it has. The song concludes after the solo with one more verse from Gabriel, and is then tied together with a reprise of the piano opening. In terms of live performances, we’ve got a mixed bag. It was performed as written on the record on the original Selling England tour, was abandoned like 99 percent of the band’s back catalog for the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway tour, returned for the 1976 tour, however without the piano intro due to the fact they didn’t have a traditional piano on stage. It was performed in that fashion until the 1978 tour, where they made a very strange decision. For some extraordinary reason, they decided to only perform the synth part which preceded the solo and the solo itself, which would then transition into “I Know What I Like”. With as much praise as I just gave this solo, it’s not like other famously amazing guitar solos like “Freebird” or “Stairway to Heaven” where it works just as well on its own as in the song. Without the previous 6 minutes, it just sounds like sustained notes. The song improves the solo and the solo improves the song. Anyway, it was performed in that fashion at every performance apart from the 82 reunion show where it was performed in full, and along with “I Know What I Like”, was abandoned in the early 80s until it was brought back for the 92 tour, during which it was performed during a 20 minute medley of their 70s material, and was also performed on the 2007 and 2021-22 tours in its 1978 incarnation, with the final performance also being at the final show in March of 2022.
More Fool Me
Now we come to the final song of side one. Is it a fun comedy number such as “I Know What I Like”, or is it another epic like “Firth of Fifth”? Neither, it’s an acoustic love song sung by Phil, actually being the second song he ever wrote for Genesis. It’s ok, I really have nothing much to say about it apart from I honestly have no idea why they included it on the album because “Firth of Fifth” would have been a perfect ending to side one. This song, along with another one on side two, which I’ll talk about when we get to it, are part of the reason this album runs at 53 minutes instead of the more common 45 minutes which was pretty much a universal standard at the time, apart from double albums. It definitely did better on the album than it would have as a single, but that’s the only real reason I can think of for its inclusion. It was performed on the original tour, but afterwards was never brought back, and I’m ok with that.
The Battle of Epping Forest
Can you take a guess what this song is about? That’s right, 1970s London gang warfare. Here we have one of my favorite Genesis song tropes: absolutely amazing musicianship that is covered up by Peter Grabriel’s tendency to write way too many lyrics for the section he’s written them for. That’s not even sarcasm. It’s challenging to the ear and I love that. The song is the longest on the album, coming in at 11 minutes and 45 seconds long, and due to the high number of lyrics, there is hardly any room for Peter to take a breath. A good amount of the lyrics are taken from actual newspaper articles documenting the frequent battles of London gangs that would take place in the real Epping Forest. Epping Forest has also been where many battles of previous European wars have taken place historically, allowing the song to add yet more Britishness to this already very British album. The sounds that most clearly define this song in my head musically are Tony’s organ, synthesizer, and mellotron, along with Phil’s very precise drumming and Mike Rutherford’s bass. Not that Peter and Steve don’t stand out on this song, they absolutely do, but not as clearly as the other three guys. Many fans actually think this is the worst song on the album, but I don’t even think it's close to that, proven by the fact I actually found quite a lot to say about it, mostly praise. My only criticism is the fact that the lyrics are almost impossible to remember, but that’s more due to the fact that there are alot of them than anything else. This song, like the rest of the album, was performed on the original tour, but wasn’t touched afterwards, mostly due to fan reception and pretty much everyone in the band apart from Peter not being too fond of it.
After the Ordeal
I have even less to say about this one than “More Fool Me”. It’s a 4 minute instrumental track mostly written by Steve Hackett. I don’t hate it; it has a decent guitar solo, but apart from that, it doesn’t really do anything for me. This is the other song that pads out the run time and I could honestly take it or leave it. I like it better than “More Fool Me”, but not by much. It was performed on the tour, but not afterwards, and I’m once again ok with that.
The Cinema Show
It’s between this and “Firth of Fifth” for the best song on the album, with “Dancing With the Moonlit Knight” coming in a close third. This one opens with a beautiful twelve string guitar played by Mike Rutherford. It’s a modern day retelling of Romeo and Juliett, or at the very least based on what that would look like in 1970s England. The vocals are absolutely majestic, however unlike Firth of Fifth, are not super difficult to replicate. I’m not going to say it’s necessarily easy to sing, but once you get it, it’s not hard. The second half of this 11 minute and 6 second beauty is mostly instrumental, with a few scattered “na na nas” from Gabriel. This is an excellent song. I listen to it all the time and it hasn’t lost any of its appeal. It would go on to be played on basically every subsequent tour, apart from the 1974-75 Lamb Lies Down on Broadway tour. It was retained in the set through the 80s and 90s, however not always in full. Around 1982, they started doing just the first or second half of the song, being played in full for the last time at the 82 reunion show. The last time a portion of the song was played was at the aforementioned final show in March of 2022.
Aisle of Plenty
“The Cinema Show” cleanly transitions into the final song of the album, which runs at a brief minute and a half. It’s a melodic reprise of the opening of “Dancing With the Moonlit Knight”, which really helps tie the album together. Initially, the opener, “The Cinema Show”, and “Aisle of Plenty” were all supposed to be a single 20 minute piece, but they decided to go against that idea for fear it would be compared to “Supper’s Ready”, which ran at a similar 22 minutes and was the closer of their previous album. “Aisle of Plenty” does a really nice job of tying the themes of the album together, with various references to English supermarkets and fast food chains as a further reference to the decay of English culture. I don’t have much else to say about it, but that’s mostly due to its short length. It would only be performed on the Selling England tour, which is understandable as it really makes zero sense outside of the context of the album.
Conclusion
Selling England by the Pound is an almost perfect masterpiece. Even the songs that I didn’t heap praise onto are pleasant enough that I don’t skip them whenever I listen to this album. I would highly recommend you listen to it, no matter what genre or genres you prefer. I’d especially recommend it to anyone who loves progressive rock or rock in general. In my opinion, it is absolutely worth your time. Selling England by the Pound is an album of nearly pure excellence, with even the two lesser songs being pretty decent. I would rate it a solid 8.5 out of 10.