SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND

The elegance of British Prog in its maximum expression.

If "Nursery Cryme" and "Foxtrot" are two great albums and according to this website's scale they oscillate between the four and five stars rates, "Selling England by the Pound" got much further than that: it is hard for me to believe there were actually some reviewers that gave this album a lower rate than the solid five- stars rate, but I think there's enough room in this world for everybody, I could never give a lower rate to this, this is probably the greatest album in GENESIS career.

"Dancing with the Moonlit Knight" is absolutely fantastic, it is one of the most well-known anthems of GENESIS with a very energic structure that only relaxes a bit around the minute six when it changes to a quiet atmospheric instrumental ending that leads itself into the next song. Probably one of the greatest drum lines played by Phil COLLINS is the one this song contains.

"I know what I like (in your wardrobe)" is one of the shortest songs in the album but its nothing of a filler song, this is one of the most well-known songs the album contains, the bass line played by Mike RUTHERFORD is unmistakable. "Firth of fifth" starts with an elegant piano line played by Tony BAKNS and then it turns itself into one of the most powerful pieces of the album; the middle instrumental section starts with a very subtle flute line and then it goes back to the original rock piece in its instrumental version, near to minute six it has another change of rhythm with a nice guitar solo until it ends with a coda of the first sung part reaching the end.

"More fool me" is a beautiful acoustic song, for what I've seen is not always well received by the fans, but to me it is a very nice way to close the first side of the LP. "The battle of Epping Forest" is the longest song of the album, not bad at all for a song that could easily be the closing track of the album (but there are still three other songs and one of them has almost the same length); at least to me, this song sounds much more rehearsed than improvised and for an eleven-minutes track that is hard to find even in Prog Rock.

"After the ordeal" is an instrumental song in which the main instrument is Steve HACKETT's guitar, is not isolated though because Tony BANKS' piano accompaines it really nicely; the song changes when HACKETT replaces the acoustic for an electric guitar and Phil COLLINS starts to give the song a vey concise drum pattern. Peter GABRIEL's flute also has a nice appearance near the end of the song.

"The Cinema Show" is the second longest song of the record, once again we get a song that cound pass as the closing track of the album; its instrumental section starts around the minute six and it contains one of the most ambitious keyboard solos played by Tony BANKS. "Aisle of plenty" works as a reprise version of "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight" even when it stars with the final line of "The Cinema Show", the song finally closes the album in a majestic way.

It is undeniable that this is one of the most amazing Progressive Rock albums evere released and probably the best album in the whole discography of GENESIS, no less than five stars for this terrific masterpiece.

SONG RATING: Dancing with the Moonlit Knight, 5 I know what I like (in your wardrobe), 5 Firth of fifth, 5 More fool me, 5 The battle of Epping Forest, 5 After the ordeal, 5 The cinema show, 5 Aisle of plenty, 5

AVERAGE: 5

PERCENTAGE: 100

ALBUM RATING: 5 stars

I ranked this album #6 on my top 100 favorite Progressive Rock albums of all time.

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