SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND

This was my first Genesis LP though not the first Genesis stuff I heard. Foxtrot and Nursery Cryme were getting a lot of play whenever my brother's friends came around. I must confess I don't listen to it much anymore, I know, a heresy for some. But perhaps understandable if you consider I've been listening to it since the late '70's and quite frequently at that during the beginning. Anyway it came up in rotation so here goes:

One of the great things about this album is that it doesn't seem stuck in its time period or dated. Perhaps that has do to with me hearing the music for the first time a few years after it's initial release, but I don't think so. What it cannot escape is that the whole thing is heavily steeped in British culture, which gives it a special appeal to me, since I watched way too much Monty Python growing up.

I love the way Dancing With the Moonlit Kinnnnig-ht(s. We are French, why do you think we have this outrageous accent?) goes through many changes, starts out mellow, takes off, then lets you down gently I the end.

I Know What I Like, skip this one if you don't believe British humour belongs in music. I believe it actually had some success on the pop charts over there.

Firth of Fifth is my favorite song. Beautiful piano opening by Banks and then the song explodes into an epic with the whole band joining in.

More Fool Me has Phil's first appearance for the band doing solo vocals. A nice little love song accompanied by Steve on acoustic.

Ah, The Battle of Epping Forest. This one took a while for me to get into since I had already fallen so much for Supper's Ready. Much more interesting at the time for me for an epic type of song. More of that British humor rears its ugly head.

After the Ordeal. Just an excellent mellow instrumental. Say no more!

The Cinema Show. Take a little ex-lax with Father Tireseas. Just a little twist on one of the lines one of my friends came up with. A better long track than the Battle, from a musical standpoint. Really builds to a nice climax at the end, very energetic.

Aisle of Plenty. Kind of a weird ending to the album. "It's scrambled eggs."

Holy crap! only 587 ratings. Better get mine in before they run out space.