SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND

At the time of this writing, this album is number two on the ProgArchives.com Most Popular Album List. It is the finest of the Gabriel era Genesis albums. While the earlier albums of this era generally showed great genius, this album didn't seem rushed and sloppy.

This album also has a personal connection for me. My first concert I went to was Genesis at Princeton University during the 1971-1972 school year when I was around 13 years old. I enjoyed the concert so much that I dragged my mother and my younger sister to their return during the following year. While those days are very long ago now and seen through the sands of time, I seem to remember hearing the opening song of the album at one of those two concerts, with slides of a knight being displayed.

As has been mentioned previously, the album is tied together with one theme, that of the decline of the English Empire. But the theme isn't labored by the album. I didn't realize what had tied the album together until I thought about other reviews of the album. But once the theme has been noticed, the theme strengthens the album and the unconscious links between the songs are brought into the light.

Dancing With The Moonlit Knight starts off plaintively, with Peter Gabriel asking (a cappella) "Can you tell me where my country lies." The rest of the album consists of observations of the psychic location of England.

Much has been said (mostly disparagingly) about Phil Collins' vocals on More Fool Me. While the song is an acoustic song, which seems thin in comparison with the stronger orchestrations of the other songs, it provides both a break for the listener, and a potentially commercial song, a requirement for an album both then and now. But as you listen to the song after noting the theme tying the rest of the album together, a reassessment of the song seems called for. Is this a song about being dumped, or is it a song about being left behind by your country?

All in all this is a brilliant album, well deserving its place in the annals of Progressive Rock.