SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND

Okay, I suppose it's my turn to tackle this standard of prog-rock. At its root, my opinion of this album is defined by disappointment. Now that I've raised a few eyebrows, let me explain. Before buying this album, I had also bought and absorbed Trespass. I found the more organic (no pun intended) sound on Trespass inherently more appealing than Selling England's more synth-based sound. Note: Trespass is hardly synth-light; the synth just feels less prominent on the album than it does on Selling England.

Now that that's been said, I really can't penalize a great album on the grounds that I'm not crazy about the amount of synths used. This album is completely lacking of filler tracks. Dancing With the Moonlit Knight kicks the album off to a nice start. I Know What I Like is an amusing tune, if hardly a prog masterpiece. Firth of Fifth sees the album picking up steam. I suppose you could say that this is one of the band's early "hits", though given it's 9.5 minute length, I doubt it saw heavy radio play. It's merely one of the more recognized songs in their musical list. More Fool Me feels like a pop song (read: Beatles-esque pop, not Brittney Spears). It's quite the pretty piece, though as far as (relatively) short melodic pieces go, I prefer Trespass's Dusk. The Battle of Epping Forest is another of the great tune that earns the album its hype. After The Ordeal is a (again, relatively) short instrumental piece that really serves as the last few minutes of Battle of Epping Forest. I really have no memories of the song as a stand alone; however, the last 4 minutes or so of Battle of Epping Forest are quite nice ;). The Cinema Show was the track that sold me on this album, coincidentally the track that is posted on this site. In my opinion, it's the highlight of the album. Much like After the Ordeal, Aisle of Plenty is actually the last minute and a half of Cinema Show if you ask me. It's a nice closing to the album but definitely shouldn't stand alone.

Anyway, my initial instinct was to give the album only 4 stars, but as I was typing the review, I realized that the only bad thing I have to say about the album is that I liked Trespass better. You really can't go wrong with this album and really should already have it in your collection.

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