SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND

I feel obliged to review Genesis proclaimed magnum opus now that I have finally given them a fair and in the end positive listen. I have been watching this with a close eye after thoroughly enjoying the band's self titled. I thought to myself: "If that was supposed to be bad, I wonder what Genesis' excellent would be. So after a week of pondering I finally gave in and listened through the album.

I totally love this album. Genesis-wise I would say that this and Foxtrot are Peter Gabriel's biggest ever accomplishments, but not far behind is Phil Collins' self titled effort. In fact, I sort of hold them in the same opinion. Maybe this one a little more because it is simply more progressive and holds more water in my mind and especially on this review for a site dedicated to prog.

It starts out with an opener that was stuck in my head for at the very least a week: 'Dancing With the Moonlit Knight', a socially conscious epic with fantastic lyrics and vocals from Gabriel. It uses it's healthy eight minutes wisely, having two sections of magnificent melodic shredding from Hackett. And as a man who has a enthusiasm for the skins, I give huge kudos to Collins on the magnificent powerful drumming. 'Firth of Fifth' is another even longer epic stretching a minute longer. It has a beautiful keyboard opening from Banks, although it sort of lacks on the vocals front because Gabriel seemed to lose his steam from 'I Know What I Like in Your Wardrobe', a heavy, almost funky ballad that preceded it. 'More Fool Me', although strained at times, has Collins waltzing slowly with an acoustic guitar for a good three minutes. It is so great just in it's simplicity, and gets bashed way too much. 'Battle of Epping Forest' is a eleven minute long medieval battle song with prog rock injected into it. I doubt I'm the first one to say that is sounds straight out of a Tolkien tale. It is pretty great in itself. 'After the Ordeal' is a soft rock instrumental, sort of a breather after the songs before to let more air in for the next songs. It's cool as a jam song, maybe not so much as a contender for the other tracks. 'The Cinema Show' is pretty bland, with repetitive snare rolls and some pretty annoying synth at times. The closer, 'Aisle of Plenty' picks up where the a Capella opening of 'Dancing With the Moonlit Knight' left off, maybe with less gusto as before, but actually pretty atmospheric as a whole.

So in general, a fantastic effort from the early Genesis. Although I'd be stretching to say that it's essential, I would suggest going to pick it up when you have a chance, you won't be disappointed.

Go give it a listen.