SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND

I have listened to this album many times and I just can't see why it is considered such a masterpiece. This is by no stretch of the imagination a bad album, but in my opinion it is far from being the best prog album of all time, or even the best genesis album.

In my mind this album has three very good songs: Dancing With The Moonlit Knight, Firth Of Fifth, and The Cinema Show. These songs are great and if the rest of the album had been up to this standard it probably would have been the greatest prog album of all time. Unfortunately, in between we have songs that do absolutely nothing for me. I Know What I Like and More Fool Me are short songs with a pop feel to them. The music is fairly simple and the vocals are neither interesting nor catchy in my opinion. The Battle of Epping Forest is another disappointment for me. This is a long song which really doesn't offer much despite its length and while lyrically it may be an important part of the concept of the album, I can't get into the concept if I don't even enjoy the music.

On the weight of the three greats, this album gets 4 stars from me, but if I could give this album one word it would be inconsistent. I would recommend foxtrot and even nursery cryme to someone getting into genesis before this album.