SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND

5/5, one of my favorite Prog albums. Genesis has been one of my favorite acts of Prog for a while now, and this might be my favorite of their stuff. Selling England by The Pound gives Foxtrot (the album before this) a run for its money, with its great guitar work, amazing vocals, and all around charm. The guitar solo on Firth of Fifth is truly excellent, as well as the solo on The Battle of Epping Forest. There's also some really great flute playing from Peter Gabriel, amazing organ stuff from Tony Banks, and Phil Collins continues to deliver some top-tier drumming as usual.

The album starts with Dancing With The Moonlit Knight, which is a song that begins slow and quiet, but gradually builds up to something big and bold, and ends with a pretty flute section towards the end. The next song, I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) is a charming piece that is (I believe) based upon the album artwork. I Know What I Like also has a sort of a-capella section that Richard Hammond of Top Gear hates.

I will give Firth of Fifth its own section in this review solely because it is truly a masterpiece of Progressive Rock, and is a Genesis staple. Firth of Fifth begins with a beautiful and flowing Piano piece, which then melds into the first verse. As it goes along, the piece develops into a Flute solo, which goes into a keyboard solo, and then into (in my opinion) one of the best Guitar solos ever recorded. After that is done, we hear another couple of verses, and the song ends with another piano bit that goes with the beginning one.

More Fool Me features Collins on vocals (the first time he is the sole vocalist on a song) and Steve Hackett on Guitar. Its a sort of sad and short piece about a man who is going through a breakup with a woman he loved.

The Battle of Epping Forest is one of the longer tracks of the album (sitting at just over eleven and a half minutes). Epping Forest is a great song, filled with Keyboards and the voice of Peter Gabriel, and some great lyrics to go with it. The next song is After the Ordeal, which isn't much, but there is some really great Piano work (as usual) and also a good guitar solo.

The Cinema Show is another longer track (sitting at just over eleven minutes), but it is well worth the time. The Cinema Show contains arguably the most genius of Genesis lyrics. In the song, the lyrics mention the story of Tiresias (which I will not go into detail here, you can go read it yourself) in which the numbers 7 and 3 are significant. Part of the lyrics are " there is in fact more earth than sea." which is technically true. The earth is actually made up of 70% land and 30% sea. In the story of Tiresias, 7 represents the woman and 3 the man. Earlier in the song there is a bit about Romeo (a poor man) and Juliet (a rich woman) who are destined to fall in love. Because of Romeos love for Juliet, he feels like a "Weekend millionaire".

The finale song, Aisle of Plenty, which is basically a rant done by Gabriel filled with references to different English super market chains. It also mentions Eggs which are very important to Genesis lyrics (as you will find as you listen to their music).

So in conclusion Selling England by The Pound is a masterpiece of Progressive Rock, and one of the best Genesis albums out there. I really hop whoever reads this enjoys it. Please keep in mind that I may have gotten some stuff wrong, but this is my first review.