SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND

I'm going with a level 3 on this one, as I know it pretty well, but not at expert level. I have considered this to be my favorite Genesis album for a few years, but after listening to Foxtrot in its entirety, it's going to be a tough title to keep. Let's see what I think after a deep dive.

Track 1 - Dancing with the Moonlit Knight

Gotta love that opening a cappella opening line: "Can you tell me where my country lies, said the unifawn to his true love's eyes." (An aside, there is now a prog band called Unifawn, wonder where they got the name? lol.) Instruments join in on the next line, and before long they coin another word, "Paperlate," which would turn up as the title of a later Genesis song. So in under 30 seconds, they have created 2 new words! The production on this album is wonderful, the guitar and keyboard parts accompanying Gabriel's vocals are rich and warm sounding. By 45 seconds or so, he has sung the album's title. The instrumentation builds a bit more as we progress. I love Hackett's guitar motif on the following verse. Some subtle mellotron can be heard about 1:50, before it kicks in big a few seconds later. The drums come in at around 2 minutes, along with bass. Then at 2:25, we are off and running in a quick tempo prog-gasm and Hackett is using pick hand tapping years before anyone had heard of Eddie Van Halen. Nice dynamic shifts around 3 minutes. Hackett is on fire in this break, as is the rest of the band backing him. Huge mellotron at 3:45 preceding the return of the vocals. I like the almost call and response between the instruments and the vocals here. We have another chorus (or at least a semblance of one) at around 4:40. By 4:55, another instrumental break begins, this one featuring Banks more prominently, although Hackett has a few features. I love the mellow tones around 5:50. At around 6:20 there is a quieter instrumental, almost, clock-like, section that swells and recedes until the song ends at around 8 minutes in length. Great prog!

Track 2 - I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)

There are some sounds that fade in and initially sound a bit ominous, but then Gabriel taps a talking drum a few times and begins talking about it being "1:00 and time for lunch?" Then we get some British whimsy. Rutherford has some nice bass lines. This seems to be the first time that Genesis aimed for a hit single, and got one, at least in the UK. The song has a slightly Beatlesque feel to it. Banks plays a nice Mellotron countermelody behind the choruses. Gabriel's spoken word bits return to take us to the outro of the song, which features Gabriel playing short phrases on the flute, along with some various percussion sounds. Fun track.

Track 3 - Firth of Fifth

Now it's time for one of, if not my most favorite Genesis songs. Banks' piano intro is absolutely brilliant. At 1:06, the band and vocals take over suddenly, but brilliantly. The majestic chord progression suits the song perfectly. Then at 2:05 there is a quieter section. Nice crescendo at 2:50, bringing us to a short verse, followed by an instrumental break. Banks' piano lays the foundation for a Gabriel flute solo. At 4:10, Banks' piano takes center stage, and then the band kicks in with changing odd meters at around 4:30 for some prog-nirvana, as Banks switches to a synth solo. The tempo briefly slows at around 5:40, then Hackett takes a guitar solo with sustained notes, similar to the style and tone Steve Howe uses in parts of Yes' Yours is No Disgrace. At around 8:15, they drop the dynamic level down in order to build back up in a crescendo for the return of Gabriel's vocals at around 8:30. They come back in a half-time feel. Collins plays several tasty drum fills here. The song ends with Banks on the piano as it fades out.

Track 4 - More Fool Me

The second of 2 Phil Collins lead vocal songs in the Gabriel era (the other being For Absent Friends on Nursery Cryme). This song is a short tender ballad accompanied by a 12-string electric guitar. It shouldn't have been a surprise when Collins took over as lead singer a few years later. An acoustic guitar takes over as the music gets louder in the chorus. There are harmony vocals by Gabriel, I assume. This closes-out side 1 of the original LP release.

Track 5 - The Battle of Epping Forest

Side 2 begins with the album's longest track at over 11 minutes. This song is based on a newspaper article that Gabriel had read years earlier, about rival gangs from London's east end that would fight over territory in Epping Forest. After being unsuccessful in his attempt to research more information about the story, he created his own characters and storyline. The song slowly fades in with a marching beat, not unlike the marching band section of Jethro Tull's thick as a brick from the previous year, with Gabriel providing flute parts and Collins and Rutherford keeping the marching beat underneath. The marching band fades out, apparently having passed by at shortly over a minute into the song, then the prog-rock band takes over in an odd meter. They reach a catchy chorus at about 2:18, along with some whimsical instrumental fills. At 3:14, Banks takes over with a brief synth solo, then the vocals return. The meters are frequently shifting as the song proceeds. Banks is featured on organ around 4:10, as another verse takes over. Gabriel uses character voices for parts of this segment. At 5:15, the rhythm completely changes, then changes again by 5:30. The character voices are quite enjoyably silly. Gabriel has some fantastic word play in this song. I love the frequently changing meters. We come back to the earlier chorus around 7:50. Around 8:50 Banks takes back over on another brief synth solo. At 9:37 the synth takes back over with a different melody, and the band gradually joins back in. At around 10:40, the story is resolved with a coin-toss. Gabriel later commented that, although it tied up the story nicely, it was a bit of an anti-climax. Hackett is featured on the closing section of the song with a guitar solo.

Track 6 - After the Ordeal

Apparently, the inclusion of this short instrumental from Hackett & Rutherford caused a bit of a row in the band. Eventually it was included in a compromise which also had to do with the length of the Cinema Show (the next track). Hackett plays a melody somewhat similar to Mason Williams "Classical Gas." while accompanied by acoustic guitar & piano. Hackett says this was his first use of a nylon string guitar, although I thought he had used one on Horizons from Foxtrot. At around 2:15, he switches to an electric guitar solo. I think it's a nice instrumental that kind of foreshadows Hackett's solo material he would begin to do after Gabriel's departure from the band. I love the harmonized guitar lines as the track reaches completion.

Track 7 - The Cinema Show

Another of my favorite Genesis songs. I love the instrumentation that opens the song along with Gabriel's wistful vocal style. The drums and rest of the band enter at around 2 minutes and the song becomes more rhythmic. The layered sounds at around 2:50 are beautiful. Gabriel plays some flute over the top (his flute playing is often under- appreciated in this era of Genesis, in my opinion.) Vocals return just after 4 minutes, in a manner somewhat similar to the wordless vocal section of Yes' South Side of the Sky. At 4:35, the rhythm section returns and Gabriel sings "Take a little trip back?with Father Tyresius?" while Hackett provides tasty guitar fills along the way. Banks plays a mellow synth solo starting around 5:25. Then the tempo begins to build and starting around 5:55, a 7-8 meter is established, and Banks plays an epic synth solo. At 7:30, a beautiful mellotron choir appears in the sound picture. This synth solo alone proves that Banks is in league with other prog synth maestros of the era such as Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson. Collins drumming during this section is absolutely fantastic. The song mellows out to a close

Track 8 - Aisle of Plenty

This one transitions from The Cinema Show and is essentially a reprise of Dancing with the Moonlit Knight to bookend the album. The reference to Tesco is a British Supermarket Chain. There are some layered-overlapping nonsense words sung as the album comes to a close.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS!

Wow, Genesis had two back-to-back perfect albums. I can only give this one a 5 out of 5 stars as well as I wouldn't change a thing about it. This is Genesis at the peak of their proggy powers. Although I would argue that they NEVER completely stopped being prog, even from ?And then there were Three onward there were always prog tracks mixed with the more commercial ones. Well, this closes out the Genesis albums on the countdown, of which there were 6, all in the top 50, with three of them in the top 10. An impressive showing, indeed. [referring to Prog Magazine's Top 100 Prog Albums of All Time list.]