GENESIS

If any album deserves to receive the status of "Masterpiece" it is without a doubt "Selling England by the Pound" from Genesis. Everything on this album is sheer genius on a level above anything else.

The way Gabriel's mellow vocals in the intro of "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight" transcend into Hackett's energetic ripping guitar licks from get things off to a phenomenal start and they never dull from that moment on. The rest of the first track is full of inspiring eclectic snyth melodies from Banks

"I Know What I Like (I Your Wardrobe) is easily the most accessible track on the album with its warming, poppy qualities. It oozes pure summer sunshine and provides a contextual cue for the innocence of childhood. Additionally, fabulous vocal melody.

"Firth of Fifth" demonstrates Banks' incredible piano and synth skills, played with ever alternating time signatures forming a rhythmically complex piece. When fused with Gabriel's flute and an incredible guitar solo from Hackett, this song has to be considered a milestone in symphonic rock.

"More Fool Me" for me is the weakest song on the album for a few reasons. Firstly, Collins takes lead vocals, not Gabriel. Although it does break up the album nicely, I do find it myself skipping it every other time I listen.

"The Battle of Epping Forest" is nothing other than a piece of art. The lyrics and vocal performance are extraordinary. You generally feel like you get to know the various characters described in the battle. The music is extremely beautiful, in particular the acoustic section with the lyrics "they called me the reverend..." The bass and synths are the real stars of the show in this as they layer over each other into a stunning musical fabric.

"After the Ordeal" demonstrates effective use of a nylon stringed guitar played with impeccable finger picking technique combine with piano. Hackett produces a resoundingly smooth electric guitar solo in the second half of the track.

"The Cinema Show" is utterly immense. "Na na na" vocals and beautifully melodic and bending guitars are absolutely sublime, Just listen to it.

"Aisle of Plenty" could not be a better way to round of this unbelievable recording. Incredible lyrical references to British culture which begin in the opening track are continued. "Take the safeway home" and "Thankful for her fine fair discount, Tess cooperates" are genius.

Overall, this album captures everything I love about progressive rock in 53 minutes. Unbeatable.

The many faces of Genesis.

Genesis is one of those bands that we all love (I think) but that divide opinions between the Gabriel-era versus Collins-era. Most of all enjoy their studio albums, some of them are timeless, some others are memorable and some others just good, in my opinion there are no bad Genesis studio albums, but it is just a matter of tastes.

A couple of years ago this 3-cd compilation album was released and though it was not my intention to immediately get it, I was lucky to found it in a ver cheap price, so yeah, I decided to buy it. Since then, I've just opened and listened to it once and that was enough, because I will always prefer listening to full studio albums than hits or randomly chosen tracks. But I had a good time, that's for sure. CD one features some of their real greatest tunes (Gabriel-era, of course) such as "Supper's Ready", "The Musical Box" or "The Carpet Crawlers", to name a few, which are of course, a true delight. This first CD has "Ace of Wands" as last song, a surprise because it is the first non-Genesis track featured here, this is an amazing song taken from Steve Hackett's debut album. This CD covers from 1970 to 1975.

CD two offers a wider selection, covering from 1976 to 1975. The difference here is the addition of several solo-songs, such as Banks' "For a While", Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill", Collins' "In The Air Tonight" or "Silently Running" from Rutherford's side project Mike & The Mechanics. Nice hits that most of all know and even like to sing, despite no being the prog we were used to listen in the earlier Genesis. The other tracks in this album are the Genesis ones from the Collins-era, some of them you perfectly know them, love them or hate them, such as "Mama", "Easy Lover" or "Turn it On Again". Let me tell you that I enjoyed listening to every of the albums, but that was a experience I wanted to enjoy just once.

The third and final CD has songs from 1996 to 2012. Some Genesis songs here are "Invisible Touch", "Land of Confusion" and "I Can't Dance". The rest of the tracks were taken from the member's side or solo projects such as: "Over My Shoulder" from Mike & The Mechanics, "Signal to Noise" from Peter Gabriel, "Nomads" from Steve Hackett or "Siren" from Tony Banks. I liked it, but this was the CD I least enjoyed compared to the previous two.

Well, this is actually for collectors, I don't even consider this as a nice introduction to Genesis' music, not at all, which I would not really recommend it unless you want to increase your CD collection. If you get it, enjoy it!

SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND is perhaps my favorite progressive rock album, and thusly, deserving of the highly-sought "five stars" rating. What matters here is that there's quality both emotionally and rationally here, or better, both on lyrics, melodies & what they make you feel and the structural quality of the album.

Needless to say, Peter Gabriel is a terrific songwriter and vocalist. Anyone who has listened to a few Genesis songs is able to notice that, as Gabriel manages to make lyrics that verges - or pretty much fits in - poetry.

Peter Collins, Tony Banks, Steve Hackett & Michael Rutherford are all accomplished musicians that deliver a superb performance on this album. I claim so because it's the type of album of which, uncommonly, all instruments are highlighted - every song has a section which one instrument or another awes you - and actively present in every song they're participating. If there's guitar, you will notice to details such as the strumming; if there's drumming, you will be awed at the complexity Collins plays to accompany the song.

Aside from Aisle of Plenty, each track is individually unique, which is an important factor to take note of. The songs are fresh, creative, and unconnected to each other, but with an unconscious connection among all of them (maybe its symphonic feel). That being said, the album is coherent.

Now to each individual song:

DANCING OUT WITH THE MOONLIT KNIGHT starts slow, calm, emotional, with a medievalesque feeling. Slowly, it builds up, and by the chorus, you already take note of the harmony among the instruments. Afterwards, Hackett's individual performance comes in with a rather lenghty solo. Now, what makes this solo particularly impressive is its creativity and uncanny playstyle and techniques employed, bringing a variety of inventive sounds and making it very enjoyable to sit through. Collins' speedy drumming is also noticeable, for as much as it is technical it is FITTING. The chorus kicks back in, followed by the second part of the solo, which now has a much, MUCH more jazzy feeling to it. I can easily portrait it as those "relaxed/laid-back yet still fast-paced jazz songs", with fast tempo but slow notes. Lastly, the song ends with a two-minutes long ambient outro, that personally reminds me of nature above everything else. The musician which is mostly highlighted here is, naturally, HACKETT.

TO SUMMARIZE, the song BEGINS and ENDS with medieval melodies, but all in-between is much "modern", fast-paced and inventive, especially for the guitar solo.

I KNOW WHAT I LIKE (IN YOUR WARDROBE) is a relaxed tale of a... I honestly don't know. A lawnmower, as he presents himself in the end? Regardless of the lyrical value, the song is quite enjoyable, not much progressive but still delightful. Gabriel's British accent is very noticeable here, especially by the first and last verses. The song ends with a flute solo, well-fit for the song. I think GABRIEL (both for his vocals & flute solo) is deserving to be the highlighted man.

FIFTH OF FIRTH is terrific. Banks' intro is equally complex and beautiful. The song continues with a lyrical part, which is slow but still interesting to listen to. Here, once again, Gabriel's vocals are in a tone and style that is standard for many other songs of the album. After the lyrical part, a whopping four-minutes-long solo arrives - Banks returns with his intro arrangement, this time on the organ/keyboards (personally, I prefer the piano version over the aforementioned). Afterward, Banks arrives with a slow, melodic and acute solo that is smooth and emotional enough to soothe anyone's mind but still being thoroughly enjoyable. Thereafter, Gabriel returns to close the song. Undeniably, TONY BANKS is the highlighted musician in this song. His keyboard-ing is too awing.

TO SUMMARIZE, the keyboards are omnipresent in this song. An impressive and slow solo awaits for your listening.

MORE FOOL ME, as stated in Rolling Stones' 50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time, is "a taste of poppier things to come" by Genesis. Certainly, a quality track when you're evaluating from a pop-ish standpoint, slow paced, with high octaves and a melancholic yet warm melody. I don't think there's someone else to be more highlighted than COLLINS here.

BATTLE OF EPPING FOREST. Oh, Battle O' Epping Forest. Honestly, I don't know the consensus among Genesis' fans regarding this song, but from my perspective, it is an amusing song. It initiates with a military march, rapidly followed by the first main section - "Along the forest roads, there's hundreds of cars - luxury cars!" which introduces the tale of a clash between gangs over a "gangland boundary". I'm no lyrics man, but this song catches my attention like no other. Not only because the riffs are interesting to listen to, but because so are the lyrics. Gabriel is very sarcastic here, and his vocal style is HEAVILY accented and detailed with grimaces and impersonations. There are four main sections - the first two very resembling and dynamic, speedy but more much cheerful than a battle report would feel; the third being acoustic, as if it's a storyteller telling his story accompanied by a guitar; and the fourth being a Hackett-Banks outro. As said thus far, the lyricism here is amazingly poetic. Cheerfully sarcastic, and deceivingly complex - a casual listen will deem this song as simple, although it is anything BUT simple. Also, I must note the spacerockish solo Banks plays every time Gabriel announces "Here comes the cavalry!". GABRIEL's lyrical and vocals skills deems him as the highlighted mate of this song.

TO SUMMARIZE, it is a cheerful, quick, long, cynic "report" on a battle, that ends up parodying many British things.

AFTER THE ORDEAL is an instrumental piece. It has quality, but it never called my attention or fondness. Since I don't give many listens to it, I don't think I have enough information to say my opinion about it. It's not INHERENTLY uninteresting - just personally.

THE CINEMA SHOW is an epic piece that starts slow and a little unhopeful but proceeds to sound more cheerful and lovely after every verse. Lastly, the main melodic composition arrives and it's delightful to listen to. Gabriel showcases his skills again. "Once a man, like the sea I raged. Once a woman, like the earth I gave". Thereafter, Banks returns with a very distorted, very jazzy and very interesting solo; not akin, sonorously, to any other solos in the album. It has a fast tempo, it is set in 7/8 - as evidenced by the drums -, but it is generally slow played, with few notes, and accompanied inwardly by Collins. It goes building up, building up, building up... until eventually it morphs into a melody that is continued by the next track. BANKS is the highlighted man, although COLLINS also deserves an honorable mention.

AISLE OF PLENTY is the album outro. It returns to the first track's initial feeling, albeit a little more acoustic. The album begins and ends likewise, which in my opinion was a brilliant idea.

In general, those are my views on Selling England. I might have not expressed myself as well as I hoped to, but needlessly I have expressed myself sufficiently.

10/10

REVIEW #5 - "Selling England by the Pound" by Genesis (1973)

Coming off of mainstream success from their critically acclaimed album "Foxtrot", Genesis embarked on a tour supporting the album, and once it was finished, got right back to recording a new album, pressed by their record label. This new album "Selling England by the Pound", a title derived from the slogan of the UK Labour Party at the time, says away from Genesis's folk rock roots, and deals with the concept of the Americanization of British culture. Amazingly, they were able to top what seemed to be the best album they could conceivably create with this masterpiece of an album.

We start off with an amazing intro with Peter Gabriel's haunting voice. This track "Dancing With the Moonlit Knight" (5/5) builds up amazingly, backed by keyboardist Tony Banks's mellotron. A transition into a set of choir (mellotron) and guitar, this track settles into a rocking groove perfectly to make way for a solo for guitarist Steve Hackett. With lyrics pertaining to the concept, with native English terms, the majority of this song is filled with very well written instrumental passages. This is as strong of an opening track as you can as for, and establishes a great tone for the rest of the album. The second song would be their most commercially successful to that point, as "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" (5/5) would be their first single to chart in the UK. Featuring a story about a groundsman content with his lower-class job, it continues to expand on the album's overall concept - the continuity on this album is great. A very infectious song (hence its commercial appeal) with the chorus and background synth, it is also the song used to enrage Richard Hammond on the automobile-themed TV show Top Gear, as he (somehow) hates the band. The following track is another prog classic, the epic "Firth of Fifth" (5/5) written by Banks. Starting off with a piano intro, it builds up fantastically with the help of Gabriel's vocals and a chord progression - never hitting a crescendo and staying tense. Banks dominates this track with the keyboards, and a converted piano part is played by Hackett on guitar, composing the beautiful solo at the end of the song (the best on the album). Closing off side one is a beautiful light song titled "More Fool Me" (5/5); notable for featuring drummer Phil Collins on vocals. Being a fan of the light acoustic song, the inclusion of one on this album just makes it better - as not only is it the second song to feature Collins on vocals (a position he would eventually become quite accustomed to) but it also closes out the hard-hitting first side very well, preparing the listener for another onslaught of great prog rock. So far, so great.

The second side starts off with the near-twelve minute "Battle of Epping Forest" (4/5), a song devised by Gabriel about a story about a battle between two rival English gangs. With a more humorous and light-hearted approach in the lyrics, we see the one flaw of the album here. Certainly a more serious approach would have earned this album perfect status in my opinion. Nevertheless, this is a very solid song, and has great melodies and instrumental passages to suffice such a long piece. Most notable is the interceding synth parts by Banks and the consistently tense atmosphere of the song. Next up is the instrumental "After the Ordeal" (5/5), which is an epic song of pure guitar shredding by Hackett. A glorified intercalary separating two ten minute plus tracks, this is the token instrumental track which serves to continue making this album one of the greatest of the genre. Another long song follows in the form of "The Cinema Show" (5/5), split into two parts - one with vocals by Collins and Gabriel, then followed by a near five minute keyboard solo by Banks. Another truly epic song, and with lyrics based on "The Waste Land" by T.S. Eliot, it is another great piece of prog, and as the song segues into the short one-minute closing song "Aisle of Plenty" (5/5) - a book-end reprise of the first song, the listener is greeted with the ultimate end of the journey which is this album. A brilliant masterpiece to say the least.

Considered to be Genesis's best prog rock album, and one of prog's best albums in general, "Selling England by the Pound" is by no means overhyped. From beginning to end, you will be entertained, shocked, and entranced by the music. Everything beautiful about prog can be summarized in this album, from the concept to the music itself. Featuring an instrumental, a short song, extended pieces, and intricate solos, this album is as complete as it really can get. This album hit #3 on the charts in the UK, and #70 in the US, prompting a well-received tour. This is about as good as Genesis gets before their music eventually spiraled off towards more of a commercial appeal, but we are left with this work of art. Definite recommendation to anyone who's a fan of prog or rock in general - and it will probably end up being one of the highest rated albums for me.

OVERALL: 4.87/5 (A+)

just like the highlander movie, trespass is the definition of a cult album. Each have found an audience over the years to cement its rightful place in history. Underneath the surface reveals suppression of talent in a muddled brown pool. This album is dull and devoid of life, like trying to fly a kite with no wind. only stagnation has some kind of soul and pep. not psych, not tough, no personality-nothing but repression and tepidity, if that's a word. there's not much here to show me the promise of what is to come from this seminal group. like the highlander, this album will not die, but it probably won't win many new fans either as the years pass. one and a half rounded up because stagnation is a good tune. gabriel gets to show a slight bit of what makes him great - passion.

+-

If you are a Genesis fan with decent audio equipment, you should get this high-value compilation for the remastered tracks alone (even if you have them on other CDs). The digital dust-off of some of these audio files is quite astounding in some cases, not the least of which is the opening track, The Knife - one of my all-time favourites. Don't expect to make too much sense of the track list, which includes a smattering of tracks from the solo projects of Genesis members. I don't think that this is meant to be a "best of" type of compilation, but the disk does seem to follow a chronological order of original release dates. I had not previously heard a number of these solo efforts, so their inclusion was interesting to me, if not provoking me into getting more of (for example) Mike Rutherford's output.

However, I certainly cannot complain about the classic Genesis tracks on disk 1 (eg. The Musical Box, Supper's Ready, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway) and I would have paid the price for this disk alone. The other standout remastered tracks I can point out are Ripples, Afterglow, I can't dance and No Son of Mine.

It's 1993, I was 20 years old, and I was very familiar with 1980s Genesis, from Duke up to their latest studio offering, We Can't Dance, and to be honest I was frankly sick of it. So I turned to The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, their final album with Peter Gabriel. I was already familiar with the title track, as FM rock station still played that song on occasions even into the 1990s. Other than that, the earliest Genesis song likely heard on the radio would be "Follow You, Follow Me" from 1978's ...And Then There Were Three... which is basically the first '80s Genesis song. What a huge breath of fresh air the Lamb was. No cheesy love songs like "In Too Deep", none of that nasty '80s production values that horribly dated music of all kinds in that decade. No Yamaha DX-7 or drum machines, but instead Hammond organ, Mellotron, RMI electric piano, piano and ARP Pro-Soloist. I have never really followed the story, and it looks like it's next to impossible to follow anyways. The LP comes with a lengthy story that's equally hard to follow along. The title track is the first, it has that same piano introduction I heard from New Trolls on "Studio" from their late 1972 album UT. Was this supposed to be a classical riff I don't recognize, or did Genesis actually steal from New Trolls? Unlike ELP, I don't believe I noticed Tony Banks ever directly stealing from classical songs, so I don't know. What I do know is Genesis were very popular in Italy before the rest of the world really took notice (with the exception of Belgium, who also took notice perhaps even earlier than the Italians). "Fly on a Windshield" is a stark contrast, gentle acoustic, atmospheric song with eerie Mellotron choirs, while the music gets more rocking on "Broadway Melody of 1974", with some great Mellotron playing. "Cuckoo Cocoon" is a mellower piece, with flute from Peter Gabriel (before I heard this album, I never realized he could play flute as his solo albums certainly never featured any, not even "Sledgehammer" which is a sampled Japanese shakuhachi bamboo flute courtesy of a Fairlight). "The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging" shows the less serious side of the band, while "Carpet Crawlers" sounds similar to the title track, complete with that same RMI electronic piano riff, but slower pace and more moody. "Chamber of a 1000 Doors" is a generally slower piece with some mid tempo parts. "Lilywhite Lillith" is rather upbeat, sounding undeniably Genesis, one of the rare radio friendly moments on the album like the title track. "The Waiting Room" is an instrumental, rather experimental piece, there are some synth effects, before it turns into your typical 1970s Genesis instrumental. "Lamia" is largely piano-dominated, while "Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats" is an instrumental piece complete with Mellotron choir. Back in 1993, it was then I dawned on me that weird choir sound emanated from the Mellotron, as I heard that same choir sound off Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene (in between Part II and Part III). "The Colony of Slippermen" starts off strange with strange percussion and strange synth sounds, before the song kicks in, I really dig the organ riff and those synth solos. I especially like how the song ends, before going into some strange ambient territory on "Ravine". "The Light Dies Down on Broadway" is, as expected, a variant of the title track, which makes sense given this is a concept album. "Riding the Scree" features some strange bass riffs and synth solos, before the vocals kick in. "It" is the closing song, and it sounds like a closer too.

OK, I know there are many out there who would like to decipher the concept behind this album. I do know it has something to do with a Puetro Rican kid in New York City named Rael who spraypaints walls, and then gets a strange visitation from various characters, but then that's where it loses me.

It's been said plenty of times that Peter Gabriel left after some 1975 tours. The reason was family life, his wife Jill was to give birth to a child (and perhaps raising a child was the big reason it took until 1977 before Peter Gabriel released his first solo album, and he did a version of Strawberry Fields Forever off the All This and World War II album of 1976). It was a big Genesis landmark, but of course not everyone will agree this was their crowning achievement, given all their previous albums have been single albums and easier to take in. Regardless, for some reason, as much as I enjoyed it in 1993, I seem to enjoy it even more now in 2016. It's not an easy listen. Listening to this album, I can easily understand why radio stations would be scared off playing anything off this album aside from the title track. To me, it's a total classic that really gave me a different attitude of Genesis.

Sometimes stuff sounds better 30 years on

It was a real nostalgia trip spending a Saturday night with three overpaid but well meaning lads from England. I can remember watching some of these clips in the 1980s with one of my oldest friends, a deep and complicated man I really miss. But back then we were simply party hounds into prog rock who spent many a night getting out of our minds, having long conversations, and rocking out to music and video of every stripe. Phil and the Charterhouse boys were ridiculed often then, but perhaps time can change perspective, as 30 years on some of this material feels pretty good to old ears. But back then we called most of these tracks utter crap as we sought more interesting fare.

This DVD collection uses an oddly successful tactic of going backwards chronologically rather than forwards. Almost like a concert, feed em the new stuff early when they're most pumped because the older material will have them eating from your hand anyway. I like live video much better than thematic promos, so stuff like "No Son of Mine" and "Land of Confusion" were painful. But I truly enjoyed many of the late 70s to early 80s tracks that showed the band performing the song, even if lip-synched. They were presented with decent sound quality and machine gun efficiency, no obnoxious banter or delay between the songs. So while a promos collection cannot take the place of getting a live Genesis DVD to enjoy, if you already have those and are wondering if you should add this one, I'd say why not? It is fun viewing despite not being the cream of the Charterhouse crop.

And cheers my old friend. I will miss those smoky nights till my last breath. You were such a character and you didn't play their game. You stared down this society and lived an absolute, unapologetic middle-finger response to it. Our own suburban Oscar Wilde.

This album is the demarcation between the end of the early post-Gabriel Genesis sound, heavy on mellotron and with lots of acoustic instrumentation, and the beginning of the 80's funky, poppy, harder-edged electric sound. Collins' voice becomes harder to match the music. Unfortunately, the approach to this sound is blase almost throughout. I hated No Reply at All initially -- couldn't get past the horns -- but now I regard it as one of the better tracks. At least it moves! Mike's quirky, funky bass line is amazingly difficult to play -- Mike Gordon of Phish didn't even try when the band covered this song during their Hall of Fame presentation of Genesis' induction. Abacab and Dodo are also worthwhile listens; Abacab especially with it's expressive guitar solo over the most minimalist bassline ever (one note repeated over and over!) and accented by funky, almost as minimalist keyboard chord patterns. The rest of it is boring (Man on the Corner) or cringeworthy (Who Dunnit), sometimes both in the same song (Keep It Dark). In my opinion this may be the worst album of the Phil Collins era, with only Invisible Touch as a rival.

The last album with the old Genesis sound, but mostly dulled and dumbed down. This album mostly ranges from the forgettable (Turn It on Again, Man of Our Times) to the cringeworthy (Misunderstanding -- not the worst song Genesis ever wrote, that would be I Can't Dance or Invisible Touch in my opinion. but maybe the biggest sell-out). Behind the Lines is a fine rock song, but lacks an instrumental part, though it segues into Dutchess which starts out as an instrumental. It's a rather minimalist one, though, a pretty good listen, but nothing special. Heathaze is another pretty tune, gently sung by Collins, but again, nothing special. Finally, after almost a whole album of this bland mediocrity, we get the excellent throwback instrumental of Duke's Travels, which recalls Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers/In That Quiet Earth in the way it starts with a slow, ethereal intro which segues into a fast, intense section with lots of virtuosity on display. It's really a poor man's version, though, if you compare the two back-to-back, but it's the best we get here. Finally, we finish with an instrumental wrap-up that combines the Behind the Lines and Turn It on Again themes without adding anything new or exciting. I'm going to have to give this one 3 stars on the strength of Duke's Travels alone, but it's a low 3, and not even my favorite 80's Genesis.