SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND

Quite likely the best classic era effort of genesis. Not for the first time, the band pulls together and makes a cohesive album with a 'sound' that pervades throughout, and yet, each track stands out on its own as an enjoyable peice of music. well, almost all. The album opener, 'Dancing With The Moonlit Knight', 'Firth of Fifth', and 'Cinema Show' all share the same format, generally beginning each peice a singing section, and then finishing off the peice with an incredible instrumental (although 'Dancing..' and 'Firth..' both return to the lyrics breifly at the end, like a 'coda'). 'More Fool Me' and 'I Know What I Like..' have structures more that of an average song. The latter was an excellent choice for the single; It's a shame that the band didn't want to appear on Top of the Pops to promote it. (but then again if i was in a highly respected progressive act i wouldn't really want to appear on a show with 'pop' in the title either) 'The Battle of Epping Forest', well. I just don't like it, personally, and for me it lets the whole album down. It might just have been one of those ideas that didn't work as well in practice as well as it was thought in planning. Fortunatly, the album as a whole still stands up strong despite of this. 'After the Ordeal', a well crafted and enjoyable instrumental, and 'Aisle of Plenty', (both serve to join together the gaps in the concept of the album, musically as well as lyrically) the repition of the musical motif ('Dancing..','Cinema Show', 'Aisle of Plenty') helps to remind people that the album is meant to be a whole peice. I say this because most people, i think, when listning to classic genesis, listen to the music the first time around, and the lyrics don't really pervade the conciousness until later listens (unless you make a point to, of course). This is when, i think, most people realise that this album is a masterpeice, as an entire new layer opens up to you. Not even in 'The Lamb..' does genesis make it very obvious when an album is meant to be a concept, so if you're not particularly literate, you can still enjoy the album even if you never reach that moment of clarity. So, as a summary, yes, this was a good album for me, and yes i do think it is a masterpeice, and yes i do wholeheartedly reccommend it. You may even like '..Epping..', for all i know. Its a good album because you can enjoy it over and over again, and not many albums can do that.