SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND

I am giving this a 5, even though the numbers say otherwise for the simple reason that no one is expecting albums to be perfect, and that one song IS perfect, and two more are 5-star all the way through, thus making the album essential.

Despite two relative throwaways, 45 out of 53 minutes of this album are gold; 34 minutes are deserted-island-worthy:

The opening track (Knight) is a thriller, beginning with a soft but unforgettsble midieval melody, which soon slightly changes scenery as a riff, tempo and light drums are established, and the sound slowly gains depth as vocals and a cool kind of string sound in the background come into the mix. The song reaches a climax at 2 minutes, and after, a bit of grandeosity, the tempo quickens twofold and the song becomes completely original. At this point, Phil Collins is at his best (possibly only rivaled by his performance in Los Endos), and the strumming of that guitar mixed with a rich bass sound makes for an ideal atmosphere. As this middle section reaches its climax, Tony Banks's awesome Hammond T-102 organ, which is about the coolest sounding thing in the universe, becomes a shining demonstration of perfection in sound. After a versed climax and another versed climax, same as the first in the song, the song becomes drums, organ, and synth in a wierd and intricate series of complex chord changes, ultimately leading into a softer mood and a final plucked loop that completes this song in a Layla-esque bore,exept no drums ore rock of any kind but it works better because of the theme. 5-stars

Wardrone is fun and surreal, but has a nice greenish atmosphere. Its an interesting eccentricity. 4-stars

Not much to say about Firth of Fifth. What can I say? Its a masterpiece. An amazing piano riff becomes an amazing chord progression (with that awesome organ), which then becomes a little flute-piano fest, which becomes the initial riff in sinth form with awesome organ accompaniment, which becomes an almost spacy 3-chord instrumental passage, going from psychedelia in minor to a beutiful scene in major, which then transforms back into phase 2, and ends! 5-stars!!!

MFM=pointless.1-star!!! tle of Epping Forest is wierd. Its good moments (Anything not involving a cockney accent or chords other than B-major) are sweet, but everywhweer else its a little talky and disjointed/uncomfortable. A hesitant 4-stars because od good instrumentation, and Gabriel is a card.

AtO is an example of instrumental soft rock with midieval overtones and prog atmosphere. 3-stars.

Cinema Show is wonderful, with the exception of their choice of synth sound. But I love Phil's performance at the 7/4 section of the song. What begins as a Shakesperian romance becomes a lovely instrumental, taking everything from Knight and prog-o- tizing it still further, with more dramatic, complex beat, and more chords, leading into the next track after a synth-filled while. 5- stars.

A. of P. is a bookend, with the same theme as Knight. Therefore, automatic 5-stars.

Taking a weighted average (with percentage of the whole album in terms of time), we have: 5*0.15+4*0.075+5*0.18+1*0.05+4*.0.21+3*0.075+5*0.20+5*0.03=4.3

...but screw math.