SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND

For a while, this album led the pack in the rankings of this website. I considered that very appropriate. Now there are two contenders placed higher: Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd) and Close To The Edge (Yes). I do think that these recordings are deserving of the highest honors and attention among lovers of progressive rock music. But the remarkable character of Selling England By The Pound, Genesis of the Gabriel era with all musicians performing at unheard of peaks, propels it, I think, beyond these other two fine albums.

Dancing with the Moonlit Knight - already unleashes the sirens.

I Know What I Like - introduces a playfulness - without loss of ernest - that few songs can achieve without being silly.

Firth of Fifth - is a timeless PROGRESSIVE MASTERPIECE. It doesn't get much better than this.

More Fool Me - Okay, I liked Phil back then. More fool me. Or was there a promise that rushed in on A Trick of the Tail, Wind And Wuthering, Duke and a few times more? Absolutely. Within the Genesis oevre, this Phil moment is a second mini-origin.

The Battle of Epping Forest - Is great fun. Gabriel's dialects and fanciful flights are ingenious. I remember reading that Tony Banks felt that there were too many words being sung for the intricately crafted music of this piece (or something like that). I don't find the piece overfrought with wordage, more like a stage performance of an epic event with a perfectly synchonised, driving, galloping soundtrack.

After The Ordeal - Is a beautiful instrumental. Entirely non-pretensious and wonderful.

The Cinema Show and Aisle Of Plenty - Here, the second PROGRESSIVE MASTERPIECE of this marvelous album. Everything comes together in this composition. All of the musicians with their respective sparks whip up fireworks. Gabriel and Collins in delightful unison. The blend into Aisle Of Plenty always halts my breath. Gabriel makes evident what the voice of a minstrel sorcerer can conjure: Visions of the market place of sound and possibilities, singing about selling by the pound - spiting the sell out with visual mimicry. Like that moment on Wish You Were Here: "... by the way, which one's Pink?" Those other two albums are truly great. But in my eyes, they do not manage to release the siren's cry as consistently, dramatically and musically brilliant as this singular album. So I'm hoping to see its rating boosted.