SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND

What to say? To write about the value of Selling England By The Pound is as superfluous as to write about the brilliance of Mozart and Beethoven. Or ingenuity of Leonardo and Einstein. If there is a perfect reason why I like progressive rock music then it is Genesis' Selling England By The Pound. This album has everything - an excellent balance between music and poetry, powerful and dynamic playing and epic depiction, notes which provoke the deepest sentiments and those inducing laughter. Even a hit - the irresistible I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) - a link between older and newer Genesis music. If Selling England By The Pound had been constituted by The Cinema Show, with the rest of the material with average quality, or by Firth of Fifth and a couple of passable songs - it would have still been an unforgettable album. Four years after their first release, the Genesis' five definitely reached the peak of their artistic and musical skillfulness. This fact plus a sort of unexplainable inspiration - that was the formula of magic beauty and attractiveness of this album. My personal jewel within the album is The Battle of Epping Forrest. It is probably the most English song ever made in progressive rock. Nothing could be compared to the eleven minutes of almost continuous, full of unexpected alterations, singing-narration of Peter Gabriel telling us about the ways of solving disagreements "on a gangland boundary". Maybe Supper's Ready, but that is also sung by Gabriel. The part of the song when Peter sings: " ... When poor, 'twas salvation from door to door / But now with a pin-up guru every week / It was Love, Peace & Truth incorporated for all who seek", from my perspective, is probably the most freakish and the most exciting moment of the whole album. I recommend to all who like Selling England By The Pound to get its newest 2008. remastered edition - the excitement will be even bigger. And I think that all those who are fond of this album should put their signature on a petition to initiate Gabriel, Hackett, Collins, Rutherford and Banks to make a reunion tour in 2013. devoted to Selling England By The Pound, with the appropriate dvd as the final seal on their brilliant career in the seventies.