180 Gram Vinyl! One of the Greatest Albums of the Progressive Rock Genre! Featuring "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)"!
Selling England by the Pound is the fifth studio album by the progressive rock band Genesis, released on 12 October 1973 through Charisma Records (Europe) and Atlantic Records (United States), though still on the Charisma label initially. It followed Foxtrot and was the band's commercial peak at that time, reaching #3 in the UK where it remained on the charts for 21 weeks. The album went gold in the US in 1990, sixteen years after peaking at #70 on the Billboard 200. It was also a major breakthrough in terms of critical reception, and is considered one of the greatest albums of the progressive rock genre.
The album cover is a painting by Betty Swanwick called The Dream. The original painting did not feature a lawn mower; the band had Swanwick add it later as an allusion to the song "I Know What I Like."
"The band's commercial breakthrough, and the first to contain a hit single!... By this point Collins jazz-rock drumming was transforming their set pieces into much sprightlier offerings such as the second part to Cinema Show where Gabriels love of T S Eliot also comes to the fore. Its all much cleverer, and still manages not to be too overbearing, despite the use of words like undynal in Firth Of Fifth (the puns still kept coming). It also allowed Gabriel to don even more outrageous stage garb. Hacketts work on the latter is awesome, his sound now fully his own; a really rare feat in rock. Even Gabriels flute now sounded polished... It seemed that the world [was] now finally ready for Genesis." - Chris Jones, BBC Review, 2007
"Genesis hasn't sacrificed the newfound immediacy of Foxtrot: they've married it to their eccentricity, finding ways to infuse it into the delicate whimsy that's been their calling card since the beginning. This, combined with many overt literary allusions -- the Tolkeinisms of the title of "The Battle of Epping Forest" only being the most apparent -- gives this album a storybook quality. It plays as a collection of short stories, fables, and fairy tales, and it is also a rock record, which naturally makes it quite extraordinary as a collection, but also as a set of individual songs... [T]heir arguable high-water mark." - Stephen Thomas Erlewine, allmusic.com, Rated 5/5 Stars
Features:
180 Gram Vinyl
Made in England
Musicians:
Tony Banks, acoustic & electric pianos, organ, mellotron, synthesizers, twelve-string guitar
Phil Collins, drums, percussion, backing vocals, lead vocals on "More Fool Me"
Peter Gabriel, lead vocals, flute, oboe, percussion, additional backing vocals on "More Fool Me"
Steve Hackett, electric guitar, nylon guitar
Mike Rutherford, twelve-string guitar, bass guitar, electric sitar
Selections:
Side One:
1. Dancing With The Moonlit Knight
2. I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)
3. Firth Of Fifth
4. More Fool Me (vocals Phil)
Side Two:
1. The Battle Of Epping Forest
2. After The Ordeal
3. The Cinema Show
4. Aisle Of Plenty
Selling England by the Pound is the fifth studio album by the progressive rock band Genesis, released on 12 October 1973 through Charisma Records (Europe) and Atlantic Records (United States), though still on the Charisma label initially. It followed Foxtrot and was the band's commercial peak at that time, reaching #3 in the UK where it remained on the charts for 21 weeks. The album went gold in the US in 1990, sixteen years after peaking at #70 on the Billboard 200. It was also a major breakthrough in terms of critical reception, and is considered one of the greatest albums of the progressive rock genre.
The album cover is a painting by Betty Swanwick called The Dream. The original painting did not feature a lawn mower; the band had Swanwick add it later as an allusion to the song "I Know What I Like."
"The band's commercial breakthrough, and the first to contain a hit single!... By this point Collins jazz-rock drumming was transforming their set pieces into much sprightlier offerings such as the second part to Cinema Show where Gabriels love of T S Eliot also comes to the fore. Its all much cleverer, and still manages not to be too overbearing, despite the use of words like undynal in Firth Of Fifth (the puns still kept coming). It also allowed Gabriel to don even more outrageous stage garb. Hacketts work on the latter is awesome, his sound now fully his own; a really rare feat in rock. Even Gabriels flute now sounded polished... It seemed that the world [was] now finally ready for Genesis." - Chris Jones, BBC Review, 2007
"Genesis hasn't sacrificed the newfound immediacy of Foxtrot: they've married it to their eccentricity, finding ways to infuse it into the delicate whimsy that's been their calling card since the beginning. This, combined with many overt literary allusions -- the Tolkeinisms of the title of "The Battle of Epping Forest" only being the most apparent -- gives this album a storybook quality. It plays as a collection of short stories, fables, and fairy tales, and it is also a rock record, which naturally makes it quite extraordinary as a collection, but also as a set of individual songs... [T]heir arguable high-water mark." - Stephen Thomas Erlewine, allmusic.com, Rated 5/5 Stars
Features:
180 Gram Vinyl
Made in England
Musicians:
Tony Banks, acoustic & electric pianos, organ, mellotron, synthesizers, twelve-string guitar
Phil Collins, drums, percussion, backing vocals, lead vocals on "More Fool Me"
Peter Gabriel, lead vocals, flute, oboe, percussion, additional backing vocals on "More Fool Me"
Steve Hackett, electric guitar, nylon guitar
Mike Rutherford, twelve-string guitar, bass guitar, electric sitar
Selections:
Side One:
1. Dancing With The Moonlit Knight
2. I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)
3. Firth Of Fifth
4. More Fool Me (vocals Phil)
Side Two:
1. The Battle Of Epping Forest
2. After The Ordeal
3. The Cinema Show
4. Aisle Of Plenty
