Apparently, American journalists criticised Selling England by the Pound for being too British, which is a bit like criticising The Beach Boys for being too Californian. I like all those little references to supermarkets, in the same way I liked Alice Cooper's references to Kresges and Woolworths, even though we don't have Kresges in the UK. I do remember being a bit perplexed when I Know What I Like became a hit single, without being typical of the band or overtly commercial. People who bought the single were confused by the album, but for progressive rock fans the album was an intricate and detailed piece of work. In a way, this unpredictability was typical of Genesis at the time. Later they released The Carpet Crawlers, amidst plenty of hype, but its curious vocal arrangement was not for the single-buying public.
Something that puzzles me is how the band split after the next album and continued with more straightforward lyrics and vocals. Yet, Peter Gabriel never again used the device of singing in the role of various characters as on The Battle of Epping Forest. His solo style was initially more akin to the single version of I Know What I Like. Either way, I did not care for Genesis without Gabriel, or, for that matter, Gabriel without Genesis (despite the presence of Larry Fast and Tony Levin).
They made some strange decisions in their time. They would not recruit Chester Thompson during the Ray Wilson era, so he never worked for them again.
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