Big Ears

Apologies. I've been away from my computer and broadband. Feel free to carry on without me and I'll catch up. I like the Grammar Police badge, by the way. How do we sign up?

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My Journal: Rabbiting On

Trollheart

What is it with you and Captain bloody Beyond?

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Unknown Soldier

Great band and I know you don't like them

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

Yeah I have to say, listened to that Armageddon album and it was kind of deja vu with the Captain. But that's only the first listen and I wasn't really paying full attention. Maybe after a few more I'll change my mind. I can hear something in there I like, just not sure it's enough to make me like the whole thing. I shall return!

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Big Ears

1. What were your VERY FIRST impressions on listening to the album, say from the first five minutes in?

Classic-era progressive rock albums can be relied upon for their distinctive intros: Pink Floyd famously used a heartbeat sound effect to open the overture, Speak to Me, of their best-selling The Dark of the Moon; In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson launches into their most dramatic track, 21st Century Schizoid Man, after Ian McDonald's quiet and eerie reeds intro; ELP's Tarkus fades in on a single note from Keith Emerson's Hammond organ, on a piece appropriately entitled Eruption; and engineer Eddie Offord reversed a tape recording of a piano chord to give Yes's then best known song, Roundabout, its memorable intro on their breakthrough album, Fragile. Dancing With the Moonlit Night gives Selling England by the Pound an equally distinctive and particularly unique introduction to a progressive rock album, with Peter Gabriel's traditional unaccompanied folk-music delivery of, "'Can you tell me where my country lies?' said the unifaun to his true love's eyes." There are also times when Gabriel sounds like the quivering Roger Chapman.

2. What did you think of the opening tracks?

By two-and-a-half minutes, Dancing With the Moonlit Night becomes a riff-based hard rock track, consisting of Tony Banks's synthesizer, Steve Hackett's ahead-of-its-time tapping guitar technique and an eight-piece choir. The song is as close as the album gets to a title track, with its reference to, 'Selling [and digesting] England by the pound.' Puns in the lyrics include, 'Knights of the Green Shield stamp and shout.' Green Shield stamps were part of a supermarket and petrol station loyalty scheme, which one collected, stuck in a book and after many years of collecting, traded for a stainless steel teapot or some such household goods. Green Shield eventually became the Argos catalogue store. Another pun, 'Chewing through your Wimpey dreams,' refers to the, then exotic, food outlets which were opening in central London in the seventies. The track closes on a quiet coda of Banks' masterful mellotron, guitar and flute.

I Know What I Like has a lawnmower sound effect, bongos, surreal lyrics and Beatles-style guitar in combination with a catchy chorus and strong melody driven by Mike Rutherford's Rickenbacker bass. By Genesis's standards the song is commercial to the point that it gave them their first hit single, but semi-spoken references to a first person lawnmower are typical Gabriel eccentricity. It was a perplexing piece when heard on BBC Radio One 247 MW, but now forms a familiar and consolidating part of the album. Track 3, Firth of Fifth, has a Tony Banks's piano intro, which, on an ELP album, would be a Keith Emerson piano movement, that evolves into a slightly sinister marching vocal that cleverly matches the lyrical description of a journey through the English countryside or British landscape. The title is a play on words, as the Firth of Forth is the estuary or 'firth' of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea. Ignore any media criticism of the lyrics - they are wrong. Banks's acoustic piano returns, before a lengthy instrumental of sythesizer, mellotron and Steve Hackett's guitar, which, while sounding a bit like early King Crimson, formed the template for many copyists, including Rush and Marillion.

3. What did you think of the later tracks?

According to the liner notes, The Battle of Epping Forest was inspired by a news story about two rival gangs' territorial battles in the East End of London. Peter Gabriel uses different voices for the various characters in order to tell the story, a device which he had used previously, although the band later claimed that on this occasion he used too many. Certainly they are a distraction from the lyrics and chord changes. Nevertheless, The Battle of Epping Forest is choc-full of ideas. It starts with a military flute and snare drum intro, then develops a dramatic vocal with chunky bass and barroom piano before the aforementioned voices. Banks adds Keith Emerson-style trumpet synthesizer and bubbling organ sounds, while Hackett's open chords pre-date Gordon Giltrap. The latter's closing guitar was later emulated by Steve Howe for Yes's Going For the One re-union.

Cinema Show tells a story like The Beatles' Eleanor Rigby, 'Home from work our Juliet clears her morning meal/ She dabs her skin with pretty smells concealing to appeal/ I will make my bed, she said, but turned to go/ Can she be late for her cinema show?'. As with the Fab Four, few concessions are made in the lyrics to Americanisms, 'Romeo locks his basement flat/ And scurries up the stair/ With head held high and floral tie/ A weekend millionaire.' Father Tiresias is a classical figure who spent time living as a woman, and is a further inspiration from the band's Charterhouse education. Gentle instrumentation, led by acoustic guitar and flute, develops into a beautifully melancholic melody. Many successful bands have lifted ideas from Cinema Show, but none twist and turn on a theme like Genesis. Tony Banks's bubbling ARP solo moves to the fore, similarly to Gabriel's voice on I Know What I Like. Phil Collins's drumming and percussion is superb throughout. The entire track is complex and mellifluous, without any histrionics, and ends on a fading guitar. Seventies progressive rock albums usually had their epic track and Cinema Show is Selling England by the Pound's, in accomplishment if not length.

4. Did you like the vocalist? Hate him/her? Any impressions?

Peter Gabriel is a key part of Genesis. When he left, the band were over as far as I was concerned. Despite the presence of Steve Hackett, I did not like Trick of the Tail at all. When Hackett departed and they became a pop group I was completely disinterested. Phil Collins sings lead on

Phil Collins takes lead vocals on More Fool Me (written by him with Mike Rutherford) and is one of only two songs from the Gabriel era to feature Collins on lead vocals (the other being For Absent Friends from Nursery Cryme). The song foretells Collins's solo career and recalls the Spitting Image 'my wife's left me' satire, in that it is about a man whose 'lady' leaves him. More Fool Me is unusual for Gabriel-era Genesis, or any other seventies progressive rock band, in that it is a love song. In hindsight, the melody is not a million miles from Rutherford's own commercially melodic outlet, Mike and the Mechanics.

5. Did the music (only) generally appeal to you, or not?

Steve Hackett's folk guitar introduces his own After the Ordeal, the inclusion of which, according to some sources, was opposed by Banks and Gabriel. It is ironic as Hackett's folk inclinations mirror Gabriel's own and Banks adds a beautiful synthesizer solo. Such disputes with Banks, with whom he worked so well, led to Hackett's departure, spelling the end of their progressive era and ushering in the pop music phase of the eighties. Cinema Show

6. Did the album get better or worse as you listened to it (first time)?

Every time I listen to Selling England by the Pound it gets better.

7. What did you think of the lyrical content?

Tony Banks said they did not know much about love at the time, so they relied on classical influences from their education. Some of the lyrics are characteristically eccentric as on I Know What I Like.

8. Did you like the instrumental parts?

Phil Collins's drumming and percussion are excellent throughout. Mike Rutherford's bass playing is either indistinct, as was so often the case, or it drives the material. Steve Hackett's guitar is excellent as always, but is in the shadow of Tony Banks's outstanding keyboard work. Despite his colleagues' contrbutions and future fame, Selling England by the Pound is Tony Banks's album. His subtle, but never overlooked, and accomplished keyboard playing is constantly emotional, melodic and inspired. Paradoxically, Selling England by the Pound is not 'just' a considerable achievement from Genesis, but is also Tony Banks's finest moment.

9. What did you think of the production?

The production is like that of a folk-rock album. Sometimes Peter Gabriel's vocals and Tony Banks's keyboards sound as if they were recorded separately on louder equipment.

10. How well do you already know the band/artist?

The Peter Gabriel era Genesis were one of the first progressive rock bands I heard, particularly on Nursery Cryme. The Carpet Crawlers was one of the first singles I bought, although not the first, and when I got a CD player, Nursery Cryme was one of the first albums I bought on CD.

11. What sub-genre, if any, would you assign this music to?

Progressive rock.

12. On repeated listens, did you find you liked the album more, or less?

Definitely more.

13. What would you class as your favourite track, if you have one?

I like everything but Cinema Show is possibly my favourite track. The first three tracks are all strong and I have a soft spot for the flawed The Battle of Epping Forest.

14. And the one you liked least?

There is nothing that I do not like, but I am biased against More Fool Me, which predicts Phil Collins's future solo work.

15. Did the fact that this album is a debut/sophomore/middle period or later period allow it, in your mind, any leeway, and if so, was that decision justified or vindicated?

The album is part of their classic period with Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett. It is great, but the fantastic The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway was yet to come.

16. Are you now looking forward to hearing other albums by the band/artist?

I listened again to Trick of the Tail and still feel disappointed.

17. Did you get, thematically, the idea behind the album if there was one?

The concept is revealed through various puns and references, but is never explicit.

18. Did the album end well?

Aislre of Plenty is a short track which serves to make puns from a number of supermarkets, such as Fine Fare, Safeway, Tesco and the Co-operative, as well as references to products like Peek Freans biscuits, Fairy Liquid detergent, Anchor butter and Birds Eye frozen food. Motifs are repeated, so it forms a bookend.

19. Do you see any way the album could have been improved?

In a word, no.

20. Do you think the album hung together well, ie was a fully cohesive unit, or was it a bit hit-and-miss?

The album is cohesive, despite the critics' comments on The Battle of Epping Forest and After the Ordeal (which are incorrect and nonsense repectively). Selling England by the Pound was not Genesis's best album, but it was strong and ironically sold well, while, as I have said, the intense epic The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway was to follow.

Overall Album Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

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My Journal: Rabbiting On

Unknown Soldier

I'm thinking that this thread needs to be more user friendly not just to us few on here at the moment, but also for any newbies that come here. The problem is not the concept of the club but its execution. Firstly the review system we use is time consuming and should be revamped. How about we just listen to the suggested album and give it a mark out of ten and just a few lines that just take a few minutes to write, instead of the long drawn out process that we have at the moment. That way it becomes a burden to no-one and will be much more fun to use. Therefore we would go through a huge amount of albums a lot quicker.

If this method were used, we could even come up with the novel idea of listening to whole band discographies, or sections of it and hold debates about albums and bands that are quick, interactive and just take a few minutes to write about.

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Metal Wars

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Anteater

Completely agree with all of this. I think we've spent enough time with the current review system to determine whether or not its ultimately that effective...and I have to say I think we need to rethink it or seriously simplify the structure.

Personally, I think reviews should be structured in 3-4 paragraphs like so:

Paragraph 1: Your initial impressions of an album, singer, the songwriting, etc. If the album has any personal meaning to you, you'd talk about it here.

Paragraph 2: Analysis of album/songs. You can break it down song-by-song or just analyze it generally. This would include lyrical/thematic things you notice, production, interesting song features, etc.

Paragraph 3: Conclusion. What kind of impression did the album leave on you? Would you look into other albums by the same artist? How could the album have been improved, etc. etc.

And then, of course, your 1-10 rating.

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Anteater's 21 Fav Albums Of 2020

Anteater's Daily Tune Roulette

Big Ears

I'm confused, so I posted my comments on Armageddon as a review in my journal. My feeling, for what it's worth, is that people should comment on an album in a way that suits them, but it's not my thread so what do we do?

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My Journal: Rabbiting On

Anteater

I'm going to do a review of Armageddon here in my suggested format tomorrow (or possibly tonight) and see how it looks. Others can follow suit if they'd like.

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Anteater's 21 Fav Albums Of 2020

Anteater's Daily Tune Roulette

Unknown Soldier

You can do it how you want, but the idea was to take the burden from those in doing large reviews into a more simpler and quicker form.

Also post your journal entry for it here as well.

I'll try this format as well this week/weekend.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History