SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND. (Genesis)

DANCING WITH THE MOONLIT KNIGHT.

Selling England by the Pound was released in 1973. Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, Phil Collins, and Steve Hackett play on the album. Dancing with the Moonlit Knight opens with a voice that is initially given plenty of space. As the band grows, that space transforms into an expansive musical scene. English imagery runs throughout the record, but the instruments make their own movements within that environment.

FIRTH OF FIFTH AND MORE FOOL ME.

I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) offers a more compact, recognizable entry point. Firth of Fifth then gives ample space to piano, keyboards, and guitar. A melodic line can be taken over by different instruments, receiving a different emphasis each time. More Fool Me, sung by Collins, then opts for a smaller scale. That difference is important: the album does not need to be grandiose at every moment to maintain its cohesion.

A SECOND HALF FULL OF CHANGE.

The Battle of Epping Forest allows Gabriel's narrative voice to open up a busy world of characters. After the Ordeal is instrumental and shifts the relationship between the words and the music. The Cinema Show has time for a long, extended movement in which the interplay carries the tension. Aisle of Plenty concludes the record, completing the original eight tracks. Listen to that short finale as part of the journey, not as a remnant following the major pieces.

SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND ON VINYL.

The linked product page lists a single-LP edition. The digital Spotify version contains the eight original tracks in a remastered edition. The physical pressing has its own product specifications. The Genesis Artist Story connects the record to Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, and the later chapter in which Collins became the lead singer.