Gonna go legit try to like Abacab. Apparently my desire to **** on TH is greater than my desire to **** on Genesis.

Anyone know what ABACAB is in reference to?

Frownland’s Schoenberg-esque system of song cycles?

It is the form of the song, however the ditch that form as the song developed. btw Are you asking cause you seriously don't know or are you quizzing us?

Well that didn't work. After the first song it's a sleeping pill with synths so awful that the 80s almost came back to life to start a zombie apocalypse. And that solo section in the title track can still go **** itself. Tried Selling England by the Pound again just to see if my opinion had changed, and how can one band be so lame? So. ****ing. Lame.

No, I know.

No - know - cow - now- blow - slow - puff - fluff - sock - cock - green eggs and ham.

Yeah, I can't say I'm into Abacab all that much either. Sorry, Trolls.

Did y’all see the Black Mirror where Trolls gets stuck in a Plug simulation and the only thing on his playlist is ABACAB?

I love the Earth, Wind & Fire horn section on No Reply At All.

You likey?

I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. Oh, and I don't care.
But if it forces you to listen to Genesis, cool. I'll enjoy your pain.
Chord structure, innit?
I enjoyed your pain.
Why are you sorry? I don't like it. It's Nea you should (maybe) be apologising to. He thinks it's one of the best albums ever recorded! :rofl:
Also, this all proves my point that the only contribution Nea can make to a Genesis thread is, apparently, that one.
Now you're just trying to scare me.
Stranger things have happened. Nah.
One of the things I hate about it. Damn I hate that song.

See you get it. I don't know why Trolls don't get it. Paperlate is another great example.

Horns were always used in Rock and Roll. It's a carry over from Jazz. There were even bands based on horn players like Johnny Paris and Herb Alpert. I think the way the Beach Boys used a horn section set the tone for the 70s and 80s. I don't know why wait till Ababcab to start hating Genesis for using them.
Beach Boys - Darlin'

I guess it depends on the song really. One of my least favorite Beatles songs has been Got To Get You Into My Life because of the use of horns. It's not that I mind the use of horns in rock songs if done right, but Paul McCartney just isn't very good at doing white soul. My hangup with Phil Collins era Genesis is they became so commercial, especially as time went on. It has nothing to do with horns for me.

:rofl:

It's not a case of getting it. I just don't like it. I'm allowed not to like it. You don't like Waits but I don't constantly get on your case about it. I don't like that track and yeah, Paperlate is total **** paper too. Live with it; not everyone has the same opinion as you.

And now....

In an attempt to prevent this becoming the Abacab thread, or the Troll vs Nea Deathmatch, I'm going to be giving my thoughts on every Genesis album, in order, track by track. These will be seriously MINI-reviews: I already reviewed every single Genesis studio album in excruciating depth in my journal a few years back. If you want to read them, feel free. These are just to open up the thread a little. Back with the debut shortly.

Note: I'm only doing these albums as I know them, and that's mostly on vinyl so don't expect any bonus tracks. Any special editions or whatever released afterwards can **** right off. Also, all ratings of tracks here are relevant only to that album, so a 10 on one album doesn't mean it's as good as a 10 on another, and so on.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Revelation.jpg
From Genesis to Revelation (1969)
First off, as everyone knows (probably) I do not like this album much at all. It's much more a folk album than a prog one and though it does point the way - very vaguely - towards what Genesis would become, it's much more the next album that really shows what superstars these guys would become. More or less driven by Jonathan King to make this album, supposedly based on the Bible, though I've never seen it, the guys sound uncomfortable and stilted here, kind of caught between two worlds, and indeed, on the very cusp of a new decade. It speaks volumes that this is the only Genesis album I have to replay in order to write about it. I just don’t listen to it. Ever. With good reason.

Where the Sour Turns to Sweet
Very folk, very hippy, very Haight-Ashbury, the stupid finger clicking annoys me, the vocal is probably too soft and "peace man", but it's not the worst track on the album. Not by a long chalk. Still, it's an inauspicious beginning I feel.
5/10

In the Beginning
Opens like some sort of feedback experimental track or something but quickly turns into another hippy song with some really terrible production - sounds very hollow and echoey. Gabriel's voice is at least more forceful here and Rutherford's guitar gets a chance to do more than just play along and keep the beat. It's again not the worst song but it's far from the best on the album. At least (as I said in my main review) it has more teeth than the opener.
6/10

Fireside Song
My favourite track on the album. The gentle, strummed guitar, the strings backing (I know most people decry the use of the strings on the album as just another effort by King to mould it into what he wanted it to be, but here I think they work very well), the soft vocal totally suits this song. Extra points for the Tony Banks piano intro, presaging something we would all get used to and love on Genesis albums.
10/10

The Serpent
This is one of the songs I don’t like at all. It sounds to me like it doesn’t know what it wants to be, starting with a kind of rocky guitar and then becoming a sort of psych/blues thing, with galloping drums that suddenly and for no reason cut out completely. The choral vocals are very annoying too. I find Gabriel’s vocal fading in and out of the mix - not sure whether that’s his immaturity and inexperience at the time, or just bad production, but it’s very irritating. Get a kind of Moody Blues vibe from this. Really doesn’t work for me.
3/10

Am I Very Wrong
There are a few low-key ballads on the album, and in general, for me, they tend to work better than the more raucous rocky ones. In other words, at this time, Genesis come across better when they try to be hippies than when they attempt to be rockers. They’d come to understand this later, and with a very few exceptions you won’t find any wild guitar solos in Genesis songs. Another nice Banks intro, with some really nice acoustic guitar too, though the vocal harmonies are a little cringey. Gabriel is in his element here, and beginning to show what a vocal talent he would turn out to be.
7/10

In the Wilderness
Another favourite, this one opens with a Banks solo but soon kicks up, and Gabriel shows his range here. Again the strings do actually help here I find. There’s a great hook in the chorus, and you can hear the future echoes of “Visions of Angels” from the next album in certain passages. Even here, as far back as 1969, Genesis are already complaining about wallpaper music radio, in a way Queen would take up two decades later. Lovely piano outro completes the song.
9/10

The Conqueror
I think if I have to choose a least favourite song on the album it’s this one. I feel it’s way too harsh for the generally hippy/peace image they’re trying to present here, even though it borrows from the outro, which is quickly replaced by dark bass piano notes and becomes an uptempo pop song. It’s catchy, there’s no doubting that, but I just don’t like it. It could be any sixties band really. Again the vocal gets swamped by the music, again I don’t know if this is a production issue or not, but I would think it probably is. That guitar solo at the end is just so out of place!
4/10

In Hiding
Like something the Beach Boys or the Hollies might have recorded when it begins, but it slides into a decent ballad, again driven by Gabriel’s vocal prowess, and once again the strings really complement this song for me. It’s gentle, it’s pastoral, but it’s a little weak to say the least.
5/10

One Day
Another favourite, even if the lyric about a guy living in the wilderness with his lady love is barf-inducing, Gabriel makes it actually charming. A really good musical backdrop to the story, excellent work from Banks on the piano (either the budget only stretched to organ and piano for him, or he had only learned to play those two, and not the array of synths and other instruments he would later employ to create his sound: well, he was only seventeen at the time, remember!) and decent horns, which surprisingly really work well.
9/10

Window
Nice jangly guitar opening this, Anthony Phillips making his mark, and then it’s another soft ballad with Gabriel dialling down his voice to the barest murmur and still keeping, even commanding your attention. A simple song, but a really nice one. Horns and strings complete the musical landscape here.
8/10

In Limbo
One track where I feel the horns don’t work, and it’s too straight forward a pop song with nothing of the identity of even this Genesis in it. I feel Gabriel’s vocal is quite restrained and almost lost for much of this track. Too driven by the horns, not enough Banks piano and even the guitar is kind of just there.
4/10

The Silent Sun
I always find it odd that this was the track chosen as a single from this album. Not that it matters - it bombed of course. But if there’s a song that’s completely out of place here then for me this is it. The rhythm is weird - I almost expect to hear backing singers goin “bub-bub-bub-bub!” And from what I can remember (and have heard here) it’s the only song on which Genesis use that overused address, “baby”. Even the strings and the recalling of the main melody of “Fireside Song” can’t save this. Just a stupid and utterly pointless love song, an obvious attempt to write a hit single, which failed miserably. Terrible.
2/10

A Place To Call My Own
A nice coda to the album, bringing everything together under a soft, understated Banks piano line, a gentle vocal for Gabriel, and some last but relatively minimal strings. He instrumental, orchestral ending makes it, and actually does help point the way towards the direction on future albums, particularly Trespass.
7/10

Album rating: 3/10

I actually like From Genesis to Revelation and especially the Silent Sun. I'm not a deep prog person after King Crimson and Yes, so I like the shorter song structures on this album. I am looking forward to your thoughts on the next entries though. I also notice that a song I had on the album (it was a reissue obviously) is not on here and that is That's Me. That's probably my favorite from the sixties Genesis overall. I think that was actually a single they recorded in 1968 before the Revelation album.

Yeah it's on the reissue/extended/special edition/whatever, but as I said, **** that. I'm reviewing these as I've heard them. Trespass ends on "The Knife". Wind and Wuthering ends on "Afterglow". ...And Then There Were Three ends on "Follow You Follow Me". Anything else can go hang itself from the nearest lamppost. This is the music I grew up with and I won't be changing the format or lineup of any album to include bonus tracks that I don't have or have never heard. Sorry.

Don't be sorry. I didn't even know they had recorded an album in 1969 until I saw the reissue (American version I might add) at a record store. I also discovered the Gods (pre-Uriah Heep) the same way. Yeah, I don't include bonus tracks in my reviews either. I just wanted to point out how much I liked That's Me. Anyhow, carry on :).

I remember buying it thinking holy **** I missed an early genesis record and then being like ugh.

Pretty much my reaction too. Also, "Did I put on the right record?" :rolleyes:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Trespass70.jpg
Trespass (1970)

As I’ve said many times before, and it is true, it’s not just me who makes the claim, this is in reality the album that should be considered Genesis’s debut. Free of the controlling influence of future child molester Jonathan King, the band were able to flex their musical muscle, draw on their deep creativity and fashion a real masterpiece of progressive rock. The amount of tracks on it, compared to those on the “debut”, clearly shows that the old axiom holds true: quality over quantity.

Looking For Someone
Whether it’s meant as such or not, the opener places Gabriel square in the spotlight, front and centre and makes no bones about his being the bandleader, creative force and frontman of this fledgling group of (still) youngsters. His voice is the first sound we hear, before the droning organ of Tony Banks comes in, and when this time the track goes through changes, from pastoral gentle almost lullaby to hard rocker, it seems planned rather than forced. It’s never been my favourite track on the album but it’s a hell of a better opener than “Where the Sour Turns to Sweet”, that’s for sure.
8/10

White Mountain
A real tour-de-force, a favourite of mine, not only on the album but within Genesis’s discography, and an example of a true storyteller plying his art, as Gabriel narrates a tale about wolves, crowns and kings, treachery and betrayal and death, all against the backdrop of a snowy, wintry wilderness. There’s almost the beginnings of what could possibly be termed “doom prog” in this song, with dark, funereal marching drums in one section of the song, and some frenetic keyboard work by Banks, to say nothing of the sprinkly acoustic guitar layered over the tune by Rutherford and Phillips. As the narrator though, Gabriel holds court over all, and his impressive range is displayed to its fullest extent here.
10/10

Visions of Angels
And another standout. A ballad, but with a terribly bitter edge, as Gabriel doubts the existence of God (quite risque for the seventies I would have thought), or at least if there is one, if He cares about us - “I believe there never is an end/ God gave up this world, its people, long ago.” Just beautiful piano turning into angry, stabbed organ (ouch!) from Banks and again it’s a total masterpiece, one of the songs which helps elevate this album to the position of high regard it holds among fans, and certainly with me.
10/10

Stagnation
Another chance for Gabriel to get a bit manic with his vocals, and they undergo some sort of phasing effect I think during this song, which kind of puts me in mind of the voices of the Slippermen on The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. The refrain at the end is almost like a church organ, and I always thought he was singing the title, but he isn’t. Damn weird song when you look into the origins of the lyric, but I ain’t going into that here. Another virtually perfect piece.
10/10

Dusk
Without question, the quietest, most laid back and pastoral track on the album. Gabriel’s voice is at times almost inaudible as he appears to be humming nearly, and there are some lovely vocal harmonies. The music is to die for. I see Occult had this as or near his number one track, and I completely understand why. It really is a beautiful, understated, fragile masterpiece (sorry, I keep using that word, but it’s totally justified) of a song, and your last chance to relax before the final track hits.
10/10

The Knife
Anyone who says Genesis can’t rock needs to listen to this. Yes, it’s led by a keyboard-fest from Banks, bounces along like later Marillion’s “Market Square Heroes”, and tackles the subject of blindly following a charismatic leader, even if where he’s leading you is into Hell and to your own death, but it's a rocker for all that, and something we have, up to now, not really heard from this band. I would say it’s strange that this was released as a single, but I suppose it’s probably the only one of the album that lends itself to possible commercial appeal, if any do. It’s powerful, it’s energetic, it’s dark and it gives Gabriel the chance to play the mad megalomaniac. He must have loved it! A rip-roaring end to the album; you’re out of breath by the time the last stabbing keyboard chords and drumbeats pound out the finale.
9/10

Album Rating: 10/10

I totally understand not wanting to listen to any more Genesis than you absolutely have to.

lol

Do you also hate Yes?

I don't love them but I do like them. They can certainly be too noodly for their own good, but they're also far less lame and cringey. "South Side of the Sky" is hella sick nasty too.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...eryCryme71.jpg
Nursery Cryme (1971)

Although you would never associate Genesis with violent imagery or necessarily dark lyrical material, the cover on this, their third album, is pretty damn mature. I mean, look at it: it features a girl playing croquet with a severed head! Possibly the kind of cover that could be awarded the coveted “Parental Advisory” sticker these days, assuming nobody actually listened to the music! I initially thought this was a creation of Storm Thorgenson's Hipgnosis, with whom Genesis would be so deeply involved over their career, as with Pink Floyd, but no: it's by some guy called Anthony Whitehead, who did three covers for the guys, including the next one, one of their more famous.

This was the album of changes, in every way. Suffering from severe stagefright, founder member Anthony Phillips left the band, unable to tour, and was eventually replaced by Steve Hackett, making the band a five-piece again after briefly touring as a quartet, and Phil Collins came onboard as the new drummer, and sometime singer. A natural progression and evolution from Trespass, this album features less in the way of bitter anger and kind of up-themselves-ness, if you will, bringing in some lighthearted humour in some of the songs, and though three of the songs still tip the eight-minute scale (with the opener over ten), and though even that would be nothing compared to the epic which was to unfold on their next album, there are shorter, more simpler songs here too. So the balance is beginning to settle a little.


The Musical Box
The centrepiece of the album, and the song from which Whitehead took inspiration for the cover, this is an imaginary tale set in Victorian England, a kind of macabre fairytale melded with a steaming sexual yearning that was not present in the lyrics of any of the songs on Trespass (perhaps “Visions of Angels”, to a degree, but not like this). The addition of Hackett is immediately noticeable in the more intricate guitar parts, though most of it is driven by Rutherford's licks, and Genesis are clearly now working out how to start a song sedately and then blast it up to ten - “Dusk” married to “The Knife” perhaps. It's a long song, over ten minutes, that goes through many changes along the way, getting quite frenetic at times and then, just like “Stagnation” on the previous album, as it builds to a climax (pun intended: what do you mean, what pun?) it all slows right down again on Gabriel's soft vocal, which then rises amid Banks' marching keyboards, almost tubular bells-like, into a powerful and epic finish.

10/10

For Absent Friends
Genesis at their most simple, almost, but not quite, back to the days of the debut. This was the first attempt by Hackett to sell a song to the band, as it were, and to be fair I don't really like it. It's very Olde English, very much for those approaching older age (and at the time I got this I would have been in my teens or early twenties, so such things did not interest me) and it's, well, too simple. Kind of reminds me of Simon and Garfunkel's “Bookends” or something. Not a bad track though, and as time goes on I've come to appreciate it more, but still nowhere close to my favourite and actually probably my least favourite on the album. It does give Hackett a chance to be all introspective though, and yeah, it's the first time we hear Collins sing.

4/10

The Return of the Giant Hogweed
This is just a fun song. I don't care what anyone says about it being about some Russian weed that was brought to England in the Victorian era : if Gabriel has read Wyndham, this is based on his Day of the Triffids, if only slightly so. End of. It has some lovely marching organ in it, some clever lyrics and some great vocal performances, and it ends, again, on a big, almost doomy epic organ, swirling around as the nasty Hogweed plot to take over Earth. Where's that Weedol? :laughing:

6/10

(From here on in it's all gold)

Seven Stones
Not quite what you'd call a ballad, though a slower song, and to be honest I ain't got clue one what it's about, but it seems to have something to do with trust and betrayal, and people wanting something to believe, and not able to make decisions for themselves. It has a lovely sort of intro to the chorus where Gabriel just sings “ah ah ah ah ah ah” very softly. Nice song, with some really nice melodies.

7/10

Harold the Barrel
Oh God I love this song! Not only do the guys write what is essentially a comedy sketch to music, where poor Harold decides to end it all and we find him sitting on a roof with “the whole world below”, watching to see what will happen, but they poke gentle fun at the notion of suicide. This song features, for the first time I think in a Genesis song, a “cast of characters”, with “the man from the BBC”, Harold's mother, Mister Plod, the Mayor all being voiced and singing their parts as if this were a mini comic opera, which it kind of is. Very cockney, and the last line is very telling, when you consider where Harold is perched: “take a running jump!” followed by slowly descending and fading piano notes from Banks, which leave us in no doubt as to how the story has ended.

10/10

Harlequin
Just a lovely soothing ballad. Not a whole lot more to say. Beautiful vocal harmonies, lovely melody, nicely leads up to the epic closer.

8/10

The Fountain of Salmacis
One accusation that would be levelled at Genesis in the seventies was that they were upper class snobs, who wrote about things upper class snobs were interested in. Now, in the case of “Harold the Barrel” that clearly isn't true, but it's hard to really contest that view when you look at the lyrics and themes of the vast majority of this album, and certainly this song. I mean, who really knows their Greek Classical Mythology that well to know of Salmacis, the first hermaphrodite? Who even knows what a hermaphrodite is? (It's one with both male and female gentialia, so it can literally go **** itself! :laughing:) I was and am a big fan of all mythology (though I prefer Norse) and even I didn't know about this one. But the story is explained, and well, against a bouncy keyboard run from Banks, with Gabriel raising and lowering his voice in the persona of the nymph Salmacis who pursues the reluctant Hermaphroditus, eventually calling on the gods to meld them as one, so they may never be apart. The gods shrug, say, why not? Sounds like fun and there's nothing on the telly, and so it is done.

But the music itself is very classically-leaning too. Lots of powerful, epic rising keyboard, scintillating flute, lovely acoustic and twelve-string, and again we have a big breakout romp in the midsection to end on a reprise of the opening into an epic crescendo finale, a fantastic way to close the album, but a song which might leave your average Joe Sixpack or Eddie Punchclock wondering what the hell was all that about? Still, **** Joe Sixpack and Eddie Punchclock: let them listen to Madonna or Nickelback if they want simple. This, my friends, is real music, and it needs effort and attention to get the best out of it, which is probably why so many people revile Genesis.

Well, **** them, too. :)

Album Rating: 8/10

Well it's been awhile for this thread :laughing:

I'm looking forward to see what you think about Foxtrot. I bought that one in the cut-out bin when I was a teenager.

I first heard it second-hand on cassette and later mostly through the Seconds Out live album. That was when I fell in love with "Supper's Ready".

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped.../Foxtrot72.jpg
Foxtrot (1971)

Perhaps it might be hard to understand today, in this world of hit singles making an album, but back in the seventies it wasn't actually all that necessary to have a hit for your album to sell well. People bought albums, and played them through, and made their decision based on all the tracks (or most of them), not just what was played on the radio. So, while there were no hit singles at all from Genesis's fourth album, it nevertheless became their biggest commercial success to that point. Coupled with Peter Gabriel's deliberate publicity stunt, where he wore the red dress and a fox mask on stage in imitation of the cover of the album, Foxtrot assured Genesis of near-legendary status. Even now, it's still seen as one of the benchmark prog albums of the time. It certainly allowed Gabriel, and the others, the room and the opportunity to flex their musical and indeed songwriting muscle in a way they had never done before, culminating in the longest song they had ever written, which closes the album and would forever be their totem.

Watcher of the Skies
An epic, brooding opening to the album, I totally disagree with ex-producer Bob Potter's comment that the song would have been better off without the long mellotron intro; for me, that's what makes the song and it really shows Tony Banks at his finest until about “Firth of Fifth”, but more importantly, shows how well he used the mellotron to develop and expand on Genesis's sound. After this, the band would pretty much always be linked with that instrument, at least in the seventies. A powerful song, it sees things from the point of view of an alien who has come across a destroyed and empty Earth, and the keys and mellotron hammer out the theme to Man's extinction, his requiem, not quite a funeral march, as it's bouncy and upbeat (kind of in contrast to the lyric) but certainly fatalistic. A great call-and-response near the end and a punchy ending brings us right into one of Genesis's top albums with a top song. One of my very favourite of theirs.

10/10

Time Table
Like “For Absent Friends” on the previous album, this is my least favourite track on the album. One of Banks' solo efforts, it's really not that good, and has that gentle, lilting feeling from the debut that makes it not quite folk, but hardly prog. It's all right I suppose, but on a storming album like this it's very definitely the weak link. Meh. You can do so much better, Tony, and you will.

3/10

Get 'em Out by Friday
If “Harold the Barrel” was a mini comic opera, then this is the full thing, with script by Gabriel, a full cast of characters, a plot and a subplot, and some damn fine music. It's also quite humourous, as Gabriel announces “This is a message from Genetic Control: it is my sad duty to inform you of a four foot restriction on humanoid height!” Some lovely sweeping guitar music, a punchy opening that settles into a kind of almost waltz, a beautiful midsection and a story well told, if slightly farcical. The first, perhaps, Genesis song to tackle real-word problems such as unscrupulous landlords and the dwindling rights of tenants.

10/10

Can-Utility and the Coastliners
The first instance of Gabriel's clever usage of word play, where Can-Utilty refers to Canute, the king who supposedly tried to order the waves of the sea back, and the Coastliners would then be referring to that event Very medieval beginning, almost like a lute or something (presumably twelve-string though) and some boppy upbeat keyboard, with perhaps odd lyric but it kind of makes sense, and parallels have been drawn, whether correct or no, between the story of Canute and Gabriel's own dissatisfaction at the fawning sycophants that appear once fame beckons you. I particularly like the frenzied keyboard run that ends the song.

9/10

Horizons
One minute and thirty-nine seconds of pure bliss from Steve Hackett. Reserved, introspective and totally gorgeous. A chance to catch the breath, perhaps, before the massive epic comes to close out the album, but also the first real chance to appreciate properly how important this man was to Genesis, the classical and intricate touches he brought to the band, and what they lost when he departed in 1976. Just pure beauty, effortless and understated.
10/10

Supper's Ready
I can't be certain, but I believe this may be the first time a song of this length was attempted by any band, never mind a prog one. Probably wrong of course, but it certainly was the first time I heard what would come to be known as the progressive rock epic suite, and it absolutely floored me. Without question Genesis's most ambitious song ever, and it still remains so, “Supper's Ready” runs for a few seconds shy of twenty-three minutes, taking up almost the entire second side of the album. It's split into seven sections, each of which is very different and yet all of which meld together to become more than the sum of their parts. A quiet acoustic and mellow opening turns into bouncy rock, twenties ragtime almost, relaxed ambient/atmospheric, some incredible instrumental sections, amazing vocal gymnastics by Gabriel, and a pounding, literally apocalyptic ending. No surprise at all that this was, and remains, one of Genesis's most famous and favourite songs, and that it spawned so many imitations down the years. A truly staggering achievement, and a hell of a way to end the album.
10/10

Album Rating: 9/10

Troll, you should check out the song "The Great Nothing" off of the Spock's Beard album V.

In the "Supper's Ready" pantheon. Lyrics are definitely a nod to Kevin Gilbert, who worked with the band earlier in their career.
The last few verses bring me to tears every time.

Thanks man, I know the song. Really cool. I also enjoy "Flow" off The Kindness of Strangers.

Hell yeah! Remarkable band. I have a concert DVD and they nail it 100% live.

The vocals.......

I'm pretty sure both Yes's Close To The Edge and ELP's Tarkus beats Supper's Ready chronologically in regards to putting out epics. Great review though! Always been a Foxtrot fan here.

Interestingly enough, the longest song I could find pre-prog was this little 30 minute plus gem from Seventh Sons back in 1964.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ingEngland.jpg

Selling England By the Pound (1973)
Leaving aside the debut (which I always do anyway) this is the first contentious Genesis album for me. It's not that I don't like it – I do – but I don't get the almost worshipful praise it tends to get, both from fans and critics. It's almost always seen as the best Genesis album (a claim I hotly dispute) and usually ranks high in lists of top prog albums too, and I just don't understand. It's, to me, nowhere near as good as Wind and Wuthering or Trespass or A Trick of the Tail. I feel it has some good ideas, but a lot of poorly executed ones too, a lot of filler and doesn't gell well at all as a cohesive album, despite its having a theme running through it. It's let down by some very weak tracks and it's not an album I play much, if at all. Of course, it was the one to give Genesis their first hit single, so there is that, but even so, this tends to rank a lot lower on my own personal scale of favourite Genesis albums.

Dancing With the Moonlit Knight
Whether intentional or not, the opening of Selling England mimics that of Trespass, in that the first sound heard is Gabriel's unaccompanied voice for a few seconds, then the song settles into a kind of medieval mid-paced romp decrying the dilution of English values under the onslaught of American influences. The song features the title, there being no actual title track, and both the title and the lyric continue Gabriel's fascination with word play, the most obvious being “moonlit night” being turned to “moonlit knight”, and later in the song he references Green Shield Stamps, which those older and also not American may remember were little stamps given out when you got petrol. You collected them and for so many you could get, like maybe a hair dryer or a radio or something. It's a clever song, one of the better ones, and I do like it, particularly the almost fade/segue into the most famous track on the album.

10/10

I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)
The song that kind of unaccountably, to me, gave them a hit single, it's a gentle English pastoral poem featuring a lazy kid who'd rather listen to the birds as he snoozes in the garden than get a job. I have no real idea what it's about, and Gabriel's lyric is typically esoteric - “Getting better in your wardrobe/Stepping one beyond your show” (?) but it's a catchy tune and it works well. Also features the cleverly confusing line “Me? I'm just a lawn mower”, which makes you think that the protagonist is actually one of those Flymo things that people use for their gardens (well, I did, anyway) rather than someone who is mowing a lawn. Freaky, man! I do remember that there was a point when the song was to be on Top of the Pops and the band would not be there. There was no video, so they had the resident dance troupe interpret it. They clearly couldn't (who could?) and I recall one scene where some of them were literally dancing with clothes in a mock-up wardrobe, probably thinking, like us all, what the hell is this all meant to be about?

10/10

Firth of Fifth
More clever wordplay, this time by Tony Banks, who had been writing this song since the sessions for Foxtrot, and had actually hoped to have had the song included on that album, but had it rejected. So he worked on it more, and I don't know what the original was like but man is this a classic! Kicking off with a typically wonderful classical piano intro it then pounds into a slow, almost doomy heavy rock tune referencing gods and mythical beings, a long instrumental in the middle, and just when you think it will be all instrumental to the end there's one more verse, and then it tinkles away on soft piano as it began. Top class.

10/10

More Fool Me
A pointless little ballad, very much what we would come to see from Collins, and no surprise that he had a hand in writing this. It's also the second song on which he takes lead vocals. Reminds me of later “Many Too Many” from And Then There Were Three, but without the quiet passion of that song, and really more like something you might have expected to find ten years or so later on Face Value or Hello I Must Be Going. Very much one of the weaker tracks.

4/10

The Battle of Epping Forest
One of two tracks that push almost the twelve-minute mark, I've spoken before and at length about my dislike for this track. To me, it's the complete antithesis of Genesis, not what you'd expect from them, but unexpected in a bad not a good way. “Harold the Barrel” may have been them stepping out of the box a little on Nursery Cryme, but this is them kicking down the walls. It's clumsy, it's silly and it just seems totally inappropriate. The fictional account of an actual gang war, it tries to be funny but fails miserably, and the accents and voices used for the characters seem forced and stale. I won't go on: if you really want to read more of my ranting about this then check the full review in my journal. Here I'll just say, hands down, one of the worst Genesis songs ever written in my opinion.

1/10

After the Ordeal
Tony does his best to dispel the memory of Epping Forest with a nice little instrumental, but it will always be linked with that song in my mind, almost a coda or epilogue to it, and so I'll never truly be able to appreciate it on any other level. Pass.

4/10

The Cinema Show
After wobbling really badly since “Firth of Fifth”, the album finally rights itself in fine style with the second eleven-minute-plus track, more strange lyrics from this time Rutherford and Banks but some beautiful sound effects (check out the sound of wine pouring near the beginning), lovely choral vocals (probably made on the ARP Pro) and a lot of good changes. More mythology as Gabriel sings about Tiresias from Greek legend. Should have been a superb ending to a flawed album but ....

10/10

Aisle of Plenty
Nothing more than a reprise really of the opener, with Gabriel using the names of English supermarkets to make puns, in a way that, had he tried it today, probably would have landed him with several copyright lawsuits - “There's the safe way home” (Safeways), “Tess co-operates” (Tesco) while the title of the song, itself a pun, refers both to “isle of plenty” in a bitter saracastic description of England (“this sceptred isle”) and aisles in a supermarket. Clever, and bookends the album nicely, but ultimately I feel unnecessary.

5/10

Album Rating: 6/10

After I had made that comment I started thinking VDGG, and yes, of course, Pawn Hearts was released in 1971, and features "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers", which clocks in at 23 minutes. Still, very close...

And Yes (!) I forgot "Close to the Edge" (the suite) but still it's only (!) 18 minutes plus long. As for "Tarkus", only 20 minutes (nearly 21). So even chronologically and in terms of length, it seems Genesis still remain the first to achieve that milestone.