Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (angra1)

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:35:07 GMT

can't believe my participation in this one was absent. Maybe I meant to, but it got buried and I never got around to it.

Not my favorite, but I still would regard this as being without flaw. The solo at the end of TCS is a top 5 Genesis moment for me and many others. EPPING FOREST may be one of the most underated Gabriel pieces..it's very epic in it's theme maybe more so than it's length and being somewhat of a *suite*..parts of it remind me a bit of The Beatles "Rocky Racoon" at least in how narrative and character-driven Gabriel gets. Also how he says "You are a robbing hood" of course the Robin Hood character hits my brain.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (romdrums)

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:51:25 GMT

Damn, talk about some bumpage. Funnily enough I was just reading the new Genesis book Chapter and Verse today, and was reading the section on Selling England. May have to pull this album out over the weekend. And since we're on the subject, I picked up the Live Over Europe album, and while the key changes are a little annoying, it's worth it to hear them tear through the Cinema Show keyboard solo again. I was getting misty eyed in the car on the way home from Best Buy, because this just had to be the first thing I played from the album.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (DT/Rush fan)

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:32:20 GMT

There are still a couple of Genesis cd's that I need to pick up but of all the ones I have this is my favorite. Great album all the way through.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (the musta)

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:20:32 GMT

2 YEAR BUMP just to say....

THIS IS THE GREATEST ALBUM EVER.

carry on now.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (drumline067I)

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 00:27:25 GMT

One of my favorite prog albums of all time, and it was the album to finally get me into Genesis. I had Foxtrot for a few weeks, and didn't really dig into it too much except for Watcher Of The Skies and Supper's Ready. Once I picked up Selling England By The Pound, I began to see the wonder that is Genesis. The album blew me fuckin away. After that I went and listened back to Foxtrot, and "got" the rest of it.

Some of my favorite moments are in Firth Of Fifth especially around the middle of the tune with PG's flute part, and then Steve Hackett's solo at the end. Just pure magic. And of course I can't forget The Cinema Show, particularily the 7/8 instrumental section.

There's plenty more, but most of you have already said them all. This is one killer album, and in my top 5 of all time.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (romdrums)

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 00:25:20 GMT

ORIGINAL: Flabergastedtony

ORIGINAL: Flabergastedtony

Best. Album. Ever.

I'd like to add:

The Cinema Show: Best. Song. Ever.

I'd like to add:

In. Total. Agreement.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (Flabergastedtony)

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 00:19:01 GMT

ORIGINAL: Flabergastedtony

Best. Album. Ever.

I'd like to add:

The Cinema Show: Best. Song. Ever.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (SteveJohnson)

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 00:16:26 GMT

As usual, it's all been said before I got here.

I don't think this is as good as Foxtrot, but it's still a very fine album indeed.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (Salmacis)

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 23:04:55 GMT

unless Sal you found documentation stating otherwise, on that tour, the piano intro was always played (and the only tour on top of it)

No, not always. But yes, it was the only tour where he played it.

Interestingly enough, on the remaster, the lyrics for The Reverend section appear as the lyrics for After the Ordeal. WTF?

One of several crucial errors in the printing on the remasters. Rutherford's writing credit being omitted from "Ripples" is a big one. To him, anyway.

"Ordeal" Same comment as "more fool me". And I agree Banks playing is amazing on this one

That's funny, considering Banks referred to his playing on "Ordeal" as "atrocious". I like the song a lot, myself.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (Boromir the Third)

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 22:10:58 GMT

There's also the thing about his setup. Something like that, I don't remember quite well...

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (internalexile)

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 22:05:46 GMT

ORIGINAL: Boromir the Third

About Firth's intro - nope. Tony played it a few times and once he fucked it so much that he decided to never play it again. Ever.

I have to admit I'm surprise. Cause the bootleg I have from the Roxy is in 1973 (around October or November if I remember correctly) and the one in Montreal was recorded April 1974 and both of them have the piano intro. I was sure Tony played it during the whole tour.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (Boromir the Third)

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 21:29:22 GMT

About Firth's intro - nope. Tony played it a few times and once he fucked it so much that he decided to never play it again. Ever.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (internalexile)

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 21:24:49 GMT

I mentionned very often on this forum that "the lamb" is my fav album of all times but SEBTP is definitely in my top 5. Although I prefer "the lamb" has a whole (concept album, the story, etc...) I think that from a "song" approach, "Selling" is superior.

"Dancing", Firth and Cinema are part of my 25 songs of all times. Even after almost 30 years of listening to this album, those 3 songs still give me shivers down my spine.

ORIGINAL: romdrums

This album is damn near perfection.

Rom, you have to explain to me what is missing

"Dancing" is incredible live but I don't really like the version on Archives vol 1, I don't understand why the ending section is missing and for me it's a complete turn off. The versions on Live at the Roxy and Live in Montreal are far superior IMO. Banks mellotron sound is amazing.

"Firth", well pretty much everything has been said so far. The only thing I could add is even if I enjoy the live versions of this song, for me the studio one is unbeatable. I have a hard time explaining my toughts exactly but it's like the studio version, there is a "softness" during the instrumental section that you don't find live (especially during Gabriel's flute solo and Hackett solo). Sorry I don't have another word that comes into mind than "softness", I know, I'm not making any sense. Archives vol 1 - why the hell they cut the piano introduction? unless Sal you found documentation stating otherwise, on that tour, the piano intro was always played (and the only tour on top of it)

I think "more fool me" is very well place and appropriate. It kinda gives a break between the very emotional "Firth" and the very complex "Battle".

ORIGINAL: romdrums

Interestingly enough, on the remaster, the lyrics for The Reverend section appear as the lyrics for After the Ordeal. WTF?

Yeap, always told myself the same thing WTF?

"Ordeal" Same comment as "more fool me". And I agree Banks playing is amazing on this one (well like a lot of other songs but anyway). Oh by the way, I have always prefered Banks playing to Emerson playing but that's just my opinion.

"Cinema". One of my friend said that he saw an interview (around 82 or 83) with Gabriel and one of the comments was that his lyrics never talked about love especially sex. Gabriel said on the contrary, often he talks about it even in the Genesis days (supposedly this is the interview that inspired Sledgehammer - which is clearly a sex song). That's a first thing, second, when you listened to bootlegs of the "selling" tour, PG introduce the song and talks about Romeo taking Juliette in the obscurity of a cinema. Supposedly, the instrumental section would represent them making love, Sal did you ever saw documentation on this ? I know I never seen anything personnaly.

ORIGINAL: romdrums

OMG! ANUTHER 8V NUGGET!!!

Ah ah.........good one.

ORIGINAL: romdrums
One of the things I noticed about this album is PG's brilliant flute work. He seems to pick the absolute right moments to bring it in, and it always works perfectly. I think that's one of the things Genesis missed after he left.

I agree 300%, Can you imagine PG's flute on songs like "mad man moon", "ripples", "one for the vine", etc.............

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (Boromir the Third)

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 20:10:07 GMT

Duke? WTF? That's certainly one of their best ever... ouch.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (romdrums)

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 19:56:35 GMT

The Genesis book I have lets a little too much of the author's bias in. He really slags on Genesis, And Then There Were Three, Duke and Invisible Touch, and even Lamb and Selling England to an extent. I think his bias towards the Gabriel era is a little too obvious, and it is quite clear to me that Foxtrot is his fave. I don't mind objective view points, but I think he gets a little too subjective. In case you were wondering, it's Robin Platt's Genesis:Inside and Out.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (Salmacis)

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 19:51:03 GMT

Got it from Ebay - it is looooong out of print. From 1984, the entire thing is quotes from the band - nothing else. And almost all of them are different to what I've read a zillion times elsewhere. Also, tons of killer pics!! Pretty thin book overall, I wish there was more to it, but what is there is just awesome. A huge find for me to add to my collection.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (romdrums)

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 19:45:53 GMT

Where did you find that book, Sal? That's the stuff I want to read more about!!

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (Salmacis)

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 19:44:02 GMT

OK romdrums, you're baiting me for more quotes aren't you?

STEVE: I managed to develop my style throughout the course of the album even though my marriage was about to break up. The band was my lifeline. I never felt closer to the band than I felt then. Genesis was my relief from the very difficult domestic trauma that I was going through.

STEVE: Phil and I were frankly more earthy than the others. I always thought that Mike had an amazing sense of humor, he aoften used to have me in stitches. I think I had the most respect for Tony, which didn't necessarily mean that we saw eye to eye on everything - in fact, far from it. There were a lot of clashes, and a lot of times when I used to feel that everybody else was wrong. They were just a bunch of toughs with a veneer of respectability. They really were very tough and single minded about what they did. A lot of people bit the dust along the way, but, I really do think, in hindsight, it was just too bad. The end justified the means. I can't remember ever really unburdening myself emotionally to the other guys because there was always too much at stake. This is something that has a lot to do with success and, in particular, with combined success. You are, by necessity, helping each other, but you are competing with each other as well. The competitive element had the negative side effect of allowing many things to go unsaid. And I suddenly realized that the only way to survive was by being self-sufficient emotionally. I began to keep myself to myself; although we'd hang out together every day and laugh and joke, I'd keep my innermost feelings hidden.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (romdrums)

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 19:29:24 GMT

ORIGINAL: Shadowfax

Not much to say that hasn't already been said about this fantastic album.
Absolutely brilliant, and one of if not THE defining album of the genre.

Like I said, this album and Close to the Edge=prog rock perfection.

In re-reading Sal's post, and reading in other books about Genesis, it seems to me that Peter and Tony were the ones in control during this time period, or at least the greatest push and pull was between these two. In terms of the Genesis hierarchy, it seemed to go: Banks, Gabriel, Rutherford, Collins, Hackett. Even though he was in the band for six years, it seems like Hackett was always the odd man out in a lot of ways. He strikes me as having the hardest time getting material through the machine. Interestingly enough, Selling England seems to be one of the albums where he was able to get a lot of material through. Little wonder, then, that this is Hackett's favorite Genesis album. I'd have to agree with him.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (BrickGlass)

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 19:00:34 GMT

Moonlit Knight is probably my favorite song by these guys and England is definitely my favorite album. Cinema Show is such a great song as is Firth of Fifth. There is just a quality to this album that sets it apart from so many albums out of that era. There are a handul of albums that define 70's prog and this is one of them.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (Shadowfax)

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 12:00:24 GMT

Not much to say that hasn't already been said about this fantastic album.
Absolutely brilliant, and one of if not THE defining album of the genre.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (Boromir the Third)

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 11:02:49 GMT

Another word on The Cinema Show...

It slays as a part of the In the Cage Medley. The Mama tour version (thanks to the ones who uploaded the video that time ) is goddamned tight! Such amount of energy, the passion, the arrangement itself... I'd sell my organs to see them live.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (HomerJ)

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 09:31:38 GMT

Selling England by the Pound is my favorite Genesis album.

...it's the time of your life." That line from Dancing in the Moonlit Knight gives me shivers.

The Cinema Show gives me shivers from start to finish.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (MusicTriviaNut)

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 09:27:31 GMT

ORIGINAL: romdrums

ORIGINAL: MusicTriviaNut

ORIGINAL: MusicTriviaNut

This is one that I've had on vinyl for years, but never listened to. I'm definitely going to have to put it on and read what everybody's said.

Wow! That's about it. Why the hell wasn't I listening to this stuff a long, long time ago?

Yeah, especially when you had it on vinyl!!

I don't remember if it came from my mother's collection or if I got it at a used record store, but I got a bunch of classic Genesis albums all at the same time and just filed them away for some reason. They're definitely going to get heavy rotation with these discussions.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (romdrums)

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 02:23:07 GMT

ORIGINAL: MusicTriviaNut

ORIGINAL: MusicTriviaNut

This is one that I've had on vinyl for years, but never listened to. I'm definitely going to have to put it on and read what everybody's said.

Wow! That's about it. Why the hell wasn't I listening to this stuff a long, long time ago?

Yeah, especially when you had it on vinyl!!

Another comment on The Cinema Show. I'm really impressed with how the 7/8 section works in the more pastoral setting of the album, and in it's more amped up form on Seconds Out and Three Sides Live. I get the goose bumps either way. I also like how, on the Three Sides Live version, they throw in the keyboard lines from Riding the Scree, especially when Phil does those roundhouse fills. Beautiful.

By the way, Sal, great post. You struck gold with that one!

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (Boromir the Third)

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 23:23:32 GMT

Dunno, but the instrumental section [or ending, if you want to call it that] of The Cinema Show is one of the best things ever done in music. And that's a fact.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (MusicTriviaNut)

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 23:19:54 GMT

ORIGINAL: MusicTriviaNut

This is one that I've had on vinyl for years, but never listened to. I'm definitely going to have to put it on and read what everybody's said.

Wow! That's about it. Why the hell wasn't I listening to this stuff a long, long time ago?

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (DarrylRevok)

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 22:08:02 GMT

ORIGINAL: romdrums
The end of this song is my all time favorite Genesis moment. Born out of a Banks-Collins-Rutherford jam, this section is absolute genius. I could go on for hours and hours about how brilliant the closing section of The Cinema Show is, but I'll just let the music speak for itself.

The album could just consist of that 4 minutes and it'd still be the best Genesis album (and best 70's prog rock album, for that matter) ever.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (MusicTriviaNut)

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 19:59:28 GMT

This is one that I've had on vinyl for years, but never listened to. I'm definitely going to have to put it on and read what everybody's said.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (matcesa)

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 19:47:16 GMT

My fav Genesis album and one of my very favs EVER. Nothing left to say, this is a rock milestone.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (acquiredtaste7)

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 19:21:38 GMT

My favorite Genesis album. I just love the whole mood of this record, and it's got so many amazing melodies that stick with you long after the disk stops playing. The lyrics are great and often hilarious.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (Flabergastedtony)

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 17:59:14 GMT

Best. Album. Ever.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (circus_brimstone)

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 17:39:00 GMT

Worlds better than the sloppy, uneven "Foxtrot" (let the fans sing the praises of Supper's Ready, but I can take it or leave it), this is the album where the best elements and song-writing of Genesis came together. I even love the Phil track at the end of Side One "More Fool Me", which comes off as rather sweet and innocent, if a bit of a harbinger warning of the 80's horrors to come. Steve Hackett plays some of his best stuff here, like the guitar solo on Dancing w/ the Moonlit Knight and especially Firth of Fifth. Also one of their best epics, if not THE best one, The Cinema Show. Altogether a very focused and essential work.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (GPH)

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 17:04:15 GMT

SEbtP is my favorite Genesis album and probably my all-time favorite album.

This was my introduction to prog music along with Harmonium's Si on Avait Besoin d'Une CinquiÃ¨me Saison and I can't think of anything bad to say about it. For me, this is where Genesis reached their carreer peak: all the musicians have their shining spots here and the tracks are beautifully well constructed and structured.

There are too many good moments to enumerate, but here are my favorites:

"There's a fat old lady outside the saloon..." with the mellotron in the background .
Firth of Fifth piano intro reprise with full band kicking in, succeeded by the best Hackett's guitar solo and awesome bass pedals.
"In with a left hook is the Bethnal Green Butcher..." I just love the English accent with cool keyboard and bass in the background.
7/8 keyboard solo in Cinema Show...

Finally, you NEED to see this live by The Musical Box to appreciate the perfection of the album.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (Tormentadrummer)

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 16:47:14 GMT

DWTMK, firth of fifth and Cinema Show are my 3 favourite songs from this album, which is an absolute classic.
Firth of Fifth is the only Genesis song "Tormenta" ever tried to cover, & it sounds quite good with a melodic female vocal, but the middle-section guitar solo is the RoXxxor!

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (Salmacis)

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 16:22:31 GMT

An awe-inspiring album. One of the ultimate defining prog albums. One of their few albums with no real 'centerpiece' cut. Between "Moonlit Knight", "Firth" and "Cinema Show", there is no clear winner. Other albums have their "Supper's Ready"s and their "Musical Box"es, but this one is just rock solid from beginning to end, with the notable exception of "Epping", which I like but is the obvious weak spot due to what has already been stated:

The band members usually cringe when talking about this song, feeling that all of the instruments are battling each other for the primary focus of the song.

Actually, the band really likes the instrumental of this, I've never heard them say anything negative about the music. Banks has said he loved Pete's lyrics, but the problem is the two of them do not blend. The problem was, they didn't have time to work it out properly before recording it. I've always found it strange that they played it for the full tour. Pete wore a nylon stocking over his head! One listen to the Selling England studio sessions will convince anybody that the band is right: the song was amazing as an instrumental, especially the slightly slower version they were jamming in the studio. Phil rules! I highly recommend any version of those sessions to you guys - so cool to hear them jamming, talking, arguing (Phil telling Pete to "settle down!" when he is trying to come up with parts of "Epping"), etc...

Here are a couple of neat quotes from my "Book Of Genesis" (I had to type these in, or else I'd post more):

PHIL: 'The Battle Of Epping Forest' just has too many words per minute. If we had worked on the lyrics beforehand, or if there'd been a melody to start with, we could have said "Hang on, we'll take a breather here." As it is, you end up having to take the record off to have a burst of oxygen before you can listen to the next track! It literally left Pete out of breath on stage quite regularly; although he did sing it with a stocking over his head - which didn't help matters!

PETER: I really got carried away with the lyrics for 'Battle Of Epping Forest'. I enjoyed writing them, but they didn't fir the music and by that point it was too late in the day. What happened was that I insisted on doing most of the words as I thought I could do them better than the others - which, I think, was true. The problem was that I was incredibly slow, so that, often, by the time they saw the lyrics, they would have done their parts. The backing tracks would be complete but there were no melodies and no words.

...anyway, on to "Firth". This is an incredible song (and yeah, Banks' lyrics are a little whacked on this one. Undinal??), and to me contains the ultimate moment in Genesis' entire history (I know there are a lot, but this one is THE ultimate moment): Steve's solo during the middle section. When they played in live on the Wind & Wuthering tour in '77, with Phil & Chester bashing away, and Mike's chest-rumbling bass pedals, and the 747 landing lights cascading down on them - THE BEST GENESIS MOMENT EVER.

I've always loved Banks' intro to the song too, which he only did on one leg of the tour. He has said that he "kept quiet" about that solo because that sort of thing was 'frowned upon'. Not sure exactly who he means, whether it was band members or just the public in general.

"Moonlit Knight" is another favorite of mine, just a cracking intro to the album! I'd love to cover this song. I think that if DT were to cover this album, I'd be in my glory. And it would be SO cool to hear James start off a song finally! Just have him walk on the stage and start singing "Can you tell me where my country lies...." - WOW that would be awesome.

Here's more tidbits, this time about IKWIL:

TONY: It came from a riff that Steve had been playing for years. We just jammed on it for hours during some of the better days when making this album. I think the day it really took off was when I was playing the fuzz electric piano and the organ. The electric piano was slightly out of tune with the organ, and the effect was just amazing. Pete was making funny noises into a mike, and we were working out a melody line for the verse.

STEVE: It was a riff that I'd been playing with Phil, right back at the time of 'Foxtrot' (*), which the rest of the band felt was too Beatle-ish. We just kept on playing it and it became 'I Know What I Like'. We used to joke about it as our hit single. Everyone used to say "Oh, pass the hit single please, will you." We sat around and Pete & Phil jammed a vocal which developed from something on the guitar, and it was transformed from something which sounded a little too much like The Beatles to something which sounded a lot like Genesis. It became the first little bit of plastic which got anywhere in the charts.

(*) - Sal's note: "Firth" was also batted around during the Foxtrot sessions but Phil wanted to rework it so it was shelved until Selling England.

OK, one last one from this time period, I'm getting all typed out. (See what I do for you guys? ) - This is just one I thought you'd find interesting:

PETER: Tony and I knew each other very well by now, and were a combination of the best of friends and worst enemies. Like any long-term relationship, as with a married couple for instance, you get to know each others' Achilles' heel. You turn the screw and you know exactly how to pulverise the opposition. He was slightly better at it than me largely because he had a better defense mechanism. It was all part and parcel of our relationship, which included moments that were really positive and good.

I felt very easy with Phil. There were times at some gigs when we used to go into a room to get away from it all and sit down together at a piano. My piano playing was humble, and at that point, Phil's was even more humble. We used to sing with each other and get into grooves. He was very much into an American style of singing, a soft Richie Havens - the type of singing that you can still hear in some of his songs today. My style was quite different, a sort of weird English thing - the way I sounded on 'Willow Farm' in the middle of 'Supper's Ready' or 'Harold The Barrel' or whatever.

They were great moments. I think we would both fantasise then about making music on our own, or doing things together.

I felt that Mike and I could talk things through and change positions or at least admit to being seen to change positions. Tony was more insecure in some ways, and could not be seen to let go of what he'd originally argued for. This is what really interests me when I see other bands - their internal structure. It's interesting to observe any group of people that are functioning as a collaborative team on a creative project as there's always an immense amount of ego manipulation.

Phil could be a terrible coward. I had originally asserted a lot of influence over the choice of a new drummer and, at the time, i felt that I got a sort of soul brother int he band, in terms of feel. When there were arguments, I would look to Phil, as I thought that he would be in support of what I was saying, and he would sit on the fence, and refuse to budge. Other times, when he was basically in support of Tony's position and opposed to me, he would still be afraid of committing himself.

Tony was always the most difficult about having his stuff rejected. We'd all submit bits, and people would only like a certain number of them. After he'd stormed out of the room twice, you didn't want another major explosion from him, so you'd say "OK Tony, let's go with that."

Then Phil would have to work very hard to try and loosen up Tony's stuff. Mike's stuff tended - and my stuff too, I think - to have more feel to it. But Tony used to come up with great melodies.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (opethlord)

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 16:06:16 GMT

This is far and away one of the top three prog rock albums of the seventies. And I like The lamb even better. Awesome band.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (romdrums)

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 15:41:50 GMT

Cinema Show : the song that convinced me that Genesis was the ultimate prog rock act. The instru section in 7/8 : OMG !!!! The melodical developpements, the arrangements, the build-ups....we could go for HOURS about this one. Tony Banks OWNS. Simply put. This song is the archetype of a progressive rock song. It has it all.

I'd just like to add that Tony's use of the mellotron on the end of this song is absolutely perfect, and sends chills down my spine. Those chords are among the most beautiful chord progressions I've ever heard. Ranks up there with And You And I, Watcher of the Skies, and In the Court of the Crimson King as best use of a mellotron ever. I think this album will be coming to work with me this afternoon.

RE: Genesis Album Discussion Thread Volume 6: Selling England By the Pound (megadtsbfan)

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 12:59:10 GMT

Definitely one of my alltime favorite albums. So much so that I can remember where I was when I first heard it. Sitting in my college dorm room back in the winter of 1985 after I borrowed it from classmate down the hall. I wish I could go back and experience it again for the first time. Songs like DWTMLK, Firth Of Fifth and Cinema Show, simply amazing!