Just wanted to add my bit on 'Selling England by the Pound'. by Genesis
. Probably my favourite Genesis album Incorporating a brilliant album name, which seems relevant to this day, a reference to Green Shield Stamps,which for those of us of a certain age just brings a smile to the face....together with a fantastic nod to the violent gangland squabbles which used to be sorted out at Epping Forest during the 60s, appropriately followed by the stunning instrumental " After the ordeal " which depicts the weary troops staggering back home after the battle...brilliant, absolutely brilliant track.
Going back to 'The Battle' I will remember the immortal line" whose still not quite sure" and the hilarious reference to a vicar getting " excited " which somehow pops up in amongst the violent scenes.
The Cinema show is brilliant.
"More Fool me" with Collins lead vocal is definitely a sign of things to come.....although no one could have forseen Gabriel leaving at that time . I really like the cold bitterness of MFM , and ended up playing this track over and over again when a particular relationship of mine crashed and burned suddenly , and without warning decades ago. Funny how music helps keep you alive sometimes and personally, how the most un- Genesis like track of a brilliant album served it's purpose for me, 20 years after it's release.....strange
The album opens with the stunning Dancing with the Moonlight Knight, with the immortal opening line
" Can you tell me where my country lies ?" and from that point onwards, the listener is thrown headlong into a musical journey which a musician better than me is more suited to describe,( I can't play a note I'm afraid and wouldn't do it justice ...)
Finally as a Genesis fan who discovered this album around 15 years after it's release ,and did plenty of research on their back catalogue to see how they progressed from the late 60s onwards....a partc article in Record Collector magazine ( mid 80s) really brought home to me how the band were perceived in this country at that time..
Some of the bands rarest single releases were Italian and Spanish pic sleeve releases on 7" which soon became highly prized imports..,..in an interview with the band they described how back then , gigs were watched overseas by an appreciative audience who often sat down cross- legged, attentively soaking up the musically gifted bands performance......this was at complete odds with back in Britain where gigs were often done to a backdrop of drunken fights as the natives settled their grievances during ale house battles...again ,the battle of Epping Forest ...,right outside your door......quite.
A reminder perhaps, of the attrition that 3 day weeks, lighting strikes etc brought to a country ...which Green shield stamps only partly offset!!! . Folk often forget the violence of the times and 1973/74 was if course the season of Forest 4 City 1 and Utd O Ciy 1.....two games full of violence before and after...
A Fantastic album ,, a record of its times...