Genesis – Selling England By The Pound

Recorded in August 1973 — the tour for Foxtrot (1972) having ended in May of that year — Genesis’ members joined for a short time to write new material which covered a number of themes, including the loss of English folk culture and an increased American influence. Hence the inspiration for the title Selling England by the Pound.

Several tracks from the album became fan favorites and were featured as a regular part of the band’s live setlist well into the 1980s. “I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe),” was released in February 1974 and became the band’s first Top 30 hit in the U.K. In 2012, the album ranked seventh in Rolling Stone’s “Readers’ Poll: Your Favorite Prog Rock Albums of All Time.” Selling England by the Pound reached No. 3 on the U.K. charts and No. 70 on the U.S. Billboard Pop Albums chart.

AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that Genesis hadn’t sacrificed its newfound immediacy of Foxtrot with that album’s follow-up. They found ways to infuse with the delicate whimsy that was their calling card since the group began.

“This, combined with many overt literary allusions — the Tolkeinisms of the title of ‘The Battle of Epping Forest’ only being the most apparent — gives this album a storybook quality. It plays as a collection of short stories, fables, and fairy tales, and it is also a rock record, which naturally makes it quite extraordinary as a collection, but also as a set of individual songs. Genesis has never been as direct as they’ve been on the fanciful yet hook-driven ‘I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)’ — apart from the fluttering flutes in the fade-out, it could easily be mistaken for a glam single — or as achingly fragile as on ‘More Fool Me,’ sung by Phil Collins. It’s this delicate balance and how the album showcases the band’s narrative force on a small scale as well as large that makes this their arguable high-water mark.”