Selling England by the Pound by Genesis

Selling England by the Pound, Genesis's fifth studio album, came out on Charisma in October 1973, with John Burns producing, and it's the art-rock quintet at full, eccentric bloom. Recorded in August 1973 after the Foxtrot tour, with only a short window set aside for writing, it mourns a vanishing English folk culture and frets about American influence creeping in, the whole idea wrapped up in the title.

Peter Gabriel sings, Tony Banks lays down the keyboards, Mike Rutherford covers bass and guitar, Steve Hackett adds guitar, and Phil Collins drums. The songs sprawl and twist, pastoral one moment and grandiose the next, and "Firth of Fifth" is the track that found its way onto the countdowns. It went to number three in the UK and gave them their first top 30 single, "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)", in February 1974. Critics and even the band have been mixed on it, but its standing has only grown, and it has gone gold on both sides of the Atlantic.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.