SALE OF THE CENTURY
“Some people see this as a difficult album to make. I don’t particularly remember it being that way.”
Phil Collins
In late spring 1973, with a second American tour behind them, Genesis stopped performing live in order to concentrate on writing their fifth studio album. They rehearsed in the same two places they had used for Foxtrot: Una Billings School Of Dance in London’s Shepherd’s Bush, and a doctor’s house in Chessington. By the time August rolled round, the band were in the studio to record the album with the help of John Burns, the sound engineer who had worked with them on previous album Foxtrot and who was now promoted to co-producer.
As with previous albums, Genesis made use of some pre-existing ideas, which developed into more definitive versions in the rehearsal room. The continuous creative growth of the whole band was accompanied by their ability to improvise freely and intuitively. From a writing point of view, with the exception of Firth Of Fifth (Tony Banks) and More Fool Me (Mike Rutherford), all the other songs came about as a result of collective interaction between the whole band or units made up of at least two or three members. Set against the early parts of Dancing With The Moonlit Knight, written entirely by Peter Gabriel, is the collective instrumental section written mainly by Steve Hackett, Phil Collins and Tony. Steve wrote the underlying riff for I Know What I Like, but this was only shaped into a song thanks to Peter’s verse and Tony’s chorus. The Battle Of Epping Forest is a juxtaposition of Tony’s music (written with the help of Mike in the intermediate sections) and Peter’s expressive singing. After The Ordeal is an instrumental track written by Steve incorporating a section written by Mike, while The Cinema Show is divided into two sections: the first acoustic part was written by Mike, while the second electric part came about from a jamming session between Mike, Phil and Tony.
In terms of lyrics, however, Gabriel definitely had the upper hand. Besides the mellifluous love song More Fool Me, Tony and Mike worked together (without much success) on the lyrics for Firth Of Fifth and The Cinema Show, leaving their lead singer to write the words to Dancing With The Moonlit Knight, I Know What and , authentic works of genius and verbal agility. Gabriel’s lyrical prowess was head and shoulders above many of his contemporaries (and not just from within the band). Drawing his inspiration from things such as newspaper articles (as he had done previously with on ), his writing comes across as both refined and sophisticated. On Selling England By The Pound, the usual references to mythology and literature are relegated to a marginal role (albeit still present) in favour of historical references and social comment. In an intertwining and exquisitely English play on words, the lyrics form the framework of the most ‘British’ album Genesis ever wrote, thanks to the fantastic descriptive identity of the characters who would later be brought to life on stage.
