| Review by Electrical Radio July 5, 2010 (6 of 6 found this review helpful)
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This recording shows Genesis really bursting with creative energy. There are a few great tracks here, some near greats, and other pleasant efforts that are not so well remembered. The overall effect is quite exciting, however, and the record is quite unlike anything that came before. This is where Genesis honed their songwriting, producing effects like musical transitions between the parts of a song that were a step forward from the typically rough, jarring sound of earlier progressive rock songs with a multi-part structure. This is possibly the first album where musical themes were revisited in different songs on the same album (e.g. "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight" and "Aisle of Plenty"), although McCartney was working in that direction, too.
Appropriately, "Selling England" has an unusually long "making of" section, allowing each band member to recollect the writing and recording in considerable detail. There is also some rare and fascinating video of the band in concert, recorded on a movie soundstage before a live audience. Peter Gabriel appears as several characters that I only knew through still photos: there's the Old Man from "The Musical Box," the Lawnmower Guy from "I Know What I Like," and even the sinister Geometric Head Man from "Apocalypse in 9/8!"
Oh, yeah, the sound. My system includes a center channel speaker, but no sub-woofer. Impressive vocal clarity and warmth (on my Oppo SACD player anyway) for both Peter and Phil, sounding like what would have been heard in the control room moments after the play button was pushed. I don't know how they tamed the tape hiss common to recordings of this era, but it's eerily quiet, more like something done in 2003 than 1973. "Selling England" is famous for the use of the Moog bass pedal and it's very powerful here (pleasantly spine rattling) not only in the thrilling "Firth of Fifth," but also in their early hit "I Know What I Like." (I don't know how that gardener obtained such a high-powered lawnmower, maybe from NASA.) About the dynamic range-- the throttle back from complex instrumentals to a quiet vocal or an acoustic guitar in songs like "The Cinema Show" is quite amazing as well. Despite all the energy present, I never felt that Nick Davis' mix was overblown (and John Burns' original recording deserves a lot of credit as well).
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