Genesis – Release date research: Selling England By The Pound – report

About finding the right publication date

In the fourth part of our series on Genesis album release dates, we look at Selling England By The Pound and focus on the UK release.

As usual, the first thing we look at is the Wikipedia articles. In the German Wikipedia portal, the article on the album itself gives 12 October as the release date, while the general article on Genesis gives 6 October. And indeed, the 12th is a Friday, which is the day of the week on which albums have long been released in the UK. The 6th of October, on the other hand, is a Saturday. The English Wikipedia does not currently give a specific date, only October. Apparently, the 13th of October (also a Saturday) was also under discussion for a long time.

Mic Smith also addressed the release date of Selling England By The Pound in his series Get’em Out By Friday Genesis: The Official Release Dates 1968-78, arriving at a significantly earlier date, namely 28 September 1973.

So we plunged back into our research. And indeed, more and more interesting evidence came to light. But this yielded rather mixed results.

Preface

At the end of July (Melody Maker, 28 July 1973) and beginning of September (Sounds, 1 September 1973), music magazines reported on preparations for a new Genesis tour in October and on rehearsals and recordings for a new album. I Know What I Like was announced as the first single from the album (Genesis Battle Against Forest And Fire, Sounds, 1 September 1973). On 1 September 1973, the front page of Sounds also featured the following:

“The album [?] will be [?] released by Charisma at the beginning of October.”

On 8 September 1973, Sounds magazine also writes ‘GENESIS TOUR IS CONFIRMED’. According to the article, a 15-day UK tour is set to begin on 5 October in Glasgow.

The same article also announces the new album. ‘The band’s new, as yet untitled album will be released by Charisma to coincide with the tour and has been provisionally announced for 21 January [probably meant to be September].’ Disc magazine also reports on 15 September that the new album is scheduled for Friday, 21 September 1973, and should be released in time for the tour.

The release

However, Selling England By The Pound is still not released on 21 September. Advertisements in Melody Maker and New Musical Express on 22 September still state: ‘NEW GENESIS Out October 5th’ and ‘New Album Out Soon’ respectively.

On 29 September 1973, things got serious. Various music magazines (Melody Maker, NME) ran large advertisements announcing: ‘NEW ALBUM OUT NOW’. At the same time, album reviews appeared in NME and Sounds. Everything pointed to a release date of 28 September. Why else would the advertisements and reports have been published?

But now it gets paradoxical. In the same issue of Melody Maker (29 September), a retailer (Simons) writes ‘Out very soon’. Another retailer (Virgin) has a banner in its advertisement announcing: New Genesis Album Out 5 October.

Mic Smith ultimately takes the following article from the NME dated 6 October (‘Nationwide Gig Guide’) as definitive proof that the album was already released on 28 September 1973. It states the following: Genesis, whose new album Selling England By The Pound was released on Friday, will kick off their 14-day UK tour in Glasgow tomorrow (Friday).

The NME article was published on 4 October 1973, a Thursday. This can only mean that it refers to the Friday before, i.e. 28 September, correct?

To reinforce his argument, Mic Smith had previously used an illustration from Music Scene (a monthly magazine) from December 1973, which also lists the release date in the charts: 28 September 1973.

However, the January 1974 issue of the same magazine lists 29 September 1973. Was this a typo? But was the album really released on 28 September?

The first doubts arise, because the 6 October issue of Sounds only now features an advertisement with ‘Out Now’, even though the same magazine had published a review on 29 September. The Virgin advertisement in Melody Maker on 6 October also has a banner again, this time also with ‘Out Now’. In addition, the album can also be found in the ‘Just Out’ section. And the retailer Simons now stocks the album as standard. The retailer ‘Express Record Service’ has even listed the album as ‘New releases to come’.

So was the album released on 5 October 1973 or even later?

Perhaps the entry into the chart by Selling provides the answer. This took place on 20 October 1973, 22 days after 28 September and 15 days after 5 October. Which naturally raises the question of whether the entry into the chart could have taken place after just 14 days.

Of interest here is an essay by Mic Smith in his Get’em Out By Friday Genesis: The Official Release Dates 1968-78. It deals with the relationship between releases and chart entries.

Accordingly, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway was the first Genesis album to enter the charts within 15 days. This was achieved by all albums between 1976 and 1978 with one exception.

However, Mic Smith may be mistaken about Selling England, or he may not have had access to the retailer advertisements. The following evidence could prove this:

The article ‘Selling records by the pound’ in Disc magazine from 10 November 1973 is particularly interesting. Among other things, it deals with the Shepperton film and features an interview with Peter Gabriel. The following statement is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but certainly has a basis in reality:

‘The band’s latest album, Selling England By The Pound, was already high in the LP charts before its release, and their recent UK tour was almost sold out.’

The actual sales figures could also be another indication of this.

While Foxtrot sold 225,500 units, Selling England has already sold 825,000 units (Wikipedia). However, there is no reliable evidence for the actual sales figures.

Finally, we come to the Chris Briggs collection from Charisma 1974. This was sold as a ‘tour book’ during the Selling England tour. It is structured like a press kit, but it is an official Charisma creation (Genesis Museum). The album is listed there with Oktober. Incidentally, Briggs was Charisma’s press spokesman at the time.

An article in Record Mirror from 15 March 1980, which lists all Genesis albums again, also has ‘October 1973’ as the date and seems to support 5 October 1973. Finally, there are more album reviews, e.g. in Record Mirror (13 October) and Melody Maker (20 October 1973).

All in all

In 1972/1973, Genesis was mainly known for its fantastic live shows. So it was only logical that the new album and the upcoming tour should be timed to coincide, so that fans who attended the shows would also buy the album. However, this did not mean, nor was it planned, that the album should be released on the day of the first show.

The fact is that the release was originally planned for 21 September. The tour was supposed to start on 5 October. In any case, the album was not released in the UK on Friday, 21 September, nor was it released on 12 October, as chart entry after a week is illusory. There are some indications pointing to 28 September, such as the first reviews, which appeared on 29 September. However, this is not clear. They could also have been written based on advance copies.

There is actually quite a bit more to suggest 5 October. For one thing, there are the two advertisements from Virgin (22 and 29 September 1973). They already list the new album for pre-order and name 5 October as the release date. An advertisement from another retailer also supports 5 October 1973.

Advance sales also seem to be important in terms of Selling’s chart entry. Disc Magazine wrote on 10 November: ‘The band’s latest album Selling was way up in the LP chart almost before it was released’ – a possible explanation for the early chart entry, just two weeks after release?

It should also be mentioned here that the sales figures for Selling England were many times higher than those for Foxtrot. This also suggests that it entered the charts earlier than after three weeks.

Finally, there is the Chris Briggs collection, which was available on the following tour, as well as the article in Record Mirror from 15 March 1980, both of which refer to October.

We therefore consider 5 October 1973 to be the probable release date of Selling England By The Pound. Perhaps a contemporary witness or new evidence could remove the last doubts.

Authors: Peter Schütz/Alex Sturm

Links:
Release Date research Nursery Cryme
Release Date research Foxtrot
Release Date research The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway