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A great track off a great album....
His voice is an acquired taste to be sure but it suits this lament and the instruments perfectly match the mood and theme.
I actually think Ant has the best range and most emotive singing voice of the four non-lead-vocalists who have sung on their solo albums (TB, SH, AP and MR).
And I agree, WATE is a great album. Over the many years, I've flip/flopped between Wise and Geese in citing my favourite of Ant's output.
I have read all the criticism. Of course, everybody is entitled to his/her own opinion. But something occurred to me. Maybe, just maybe those who criticize that song forget or overlook the fact that the song is about a battle. It only makes sense that it's too busy. A gang fight is supposed to be busy. And the words and the music do express perfectly how chaotic a battle actually is.
...
For me, no it's definitely not that and the suggestion doesn't really make any sense to me at all.
I think it makes complete sense for the artist to try to match the feel of the music with the lyrics.
There are plenty of songs about battles or fighting that have a highly frenetic quality.
A prime example is Gates of Delerium by Yes, which is thematically about war and peace, and has this stretch of musical madness that eventually winds down and brings the listener back to a place of serenity.
Do I believe Genesis had this approach in mind when they created TBOEF?
No, because from what I recall reading in Gallo's book, the band members concurred that the battle between the music and lyrics heard in this song was completely unintentional..
No, I didn't buy it, but that wasn't a result of disinterest.
I am actually very interested in getting the 2 CD set and I fully expect to find it wrapped under the tree on Christmas morning.
It was the top item on my Christmas wish list.
... Lots of tracks on a short album, I'm guessing some very short connecting instrumentals, which will leave a few longer tracks and that might mean we get some much needed light and shade and room to breathe. I just hope he takes a leaf out of his earlier books and allows for some natural sounding instrumentation, without clattery metally drums all over the place and the same keyboard wash with a few 'world' sounds flown in. This is a [good] chance to blend the best of his later stuff (rough and loud guitar shredding, good vocals and harmonies and some genuine incorporation of international music) with the best of his earlier music (contrasting dynamics, a romantic sweep, prog elements and ethereal passages with flutes and a sense of unhurried development). Oh and bit of mellotron wouldn't go amiss! ...
Steve should hire you to write promotional releases for him. 
While, I know it's just speculation and wishful thinking at this point, the prospect of an organic-sounding, electric album where concisely constructed tracks are broken up by brief interludes of acoustic guitar and flute would certainly raise my hopes for an album offering, as you put it, "much needed light and shade."
Nice to see some love being expressed for "Love To Be Loved," my favourite song on the album.
I concur with Willow, it is sort of a "hidden gem," frequently overshadowed by some of the other deservedly praised tracks like "Secret World," "Come Talk To Me" and "Digging In The Dirt."
The bombast of tunes like Deep In The Motherlode and The Lady Lies combined with the sweetness of Phil's voice, the captivating melodies and the floating ethereal quality of songs like Snowbound are what spurred me to want to explore this band further.
To this day, I regard Snowbound among the highlights of a great Genesis album.
I regard Still as one of Tony’s best solo albums, it has several of my favourite songs by him. But this hookless pop number is just not one of them.
Quite honestly, if I heard this track on the radio and didn’t know it was Tony Banks, I'd be switching the dial before it even got a third of the way through.
After Cured and Highly Strung, I didn’t really have an appetite for any offering that would have a similar sound. I was starting to question if I would continue blindly buying Steve’s albums as I had up to then.
Then somehow in that pre-internet era, I learned that Steve had just released an all-acoustic instrumental album. Well, I definitely had to get that one.
It was a very welcomed, organic change in direction and I took it in like a breath of fresh air. To this day it’s my favourite of the acoustic albums and easily among my Top 10 Hackett releases.
I was chatting to someone last night who turned out to a Genesis fan. His favourite album is ATTWT. I think it's a brilliant album but doesn't make my top four. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say it's their favourite.
It was my introduction to Genesis and for a while I cited it as my favourite, particularly early on when I had a small collection that included ATOTT, SEBTP and W&W.
I'm fairly certain the next one after that I got was Nursery Cryme and that's when ATTW3 was usurped and my rankings began to shift.
I’m glad to hear it’s going to be a two-disc CD set providing both mixes, thus eliminating the chance of a preferred mix being excluded.
Excellent news. It will serve as an early Christmas present to myself.
...Steve has been quoted as saying this is his best song, but I can't say I agree, not even in his best 20 IMO, but there you are.
That's interesting. i don't even think it's his best song on that album. I would award that to "Always Somewhere Else" which would easily make my Top 20.
... I just read this Quietus review of Waters's DSOTM 'redux' ...
This had me laughing out loud a couple of times.
Even though I’m a long-time Floyd fan, I’m unsympathetic to this reviewer’s target as Waters’ Stalinist rewriting of Floyd history irks me.
1. When did you buy Selling England By The Pound (or have received it as a gift)?
1979
2. How old were you when Selling England was released?
9
3. Was Selling England your first Genesis album? If not, how many Genesis albums did you own before getting Selling??
It was my 3rd. ATTW3 and ATOTT were my first two Genesis albums.
4. If you had to rank all Genesis albums, where does Selling England stand?
2nd
5. Which track was your favourite when you bought the album?
Cinema Show
6. Which track is your favourite today?
Hard to choose. It would be a toss-up between Firth Of Fifth and Cinema Show
7. Which track do you think is the best track on the record despite your own taste?
Dancing With The Moonlit Knight
8. How many versions of the album have you bought / owned? (Vinyl, CD, Remaster, Cassette, SACD etc)
Initially bought it on cassette, was given the vinyl by a brother who didn't like the album, and then eventually bought the CD
What do we think of the live versions of it? It's an odd one for me in that of course it's great seeing him do his classic first hit, everyone loves it, how can he not do it. But it's never anywhere near the equal of the original.
I love both the studio and virtually every live version I've ever heard though I particularly like the way it was performed from '78 to '83. During that stretch, it seemed, to my ears, it was performed more tightly and even that improvised bit at the end had a certain consistency to it that I liked.
The Procol band members who are scheduled to attend are from the band’s last album released in 2017. I suppose they’d be upstaged if any of the surviving classic members (Robin Trower, Matthew Fisher or Chris Copping) showed up – though I'm also mindful that those individuals are all in their late 70s so perhaps they have their reasons for not being there.
Sad to learn of the death of Geoffrey Davies, the suave Dick Stuart-Clark in the various versions of the 'Doctor' sitcom - Doctor In The House, Doctor On The Go, etc which those of us of a certain vintage will remember. Those series occupied most of the 70s for him and he's understandably well-remembered for them but he had an active career either side of that, mainly on TV and on stage.
Hadn't seen Doctor In The House or any of the other Doctor series on TV in decades (it aired here on public television in the 1970s and '80s) but I revisited several episodes of the first series on YouTube a few months ago. I don't recall seeing Davies in anything outside of the Doctor series but he was certainly memorable to me as both he and Ernest Clark played my favourite characters.
I'm sorry to learn of his passing.
I see it coming: At the end we will have a veritable war between the two camps...
Not unless we can convince the vast majority to come to the Dark Side.
The Force is strong here.
Procol Harum
Van Morrison
Big Big Train
The Rolling Stones
The Band/Robbie Robertson
I like it though it's a far cry from the dark, haunting or atmospheric tracks that cause goosebumps and typically give me the most pleasure in PG's music.
A 12 from me.
I'd say you'd be better with the digital source! Can't understand the vinyl obsession, there is no area in which it beats a decent digital source (eg/ CD which is 16/44, or other sources with higher numbers like Flac etc, which can go up to 24/96 if available. Even good mp3 like 256k/b or higher is better.)
People swear by them and claim vinyl albums have a warmer, fuller sound.
What stands out in my recollection of playing vinyl are the crackles, occasional skips and the sound of surface wear from albums played repeatedly.
I thought CDs were a blessing in comparison, and I haven’t moved on from that format - though I know most others have.