Selling England By The Pound  by Genesis

Immediately after the successful release of Foxtrot and the equally successful—and exhausting—promotional tour of the album, Charisma Records pressured Genesis to release another album. Under these conditions, Genesis entered the studio in August 1973 and in no time had a new work ready, called Selling England By The Pound. The producer of the album was John Burns.

The title of the album was a caustic comment on the Americanization towards which England was heading at the time. Initially, the members of Genesis had no inspiration to write material. Compositions like I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe), Firth Of Fifth, and The Battle Of Epping Forest emerged from simple musical phrases played by Steven Hackett and the others expanded on them. The only one who was in shape was Peter Gabriel, who wrote the lyrics of the songs in two days. The cover of the album was a work by artist Betty Swanwick titled "The Dream".

Genesis themselves, as well as music critics, were not too enthusiastic about the album. However, the public had a different opinion. A tour followed where the band's fans received them with enthusiasm. Selling England By The Pound reached Number 3 in Great Britain. In the USA, it had a moderate reception with the album reaching up to Number 70 on the Billboard, but over the years it managed, with 500,000 sales, to become gold.