Selling Lamb By The Pound - Genesis on CD Part Two. By Jonathan Dann.

Carrying on from where I left off last time, we come to the CD issue of Selling England by The Pound. Once again the quality on the CD is superb and it reveals several interesting things from the original album which were not perhaps as obvious when listening to the vinyl. Peter Gabriel’s opening vocals on Dancing With The Moonlit Knight has a good echo effect on it and the raspberry on I Know What I Like sounds all the clearer. From musical point of view, the CD brings out the bass and treble very well and at times it is hard to believe that this album actually came out in 1973. The grey “border” approach to the packaging also works well given the original album’s fairly low key design.

The CD issue of The Lamb Lies Down ON Broadway was a must for many people, but I can’t help thinking they may have been a little disappointed when they came across the electrical “buzz” that lies embedded behind every track. This sounds as if the master tapes have been exposed to a magnetic field of some sort, although the buzz is just as audible on the original album. That quibble aside, the sound quality is once again impressive throughout. Interestingly enough the count in on The Grand Parade Of Lifeless Packaging becomes audible on the CD. As far as the packaging goes, the full lyrics are nicely reproduced, although they are rather small and the back cover of the CD itself could have been laid out better.

The packaging on A Trick Of The Tail (one of my favourite Genesis albums) is unusual in that it is reproduced in full and with the sort of clarity that it warrants. Why the other albums were not presented in this way is a question I would like answered! Apart from the double reproduction of the credits, this sort presentation is more in line with the original issue of the album. The sound quality is superb and the contrasts between the quieter tracks like Mad Man Moon and the more up tempo songs like Dance On A Volcano are brought out nicely by the CD. It would have been nice to see It’s Yourself included on the CD as an extra track - it would fit in well where the original sides of the album ended and started respectively.

Finally, Wind & Wuthering comes under the spotlight. On the packaging front, the lyrics are reproduced as are the song writing credits but the listing of who plays what has been omitted - a major error in my opinion. Musically the sound is well up to standard although I feel that the bass is a little lacking at times. The other tracks associated with this album eventually appeared on the Spot The Pigeon EP which was subsequently issued as a 3” CD in its own right. This has since been deleted but the EP may still be found with a bit of searching as a 5” CD single in import. Of course, all of this could have been avoided if the tracks had been included on the CD of the album in the first place. Whilst Match of The Day and Pigeons may not quite be up to the musical standard of the album, Inside & Out certainly is and I am sure that Steve Hackett is not alone in lamenting its non-appearance on the album in favour of things like Wot Gorilla?!