Sound and live performance

The piano introduction to "Firth of Fifth" has not been included in a performance since 1974, in a Drury Lane Theatre concert, when Banks misplayed and Collins covered by starting the song from after the intro. "The Cinema Show" contains a long-form synthesizer solo in which Gabriel and Hackett played no part; during live performances, they both left the stage for this section. This solo section would later form the melodic centrepiece of the extended instrumentals in the 'In The Cage' Medley (a combination of song excerpts that Genesis would perform live years after it had stopped performing other songs from the 1970s).

"I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" was Genesis' first single to receive any sort of chart action, hitting No.21 in the UK in April 1974.

Trivia

According to Steve Hackett, John Lennon

John Lennon

John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...

 was a fan of the album: "When I was with Genesis, I’ll never forget being on tour in America in 1973 when we were trying to make it there and hearing John Lennon say on WNEW New York radio that he ‘loved’ our album Selling England By The Pound. Even if I never ever sell another album in my life – I will always remember that. It doesn’t get much better than that – a tribute from Lennon, that the great man himself listened to our records. It gave us a heck of a buzz and real encouragement."

Personnel

• Peter Gabriel
  Peter Gabriel
  Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
  
   – lead vocals, flute
  Western concert flute
  The Western concert flute is a transverse woodwind instrument made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist, flutist, or flute player....
  
  , oboe
  Oboe
  The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
  
  , percussion
• Phil Collins
  Phil Collins
  Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
  
   – drums, percussion, backing vocals, lead vocals on "More Fool Me"
• Tony Banks
  Tony Banks (musician)
  This article is about the musician. For other people named Tony Banks, see Tony BanksAnthony George "Tony" Banks is a British composer, and multi-instrumentalist, who performs as a keyboardist and a guitarist...
  
   – piano, keyboards, backing vocals, acoustic guitar
  Acoustic guitar
  An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
  
   on "The Cinema Show"
• Steve Hackett
  Steve Hackett
  Stephen Richard Hackett is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. He gained prominence as a member of the British progressive rock group Genesis, which he joined in 1970 and left in 1977 to pursue a solo career...
  
   – lead guitar
• Mike Rutherford
  Mike Rutherford
  Michael John Cleote Crawford Rutherford is an English musician. He is a founding member of Genesis, initially as a bassist and backup vocalist. In later incarnations of Genesis, he assumed the role of lead guitarist. He is one of only two constant members in Genesis . He also fronts Mike + The...
  
   – bass guitar, bass pedals
  Bass pedals
  Bass pedals are an electronic musical instrument with foot-operated pedal keyboard with a range of one or more octaves. The earliest bass pedals from the 1970s consisted of a pedalboard and analog synthesizer tone generation circuitry packaged together as a unit...
  
  , rhythm guitar, electric sitar
  Electric sitar
  An electric sitar is a kind of electric guitar designed to mimic the sound of the traditional Indian instrument, the sitar. Depending on the manufacturer and model, these instruments bear varying degrees of resemblance to the traditional sitar...
  
  , cello on "Dancing With The Moonlight Knight"

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1973	UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...	3
1974	Billboard Pop Albums	70

Certifications

Organization	Level	Date
RIAA – U.S.	Gold	20 April 1990