By Steve Newton
The Year of Our Lord, 1973, was a big year for prog-rock. Besides the grandaddy of them all–Pink Floyd‘s Dark Side of the Moon–’73 also saw such prime prog releases as Hawkwind‘s Space Ritual, Jethro Tull‘s A Passion Play, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer‘s Brain Salad Surgery.
I also recall spending many hours spellbound by the melodic beauty and evocative storytelling of Genesis‘ Selling England By the Pound, which featured the classic lineup of singer Peter Gabriel, guitarist Steve Hackett, bassist Mike Rutherford, keyboardist Tony Banks, and drummer Phil Collins.
So it’s awesome news that a Montreal-based quintet called The Musical Box will be performing that album in its entirety at the Commodore on February 17.
The group–composed of Denis Gagné (Gabriel), François Gagnon (Hackett), Sébastien Lamothe (Rutherford), Guillaume Rivard (Banks) and Marc Laflamme (Collins)–has been faithfully recreating the staging, costumes, and sound of Genesis since 1993, when it formed to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Selling England by the Pound.
Those dudes must know that album inside-out by now, I reckon.
Tickets for The Musical Box: Selling England By the Pound are on sale now, and you can find them here.