Elective affinities

Beatles and Genesis, two seemingly distant worlds that have nonetheless found points of contact over time. Especially in that fertile stretch between the mid and late Sixties, when John Lennon and co. embarked on their most experimental phase, introducing new techniques and ideas. Even the closing track of “Revolver,” “Tomorrow Never Knows,” offered unprecedented solutions: backwards guitars, filtered and distorted vocals, a construction that helped systematically introduce psychedelic language. From there, the Liverpool group moved into an even more expansive dimension, arriving at “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band” and a series of albums that consolidated that shift. A psychedelic approach — itself influenced by the contemporary experiments of Pink Floyd, Doors, Jefferson Airplane, etc. — that would go on to influence an entire generation.

Genesis too, although oriented from the start toward more elaborate sonic structures, picked up on that innovative drive and reorganised it into a more complex form, one destined to become one of the paradigms of progressive rock.

Steve Hackett explains it this way: “Well, psychedelia is the moment when guitarists started to develop the idea of distortion. It seems like prehistory now, but between distorted guitars, reversed sounds and the influence of Indian music — and I imagine drugs played their part too — music was changing. All this incorporating of influences from far-off places came with psychedelia.” He adds: “I think progressive represents the more organised side of all that. I like the romantic side of progressive, but I'm also fascinated by the way psychedelic language introduced the idea that a solo could go anywhere and last as long as it wanted. I loved that: the rock equivalent of free jazz. And the idea that music could always surprise you.”

In 1973, as Britain went through a phase of economic and identity crisis, Genesis released “Selling England By The Pound“, an album that reflects that climate through an oblique lens, caught between irony and unease.

The making of the album took place under unstable conditions: few initial ideas, rehearsals held first in a private house, then in a dance school. “We were literally in the living room of a family home,” Hackett recalls. “Inevitably, after a few days, the neighbours started complaining.” It was in this context that an album took shape, one that alternates between lightness and complex construction. “At the time we didn't call it progressive... we were experimenting and letting everything happen freely.”

Behind that balance, internal tensions also emerged, as in the case of “After The Ordeal”: “I had to threaten them to get 'After The Ordeal' onto the record, as often happened in Genesis. If they hadn't included all my ideas, I would have left. No one expected me to be so blunt at that point: I planted my flag.” The album's structure – spanning majestic suites like “Firth Of Fifth”, theatrical narratives and pop-facing openings – shows just how thoroughly the Beatles' legacy had been absorbed and reworked. A legacy that would become even more tangible when John Lennon himself expressed his appreciation for the album.

“I was in Genesis, and I'll never forget when, during a tour of America in 1973, while we were trying to make headway there, I heard John Lennon say on New York's WNEW radio that he loved our album 'Selling England By The Pound' – Hackett will go on to recount – Even if I never sold another record in my life, I'll always remember that moment. It's hard to imagine anything better: recognition from Lennon, the fact that he of all people was listening to our records. We were all huge Beatles fans. It gave us an incredible boost and a strong push to keep going down that road. And I think 'Selling England By The Pound' is probably Genesis's most psychedelic record, if we want to use that term.”

Among Hackett's memories, there's also an enthusiastic Peter Gabriel celebrating backstage after hearing the comment on the radio: “In the early days there was a strong ironic, larking-about streak between us... maybe that's also why Lennon said he liked us: because we were so ready to make complete idiots of ourselves!” These too, in the end, are elective affinities...

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30/04/2026