Genesis at their most imaginative (Foxtrot - Genesis)

Member Name: JonnyM79

Product:	Foxtrot - Genesis
Date:	10/03/02 (173 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Epic stories, Gabriel's many voices, Supper's Ready

Disadvantages: Not for easy listening or parties

Genesis must have been reasonably happy with the way their career was going in 1972 when they came to record this, their 4th studio album. Their previous album had moved them into the top 30 for the first time, and their incessant touring, outrageous stageshow (Peter Gabriel, the lead singer, had developed all manner of bizarre costumes and even stranger hairstyles) and frequent appearances together with other bands such as Lindisfarne and Van-der-Graaf Generator had built them up a sizeable following. They were also making waves in Europe, and had gone on a brief Italian tour. This was also the first time they would record an album with an unchanged line-up to the previous one, and the classic line-up of Gabriel, Banks, Rutherford, Collins and Hackett had by now gelled into a formidable quintet.

Nearly all the songs recorded for the album had already seen action at a live show, and consequently the album, although recorded to a higher quality than any of their previous output, was recorded in less than a week, in August, at Island studios in London. The outstanding cover art, as with their previous album, Nurery Cryme, was painted by artist Peter Blake, and contained references to many of the songs on the album. Gabriel was to later use the red dress and fox's head as a stage costume!

The album begins with Watcher of the Skies. The opening is Tony Banks' solo mellotron with its towering chords. This builds to a staccato morse code style drum rhythmn before Gabriel launches into a strange story about a time when humans have left Earth, from the point of view of someone left behind. A strange choice for lyrics but the song works well and the drum rhythmn and mellotron return to build to a thrilling instrumental climax. The second song Time Table is probably the weakest on the album and the lyrics seem to lament the passing of the days of chivalry and King Arthur. It is not bad, nevertheless, with Gabriel managing to impart
genuine longing into the vocals.

Third up is Get 'em Out By Friday. A madcap plot involves unscrupulous developers sending in "the winkler" to persuade tenants in apartment blocks to leave. The blocks will then be redeveloped to fit more people in, mainly by genetic control announcing "a four foot restriction on humanoid height" (I swear I'm not making this up). The song was written by Peter Gabriel as a satire at a time when he himself was having landlord problems. It runs almost like a radio play, with Gabriel singing as several different characters and giving them all their own personality. The music varies superbly to fit the story with urgent loud sections to match the greed of the developers, and more quiet contemplative sections mirroring the uncertainty and fear of the tenants. It's an excellent example of a "story-song" that really does work.

Can-utility and the Coastliners comes next and is a clever reworking of the story of King Canute trying to command the sea to retreat, and the humiliation of his failure. The words are cleverly and beautifully written, but the song is more notable for the extended instrumental interlude, with Banks' hands dancing over the keys in an extended solo. This is followed by Horizons, a brief acoustic guitar solo from Steve Hackett with a lilting tune and some ringing harmonics.

Taking up the whole of the second side of the original LP is the final track Supper's Ready. Weighing in at over 23 minutes it is an epic experience divided into 7 sections. Tony Banks described it as the first time they had successfully managed to reproduce what they were trying to achieve on tape, and it is stronger than any preceding work. The lyrics were written by Peter Gabriel about a strange experience he had in the loft of his house with his wife, Jill, when a funny look came over her face and he then had some sort of vision (he claims this was n
ot under any pharmacological influence). Large parts of it are fairly clearly influenced by the Book of Revelation from the bible, but there are many more interpretations than mine.

Part 1 is Lovers' Leap and describes the Gabriels falling into the vision "I swear I saw your face change, it didn't seem quite right" over some delicate acoustic guitar, which then solos into part 2. This is called Garaunteed Eternal Sanctuary Man and was originally meant as an instrumental until Peter wrote some words to go over it, to the considerable displeasure of Tony Banks who's solo it was. One interpreation is that this section is about the trickery of the devil.

Ikhnaton and Itsacon and their band of merry men is the story of a battle backed up with suitably violent guitar chords and frenetic keyboards. This melts into the almost total stillness of How Dare I Be So Beautiful? with Gabriel's falsetto voice singing almost like a lullaby over lone keyboard chords. It finishes with the memorable question "a flower?" (you have to hear it to understand) and then bursts straight into Willow Farm, an insane section with Gabriel singing nonsence in a daft voice ("There's Winston Churchill dressed in drag, he used to be a British flag, plastic bag, what a drag") over bouncy rhythmns. This eventually melts away and the long slow buildup to part 6, called Apocalypse in 9/8, begins.

This section really is a musical masterpiece with a keyboard solo in 4/4 juxtaposed seamlessly over a rhythmn section pounding away in 9/8. Just as this is climaxing, Gabriel's vocals enter, so violent he's almost screaming and telling of the end of the world, with plenty of biblical references. The section reaches a conclusion with three huge bell chimes, before dissolving to almost nothing and the final segment: As Sure As Eggs is Eggs. The words are very much about reunion and redemption and the song fa
des out to a breathtaking guitar solo in Hackett's own inimitable style.

With work of the strength of Supper's Ready on it, Foxtrot was very well received and got as high as number 12 in the UK charts (and 3 in Virgin's top 30 albums). Existing fans loved it and Watcher of the Skies and Supper's Ready became favourites on the live show for years to come, allowing Gabriel to excell himself in producing ever more eyecatching costumes. It also made enough impact in the USA to allow the band to play on a small tour there, and continued their success in Europe, launching concerts in France, Germany and The Netherlands. The album continued the upward curve in quality and success that Genesis had been on since 1970 and was a real showcase of what the band were capable of.

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