Genesis- Foxtrot

Genesis' reputation as one of the big 6 rests on a 4 album streak from 1971 to 1974 with Peter Gabriel as their frontman. The Gabriel lineup was augmented by Phil Collins (Drums, would replace Gabriel in 1975), Tony Banks (Keyboards), Mike Rutherford (Bass), and Steve Hackett (Guitar). Foxtrot, released in 1972, is the second album in this stretch. It builds upon the musical themes the band explored on the previous year's Nursery Cryme.

Foxtrot starts with "Watcher of the Skies", a mid length textbook example of symphonic Prog. After an organ into, the track gets right down to business with a vocal lead. The lyrics here are very open to interpretation, and seem a little sci-fi to me. The next piece is "Timetable", which has almost the same melody but this time is a straight piano ballad with more presence from the other instruments. It's nice and sweet if not substantive. "Get 'Em Out by Friday" then picks up, and it's got Genesis' signature keyboard sound with lots of layers of drums. This track has changes in tempo and in instruments to create lots of Prog Rock intrigue. Afterwards, "Can-Utility and the Coast Liners" continues the trend of subdued, light symphonic prog. Then there's the short 1:41 acoustic guitar romp"Horizons" to wrap up side 1. Now, it's time for the crowning jewel.

The 22 minute epic "Supper's Ready" is generally considered Genesis' crowning achievement by the prog community. It has seven distinct movements, although many have great similarities. Overall, this one is dominated by an incredibly emotional vocal performance by Gabriel and the sonic synths from Banks. There's plenty of nice changes in mood, with guitars here, then some drums there, slow-fast-slow. Most of the lyric content is very serious, written after Gabriel believed his wife was possessed by a demon, although there's a great non-sequitter section about people turning into flowers. When performing this song live, Gabriel was known to wear elaborate costumes, including one of the flowers and the Fox seen on the cover of the album.

There's plenty of great material on offer here. Even though some of the lyrics are dark, the whole album is very listenable with interesting changes in chord and the like, but accessibility too. Many other bands would attempt to capture the ease and wonder of listening to Genesis, but few were able to match their mastery of pitch, tempo, chord, and volume to make magic.

Foxtrot delivers in all the areas that Prog albums should, and has very little to complain about. A true masterpiece of the progressive area. Grade: A