Genesis (UK)Foxtrot (1972)Genres: progressive rock, symphonic rockGenenis was an extremely uneven band during the first half of the seventies (after that they were unfortunately extremely even). At the time their albums usually contained a few shorter nonsense songs, as well as at least one great longer song. And this album is no exception. “Can-Utility and the Coastliners” is the only good track of the shorter ones with its tasteful organ and precise drums. “Watcher of the Skies” has a boring main theme that is repeated by the bass throughout the song, while “Get ‘em out by Friday” is a decent track with a slightly annoying chorus.
Apparently Genesis saved their strength (and ideas) to the 23 minute album closer “Supper’s Ready”. A brilliant piece that really demonstrates what Genesis was capable of. It features delicate acoustic guitar and flute, a theatrical Gabriel and catchy electric guitar. On top of that it features the best organ playing I have heard from Tony Banks (just listen to “Apocalypse in 9/8”).
A record most remembered for the 23 minutes long ”Supper’s Ready” (and rightly so), a composition of high standard with really heavy parts, softer ones with flute and acoustic guitars, fantastic organ attacks and the theatrical vocal side of Gabriel/the band – the “silly voices”. (Which I find amusing and good.)
Otherwise what most surprises me on this album is that the only really weak track is the soft “Time Table”. The recurring bass line in “Watcher of the Skies” is actually something I like and the whole song is a stabile one, but not as good as we are used to when it comes to Genesis’ epics or mini-epics. The other mini-epic, “Get ‘Em Out by Friday”, is much more interesting, a song again featuring the silly voices to great effect. “Horizons” is another short guitar piece, this time a rather pleasant one and “Can-Utility and the Coastliners” starts like one of those Genesis songs that say nothing at all but soon transforms to a very good piece with that amazing organ sound up front in a very variated last section of the song.
“Foxtrot” lies closer to “Nursery Cryme” than to “Selling England by the Pound” when it comes to the heaviness of the music, it’s not as symphonic as the latter yet not so direct as the former, it’s more complex. And the organ sound throughout the album is really splendid together with Gabriel in fine form and the rest of the band plays very good too; Michael Rutherford’s bass playing stuns me at times.
