FOXTROT

At this point Peter Gabriel's stage persona was becoming increasingly unpredictable. Genesis had the reputation of being one of the darkest and twisted progressive rock bands of the time. It's on this album that we get the staples of their amazing live performances.

Watcher of the Skies had actually been the show opener for some time, but did not make it onto Nursery Cryme because of time constraints. The studio version makes its glorious debut here. While this version is wonderful, I must admit that the live version available on Live is much better. The same goes for their stunning magnum opus, Supper's Ready, an epic of biblical proportions. This song is dark, humorous, and glorious. It is also the best Genesis song in concert, and had been a show closer for many shows. Nothing can really top the big finish of Supper's Ready.

The rest of the album is also great. Get 'em Out By Friday is a pessimistic view of the future and over population. Time Table is a bit of yearning for medieval times (with plenty of their signature medieval sound to go along with it). Can Utility and the Coastliners is probably the shortest epic Genesis has written, and features some excellent guitar and keyboard playing by Mr. Hackett and Mr. Banks respectively. Hackett also gets a beautiful solo moment on the classical guitar piece, Horizons.

But Supper's Ready is where the strength of this album truly lies. But still, I actually don't think the studio version did the song much justice, it really does stand up much better live (which can be heard on the Archive box set).