FOXTROT

Genesis - Foxtrot (1972)

Overall Rating: 11

Best Song: Horizons

Oh yea, because where Genesis were just a band growing into their msuical maturity, experimenting with the vastness of British life and juxtaposing it to the ferocity of an (admittedly imperfect) rocking band, who had many more tricks up their sleeve, Uriah Heep just sucked major nutsacks all over the place. Was that too 'off the cuff' for your feeble minds? I'm afraid to hear that, if you would redirect your anger in the form of faceless emails, I'll cry myself to sleep on your hateful words.

Peter was still finding his voice, and it definitely ain't worth a damn compared to what all he'd do on ....well, jus' you lissen, here, foo, he was still a damn fine singer, even at this 'embryonic' stage. I sure would take him over that sick ducker, Jon Anderson. Banks' synths are silly, the guitars are light, fluffy, kinda menacing, and the drumming is coolio, sho. Still, it sounds as if it were recorded in a pie factory, taking the guts out of everything. They aren't Black Sabbath, now, why not spring for a better recording area, hm? It would make the punch of Get 'Em Out By Friday much more worthy, because this song would totally rule in a more luscious light. As it stands, it's still great, with oodles of personality and subtlety mirroring the progressive excesses.

There are some major flaws with HorseTrot that irk me, gratuitously. Firstly, the band absolutely sucked at songcraft, and were only spreading their proverbial writing wings. The hooks are hardly e'en noticeable, and if you do notice them, chances are, you'll not even give half a damn. Seriously, I can't remember half of what went on, here, and memorable is something a great Genesis album just HAS to be. If it's not memorable, it might as well be brushing your teeth.

Guess what? Can-Utility And The Coastliners is the best song on here. Yeah, it's not life affirming, but I like 'er, sumthin fierce, honey. It showcases the pop (yah, you heard me) pop sensibilities that would undoubtedly finagle itself into their work, from this point on. I definitely prefer the pop Genesis to the rock Genesis, because if I want complex hard rocking, sans melodies, I'll go and bludgeon my poor brain with big, boorish Rush records or something. Naw, I look to Genesis for that vibe, man, and when they don't gimmie dat vibe, dey ain't doin' dere job, mahn.

Christ, these synths suck total nard! Who allowed that jerk Tony Banks near the studio? Keith Emerson makes him look like Cindy Lauper, and Rick Wakeman makes him look like David Bowie (what?). So, at any rate, if he could just be shot on sight, thank you very much. Really, they're just these offensive little keybored 'stabs', and don't ever develop any real musical poignancy, unless their sole purpose was to be complete and utter garbage meant only to cause grief. Okay, enough ragging on the guy, what about the other material?

You know when I said Can-Utility And The Coastliners was the best song? It was a dag-blasted lie! Supper's Ready really is the bee's knees, buddy. The vocal melodies are actually, really striking, and this is progressive rock with actual emotional resonance, which is suitably rare. It's only plausible that such an esoteric genre would have esoteric approaches, those ignorant pig humping pop-ignoring elitist teabaggers. For a 22 minute long epic, it's still way too long to even begin justifying such a monolithic running time. Still, it's purty entertaining. Hell, Foxtrot is pretty entertaining all the way around, but not perfect by any means. I wish there were less rocking moments, more attention to pop sensibilities, a more idiosyncratic atmosphere, and fewer Banks stabs(or just none at all). Not Genesis at their best, but not half bad.

Wait, you know when I said Supper's Ready was the best song? That was another lie. It's really Horizons, which is the prettiest moment the record's got to offer. It's only two minutes, but sometimes good things come in tiny packages, like genitals.

****

Share this GENESIS review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Alitare
• Report this review (#294306)
• Buy GENESIS music online with PA partners
• Show all GENESIS MP3/Stream
• Go to GENESIS page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Foxtrot page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for GENESIS related discussions