FOXTROT

[Now] he's writing the lyrics of a brand new tune . . .

Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world . . . . Mt 25:34 (KJV)

A review of the history of progressive rock uncovers critical points in time in which various artists parallel each other in their creative efforts. As a generalization, the years from 1969-1975, have been labelled the cradle of classic progressive rock. 1971's "Tarkus" and 1972's "Foxtrot" decidedly exhibit this "spirit of the times."

Both albums feature long compositions that have arguably been interpreted as the definitive masterpieces of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer and Genesis: "Tarkus" and "Supper's Ready." Both albums complement each other in format: the combination of recondite, multi-layered, extended pieces with, in scope, more "modest" accompanying pieces.

"Watcher of the Skies" begins with an opening that utilizes the mellotron in a fashion set into motion in 1967 by The Moody Blues' Mike Pinder. Lyrically the product of Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford, "Watcher of the Skies" hearkens back to John Keats' "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer." Indeed, jumping forward 49 years to 2021, one will find further reference in the form of Dream Theater's "The Alien" on "The View from the Top of the World."

Peter Gabriel's lyrics to "Get 'Em Out by Friday," exhibit a concern for social justice that rings true throughout human history.

Yet, all of this is prelude to the "Apocalypse According to Peter Gabriel" (compositionally, the product of Gabriel, Banks, Rutherford, Phil Collins, and Steve Hackett).

In The Bible, the number seven plays a seminal role. As a symbol of holiness, completion, and perfection, seven is pivotal in "Supper's Ready." In his notes to "Supper's Ready," Peter Gabriel delineates seven sections to the piece: "Lovers' Leap," "The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man," "Ikhnaton and Itsacon and Their Band of Merry Men," "How Dare I Be So Beautiful?" "Willow Farm," "Apocalypse in 9/8 (C0-starring the Delicious Talents of Gabble Ratchet)," and "As Sure as Eggs is Eggs (Aching Men's Feet).

"Supper's Ready" begins "domestically" with the "Lovers' Leap." Our "narrator" turns off a television, sits beside his lover, and establishes contact with her "guardian eyes so blue." This is to suggest an expectation that this "coupling" implies expansion into something approaching an interminable horizon.

"Six saintly shrouded men move/across the lawn slowly/The seventh walks in front with a cross held high in hand . . . ." In the Book of Revelation, John of Patmos begins by addressing the seven churches of Asia Minor during a period of persecution. Perhaps in the early Seventies, Peter Gabriel perceived a similar state of persecution for all who treasure the Imagination as the vehicle of perception for humanity?

In his book, The Great Code, the Canadian literary critic Northrop Frye writes, "The more one studies [the Book of Revelation], the more convinced one feels that it was deliberately composed as a coda or finale to the whole [Judaeo-Christian] canon." For Peter Gabriel, "Supper's Ready'" is a great "winding up" or coda for his personal observations on love, relationships, political realities, history, satire, religion, and the end of time and space.

At the end of the second section, "The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man," "Supper's Ready's" "narrator" has his "chorus" sing: "(We will rock you, rock you little /snake (We will keep you snug and warm)." We are in the familiar territory of Chapter 3 of the Book of Genesis, the Fall of humanity.

Humanity is not left to its own devices to manage the world of experience: we have a "supersonic scientist," a "guaranteed eternal/sanctuary man, who "fools us all" by transcending the effectiveness of the farmer or the fireman; we must "Share his peace, sign the lease . . . ."

Central to Gabriel's vision in "Supper's Ready" is the Imagination. In his study, "Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John & the Praying Imagination," Eugene H. Peterson, New Testament scholar and theologian, presents this definition: "For the [I]magination is that capacity within us to gather, arrange, and connect all the data of existence into something whole and right." This is what Peter Gabriel has accomplished in his emblematic, 1972 work.

In "Lover's Leap" and "The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man," Gabriel presents an exposition, which he develops through part V, "Willow Farm," and recapitulates in "Apocalypse in 9/8 (co-starring the Delicious Talents of Gabble Ratchet) and "As Sure as Eggs is Eggs (Aching Men's Feet).

When Gabriel's "narrator" asks of his beloved, "Can't you feel our souls ignite/Shedding ever changing colours/In the darkness of the fading night . . . ?" we listeners should join him in that invitation, "Like the river joins the ocean, as/ the germ in a seed grows/We have finally been freed to/get back home . . . ." Everything coalesces in "Supper's Ready's" chapter 19 of the Book of Revelation galvanized conclusion: "There's an angel standing in the/sun/And he's crying with a loud/voice/'This is the supper of the mighty/one/Lord of Lord, King of Kings/Has returned to lead his children/home/To take them to the new Jerusalem".

Certainly, this conclusion is a "mighty one" that invariably elicits from me a true embodiment of the sublime.

I believe one could also assert that with regards to performances of "Supper's Ready" following the departure of Peter Gabriel, e.g., 1977's "Seconds Out" and Steve Hackett's versions during his "Genesis Revisited" tours. Most noteworthy, for me, are the vocal performances of Nad Sylvan, who "does Peter Gabriel" even better than Gabriel himself . . . !?!

To a considerable degree, Steve Hackett's "Genesis Revisited" tours serve as a great "coda" to his tenure with the band. Hackett and his players represent the music of Genesis with a certain degree of devotion and discipline facilitated through the lens of the passage of time.

I believe we tend to get wrapped up in our rankings of our most valued progressive albums. For quite some time, I have held up "Selling England by the Pound" as the finest Genesis album. Yet, possibly, it is "Foxtrot?" Perhaps, in the world of experience, we deal with shades of gray, rarely with black and white?

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