FOXTROT

Everyone knows by now that this album is essential and a very important album in the world of progressive rock. I just felt that (Genesis being my favorite band) I should really get around to reviewing all of their albums (up to W & W.)

The organ sounds as the albums begins. The bass starts to gradually get louder playing an odd tempo in 6/4. The first track is "Watcher of the Skies." The lyrics are very interesting talking about man's long union with earth and how it has ended. Everybody has heard this track by now and it goes down as one of the better known Genesis tracks, with good reason.

Next we have "Time Table." What people seem to forget sometimes when reviewing "Foxtrot" is how important the supporting tracks are to arguably the best Genesis song that has been written "Supper's Ready." A lot of times "Watcher of the Skies" and "Supper's Ready" are the only songs mentioned for praise while the shorter songs such as "Time Table" and "Can-Utility and the Coastliners" are just as important and are what makes the album a true masterpiece. "Time Table" depicts the power and attitude of Kings and Queens and how legends are born from fighting wars (as the first verse is entirely sarcastic.) The melody during the verse is very well written and Gabriel sings as emotional as usual. The "chorus" is also very catchy and very meaningful.

"Get 'em out by Friday" starts abruptly and rightfully so. The concept to this song is very original and equally powerful. This same type of abuse of people occurs in today's world all the time. For example, about 20 minutes from where I live there are houses that have about 10 or so Mexican people that live there, in a small apartment created by the homeowner. They are charged a ridicules amount of money for such poor living conditions (10 people in a room, sometimes no bathroom, ect.) They came straight from Mexico, do not speak a lot of English, and came to America because they were poor and wanted the "opportunity" to send money back to their families. They do not know any better and do not know an alternative. This song is great at conveying the hardships that these people have to go through. The satire that is present in this song is very powerful and making fun of the whole system of abuse. "It is said now that people are shorter in height, they can fit twice as many in the same building site (they say it's alright)." This song also depicts the value of money. These people are treating other people poorly just so they can make more money (as if they don't have enough.) The last line "Land in your hand you'll be happy on earth, then invest in the Church for your heaven" is a great phrase to end to song and briefly mention how many churches are also corrupted and that people go to church for the wrong reasons (to make themselves feel better for wrongdoings. They pay the church a good amount of money so they can feel better about themselves.) Overall, this is an explosive track with a lot of energy and an equal amount of meaning behind it.

"Can-Utility and the Coastliners" brings up the King and Queen topic again that Genesis seems to like a lot. They talk about how everyone bows down to the King because of his power and who he is. They also bring up that the little man's (who bowed to the King and was afraid to laugh) face turned red, and that his story is often told even though you can tell that he is dead. This is a very powerful statement. It is saying that if you are already dead if you are bowing down to other people such as a King or Queen. This topic is also brought up again in "Supper's Ready" ("You're deep in the soil..." talking about the people in Willow Farm or the fictional land where the real stars are still to appear!) It is a very melodic song and is sung perfectly by Gabriel. "Horizons" is a beautiful classical guitar piece by Steve Hackett that acts as a great prelude to "Supper's Ready."

I don't think I could say enough about this last, monster of a track. I find it to be the best track I've heard to this day. Lyrically it is unmatched and very complex using some great analogies for the decaying condition of society as a whole. It conveys so many emotions musically and couldn't have been played better in my opinion. "Willow Farm" has a great feel to it and sticks in your head days after listening. "Apocalypse in 9/8" includes what I find to be Tony Banks best keyboard solo (he solo's in 4/4 over the 9/8 beat.) Collins also does a great job during this section of the song. I also believe that "Foxtrot" is a concept album. Each song represents a certain depiction of the present society (of 1972) and "Supper's Ready" sums it all up. I won't go into complete analysis because that will take pages but look for it in the forum once I get a chance to type it all out (if you're interested.) The concept album concludes with the movement "As sure as eggs is eggs" which brings all the emotions of the entire album together to formulate what I find to be the most emotional part of any song I've heard. Every time I hear Gabriel sing "To take them to the new Jerusalem" I get chills just thinking of all that is conveyed through that statement.

If you haven't yet picked up "Foxtrot" I highly recommend it (as almost anyone would.) It is a progressive masterpiece and should be heard by everyone.