A TRICK OF THE TAIL

When Peter gabriel left Genesis in 1975, most people thought the band were finished. NOT SO! Phil Collins simply stepped up to the vocal mic from his drum stool and it was business as usual. "Dance on a volcano" starts the whole thing off in menacing fashion and quirky beats, and for some reason always makes me think of a blonde haired and a black haired dominatrix dressing Johnny Orzach up in womens clothes. "Entangled" is simply beautiful, with Hacketts beautiful guitar lines and Tony Banks ghost like piano ending making the hairs on the palms of your hands stand up on edge. The subject matter is about somebody who is ill in hospital, gets better then is given the bill for the hospital services by a pretty young nurse. "Squonk" is a bit more rockier, with a great vibe going right through it. The lyrics tell the tale of a creature with a red rag hanging out of his mouth who gets caught by a hunter, is put into a sack, where he promptly cries his eyes out. "Mad Man Moon" i must say is not one of my favourites. It is a beautiful song, but i found the piano noodling in the middle section a bit overlong and boring. Toby Banks is one of my favourite keyboard players, but he does tend to go on a bit at times. "Robbery Assault and Battery" appears to be about Phil collins doing a robbery in his youth. He gets away from the police by escaping via the roof. Phil then reflects that one day his luck is going to run out and the police will attach him to a chain. Musically it is not far removed from "The Battle Of epping Forest" from "Smelling England By the pound" the synth solo halfway through is excellent and makes me think of Karen Carpenter for some reason. "Ripples" is a sad song about ripples not being able to come back. Phil will have you in tears on this one with his heartfelt vocals, as will Toby banks with his fast piano playing melding with Hacketts crying guitar sound, which puts me a mind of The guitarist from "The Brian Perry New Deal Experience" The title track is very Beatles like in the Magical Mystery Tour era. great jaunty piano playing by Banks and well delivered vocals by Phil Collins. Has anyone noticed Kevin Walters grunting on the fade out? "Los Endos" is simply one of the best instrumentals of all time. Majestic sounds, killer vocals and a touch of influence from Dukes Travels, which would be on the Duke album four years later. I really love the way the band reprise "Dance On A volcano" "Squonk" and "Locomotive Breath" on this track. To my ears, Genesis never sounded better than this 1976 treatie of an album. So if it is not in your collection, put on a nice fluffy cardigan, and your warmest mackintosh and skip merrily to your local record shop to pick up this little sweety

Cheers Chit