FOXTROT

After listening to and reviewing Genesis' "Selling England By The Pound", I kind of knew what I was getting into, but I truly enjoy the music of Genesis, so I wanted to give "Foxtrot" a shot. If Genesis was an instrumental band or had a less bubble-throated vocalist, I could get into them more. Gabriel is a solid lyricist and conceptual artist, but I cannot for the life of me understand his appeal vocally.

Anyway, on to "Foxtrot" ...

Watcher has a killer catchy riff, Gabriel's voice is better than usual. The song is a great opener, much better than the "can you tell me where my country lies?" wailing.

Time Table is about as pretty/boring as you can get and then add Gabriel's vocals and it gets less interesting.

Get Em Out begins sort of like a Yes track (which is very intriguing), and then Gabriel's bubble whine comes in to take away from it. Frankly, the vocal patterns and different voices he uses is more of an irritation. The music is super, as usual. The musical change-ups in the song are fantastic and around 16.27 the song breaks down into a Yes-feel again. This awesomeness continues until around 18.16 when Gabriel's silliness returns. The coda to the song is amazing though.

On Can-Utility and the Coastliners, Gabriel isn't so annoying and actually compliments the music. It is sort of a mix of a modern Genesis feel with the prog Genesis. There are parts where Gabriel sounds like Collins. I will piss off some folks here, but as much as I can't stand Pop Genesis, I like Collins as a vocalist much more. The instrumental interlude in this tune is solid and penetrating.

With the song Horizons you get a nice, short instrumental piece that has a very pastoral feel to it and brings to mind something Steve Howe may put together - a very classical piece. One of the better tracks on the album, in my opinion.

The epic Supper's Ready was not too impressive to me in the beginning and other than some really incredible music and effects, the song failed to do much for me. I was extremely fatigued after about 12 minutes in ? and I am a lover of long epics and suites. As I said, the music is superb, but Gabriel just does cut it for me, personally.

Overall, about the same as "England" - the music saves the album and enough to capture 3 stars, but no more.