A TRICK OF THE TAIL

I decided that 164 ratings for this album in progarchives weren`t enough so here`s mine. I just finished listening to it for the first time in a few years so I`m going to review it as if it was the first time I ever heard it.

After the departure of Peter Gabriel in late `75 Genesis fans looked on with horror as a multitude of potential vocalists were auditioned as his replacement until it was decided by the band that Phil Collins would take over. More horror followed as Genesis fans held an 18 month vigil for the new album to arrive.

With Phil Collins up front and Tony Banks handling most of the writing oddly enough the band regained it`s intrinsic English sound which was beginning to wane on the previous Lamb Lies Down On Broadway album. The album suprised critics, delighted fans and record executives could sleep at night . Collins, while sounding remarkably like Gabriel had a sharper and more energetic approach to the vocal work and was much more alive and not as meloncholic as Gabriel was at times. Robbery Assault and Battery is a good example of this where Collins` English accent provides a good effect. I couldn`t imagine Gabriel singing a song with the vocal theatrics Collins emphasizes during the little dialogue bits in this extended piece.

There are other glaring reminders of the earlier Genesis days which made this 18 month wait for Trick of the Tail well worth it. The opener, Dance On a Volcano. a full group writing effort, takes one back to the Selling England By the Pound days as does Squonk with wide sounding syth treatments. Two of the most beautiful tracks from the band can be heard here. Ripples and Entangled are straight rock ballads with the latter being one of the most beautiful progressive rock songs ever recorded. Employing mezmerizing 12- string guitar layering it conveys the dreamy theme of the song immacuately.

If you were folowing Genesis chronologically back in the `70s like this reviewer ( who is over 100 years old ) Trick of the Tail made The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway easy to forget which became a little over- dramatic at times. The lyrics are much more easier to appreciate and with Gabriel`s ecclectisism gone the band comes back to life somewhat and becomes much more tighter. They even end off the album with a mini instrumental showpiece aptly entitled Los Endos.

To put the icing on the cake of this command performance is some wonderful cover artwork by Hipgnosis which features cartoon-like charictures of the various characters which appear throughout the album . An old vinyl copy with the gatefold cover is worth hunting down just for the artwork which is also reproduced on certain CD re-issues. 5 gold stars add ½ gold star for going beyond the call of duty with the artwork. Bravo!