FOXTROT

This album is the peak of Gabriel's Genesis as a collective. After this, culminating in the Lamb, the band was divided into Mike and Tony's camp and Gabriel's camp, with Steve and Phil generally going along with the former. They became even more marvelous following this album, but it holds a special place in my heart as it was their peak as a total group effort. It got them relatively high into the charts of their home country, and had them touring in France, Italy, Belgium, and, for the first time, the United States.

My usual method of rating albums is to give each song a score out of 2, add each song up and put it out of the total possible score.

Watcher of the Skies starts with the second most recognized mellotron passage in music, rivaled only by the Beatles in Strawberry Fields Forever. It was first written by Rutherford and Banks during the summer of 1972 while on tour in Italy. The mellotron passage was meant to embody a tale of an alien civilization visiting Earth after the end of mankind and viewing the ruins of civilization. It quickly evolved into the 8 minute concert opener of 72-74 that is known and loved by so many. The introduction is only 1 1/2 minutes long, though; afterwards comes the crashing drums, the biting guitar, the elegant keys, and most of all their combination into a great track. 2 points.

Time Table is an underrated classically inspired piece mostly by Banks. The lyrics tell of a longing for "times when kings and queens sipped wine from goblets gold," acting as a precursor to Selling England by the Pound. 1 point.

Get 'Em Out by Friday is essentially another Return of the Giant Hogweed, but just like Hogweed with the Knife, it does not give an air of repetition. The story meant to be essentially a British Jon Stewart bit; the humor and social commentary blew over the heads of Americans, though, and even the English soon forgot that the song was funny. Even so, it's a long, great, biting piece. 2 points.

Can-Utility and the Coastliners was originally a longer instrumental from before even Trespass, but eventually Genesis got to putting it on an album. It tells a variant of the story of Canute, the Viking king who conquered England in 1016. It is said he was so tired of his followers praising him that he sat his throne on the coast and ordered the sea to part for him, hoping to show his men he wasn't perfect. In this version, he actually thinks it will work. Even worse, he does it at the start of high tide! 2 points.

Horizons is Steve Hackett's sole major contribution on this album, save for a few guitar solos in Supper's Ready. It is quite the opposite of Supper, though - a 2 minute acoustic piece based off of a Bach song. It isn't much of a side opener, but it transitions nicely with the acoustic first section of the following encore. 1 point.

What can I say about Supper's Ready that others haven't said before? It's arguably the band's magnum opus. 2 points.

10/12 adds up to 83%, or about 4/5. I know I rated Trespass higher, so my method might not be exact. Trust me, though. I love this album. I'm sure others will too.