A TRICK OF THE TAIL

After a bit of uncertainty after the loss of Peter Gabriel, the remaining members of Genesis carried on with erstwhile drummer Phil Collins taking over on lead vocals. Forget about Collins' later (ahem!) work. Here his performances are a tad restrained, sort of like Gabriel-lite, but this is musically as strong an album as Genesis has ever produced.

"Dance On A Volcano" is another "Watcher of the Skies"-type of number allowing Collins to show off his drumming prowess. He gets more opportunity on the lengthy instrumental/underture "Los Endos", which closes the album and was to become (understandably) a live staple. Much of the album is made up of curious story-songs, not too different from Gabriel-era work, with only Collins' vocals showing that anything had changed. Meanwhile, "Entangled" and "Ripples" are two of the group's loveliest and most celestial acoustic-guitar oriented numbers.

It does take a bit for this one to grow on you, but in the end it's another winner from Genesis. Feel free to listen and enjoy.