Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Genesis - Foxtrot CD (album) cover

FOXTROT

Genesis

 

Symphonic Prog

4.61 | 4048 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Sinusoid
Prog Reviewer
3 stars Required listening for all progressive rock fans if only for ''Supper's Ready''.

I must say my history with FOXTROT is jagged to say the least. I initially bought this album more than a year ago on vinyl, took it home and after listening to Side 1, something strange happened. Even though I flipped the record over, Side 1 started playing again. I picked up a rare, broken copy of FOXTROT and was denied ''Supper's Ready'' for over a year. I have since listened to the piece, and have come to realise it's the key piece in the album overshadowing the first side.

''Watcher of the Skies'', ''Can-Utility and the Coastliners'' and ''Time Table'' are all pretty much blurs to me; all are rather pretty dry and not the most entertaining of sorts. ''Get 'Em Out By Friday'' picks up the tempo after starting out with a goofy premise, but its pomp carries the first half even if it seems too stretched for time. Still, the opening mellotron of ''Watcher'' is one of the signature prog sounds, even if I feel it's a bit superfluous.

''Supper's Ready'' is the big highlight. I'll admit the first section has some awful falsetto accompaniment vocals, but the epic really gets going on ''Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man''; I already feel euphoria here with the grandiosity overall and Gabriel's vocals, then we get Hackett's guitar solo not long after. ''Willow Farm'' is rich in its theatrics, and can get a bit over the top, but the final two sections are well worth sitting through. ''Apocalypse'' and ''As Sure as Eggs Is Eggs'' are two of the most powerful ideas in all progressive rock, and listening to the whole of ''Supper's Ready'' as opposed to those sections individually really brings out the true nature of the epic piece.

I'm very torn on this as FOXTROT realised the ideas of TRESPASS and NURSERY CRYME with better production, but the first side drags the overall quality of the album down. No doubt ''Supper's Ready'' is a real masterwork of the genre and to a lesser extent, ''Get 'Em Out By Friday''. One epic will not carry and entire album, though.

Sinusoid | 3/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this GENESIS review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.