FOXTROT

When I first heard this album, I was not listening to Genesis. Read that again. I got a used CD copy of this and it turned out, for whatever reason, that the music on the disc was actually the album Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space by the band Spiritualized. Eventually I bought a new copy all wrapped in plastic; got the correct music too. Most people refer to this album as Foxtrot. I like to call it 'All Killer, No Filler!" Compared to all their other early albums, there are no weak moments here. This was the band's first album to make the UK Top 20. It wasn't until The Lamb that Genesis were even close to being as popular as Yes or ELP.

"Watcher Of The Skies" is of course, one of the greatest openers to any Genesis album. The loud/soft dynamic near the end is great. "Time Table" is the most mainstream song. It's still better than "I Know What I Like" and "Counting Out Time". Great chorus. "Get 'Em Out By Friday" is my favourite song after Supper's on Foxtrot. Nice bass playing from Rutherford. I like the balance of faster and slower sections. Interesting lyrics about landlords. Love the middle section based on 5 notes. Gabriel's overdubbed vocal parts are well done. "Can-Utulity And The Coastliners" has some great bass pedal sounds. The instrumental section with Mellotron is nice. Love the fast bass around 4 minutes, followed by great organ playing and a guitar solo. "Horizons" is as close to filler as you get here. It may have been based on a piece written by Bach, but it's still a good acoustic instrumental.

"Supper's Ready" was influenced by VDGG's "A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers", but the end result sounds more like the Long Medley from Abbey Road. The 'Lover's Leap' part gets reprised throughout the epic. The children singing the "little snake" part were apparently found in the same building as they were recording. 'Ikhnaton And Itsacon...' has great guitar playing and organ. 'How Dare I...' has interesting faded-in piano chords with Gabriel singing. 'Willow Farm' is almost poppy. These guys always had a poppy side to them. I like the sped-up vocals here. After a cool atmospheric section followed by guitars, organ and flute. I like how this leads up to 'Apocalypse In 9/8'. Gabriel's echoed vocals are good in this part. The great organ soloing sounds very VDGG. 'As Sure As Eggs...' has good use of bass pedals. Nice guitar work from Hackett. "Los Endos" will later feature Collins quoting some of the lyrics during this last section.

This was an early peak for Genesis. Later albums may have better production and may have sold more copies, but they never got this consistent again. The sound and production is a step up from Nursery Cryme but would get even more of an improvement with the next album. There is no filler here like "For Absent Friends" and "More Fool Me". "Time Table" is the best attempt at something commercial until later in the decade. Genesis' only studio masterpiece but The Lamb and Trick come close. 5 stars.