FOXTROT

Tested the new line-up, with Hackett and Collins, that is full of virtuosos, in the previous Nursery Crime, album of high technical level and of refined compositions but little inspired and not coherent, Genesis take a step forward: they look for the masterpiece, the album solemn, emphatic, definitive, the work of the consecration of bishops of the new romantic and symphonic rock. "Foxtrot" contends with the next "Selling England By The Pound" the palm of best Genesis album. What is the best?

In the first side they put classical, melodic compositions, in the second a very complex suite.

It starts with "Watcher of the Sky" (7:19), with a solemn, hieratic, very suggestive organ (or mellotron?) solo, which remains the best part of the song because the rest is too forced. Here Genesis is at its peak. Rock purists turn up their noses, too inflated balloons. There are strengths and weaknesses of prog in this composition. Rating 7.5 / 8.

Second pop piece, "Time Table", easy listening, with catchy melody, and carillon sound. Simple and easy song but Gabriel's singing elevates the quality, and overall appears more successful than the previous one. Rating 8. So far the record is going at the slow speed of a ballad, certainly not a rousing rhythm. Unfortunately the sound of the production is very bad, especially for the rhythm section.

The grit comes out with the beginning of the third song, "Get 'em out by Friday (8:35)" which, however, proceeds with difficulty, through various forced passages, and various pauses. The quality is still elevated by Gabriel's vocals and flute, and Hackett's arpeggios. Genesis seems to have lost the brilliance and the immediacy of Trespass's melodies. Rating 7+.

The fourth piece, "Can-Utility and the Coastliners" (5:43), with a sound of the organ similar to "Watcher", is a mini-suite: it is a condensed inspired singing full by what Genesis will try to do in the 23 minutes of the second side. The instrumental parts are excellent but also the song of Gabriel, full of pathos. Rated 8+.

Side A ends with an acoustic piece by Hackett, "Horizons", on guitar: useless. No rating.

Side B contains "Supper's Ready" (22:58), a suite very long, divided in - a. Lover's Leap; - b. The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man; - c. Ikhnaton and Itsacon and Their Band of Merry Men; - d. How Dare I Be So Beautiful? - e. Willow Farm; - f. Apocalypse in 9/8 (featuring the delicious talents of Gabble Ratchet) - g. As Sure as Eggs is Eggs (Aching Men's Feet).

The Supper's Ready suite starts off excellently thanks to a successful pairing: Gabriel's vocals and Hackett's acoustic arpeggios. Beautiful the melodic instrumental passage after the singing, between guitar and keyboards. Banks succeeds better when he works in the background than when he wants to make the pompous solo. The predominantly acoustic melodic part continues for a long time, over six minutes, until the rhythm changes, Collins's drums arrive, Gabriel sings "Bang Bang Bang", the song comes alive. The musical passages are however always slow, verbose ... after ten minutes we arrive at a pause in the music, with Gabriel singing softly, until the vaudeville rhythm section arrives, where Gabriel mentions "Musical Box", a demented march, which suddenly changes rhythm and melody under the percussive cadence on the piano. Then an interval to Gabriel's flute, which always marks some pastoral melodic pauses, and finally again the rhythm of march, which then expires in an instrumental too pounding, quite boring, before the initial melody returns, at a more sustained rhythm. This very emphatic ending (complete with bells and singing shouted on text that is not as dramatic) would like to be the climax of the record, but after the pounding rhythm of the previous piece, it risks being oversaturated.

Very complex suite, with remarkable moment but even verbose and too much built moment. Rating 8+. It doesn't give me emotions as great as those given to me by Van Der Graaf suite (on Pawn Hearts) nor by the King Crimson and Yes suites (on Lizard and Close To The Edge).

Albums with a lot of meat in the fire, both in the first side and in the second. Compositions better built and more homogeneous, coherent, than those of "Nursery Crime". Ample moments of great music on both sides, what was missing in "Nursery Crime". Overall, the album is approaching the masterpiece but in my opinion still lacks that immediacy, of that emotional pathos (presents on Trespass) that provoke the true masterpieces. So, rating 8.5/9, i.e. four-and-a-half stars: a little higher rating than the next "Selling England", which has a second side not up to par.