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

EatThatPhonebook
Prog Reviewer
5 stars 9/10

With "Foxtrot", Genesis have already a reserved place in the Olympus of Rock bands.

There are a few albums in the history of Progressive Rock that, whether you like them or not, are absolutely essential: one of these is Genesis' "Foxtrot". It is almost a revolutionary album for the time, and it helped define Progressive Rock as we know it today.

If the atmospheres of "Nursery Cryme" were intimate and cozy at all times, here Genesis manifest a love for wide open sounds: the spacey instrumentation is anything but cozy, it reminisces of almost an open, cold field, everything sounds so large. It is not a coincidence that there are some quasi-futuristic themes in the lyrics. Once again, Genesis relies much on guitars, vocals, drums and keyboards. Together, they are perfectly arranged with amazing musicianship, as a matter of fact, one of the best musician albums ever recorded. But the melodies are also almost revolutionary, for how much original they always sound: much of Prog Rock's future albums will somehow be influenced by this, but nevertheless no album sounds quite like "Foxtrot", in any way.

From the lyrical point if view, like mentioned, there are quite a few moments that are almost futuristic, like the groundbreaking "Watcher Of The Skies", or the mini play "Get' Em Out By Friday", one of the most original lyrics of Peter Gabriel. Lyrics reminiscent also from the past are of course present as well, like "Time Table" or parts of "Supper's Ready". "Can Utility And the Coastliners" is another beautiful song from the lyrical point of view, almost biblical in it's watery theme.

"Foxtrot" seems to have nothing but solid tracks: it has the powerful ones, which really gives emphasis to the more Rock side of the music: "Watcher Of The Skies" or "Get 'Em Out By Friday" have power, as well as beauty. Especially the first one, the opening track; it has become a classic for Genesis, thanks also to it's mellotron driven intro that has inspired much more than one or two artists in following years, but also it's outstanding musicianship, structure, and melodies. "Get 'Em Out By Friday" is much more dramatic, melancholic, but it can also be very fierce. An emotional, at times gorgeous piece, just like "Time Table", the second track of the album. "Can Utility and the Coastliners" has a lot of mellowness around it, but it happens to be one of the most shape-shifting pieces of the album, as if it were a mini-suite. "Horizons" is a beautiful acoustic interlude that opens the magnum opus of the band's career: "Supper's Ready", the longer than twenty minutes epic suite, that contains wonderful, delicate passages, extremely original melodies and songwriting for the more lively moments, fantastic musicianship, and finally, great lyrics by poet Peter Gabriel, who makes this song almost like a fairy tale. It's content makes "Supper's Ready" a world of it's own, separate from the rest of the album, as if it were as long, but haunting fairy tale, with fantastic places, bizarre situations, but also love. A beautiful work that has went down in history as one of the finest Prog Rock tracks ever written.

An outstanding album as a whole, a masterpiece that to only a few albums it can be compared. However, songwriting-wise, nothing beats the originality and innovation of these songs, combined with some of the greatest musicianship you'll ever hear. Thanks to this and to the following album, which is easily one of the best albums of all time, Genesis have a reserved place in the Olympus of Rock bands.

EatThatPhonebook | 5/5 |

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.