A TRICK OF THE TAIL

I had a copy of "A Trick of a Tail" on pre-order so that I would be one of the first to get a copy. This was during 1976 when I was in my final year at high school. At this time, I had all the Genesis albums plus Steve Hackett's "Voyage of the Acolyte" but I approached ATOAT with some trepidation. Gabriel had left Genesis and Phil was taking over the vocal duties. Phil had done some backing work and had previously sang lead on More Fools Me on Selling England by the Pound but this was a ballad and a fairly ordinary one at that. Phil also sang lead on some of the tracks on Steve Hackett's "Voyage of the Acolyte" but again these were slower, softer songs.

Genesis are a different band without Gabriel and therefore it is unfair to compare directly with their previous work. Of all the tracks, I feel that only "Robbery, Assault and Battery" and Tick of a Tail" could be sung by Gabriel.

Collins handles the vocal duties well and in fact he does have a similar style to Gabriel. Some of the songs (Dance, Squonk, Los Endos) are heavier than on previous albums and the drumming and bass is a lot more dominant overall. These are also contrasted by some mellow tracks (Entangled, Ripples - both of which have beautiful and extended guitar /mellotron outros). The instrumental interludes are superb and show Genesis growing in strength as musicians.

Overall this is another exceptional performance for Genesis. There are no weak tracks here, and even "Trick of a Tail" which received some airplay has interesting lyrics and keyboards.

4.7 stars

Listen for the reference to Supper's Ready at the end of Los Endos which is the band saying good-bye to Gabriel and without any animosity.