A TRICK OF THE TAIL

Not to contradict our various Genesis "experts", but I don't feel the lack of Peter Gabriel on this record. Maybe because it was only my second take on prog-Genesis after an ambitious attempt at listening to "The Lamb..." aged 10. Following such a complex album, it would be easy to think of ATOTT is a return to an apparent simplicity. Not quite.

From the first notes of Dancing on a Volcano, you know the band went back to Nursery Cryme and SEBTP for initial inspiration. This album is a natural follower of the later, and togheter with W&W, makes "The Lamb..." look like the odd album in a great sequence. We have all those great lush athmospheres created by Banks and Hackett (Entangled has got to be the most beautiful thing they ever wrote togheter), great vocals from Phil (along with drums, the only thing he does right - damned be the the day he was handed a pen) and the usual skill of Mike. The survival of the Prog-Machine Genesis seemed assured when listening to songs like the Dancing on a Volcano, Squonk, Robbery, Assault & Battery and Los Endos, with their fantastic rhythm changes, faster pace and symphonic passages. Mad Mad Moon and Ripples served well their purpose as softer, more romantic pieces, well complemented by Steve's guitar, especially the later, with its ethereal middle section. The title track is definitly the gayer in an album that is generally somber, and the closest Genesis had ever come to a pop-track.

One of the reasons I like this album so much probably has to do with the fact that there is so much Hackett in it. Yet while some might say Wind & Wuthering has even more Hackett (and good Hackett it is!), we notice here that there was still present a strong will in driving the band forward, with each member contribuiting with as much good material as possible. This is the product of a band who almost desperatly wanted to prove, and successfuly did, that they could last without what was generally assumed to be it's driving force. Something that I feel was beggining to lack in W&W.