A TRICK OF THE TAIL

The first album with Phil Collins as the lead singer in Genesis, was A Trick of the Tail. The loss of Peter Gabriel was huge, but somehow the others managed to carry on in a decent fashion. Let there be no doubt, I like Peter Gabriel Genesis a lot better than Phil Collins Genesis, but I still like the three first albums with Collins very much. I think they are very essential to prog heads.

A Trick of the Tail starts with Dance On a Volcano with it´s strange rythm and generally exciting melodic approach. There are some pretty complicated instrumental parts in the song which I find very interesting. This is a classic Genesis song.

Entangled is the next song, and what a beautiful song. The 12 string guitars are fully displayed in the beginning of the song, and once the keyboard sets in this song goes from beautiful to Godly. This is symphonic prog at it´s best. Really essential. The ending of the song is so overwhelming that it takes my breath away.

I had to get used to Squonk before I could fully appreciate it, but now it is one of my favorite songs on the album. Really emotive and captivating even though this is one of the more rock like songs on the album.

Mad Man Moon is a favorite of mine. I just love the piano from Tony Banks on this song. It´s so inspiring and beautiful. I think Phil Collins delivers his best vocal perfomance of the album on this song. This is really emotive.

Robbery, Assault & Battery is maybe the weakest song on the album, and the one that reminds me the most of Peter Gabriel. He would have made this song a winner. It just doesn´t work when Phil Collins tries to be funny and sing different voices. But I´ve grown used to it and of course I enjoy it.

Ripples is the most Pop like song on the album. The chorus is almost in a vein where I can´t stand it, but only almost and in fact I find it to be a beautiful song. Not the best on the album though.

A Trick Of The Tail is one of my favorite songs with a great humour ( and not once do I think of Peter Gabriel) and a nice melody. This is not the most progressive song, but I still think it is a very strong song.

Los Endos is the most complex song on the album, it is an instrumental track with themes from most of the other songs on the album. This was a Genesis live favorite and I must say that I think this sounds like it would be better live than it is in the studio version. It´s not bad at all, I just feel it has a live feeling that this studio version doesn´t honour. A good track though.

Beneath all my criticism I hope it shines through that I really like this album, and I would recommend it to anyone into prog rock. Even though there is a big difference between Peter Gabriel Genesis and Phil Collins Genesis some of the earlier releases from the later are very essential to prog heads.

This is not a masterpiece, but very close to being one. 4 stars is fair.