FOXTROT

This was the first Genesis album I heard. I requested it as a birthday presetn from my sister, not knowing what to expect, but hoping for the best. I ripped it to my MP3 player and put it on, and began to listen. I decided to skip to Supper's Ready first, as that was apparently the best Genesis track ever made. After hearing it through several times, I rather agree, and the rest of the album is nothing to sneeze at either. Let's get one thing straight though; I don't really like Genesis that much. I find their music and melodies to be uninspired and boring, their vocals cheesy and overdone, and their soudn is really tight either. As for composition, not bad, but not great. However, Supper's Ready almsot manages to single-handedly brush all that away. Let's start wit hthat song then.

Clocking in at a collosal 22:52, I came int othis song hoping my attention wouldn't fade like it did during the last "prog masterpiece" I listened to, that one being CTTE. However, after hearing Lizard and TAAB, I had some faith classic epics could be good. The piece opens with some of the best singing I've ever heard Gabriel do, and goes on for about 4 minutes of the same quiet melody. Somehow, it doesn't get boring, and this whole section is rather surreal. Lovely stuff. At around 5 minutes it begins building, and my attention is still completely there. 7 minutes, the song bursts into a rather noisy part, complemented by some great drumming, and some great acoustic in the background. Keyboard work isn't perfect, but very nice. The song cools down at around 8:10-ish, and hears where my attention starts to fade. It's a nice section, but after the greatness of the last seven or so minutes, I expected more. The song continues settling down until around 10 mintues, where it almost completely dies. Then a soft part with just Gabriel and some light keys work comes in. This part starts to lose my attention, reminding me painful of the five minute quiet interlude of CTTE. At around 11 minutes, Genesis goes into a sorta shuffle section ,with some bad singing by Gabriel and this part reminds me of why I don't really like Genesis. Then around 12:30 more of a shuffle groove, almost a Broadway feel here. Theatrics, more of why I don't like Genesis. 14 minutes another quiet part with a flute, real nice. God, I'm such a sucker for well done flute. Then we go back into the shuffle feel, more lame theatrics the Genesis sucks at doing, all sucky. This is what made Dancing With the Moonlit Knight falter, and Firth of Fifth, and The Cinema Show. These damn ho-hum shuffle type moments with stupid theatrics. About 18 minutes in, it starts getting better, starts retaining some of that epic feel that genesis is actually good at...then it dies. Gabriel yells 666, and I perk up, since not many bands yell 666 in a squealy whine in the middle of a song. Then I realize it still is kinda lame, and settle down. This part isn't overly bad like the parts at around 10 minutes to 16 minutes, but eh. OMG! FINALLY! The main theme, at 20 minutes in. But it kinda isn't that cool. Mostly ruined by Gabriel's singing. Another shuffle section. The song ends like that. Meh, bad ending.

So, in case you're too lazy to read my thoughts on Supper's Ready, here it is, condensed. Starts out good, goes excellent, then good, then ehh, then bad, then good, then pretty good, then bad.

How about the rest of the album? Well, Watcher of the Skies isn't bad. A little on the lame side in that lame Genesis way, but not bad. That mellotron solo goes on WAY too long, though. And the main melody isn't to ofantastic at all, but it's ok. Gabriel sounds ok here. Time Table is ok, as is Get Em Out By Friday. Suffers from more lameness, but eh. I guess I should be used to it with Genesis. Can-Utility... however, is excellent, and on of my favorite Genesis songs, and sadly it is so often overlooked. I love the guitar part on this song. Horizons, short guitar intro to Supper's Ready. Whatever, I suppose every epic has to have one of those, or so it feels like.

So, if I were to pick a favorite Genesis album, no doubt this one. It doesnt' suffer from the lameness nearly as much as SEBTP, and has some genuinely awesome moments. 4/5