Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Genesis
Label: Virgin Records
Release: 1972
Rating: 5/5
If “Nursery Cryme” (1971) was their first classic and the record that finally brought the band the attention it deserved, “Foxtrot” is another step forward in the band’s constant progress and one of the greatest masterpieces of progressive rock and rock music in general. It’s also a hugely influential record for a lot of bands in the genre. “Foxtrot” is home to the most ambitious song in the band’s entire history, “Supper’s Ready”, which long after it came out became the yardstick for the epic among plenty of later prog rock bands. After “Foxtrot”, Genesis were no longer just a cult band that had managed to popularize “rock with brains” at the time, but became hugely influential for future generations of prog rock musicians. Gabriel’s lyrics in this period were already reaching the peak of his work with the band. Thematically they mostly deal with the (spiritual) decline, but also the eventual rise, of humanity and human values. All these messages are somehow hidden inside seemingly sci-fi and historical epics. Overall, the whole band showed another big leap forward from the previous record and created some of their best work on “Foxtrot”. This is an album that’s definitely not for the “masses”, i.e. the average “little guy”. For the average listener to grasp even a bit of “Foxtrot”, it demands a certain level of intellectual depth or personal (and spiritual) maturity. From a musical standpoint, the reason most “average” listeners find Genesis harder to get into is that their music doesn’t contain even a hint of blues rock roots, which makes it less accessible to most people than the music of, say, Yes or Pink Floyd (to give an example from the same genre). So everything on this album is complex, from the compositions to the lyrics, all built in structures of epic proportions. For demanding or mature listeners, this album is a must that can’t be missing from their record collection. “Foxtrot” is also one of those albums that “lifts you up”, and you’ll definitely come back to it many times, for instance when you’re looking for creative inspiration.
The record opens with the legendary “Watcher Of the Skies”, based on a sci-fi story by Arthur C. Clarke. The monumental intro on organ and mellotron, which over time became a kind of yardstick for most prog rock keyboardists on how to open with something majestic, is a true announcement, the overture to a timeless masterpiece. Banks’s intro on the aforementioned keyboards is grandiose, pure classic, and the only thing you could set next to it is that legendary opening (and ending) from the film “2001: A Space Odyssey” (actually the overture “Dawn” from Richard Strauss’s suite “Also sprach Zarathustra”). It’s followed by the “bouncing” rhythm of the Rutherford-Collins duo. Rutherford’s use of bass pedals on this track is superb and is one of the main pillars of the whole composition. Gabriel’s vocals, describing the arrival of aliens who come to Earth and find there’s no life left on it, and with that an end to the crimes of homo sapiens, are as usual incredibly expressive and can quickly conjure up vivid images of the themes he sings about. There are few singers in rock with his charisma. The whole song is saturated with a sense of grandeur and revelation. “Watcher Of the Skies”, though of course it was never a hit, is one of their greatest masterpieces, and they used it to open their concerts for a long time.
“Time Table” calms the mood down a little. It’s mid-tempo and definitely the most easygoing, mellow song on the record (alongside Hackett’s acoustic instrumental “Horizons”), with a wonderfully pleasant central melody. Musically it’s mostly piano-driven, though Hackett’s guitar sounds quite “sharpened” here. It’s about how “the more things change, the more they stay the same, but it shouldn’t be that way!” How history repeats itself; time marches on, technology develops, but man doesn’t change, he stays small, stuck in his eternal delusions, despite believing that his age is the “chosen” one, the most highly developed compared to the ones before. It also tells of the decline of the British Empire and false English morality, one of Gabriel’s favorite themes, which he dove into headfirst on their next studio masterpiece. The song is wonderful and has the best possible, beautiful ending.
“Get Em Out By Friday” is a science fiction epic about aliens who’ve imposed limits on human height and decide how tall people are allowed to be (they measure and monitor them regularly), which is yet another metaphor for Gabriel’s sarcasm at the expense of corporate tyranny toward the little guy. It’s one of their most varied songs (even by their standards), with different rhythms and moods constantly shifting. Not to mention Gabriel’s varied singing style and phenomenal interpretation of the poetry, plus some excellent narration that’s surely among his best. Overall, the song is both witty and melancholic in mood and you sometimes don’t know whether to laugh or cry at all the sarcasm running through it.
“Can Utility and the Coastliners” (a mockery of a society that glorifies selfishness and egomania, or a tale of a medieval English king who, according to legend, dreamed of controlling the world but realized the folly of his fantasies) is one of the best shorter epics in the band’s history. Collins’s flawless rhythm line against the dreamy curtain of Banks’s keyboards is flawless. Gabriel uses some pretty high vocal lines here.
“Horizons” is a short but beautiful Hackett instrumental that combines beauty with intelligence and proves his perfect command of the classical guitar. It sounds esoteric, like most of the best work of this brilliant guitarist. It’s also one of the few instrumentals in the band’s history and a more than fitting warm-up for the next song. And what a song!
“Supper’s Ready” is a colossal epic and probably the band’s “magnum opus”, which is very hard to describe in ordinary words or with a rational approach. It’s the most ambitious work in the band’s history and, in my opinion, one of the best and most magnificent compositions in 20th-century rock music. This 22-plus-minute epic is actually made up of seven parts inspired by the biblical Revelation (heh, after all, this is a band called Genesis). On their own they’d be brilliant tracks, but as a whole composition they form a timeless masterpiece.
The first part, called “Lover’s Leap”, opens as a lament, where Gabriel reportedly found inspiration in his wife’s “strange obsession”, or rather a strange event that both of them experienced at the time. Hackett once again demonstrates all the ethereal quality of his acoustic guitar.
“The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary of Men” ends with a majestic chorus, which comes back later at the end of the whole epic.
“Ikhnaton and Iscation and Their Band of Merry Men” calms the mood down a bit again. It’s also one of the moments where Hackett, in his brilliant soloing, demonstrates the then-revolutionary technique of “finger tapping”, or “fast fingers”, something rock guitarists of the 80s (Van Halen, for example) would later use a lot.
“How Dare I Be so Beautiful?” is a slow, quiet part dominated by mellotron and Gabriel’s narration, ending with his exclamation, or question, “a flower?”.
Next comes “Willow Farm”, the central part of the epic and probably its most famous, where Gabriel is once again “in his element”. His vocal mannerisms reach their peak here in a true vocal comedy, where you no longer know whether to roll around laughing at his hugely witty and sarcastic delivery or marvel at the incredible intelligence of the poetry itself. Who wouldn’t crack up at lines like “There’s a Winston Churchill dressed in drag, he used to be a British flag, plastic bag, what a drag”, even though (as usual with Gabriel) these lines mean quite a bit more than just mockery. That’s immediately followed by the long, dramatic instrumental section “Apocalypse in 9/8”, where Collins’s branching rhythms, Hackett’s intelligent string “acrobatics” and Banks’s nimble-fingered “organ-grinding” are once again front and center. This part is slightly spine-chilling and heralds the coming of the Antichrist, or the final clash of the forces of darkness and light.
The last part, the finale, called “As Sure As Eggs Are Eggs (Aching Men’s Feet)”, is the best possible ending to a masterpiece, bringing back the majestic chorus from “The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary of Men”. As the song hits its emotional peak and Hackett’s majestic guitar echoes and Banks’s mellotron ring out into the “distance”, the final “revelation” follows, ending with the announcement of salvation, the end of the ordeal, and the arrival of a new “Jerusalem”, a new age for humanity. So you can be forgiven, while listening and thinking along the lines of “if the apocalypse is like this, let it happen”. “The end of humanity” has surely never sounded this good!
With “Foxtrot”, Genesis were already almost at the peak of their creative period, and few people at the time believed they could go any further, yet they kept on developing, practically beyond the bounds of imagination. “Foxtrot” is an album that is at once a classic, one of the best records in the history of the genre, and a record that had a major influence on a whole bunch of bands to come, and it’s a must for all true progressive rock fans.
Lineup
Peter Gabriel – vocals, flute, tambourine, bass drum, oboe
Tony Banks – organ, mellotron, piano, electric piano, acoustic 12-string guitar, backing vocals
Steve Hackett – electric guitar, acoustic 12-string guitar, acoustic 6-string guitar
Mike Rutherford – bass guitar, bass pedals, acoustic 12-string guitar, cello, backing vocals
Phil Collins – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Production
David Hitchcock
Tracklist
1. Watcher Of The Skies (7:19)
2. Time Table (4:40)
3. Get ‘Em Out By Friday (8:35)
4. Can-Utility And The Coastliners (5:43)
5. Horizons (1:38)
6. Supper’s Ready (22:58)
i. Lover’s Leap
ii. The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man
iii. Ikhnaton and Itsacon and Their Band of Merry Men
iv. How Dare I Be So Beautiful?
v. Willow Farm
vi. Apocalypse in 9/8 (featuring the delicious talents of Gabble Ratchet)
vii. As Sure as Eggs is Eggs (Aching Men’s Feet)
Running time: 50:33
