A Trick of the Tail (1976)
With the shock departure of founding member, creative driving force, lyricist and of course frontman Peter Gabriel in 1975, doubt hung over the future of Genesis. The band members, unsure how to continue but wishing to keep the band going, considered briefly becoming an instrumental band. But as much of the attraction of Genesis is in their deep and intricate lyrics, this didn't seem like such a good idea. Eventually, after auditioning hundreds of potential vocalists, it was Phil Collins who took the role, and he would guide the band up to almost their last album, as the twentieth century came to a close. Far from short of ideas, Genesis in fact produced not one but two albums this year, and they still stand (for me anyway) as some of their finest work. Much of this must be attributed to the decision of Steve Hackett to remain, and indeed it's his influence (and lack of it, when he departed in 1977) that tends to make these albums the last proper progressive rock ones the band would write, as they would slowly but inexorably change to a shorter, more commercial and in the end poppier format.
It's the first – I think only – Genesis album to have as its cover sketched depictions of all the songs, from weird, hooded things climbing a mountain through to an old crone, the satyr-like figure from the title track, the robber and the Squonk. If you look, they're all there. Very interesting cover, and all done in a kind of almost Victorian style against a faded yellow background which further drives home the idea of this being from an earlier time, and kind of nods back to the cover of
Nursery Cryme after the comparatively modern cover of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. It's also the first cover created for the band by Hipgnosis, the first of three they would work on.
Dance on a Volcano
Kicking the album off with a bang, there's a short instrumental introduction before we get to hear how Collins performs in his new role. Of course, we've heard him twice before taking lead vocals, but this is different. This time, it's a whole album. I have to say, he's pretty competent, even sounding a little like his predecessor at times. The song anthropomorphises the mountain, or volcano if you will, setting it (her) in the role of adversary to the climber - “Dirty old mountain all covered in smoke/She can turn you to stone” - and warns of the dangers inherent in the climb - “On your left, on your right, crosses are green, crosses are blue/ Your friends didn't make it through.” It's quite a doomy, apocalyptic sound Genesis weave as the backdrop to this improbable climb, and it ends with an almost dervish-like dance as Banks' keyboards go into overdrive.
8/10
Entangled
After the frenetic assault on the mountain, things quiet down on the back of Hackett's gorgeous and relaxed twelve-strings, with a soft, lullaby-like tale of some sort of medical experiments, presumably carried out while the patient is asleep - “Sleep, won't you allow yourself fall?/ Nothing can hurt you at all/ With your consent we can experiment further still.” It's just a sublime track, with lush synth from Banks closing it out on a long instrumental. But then the tempo kicks up again for the next track.
10/10
Squonk
When I first heard this, thirty-odd years ago and more, I thought Genesis had made up the tale of the Squonk, a little creature who, when cornered or captured, dissolves in a pool of tears. But it's apparently based on a real legend (if that's not an oxymoron). With another hard pounding drum and guitar intro, it's away on a kind of slow marching pace, synth licks from Banks rising and falling through the track, threading the melody like a delicate needle, stitching the tapestry of the song together. Kind of a sad little song, but it certainly became a favourite and it is a good vehicle for Collins' emergent vocal talent. Some really nice Hammond organ in there too.
10/10
Mad Man Moon
Proving he can use wordplay as well as Gabriel could, Tony Banks presents a song about yearning, striving for better, and never being satisfied: the grass is greener, as he literally writes in the lyric. But it's the wordplay that really shines in the lyric: “They're gonna throw you in gaol/ And you know they can't fail/ Cos sand is thicker than blood/ But a prison in sand is a haven in Hell/ Cos a gaol can give you a goal/ And a goal can find you a role on a muddy pitch in Newcastle.” It's mostly another slow song – you'd call it a ballad, I guess – and again there are generous helpings of guitar from Hackett and from Mike Rutherford too, but it speeds up in the midsection in an almost Alan Parsonseque way, then returning to the slower line for the closing section.
10/10
Robbery, Assault and Battery
Never been one of my favourites, though I've come to tolerate it more as the years go on. Expanding on the ideas in 1971's “Harold the Barrel”, where Genesis took a more flippant, less serious look at their subject matter, this song concerns the exploits of a burgular, and has some cutting things to say about the British justice system. “And if they try to hold me for trial/ I'll stay out of jail by paying the bail/ And after I'll go to the Court of Appeal/ Saying you done me wrong.” It bounces along on a very boppy, upbeat rhythm, which is kind of odd as in the lyric a policeman gets shot, but it's certainly treated with a kind of hey-ho here we go kind of attitude. It also may be – though I can't be sure – the first time Genesis use a “swear word” in their lyrics when Collins sings “He's leaving by the roof/ The bastard got away.” Ooooh! Take
that, society! Who says we're not rebels?
Collins goes full-on Cockney here, which is one of the major reasons why the song gets under my skin.
5/10
Ripples
For me, the centrepiece of the album. A beautiful, lazy, drifting ballad which looks at age and the way time slips away, with particular reference to beauty. “The face that launched a thousand ships/ Is sinking fast: that happens, you know/ The water gets below/ Seems not very long ago/ Lovelier she was than any that I know.” Fun fact: this is one of two times, over two consecutive albums, that Genesis will reference Helen of Troy. No, I know you don't care but I thought I'd mention it anyway. There's only one way to describe the music here, both that of Hackett and Banks, and it's shimmering. Yeah, I could have chosen rippling but I wasn't going to do that, was I? The longest track on the album at just over eight minutes, this in itself is an indication that Genesis were going for somewhat shorter songs structures, although the next album would blow that idea out of the water, no pun intended. There's a truly exquisite instrumental section that carries it through, if I remember, about four minutes and it seems like the song is going to end that way, but then Collins comes back in with a final chorus.
10/10
A Trick of the Tail
Nobody will know what I'm talking about, but sod yaz. The opening of this song, the title track, is exactly the same as “Clare” by Irish singer/songwriter/one-time-pop-star Gilbert O'Sullivan. Yeah. It's the story of an alien, or mythical creature (depicted on the cover as a kind of faun or satyr) who leaves his home country/land/planet (referred to only as “The city of gold”) to go looking for adventure, but ends up being captured and put on display, till he escapes. It's a bouncy, jaunty and very enjoyable melody, with some nice improvisation at the end. Kind of needs some whistling, I feel.
10/10
Los endos
I see this as basically a reprise of both “Dance on a Volcano” and “Squonk”, as it borrows the melody from both, and becomes one of the few Genesis instrumentals. It's a nice way to kind of bookend the album, but it feels more like something tacked on to give the album balance than an actual track. Not bad though.
7/10
Album Rating:10 /10