Genesis – A Trick Of The Tail
“Let the dance begin”
So, we find ourselves in May 1975 and just like that, 24 year old Peter Gabriel was gone before most people even knew who he was. Six studio albums in six years from “Where The Sour Turns To Sweet” to “It”. Fox heads, red dresses, old man masks, space alien head pieces, glowing mascara, soldier uniforms, weird dancing, bass drums in the middle of the stage, flute playing, leather jacket punks, neon light tubes, aerial suspension…gone…It was only knock and know all but we liked it…Actually the reality is that by the time Gabriel officially confirmed to the press in August 75 that he had left the band they had already reconvened a month prior and agreed that they would carry on without him. By the time of the press release, they had pretty much already written the next album and Hackett had already recorded his first solo album Voyage Of The Acolyte which would be released that October. In fact, Hackett was a few days late to jam with the band due to his solo recording schedule and by the time he arrived the future Trio had already written most of Dance On A Volcano and Squonk. Tony Banks had a number of songs he was going to use for a solo project but decided to bring them to the band. He would actually have a hand in the writing of every song on the album.
Despite the press declaring Genesis dead, they had already placed an anonymous ad in Melody Maker for “a singer for a Genesis-type group” and were busy auditioning for Gabriel’s replacement. Phil Collins floated the idea (as he had apparently also done during the recording of The Lamb when Gabriel left to work with William Friedkin) of carrying on as an instrumental band. I point this out as many people seem to think he pushed Gabriel out of the band so that he could replace him as singer. Nothing was further from the truth. Collins had no intention at all of leaving his drum stool. So, before they could settle on an adequate replacement, they decided to start recording the album while continuing with their auditions. They received somewhere between 100 and 400 submissions from prospective singers some of whom were apparently quite well know, though the band have never disclosed specifically who auditioned. Through all the auditions it was left to Phil Collins to teach the auditioners how to sing the songs. At one point they auditioned a guy named Mick Strickland however some of the material which had already been recorded was in the wrong key for his voice and in the end it didn’t work out. Right after Strickland’s audition Collins gave the song Squonk a try and it seemed to gel. He then tried a few more and quickly everyone was convinced that the singer they had been seeking for months was the guy who had been singing in the band for years.
A Trick Of The Tail was produced and recorded by David Hentschel and the band in October and November of 1975 and released February 13 1976. This is a weird thing to say but Trick is my favourite Bass Pedal album of all time. If you listen to this album with a good set of headphones it resonates with these deep amazing bass pedals throughout the record. For me this album is ALMOST perfect. Dance On A Volcano is a very bold, ambitious and confident way to start a new chapter of the band. The band sounds incredible and Phil’s vocals are spot on. The fact that his voice was something fans had heard since Nursery Cryme, whether they realized it or not, went a long way to easing the transition from Gabriel. The fact that his voice is so similar to Gabriel’s for me is why the band ultimately managed to clear this hurdle. I think a big reason Rutherford and Banks were unable to duplicate the transition from Collins to Ray Wilson in 1996 is the fact that their voices are so different. At that point in their career I think it was too big of a change for a band that had become so monumentally popular.
Dance On A Volcano is followed by the absolutely gorgeous Entangled written by Hackett and expanded on by Banks who added the chorus and the siren like keyboard solo ending. You really notice on this song just how amazing the production is on this record. Everything sparkles and shines. Song 3 is Squonk which is a rousing upbeat tune inspired by Kashmir from Zeppelin’s recently released Physical Graffiti album – which happened to also have been recorded at Headley Grange several months prior to The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. You can tell that the song is almost out of Phil’s range when he sings the high notes but overall, he handles the song well. It succeeds at showcasing his ability to deliver a more aggressive vocal and still hit a sweet spot between power and emotion. Rounding out side one is Mad Man Moon, the second of three heart melting compositions, this one written solely by Banks. It is one of my all-time favourite Genesis songs and Collins delivers his best vocal of the album on it. I love the way he manages to double his own harmonies in different octaves. Like many great Genesis songs this one has a awesome middle piano and keyboard section that just builds in intensity while remaining soft and delicate at the same time. It is wonderful and leads into a great bridge that doubles the speed before dropping back to resolve through the ending. It is a perfect lullaby and to me sounds again what CS Lewis books would sound like if they were turned into music. Amazingly the band never performed the song live…EVER…shame on them. Was probably Tony’s fault.
The only near miss for me on the album is Robber Assault and Battery which opens side 2. It is almost as if the band wanted to try to write a character story type song mastered by Gabriel. The chorus of this song really bothers me, and the verses aren’t much better. The story isn’t particularly engaging either in my opinion. Its only saving grace is the instrumental middle section from about 2:40 through about the 5-minute mark, which is an incredible piece of music trapped in a mediocre song. Then comes Ripples…the queen of the slow dance of the late 70s. It was always a great song to dance with a girl you liked because it is 8 minutes long and every second is absolutely beautiful. I’ve been listening to this song for 40 years and I’ve never tired of it. It is one of Hackett’s many high points on the album. Split right down the middle, the first half of the song is a couple verses and choruses followed by dual simultaneous keyboard and guitar solos by Banks and Hackett and Rutherford on 12 string that drifts away on a journey before rolling back to the chorus. It’s a breathtaking song even after all these years. The title track follows and is a nice stylistic change from the rest of the album. It is a story-based song but a bit more upbeat and succeeds in every way that Robbery Assault and Battery suffers – I believe Tony later admitted to lifting the idea from the Beatles Getting Better which is a bell that cannot be unrung once you realize. There are even some Beach Boysesque backing vocals. This was the first Genesis song to have a promo video…all the way back in 76.
Rounding out the album is one of the best if not THE best instrumental the band ever did. Los Endos is a high speed, complex variable rhythm-based work of art that draws on musical elements from Dance On A Volcano and Squonk but at the same time sounds like a completely unique song by changing the keys of the motifs used. It is really quite an astounding composition. It rounds out the album in 6 minutes in an epic manner that is reflective of Supper’s Ready but not quite as intense. And then just as the song is heading for its finish Phil sings the line “There’s an angel standing in the sun…free to get back home” from Supper’s Ready as a nod to the recently departed Gabriel. I kind of also see it as the band saying this is who we were and we are going to be ok…though I may be reading too much into it.
The three singles released in various places from this album were Entangled, A Trick Of The Tail and Ripples. Of interest the flip side of Ripples (and later Your Own Special Way) was a song called It’s Yourself which was an instrumental written during the Lamb that was originally planned to lead into In The Rapids but wasn’t used. The band ended up recording it for Trick with lyrics added and it actually is part of the music utilized in Los Endos. There are varying discussions about the possibility that it was originally planned for the album but cut and that it was supposed to bridge Squonk and Mad Man Moon. There is also a great fan edit of it leading into Los Endos – https://youtu.be/aIXei1-arNY. There is also an interesting mix of It’s Yourself Part 1/Los Endos/It’s Yourself Part 2/Mad Man Moon – https://youtu.be/0RbIoxGNFDM. Who knows for sure? It wouldn’t be the last time the band created a multi song composition and then axed the idea for fear of comparison to Supper’s Ready and a desire to look forward, not back. An approach that probably both helped and hindered them depending on who you ask…Which I won’t cause Jesus…Genesis fans can be pretty fucking prickly from this point onward.
A Trick Of The Tail (n.b. not Tale) is often cited as many fans’ favourite with Phil as lead singer and it is hard to argue against that notion. Part of what makes the album so great is that all the songs are unique and distinctive in both style and approach with respect to instruments and sounds. It is confident and definitely as challenging musically as anything they had done to date. For the second and not the last time, the band managed to lose a key band member and not only survive but end up selling more records than before. Two months after its release on March 26 1976 Collins would walk on stage in London Ontario Canada for the first time as the lead singer of Genesis and nothing would ever be the same…
Recommended Listening – Dance On A Volcano, Entangled, Mad Man Moon, Ripples, Los Endos
For hardcore fans here is a download of some studio recordings called “A Trick Of The Tapes” – http://www.darrincappe.com/Genesis/ATrickOfTheTapes.zip
N.B. I’ve posted two albums here as they were released in this time period. The Best Of Genesis on Buddha Records is actually a budget repackaging of Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot in a double album package. Refection Records Genesis Rock Theatre is a German compilation released in 1975 and is made up of one song from Trespass, two from Nursery Cryme, two from Foxtrot and one from Selling England By The Pound and a cover photo from The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. One song of note on Rock Theatre is a single edit of Watcher Of The Skies which was very hard to find until it was released on the Archive 1967-1975 box set.
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