Foxtrot
Studio album by Genesis
Released	6 October 1972
Recorded	August 1972 at Island Studios/London
Genre	Progressive rock
Length	51:08
Label	Charisma, Virgin, Atlantic
Producer	David Hitchcock of Gruggy Woof
Professional reviews
Allmusic link MSN Music link Blender link BBC Music (very favourable) link Robert Christgau (C) link
Genesis chronology
Nursery Cryme (1971) Foxtrot (1972) Genesis Live (1973)

Foxtrot is the fourth studio album by English progressive rock band Genesis and the second from the band lineup which included Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, Phil Collins, and Steve Hackett.

Album history

The album was recorded and released in 1972 as the band's career quickly gained momentum. Foxtrot was also Genesis' first album to enter the UK Top 20, reaching #12 and paving the way for a long and successful chart career for the band. Still, it failed to reach the US charts, as their contemporaries, Yes, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Jethro Tull, and to a lesser extent, Pink Floyd, were more popular at the time. It was not the first Genesis album to chart worldwide: Trespass had reached #1 in Belgium in 1971, shortly followed by Nursery Cryme's #5 placing in Italy. Foxtrot also reached a notable #8 position in the Italian charts.

Both "Watcher of the Skies" and "Supper's Ready" rank among some of the band's most popular works, and became live favorites. "Watcher of the Skies" and "Get 'Em Out by Friday" appeared on 1973's Genesis Live, while the 23-minute-long "Supper's Ready" was omitted due to space considerations. Live versions of that track did appear on 1977's Seconds Out (with Phil Collins on vocals), as well as the 1998 box set Genesis Archive 1967-75.

The title of the album may be a nod to the Mellotron Mark II used by Banks at the time, which included foxtrot as one of the preset rhythms in its tapeset. The 'fox on the rocks' (a phrase itself reminiscent of the works of Dr. Seuss) is mentioned in the lyrics of the "Willow Farm" section of "Supper's Ready", and is featured in the album artwork. This figure in a red dress with a fox's head became one of Gabriel's earliest stage costumes.

Reception

In the Q & Mojo Classic Special Edition Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, the album came #2 in its list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums".^[1]

Sound

Book-ended by "Watcher of the Skies" and the 23-minute "Supper's Ready", Foxtrot's sound shares much with Nursery Cryme while demonstrating a marked improvement in terms of songwriting, musicianship, and overall production. Rutherford made more prominent use of his bass pedals, for example adding great slabs of bass to the middle section of "Can-Utility and the Coastliners", and using them all over "Supper's Ready". Banks' mellotron introduction to "Watcher of the Skies" is one of the most celebrated uses of the instrument in rock music ^[2] - so much so that the manufacturers of the mellotron, Streetly Electronics, now supply the "Watcher Mix" sound as a mellotron tape set.

"Can-Utility and the Coastliners" is based on the legend of King Canute, who supposedly ordered the seas to retreat to mock the sycophancy of his followers. An early, longer version of the song found its way into pre-album live sets; known as "Bye Bye Johnny", it featured an extended instrumental section in which the haunting Mellotron string sound dominated. However this particular version never made it to the recording stage.

"Horizons" starts with the central idea of Bach's Prelude of the first Cello Suite and then develops its own piece, baroque style. The song accomplishes the function of a prelude.

Artwork

The artwork for the album Foxtrot, as well as Trespass ('70) and Nursery Cryme ('71), was created by former Art Director for the magazine Time Out in London Paul Whitehead. All three original paintings were later stolen from Charisma Records when it was sold to Virgin Records in 1983. The staff of the company, knowing that the iminent sale was drawing near, simply looted the place.^[4]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett and Mike Rutherford. 

Remastered

A digitally remastered version was released on CD in 1994 on Virgin Records in Europe and on Atlantic Records in the US and Canada. The remastered CD features lyrics to all of the songs in addition to the original album artwork.

1. Watcher of the Skies 7.24
2. Time Table 4.40
3. Get 'Em Out by Friday 8.37
4. Can-Utility and the Coastliners 5.45
5. Horizons 1.41
6. Supper's Ready 22.51

A SACD / DVD double disc set (including new 5.1 and Stereo mixes) was released in November 2008.

Personnel

• Peter Gabriel – lead vocals, flute, oboe, percussion.
• Steve Hackett – electric and acoustic guitars.
• Tony Banks – organ, acoustic and electric pianos, mellotron, acoustic guitar, backing vocals.
• Mike Rutherford – bass guitar, bass pedals, cello, acoustic guitar, backing vocals.
• Phil Collins – drums, percussion, backing vocals.

Production

• Produced by David Hitchcock
• Engineered by John Burns & Richard MacPhail
• Artwork by Paul Whitehead.

References

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This page was last modified on 14 March 2010 at 14:20.

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