This wasn't my first choice...i was trying to think of a few more obscure-ish albums... a bit more underrated, but I chose to go with an album that has been with me for most of my life. Back to 1972 for my album and a classic PROG album. Yep...Genesis and Foxtrot.
View attachment 30017
Track listing
All songs composed, arranged, and performed by
Tony Banks,
Phil Collins,
Peter Gabriel,
Steve Hackett, and
Mike Rutherford. Actual songwriters listed below.
Side one
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|
| 1. | "Watcher of the Skies" | Banks, Rutherford | Banks, Rutherford, Gabriel, Collins | 7:23 |
|---|
| 2. | "Time Table" | Banks | Banks | 4:46 |
|---|
| 3. | "Get 'Em Out by Friday" | Gabriel | Banks, Gabriel, Rutherford, Hackett, John Hackett[74] | 8:36 |
|---|
| 4. | "Can-Utility and the Coastliners" | Hackett | Hackett, Banks, Rutherford | 5:45 |
|---|
Side two
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|
| 1. | "Horizons" | (instrumental) | Hackett, Johann Sebastian Bach | 1:41 |
|---|
| 2. | "Supper's Ready"
a. "Lover's Leap" (Banks, Gabriel, Hackett)
b. "The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man" (Banks, Gabriel)
c. "Ikhnaton and Itsacon and Their Band of Merry Men" (Rutherford, Gabriel)
d. "How Dare I Be So Beautiful?" (Banks, Gabriel)
e. "Willow Farm" (Gabriel)
f. "Apocalypse in 9/8 (Co-Starring the Delicious Talents of Gabble Ratchet)" (Banks, Rutherford, Gabriel, Collins, Hackett)
g. "As Sure as Eggs Is Eggs (Aching Men's Feet)" (Banks, Gabriel)" | Gabriel | Banks, Gabriel, Rutherford, Hackett, Collins | 23:06 |
|---|
(thanks for that bit, Wiki)
I know this is in the top 1000 and some of you are already going to be aware of it, but If you've never heard it before, you might be surprised at how good this is. You may have heard it a few times back in the olden days...now's your chance to hear it again. Imagine it's the first time. Back in 1979, my older brother bought Seconds Out for my 12th birthday...my 2nd ever album - the first being Thin Lizzy - Live and Dangerous, which I swapped for a table tennis bat a few weeks later. It was a good bat too…one of those spongy one with. And it was a cool black colour. I never actually got to play table tennis with it, though, but I did take it into school to show it off to the other kids ....one of which thought it looked like a layered cake from the side view, so he kindly left his teeth mark on it. . I think I ended up swapping it for an extra school dinner ticket. Anyway, at 12 years old and taking a break from all the typical things a twelve-year-old gets up to (actually...Wythenshawe...so maybe a bit worse than the average 12 year old), and having completely different tastes in music to every other 12 year old at that time....it was all Two Tone and parkas, I'd listen to the epic Suppers Ready live every Saturday after shopping (it was the only time I got to use the record player in our house). The live Phil Collins version! I thought that was the proper version until one of our kid's mates told me about Peter Gabriel and Foxtrot. So, with money I'd get off my dad whenever I went to see him (the good thing about having separated parents), I popped into Virgin on Market Street and bought Foxtrot(£3.50)and a couple of Sabbath albums (they were only £1.99)...and I've still got them today.
Side one.
Track one - Watcher of the Skies: And what an intro... Probably the best use of the Mellotron in Rock music. One of the best intros in rock. The key changes are kind of haunting and dramatic as it builds and then falls, leading to the distant sound of the bass and drums fading in, getting louder with a rhythm that just pulls you in. Peter Gabriel's calm vocals tell a tale of science fiction and the end of man's time on Earth. Listen to that bass! Fantastic song....but i can't play guitar along to it.
Track two - Time Table: Kind of the odd one out on the album as it's a normal song in the traditional sense of intro, verse, chorus, bridge, verse.... Not many people talk about this one, but I think it's a great little song that evokes images of Ye Olde England (common for early Genesis, I think) with a great melody and chorus. I CAN play guitar along to this.
Track three Get 'em Out By Friday: ...Another sci fi song set slighty in the future...a dystopian future maybe. The song is set out like a play with Peter singing the parts of different characters. It's a Genesis SOCIAL STATEMENT song about eviction and eventually termination if you grow too tall. Or something like that. "With land in your hand, you'll be happy on earth then invest in the Church for your heaven."
Track four : Can-Utility and the Coastliners. More mellotron,,,and a classic Prog tune written by guitarist Steve Hacket and "based on the legend of King Cnut of England, Norway, and Denmark, who supposedly ordered the seas to retreat to mock the sycophancy of his followers." It's classic Genesis with amazing instrumentation...it's hard to imagine they were all around 22 years old when they made this album!
Side two.
Track five- Horizons. Steve Hacket's little baby. A short acoustic guitar piece based on some cello concerto by Bach (you'll recognise the bit when you hear it). For me, Horizons has always been a kind of intro and precursor to the next song. The calm before the storm. An omen. I can play this on guitar....not very well....but I always wanted to learn it, so I did. I can only really strum chords on the acoustic, but I got a tab off the t'internet for Horizons and learnt bit by bit. I can't play it all the way through without making a mistake.
Track Six, and we're on to the EPIC
Supper's Ready. This, for me, is the best EPIC song ever. Better than any Yes song, better than Bohemian Crapsody, better than Stairway to Heaven...it's the ultimate prog song. Coming in at around 23 minutes, it's a tense journey from start to finish, based around the Book of Revelation and the Antichrist. It starts with three 12 string guitars and Peter Gabriel setting the scene, singing both vocal parts...describing a true event that took place with him and his wife of the time, Jill. "According to Gabriel, during a late-night conversation, his wife began speaking with a completely different voice. Gabriel held up a makeshift cross out of a candlestick and another household item, and Jill reacted violently" Sounds like a load of old bollox if you ask me...but it gives the song an eerie start and sets up the mood very well....and I know the Bible is complete nonsense, but Revelation and the Antichrist shit makes for good horror...and music. The song is separated into several sections...from the sublime to the ridiculous. The transitions between each section make the song even better. ...especially between Willow Farm and Apocalypse in 9/8...it's hard to tell if it's a guitar or keyboards....a dystopian soundscape. Apocalypse in 9/8 is amazing...some of the best drumming in a rock song ever. Try air drumming along. You can't!! Unless you're a drummer. Collins' best thing he ever did. Such a shame. I heard they exhumed his body for some recent shows. Impressive what they can do these days. Oh...and Tony Banks keyboards on Apocalypse 9/8 are a PROG TREAT! The song reaches a climax with Gabriel at his very best. I play this song about once a fortnight.....gets me every time without fail.
I'm, not actually a big fan of Prog...our kids was...Yes, King Crimson, Floyd....all that. I only got into Genesis because of Supper's Ready. And I only really like Nursery Crime, Foxtrot and Selling England..but, what I DO like, I love. Obsessively. I love the Ye Olde Englande feelings that the songs evoke. Not that I was around then. I love the perfect instrumentation, Gabriel's voice is at its best here for me, too. I love the lyrics and the stories in the songs. I LOVE Steve Hackett's guitar....one of my fave guitarists. Like I say, they were all around 22 when they made this...how did they know so much at that age? ..Yeah..public school boys...fucking privileged twats! It's only in the last few years that I've come to accept that this is probably my all-time fave album and Suppers Ready is probably my all time fave song...that and Hymn From a Village by James. It's a
10/10 from me ;) Dystopian...what a word.
