Genesis: A Trick Of The Tail CD Track Listing

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Genesis A Trick Of The Tail (1976)
A Trick Of The Tail (Original CD Edition - Japanese Pressing)\nA Trick Of The Tail (Remixed + Remastered) - 2007 Atlantic Recording Corporation/Rhino\n\nOriginally Released February 1976\nCD Edition Released N/A\nRemastered Edition Released November 29, 1994\nJapanese Mini LP Version Released March 31, 1999\nJapanese Version featuring a Limited Edition LP Style Slipcase for Initial Pressing Only. \nRemixed + Remastered CD+DVD Edition Released May 15, 2007\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: The quality of the group's first post-Peter Gabriel album astonished everyone, especially coming out after an 18-month gap following The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. The opening number, "Dance on a Volcano," almost deliberately recalls "Cinema Show" from Selling England by the Pound in melody and structure, and Phil Collins sounds more like Peter Gabriel than Gabriel himself did. Tony Banks' and Steve Hackett's "Entangled" was the prettiest song the group had recorded up to that time, a gossamer-textured piece about sleep and dreaming in which a strummed acoustic guitar makes its most prominent appearance ever on a Genesis song, supported by the sweetest singing of Collins' career. Not all of the material is in league with these two songs, but all of it has some moments of tremendous beauty, and Tony Banks' "Robbery, Assault and Battery," with its bold, hard-rocking choruses and extended song structure, would have been worthy of inclusion on any of the group's earlier records. Even "Los Endos," an instrumental finale that ought to be considered a cop-out in the absence of a good song, provides the quartet with an opportunity to showcase its still considerable collective skills to which few fans could object. The 1995 "Definitive Edition Remaster" is a vast improvement in sound and packaging over the earlier CD version and is the one worth picking up. -- Bruce Eder\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nClassically Creative, July 18, 2001 \nReviewer: Glenn J. Wiener from Westchester, NY USA \nWARNING: If you are a fan of the pop oriented Genesis, this record may very well not be for you. However, if you appreciate the creative side of this Progressive Rock Band than you will be very satisfied with the music on A Trick Of The Tail.\n\nThis release is a transition record for Genesis as Phil Collins took over the lead vocal duties from the recently departed, Peter Gabriel. His vocals are good, but his drumming is even better. The varied drum rolls throughout Squonk are amazing. The slightly off beat accents on Dance With The Volcano are creative in a way that I have never heard before.\n\nThe main attracction on this record is the keyboard sounds of Tony Banks. There are times that his style is somewhat overbearing to the point where you can not even hear Steve Hackett's guitar. However, there are more moments when his style is simply beatiful. Just listen to the classical touches in Mad Man Moon and Ripples. The man indeed shows a lot of depth in his repetoire.\n\nSteve Hackett and Mike Rutherford contribute some nice guitar toucehs here and there but most notably on Entangled and Ripples. The soloing on the latter has quite a unique spacey touch that has rarely if ever been duplicated. Its too bad Steve Hackett did not lobby harder to have his contributions be more centralized in the band's overall sound. This hurts Genesis' sound somewhat when compared to other progressive music like Yes, Pink Floyd, or Asia.\n\nNone the less, this is a strong recording by this band. Genesis would later go on to become a top 40 hit band which compromised their overall creativity. But this release sticks to the talents of the band and is a good example of quality Progressive Rock. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nPost Gabriel...Yet Still Powerful and Well Recorded, December 14, 2001 \nReviewer: Bill Murphy from Kentwood, MI USA \nThe 1976 release Trick of the Tail was initially greeted by a tidal wave of skepticism. The departure of Peter Gabriel sent many a proghead into deep, deep depression -- and almost overnight turned Geneis, at one time considered the most influential progressive rock band ever to emerge from England, into a band of lepers.\n\nWhen the smoke cleared, and cooler heads prevailed, it was discovered that -- by gosh! -- the music on this album wasn't half bad. In fact, it was darn good. It still retained all of the depth and musical complexity Genesis had been known for. And even Collins' vocals smacked of Gabriel's.\n\nThere are some truly outstanding tracks on Trick of the Tail, from the energetic opener ("Dance On a Volcano") to the often-copied concert favorite "Squonk" to the predictable Phil Collins track "Ripples..." (he tended to average one slow, emotional track per album -- skipping over Lamb Lies Down on Broadway; nothing emotional on that album) to the tongue-in-cheek title track to the brilliant closer "Los Endos."\n\nTrick of the Tail ranks up there with my all-time favorite Genesis album, Selling England By the Pound. This is another good album to start with if you're wanting to get into Genesis. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nAlmost as good as the previous two albums (4.5 stars), August 11, 2002 \nReviewer: Michael Topper from Pacific Palisades, California United States \n"A Trick Of The Tail" benefits from the fact that the group had to prove themselves equal to ex-bandmate Peter Gabriel after his \n1975 departure. Gabriel's presence had provided the group's\nlyrical edge, soulful vocals and delicate flute playing, as well as their reputation for theatrical rock through his stunning use of masks and costumes on stage. In order to make up for this gap, the four remaining members put their all into "Trick", which upon release became the band's biggest selling item to date. On first listen, the album seems overwhelmingly magical; Collins sounds uncannily similar to Gabriel (this would lessen with each successive release), and his harmonies on "Entangled" are superior to anything done previously. The album opens with the one-two punch of "Dance On A Volcano", which opens up vast, deep vistas of sound onto which the band display some of the most focused and virtuosic playing in their career, then settles down into Hackett's brilliantly mesmerizing "Entangled", a gentle acoustic number that builds in intensity through its deceptive lyric and Banks' regal keyboard work. "Squonk", which follows, foreshadows a bit what was to come on future albums, although it is still a keeper. "Mad Man Moon", which closes side one, takes one on a breathtaking journey through windswept desert sandscapes and cosmic synth/piano stylings which remains one of Tony Banks' finest moments on record. \n\nSide two is a bit iffier, as the opening "Robbery, Assault And Battery", while energic, features a duff music-hall styled lyric that is only rescued during the instrumental break. "Ripples" is a classic, featuring more of the ambrosiac sounds of Banks' synths and Hackett's backwards guitar against the delicate 12-string guitar work; its lacey perfection summarizes the achievements of the album. The poppy title track follows, which although telling a charmingly sad tale, does not musically hold up to repeated listenings. The closing "Los Endos", however, is a sweeping fusion-inspired instrumental which reprises several of the other tracks on the album and rounds things out in divine fashion. This album is extremely accessible--even commercial--\nprog-rock, although it does not lose its sense of authenticity.\nIt is just solidly made, tasteful fare, although it misses Gabriel's inspiration in a few places and this tendency would increase with each successive effort. Still, one of their best. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nAnd Then There Were Four, July 14, 2002 \nReviewer: Handofthrawn from Cleveland, OH \nAfter Gabriel departed and the words 'It's only knock and knowall but I like it...' drifted away with the end of 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway', a new Genesis was born. Gone were the flute and the dry lyrical wit of Gabriel. Now it was time for familiar backup vocalist Phil Collins and writer Tony Banks to take the stand. And their first albumn, while different, more than stood its ground. The whimsical parade of cartoons on the cover (my favorite Genesis albumn cover, by the way) point the way to an albumn of odd English whimsy. There are essentially a pair of sonic trios and a pair tounge-in-cheek songs, so I'll deal with them by grouping rather than order.\n\nThe albumn starts off very strongly with one of the all-time best Collins-era songs, 'Dance on a Volcano'. An energetic rock song driven by Hackett's guitar work and various peculiar sounds dropped in for effect, this fantasy song is an excellent lead-in to what will follow. It's catchy, proggy, varied, and overall very enjoyable. 'Squonk' is a decent song with an interesting fantasy storyline behind it, but for my it failed to grab my attention. The rythm is nowhere near as captivating as 'Dance on a Volcano'. The last song in this sonic trio is the albumn's final track, 'Los Endos', a wonderful quasi-intrumental that combines melodies from the two afformentioned songs and, in the end, throws in a few interesting references to 'Supper's Ready'.\n\nTo contrast these tree fairly loud songs we get a trio of sleepy, dreamy songs that differ strongly from Gabriel-era quiet. There is no flute, but Hackett's acoustic guitar, Banks' keyboard and piano, and Collin's voice. (Which works better than Gabriel's in these situations, I should add.) First up is 'Entangled' a beautiful songs written with dry wit about the medical industry, ended by an abslutely gorgeous and mesmerizing intrumental segment. The other two are more serious. 'Mad Man Moon', possibly my favorite song from the albumn, is a excellent dreamy fantasy song driven by Bank's piano melodies. Last is 'Ripples', another entrancing 8-minute song about the loss of beauty with age. (As depicted by the suprisingly poignant picture on the cover.)\n\nLast of all we get 'Robbery, Assault and Battery' and the title track. the former is the weaker of the two, with an attempt at a witty mini-play along the lines of 'The Battle of Epping Forest' that fails to achieve that success. The title track is a reasonably catchy, witty song about alienation... So to speak.\n\nA highly reccomended albumn, one that stands alongside the last two Gabriel albumns in terms of quality. After this and its successor, 'Wind and Wuthering', the quality of Genesis music would go on a downward spiral. This is nearing the end, and its a very good ride. \n\nHalf.com Album Credits\nDavid Hentschel, Producer\nGenesis, Producer\nGenesis, Producer\n\n\nAlbum Notes\nTRICK OF THE TAIL was Genesis' first LP after the departure of Peter Gabriel.\n\nThis was Genesis' first album following the departure of vocalist Peter Gabriel. After ascending the heights of conceptual progressive rock on the preceding THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY, Genesis was left between a rock and a hard place, trying to define its identity anew. With the odds against them they put in a fine showing on TRICK OF THE TAIL. The general musical mode is similar to that of LAMB--longish songs with well developed structures and arrangements and a straighter rock feel than the band's early work. \n\nLyrically, the band didn't attempt to equal Gabriel's conceptual mastery, choosing instead to tackle discrete subjects on each song; "Squonk" is about a mythical beast, "Entangled" centers around an unpleasant hospital stay. Phil Collins, technically a better vocalist than Gabriel to begin with, steps up admirably as lead vocalist (he'd already sung lead on a couple of earlier Genesis tunes), but despite the popular myth he didn't take over the band. He receives co-writing credit for only two songs on TRICK OF THE TAIL, an album that's very much a group effort.\n\nQ Magazine (12/01/1994)\n3 Stars Good ...notable for the title track and the tender ballad 'Ripples,' but a momentum was carrying them away from anything like a cutting edge and nearer and nearer to the big bucks...\n\nMojo (3/01, p.82) \n...Largely written without thought as to who might sing it....Collins stepped into the breach despite originally suggesting they proceed as an instrumental act. YEAR: 1976
This rock cd contains 8 tracks and runs 51min 13sec.
Freedb: 6e0bff08
Buy: from Amazon.com

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