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You and your fox go trot back to the main Genesis pagina! Trotting With Foxes
Overall Album Score: 9.4 out of 10 Well, folks! This is the first major Genesis classic! And it's about foxing trots! No wait ... It's about foxes with trots! (You know, it's at times like these when I really wish I were a darn good medical doctor.) And the Genesis-men strike GOLD for the first time! While certainly the previous Genesis albums are worth mentioning, this is really the first time these guys manage to pull it together to create a modern-day masterpiece. (...And not every Prog-rock band was able to come up with a modern-day masterpiece.) Even if other bands were able to create something that's not always an easy thing to digest, but when you do, it's incredibly rewarding. (Kind of like eggnog.) If you've been following my Genesis reviews up to this point, you would know that Genesis was one of the ultimate Prog-rock outfits, and they would often engage their listeners in some very interesting-and sometimes towering-symphonic art-rock like none other! And this album might be their second best. (Of course, the epitome of Genesis is their follow-up Selling England By the Pound.) That said, Genesis were not the greatest melody-smiths on the planet. (Although, "great-progressive-rock-melody-smiths" ... well ... I'll have to get back to you on that one!) But these songs are frequently engaging ... although they're not always engaging. But it's mostly engaging sometimes to the point of being enchanting! Genesis has been beautiful before, but I hadn't opened up my heart to them enough to ever enchant me. Well ... this album does it on SEVERAL occasions. Of course, this isn't something everyone would probably like. Nope. This is one of the classic examples at rock-and-roll's posh excesses. Many of the songs here like to piddle and some of them don't even seem to be particularly interesting. But every moment here is, at least, listenable ... and there are many, many moments in here that are quite beautiful. That's why I like this album. And, I fully believe that albums such as this will be discussed in music theory textbooks for years to come. To be perfectly honest with you, I must mention that I have a difficult time paying attention to lyrics, and I haven't really attempted the lyrics until today. (Obviously, lyrics don't mean as much to me as they would to other people.) Ehhh... when we listened to Brahm's symphonies, we didn't have to listen to lyrics. *Grumble* I'm more interested in the MUSIC. But those who particularly enjoy unlocking the mysterious secrets of these lyrics, be my guest! They aren't easy, so that really ought to give all you four-eyed nerds something to think about. They are very MYSTERIOUS. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Overall Album Score: 9.4 out of 10 (This is a full point more than what I gave the previous Genesis album. And there was certainly good reason for that! Genesis becomes more accessible, complex, beautiful, and-most importantly of all-enchanting!) Average Song Score: 9.1 (A truly fine collection of Prog-songs! Though not every single moment is likely to please everybody, they manage to please me 91 percent of the time, which is more than good enough for me.) Album Tilt: 9.5 (Ahhhhh! This album is enchanting! I vote that it deserves extry points in this category!) Artist Tilt: 9.5 (Is Peter Gabriel a god or what? This is the first time in the history of Genesis that art and accessibility have come up with a good compromise. Although, their real masterpiece has still yet to come.) Track Reviews Watcher of the Skies 8.5/10 The album starts out on an ominous, unsettling note with solemn notes of the electric organ, and then a threatening, pulsing electric guitar soon gradually comes in the mix, beginning to stir things up, and BLAMMO! Peter Gabriel starts singing! I doubt that you'll think this is particularly noteworthy, but this is an excellent way to start an album. I enjoy the song, too, even though ... yes ... it does lack memorable hooks. You should appreciate the song for its mood rather than its hooks, anyway. Atmosphere, it does got. This is also one of the lesser tracks of the album, but it's still very good. Time Table 9.5/10 It starts out with a blah piano solo, but when the song begins, it's really quite gorgeous. And ... unlike popular opinion ... this song DOES have good hooks. Although the scary mood the album had developed from "Watcher" is gone, I start whistling with the album by the time this song comes across. It's very good, lightweight Genesis stuff. Get 'Em Out By Friday 9/10 And the album's mood turns more threatening and moody. The song goes from being light-moody to heavy-moody, which doesn't fail to impress me. And, indeed, the song is very beautiful and perhaps even more atmospheric than "Watcher." It's certainly more dynamic than "Time Table," although it isn't as hooky. It gets only slightly boring during that slooooooooooow instrumental passage four minutes into this 8-minute track. At the very end ... those drowned out synth-notes. All I can say is ... whoah. That was cool. Can-Utility and the Coast-Liners 8/10 The "moody" classified songs on this album thus far have successfully clashed different sounds (and sometimes-conflicting chords) together and created something dark and sometimes beautiful. This song tries to do the same, but it simply doesn't work as well. Bits of this song are downright ugly. But 90 percent of it is okay. Twenty-five percent of that is quite nice. Horizons 9.5/10 I don't know why or wherefore, but when Genesis does an almost insanely short song, it turns out to be utterly gorgeous. The same thing happened before on this album with "Time Table," which was also under five minutes. This one is barely over a minute and a half! This is almost a folk song. It's just a mere acoustic guitar solo, but it was a truly inspired one. Nice. Supper's Ready 10/10 With the format of the vinyl record, this song took up an entire side of it! Yep. It's quite long. Twenty-three minutes long to be exact. And it never really goes bad. Depending on your taste or the mood you're in, this might be one of the most beautiful pieces of rock-music you've ever heard. (I'd have to be feeling quite gray to appreciate this track to the fullest.) Bits of this song can grow dull, but they are more-than-made-up-for by the beautiful moments, which, by the way, contain some of the most lovely, enchanting passages I've ever heard. (These beautiful moments are apt to surprise you because they occur at different, unpredictable times all throughout this track). There are also several funny and quirky moments mostly toward the second half that continues to keep me more-than-happy. This epic masterpiece is certainly one of the band's crowning achievements. For the record, I don't think it's too long nor do I think it's overbearing. It's great Prog-rock, though. One of the genre's best examples of it. Was this assessment correct? Or is Kevin Kostner weird? E-mail your ideas here. Comments From Outsiders:hola_el_pola@hotmail.com (Ezequiel) receieved Dec. 22, 2003 How can you say Timetable, a cheap song for Genesis's potential(if any other band wrote it it would be great), is better than a brilliant work of art like Can-Utility...the lyrics are based on Nordic Folklore...and the instrumentation is perfect, an excellent sequence...with an incredible ending... Don Ignacio responds: I meant that "Time Table" is a lightweight song as opposed to a heavy-hitting song ... slb23@shaw.can (Simon B.) received July 21, 2004 FOXTROT was one of two Genesis albums my Uncle lent me five
years ago (the other was NURSERY CRYME). When FOXTROT was released, it
received favourable reviews and entered the top 10 in the UK. (Which
might've been partly thanks to the front page of Melody Maker which
featured Peter Gabriel in a fox head and red dress).
Don Ignacio responds: I'm a bit surprised that you didn't like "Time Table" as much ... I still think that it one of the most beautiful songs that Genesis ever recorded! ... My opinion of it now is probably higher than it was when I wrote this review! Nevertheless, I think you've made some good calls with your synopsis. carrotkins@hotmail.com (egle) received May 23, 2007 man, this album (I DONT KNOW WHY, DONT BLAME ME PLESH!) was the last of genesis that i fell in love with. (first was, ahem, trespass, then nursery cryme and SEBTP at the same time, and lamb/FGTR are still to be fallen in love with), but i can barely understand how the hell you came up with giving less reward to watcher of the skies (which is, yes, an A-W-E-S-O-M-E way to start an album) than time table? i mean time table is very beautiful and stuff but i find that "whyyyy" a little off in the melodic case. like you know, they really didin't bother to come up with a better melody for that part so they put that, but ok ok, it doesn't really matter. the ready being of supper takes responsability for the whole foxtrot content and it's ok in my oppinion, becus that song is like a total blast. i've been studying it for tones of times now and maaaaaan, don't you get an awesome feeling when you hear that "hasn't it?" in the end of lover's leap? oh wait, you're a male. sor! ry for that, truly sorry. umm than i have the urge to write that i love the glue, the bridges of this song. i love the sensitive and delicate way they pass from "the lover's leap" to "the guaranteed eternal sanctuary man". and that awesome feeling you get when hearing "i know a farmer.." oh lord. "Ikhnaton and Itsacon and their Band of Merry Men" is probably my least favorite part of this song. and then again that dull, depressing and creepy feeling you get when you listen to "how dare i be so beautiful?". and suddenly the creep starts being absurd when you hear peter going A FLOWER? and everything suddenly goes so bright and god i love singing along to this. dad diddley office, dad diddley office. YOU'RE DEEP IN THE SOIL. THE SOIL. THE SOIL. yes deep in the soil THE SOIL THE SOIL THE SOIL! man and then there goes the beautiful slow part and the BEST BRIDGE IVE EVER HEARD IN MUSIC HISTORY, the marching bit which suddenly turns to "with the guards of magog...". brilliant. an! d i've read people complaning about the ending of this masterpiece, li ke omg it fades omg they couldn't think of a decent ending and all that shit, but to me it ends up perfect. sorry for the long message, it's just that i'm really excited over this track! :( |
All reviews are copyrighted by Michael Lawrence. He glances with moles.
