A Trick Of The Tail (studio album) by Genesis

This is possibly the best Phil Collins era of Genesis albums. The songwriting and musicianship is mostly on par with the Peter Gabriel era stuff, and some of it is even better. There are three things holding me back from saying it's better than The Lamb or Selling England: 1 - The production is a bit quiet and muffled, repressing the attack of the guitars and big moments of the songs, perhaps that was deliberate, but there are moments where you are expecting an epic build up, but then it doesn't happen and it's disappointing. 2- Phil Collins voice sounds unsure and way to quiet in the mix as well. He was a pleasant singer and does a good job, but he gets buried in the mix throughout the record. Ripples is still a big highlight in his singing career though. 3 - Robbery, Assault & Battery is a weak song that drags the rest of the album down, and it doesn't help that it's 6 minutes long.

Great record

This album was the proof that Genesis was still a fine band even without Peter Gabriel. This is honestly better than a handful of albums from the Gabriel era! Not a bad song in eight!

I'm surprised how these guys managed to do such an impressive album without Peter Gabriel immediately after he left the group, they proved they have real talent. Of course it's not the level of Selling England or The Lamb Lies Down or even Foxtrot, but it's still very good one from them. My favorites are Dance On A Volcano, title track and Los Endos.

There is so much potential on this record with some great ideas for songs which are dragged out a little which is mainly due to the turmoil around the band at the time. To start with the positives which is the riffs, hooks and choruses we are treated to. Then there is the instrumentation which shines so bright so often, especially the drumming. Also, the vocal is fantastic and I love Collins vocal performance just as much as I loved Gabriel's vocal on earlier releases. Then there are the first two songs which are phenomenal alongside Ripple and the title track which are both brilliant as well. This gives the record the big moments it needs to be one of the greatest albums but it is let down by the other tracks which aren't consistent enough. I would even argue that Los Endos and Robbery, Assault And Battery are pretty pointless filler cuts with the latter also close to being a bad song. Furthermore, I find on this album that all the songs seemed to be unnecessarily elongated making the record drag and seem like the artist was just trying to fill a run time. This causes me to lose interest in the album pretty easily whilst getting slightly irritated as great songs get brought down by overly lengthy outros or overly long moments where nothing of significance is happening. Overall, I really feel this album did not reach its full potential and it would be interesting to hear it when it is trimmed down but with it being the way it is I don't think it competes with other Genesis albums.

A convincing display of a band that was deemed beheaded after the departure of Gabriel. This album only has highlights. A solid listen from start to finish.

From Squonk007 01/20/2022 02:05

Wow, what a statement from a band that most people had written off after Pete's departure. It's strong, melodic, madrigal and mystical. Almost full marks. The highlights are in the playing and the vocals.

The underrated masterpiece of Genesis. Perfect balance between Gabriel's era and Collins' era.

Coming up with this without Gabriel was a great achievement, but still a bit weaker than their classic stuff.

While perhaps A Trick of the Tail is not Genesis' best album (that award goes to Selling England by the Pound), it should be regarded as their crowning achievement. The fact that they put out an album this amazing immediately after Peter Gabriel left is nothing short of astonishing. So many wonderful themes on this album: the need to succeed under pressure (Dance on a Volcano), the longing to be somewhere else (Mad Man Moon), dealing with one's inhibitions and fears (Squonk), being grateful for what you have (A Trick of the Tail), the impermanence of beauty (Ripples), it's all incredible. And this is backed up with some of the finest musicianship ever from the quartet of Collins, Banks, Rutherford and Hackett. This is one of Genesis' most towering achievements and a slice of prog perfection that any fan of the genre should indulge in.