A great album

This is a great album and now that TOny Banks is the main songwriter for the band there are some amazing instrumentals and textures. I think you can hear, well, it might not be so much a 'popping up', but TOny Bank's piano playing often sounds 'Elton John influenced' on here, which surprised me, actually. The chorus to 'Ripples' is obviously inspired by 'Curtains' and the title track actually sounds like an Elton John song, though I suppose the best comparison I could make is it sounds a bit like 'Penny Lane'.



Anyway, now that I've made myself unpopular by saying all that, I will say it's a great album and a worthy addition to any prog fan's cupboard. My favourite track on the album is 'Mad man moon', A piano ballad [and what a beautiful melody it has]. It's about 'the grass isn't necessarily greener on the other side of a fence'. An Englishman who hates the rain flies to the desert then curses the desert and longs for rain and the seaside. Then a spirit talks to him about it all. My second favourite is 'Robbery, assault and battery', a tale of a violent thief who gets out of it all the time. The music fuses a buffet of London accents with an almost disco sound. Phil Collins wrote it with Tony Banks. I assume Phil wrote the singing/verse bits and Tony wrote the instrumental passages. Ripples continues Rutherfords interest in medieval riffs. I assume he writes the parts where the guitars play the medieval riffs and I assume Banks wrote the piano/amazing synth solo parts. Entangled follows a kind of classical guitar theme, mainly written by Hackett I would assume, but the ending has a dark synth solo, probably written by Banks. Anyway, they're my favourite songs. Squonk is a funk/rock song which morphs into a synth-ballad, Dance on a volcano is a texturally-wonderful rocker, and Los Endos is a kind of reprise. Great album

Better start doing it right

A very good start indeed to a post-Gabriel career. From the thunderous opening of 'Dance on a Volcano' you can tell this is real stadium-shaking prog rock. 'Entangled' has absolutely beautiful harmonies and a scary frightening solo at the end. A lot of the songs have kind of bland verses leading up to absolutely stunning middle sections - Mad Man Moon, Robbery Assault and Battery, and Ripples. 'Squonk' is a bit more commercial sounding but has a nice groove. The title track is somewhat weak but has its place on the album. The end song is a good summary of the album's themes.

Genesis enters their musical prime !

As a long time Genesis fan...I love every album they've recorded with Peter Gabriel...Phil Collins and even Ray Wilson...yes...I'm one of the few apparently...who likes "Calling All Stations" ! For some reason...it's taken me until recently to buy the remastered "A Trick Of The Tail"....but it's been in my CD player since !



Starting with this one ...Phil Collins' "frontman" debut....the band begins their finest work that continues with "Wind And Wuthering"..."Seconds Out"...."And Then There Were Three"....and "Duke" . These albums truly bring us through the finest period of Genesis' great career...the magic sound of Genesis that fans know and love !



"A Trick Of The Tail" is musical ecstasy...with plenty of Tony Banks' majestic keyboads...Phil's trademark drums and vocals...great guitar work from Steve Hackett and Mike Rutherford...interesting lyrics...and melodical magic !



You get everything you could want here...great rock like "Dance On A Volcano"..."Squonk" and one of the great instrumentals of all time..."Los Endos"....which could almost be called an overture had it opened the album...combining parts of the rest of the songs on the album...but it's the perfect one to close the set as it does on "Seconds Out"! On the easy side...my highlights are "Entangled"...."Mad Man Moon"....and "Ripples"...all three will mesmerize you with that magical Genesis sound.



The only SLIGHT problem I have...and it may be my ears...is that Phil's vocals seem to be "buried" too much at times...but it's not enough to take a star away. The remastered CD is pristine in sound quality ! If you want to start out right with Genesis music...order "A Trick Of The Tail" right now....you're shopping cart is waiting for you !