Description

TRICK OF THE TAIL was Genesis’ first LP after the departure of Peter Gabriel.
Genesis: Phil Collins (vocals, drums, percussion); Steve Hackett (electric & 12-string guitars); Tony Banks (12-string guitar, piano, keyboards); Mike Rutherford (12-string guitar, bass).
Engineers: David Hentschel, Nick Haddock Bradford.
Recorded at Trident Studios, London, England in October & November 1975.
This 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.
Lyrically, 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 singer (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.