Monday, April 04, 2016

Genesis: A Trick of the Tail (1976)

Untitled
...And then there were four. Peter Gabriel left Genesis after The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and struck out on a solo career. There has been lots written about the band's efforts to find a replacement for Peter Gabriel, with the band ending up with one of their own--Phil Collins--assuming the lead vocal duties. That turned out to have been a great choice. I have read that Phil did not want the job and had to be convinced. There are also those knucklehead conspiracy theorists who believe that Phil pushed out Peter, but they have both said that is not true.

When this record was released, I had never heard of Genesis and had probably had never heard any songs by the band. Later, many years ago, someone lent me copies of Selling England by the Pound and A Trick of the Tail. By this time, I knew that Peter Gabriel had been the vocalist in Genesis and I knew that he had left. What I didn't know was when that had happened. And so, I assumed that the singer on both records was Peter Gabriel. I was surprised when I found out that Phil Collins was singing on A Trick of the Tail. There voices were so similar or maybe it was that their voices both suited the kind of music that Genesis was writing.

I love this record. It's brilliant from start to finish. 

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