A Trick of the Tail
A Trick of the Tail is the seventh studio album by English progressive rock band Genesis. It was released on 13 February 1976 on Charisma Records and was the first album to feature drummer Phil Collins as lead vocalist following the departure of Peter Gabriel. It was a critical and commercial success in the UK and U.S., reaching No. 3 and No. 31 respectively.
This article is about the album. For the song with the same name, see A Trick of the Tail (song).
Following Gabriel's decision to leave the band, the remaining members wanted to carry on to show they could still write and record successful material, as keyboardist Tony Banks and bassist/rhythm guitarist Mike Rutherford, not Gabriel, were the principal writers of the music. The group wrote and rehearsed new songs during mid-1975, and listened to numerous audition tapes for a replacement frontman. They entered Trident Studios in October with producer David Hentschel to record the album without a definitive idea of who was going to perform lead vocals. After the search for a singer proved unfruitful, Collins was persuaded to sing "Squonk", and the performance was so strong, he sang lead on the rest of the album.
Upon release, critics were impressed by the improved sound quality and the group's ability to survive the loss of Gabriel without sacrificing the quality of the music. The group went out on tour with Collins as frontman and Bill Bruford as tour drummer, and the resulting performances in the US raised Genesis' profile there. The album has been reissued on CD several times, including a deluxe package with bonus videos in 2007.
Background[edit]
Founding member and lead singer Peter Gabriel decided to leave Genesis in late 1974, early in the tour for the album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.[3] His bandmates hoped he would reconsider, as they were still in debt and felt his departure could destroy the band's future, but ultimately accepted that he would leave.[4] The remaining members wanted to continue to collaborate musically, and show journalists and critics they were primarily a song writing team that could still produce good music.[5] Banks had been close to Gabriel personally, and did not want the band to split up on top of seeing less of one of his best friends.[6] He had written a number of songs for a possible solo project before deciding they should be used on the new Genesis album.[7]
Following the end of the tour, guitarist Steve Hackett recorded a solo album, Voyage of the Acolyte with guitarist/bassist Mike Rutherford and drummer Phil Collins, feeling unsure that Genesis would survive.[8][5] He reconvened with the remaining group members in July 1975.[9] Banks and Rutherford were particularly keen to write and record new material so that critics and fans would accept Gabriel's departure.[6] The group began rehearsals in a basement studio in Acton, and quickly wrote material they were happy with, but had not yet found a replacement lead singer. They placed an anonymous advertisement in the music paper Melody Maker for "a singer for a Genesis-type group", which received around 400 replies. Some applicants sent photographs of themselves in costume and wearing masks, as Gabriel had done on stage. A few weeks into rehearsals, Melody Maker managed to find out about Gabriel leaving the band, and their story made the front page of the 16 August issue, where journalist Chris Welch declared Genesis dead. The group spoke to the music papers to deny they were splitting up and explained they had a new album written and waiting to be recorded.[10][8]
Songs[edit]
The opening track, "Dance on a Volcano", was the first song written for the album. Rutherford felt that, in contrast to the material on The Lamb..., it was easy to write, and was intended to show how Genesis would move forward.[8]
"Entangled" originated from a piece by Hackett that Banks particularly liked, and the latter went on to write the chorus and closing synthesiser solo for the song. Hackett also wrote the lyrics which Collins thought had a Mary Poppins feel to them.[20] Rutherford recalled that Hackett "started writing verses which were very airy-fairy and then he came down with a bang".[18]
"Squonk" is based on the North American tale of the Squonk which, when captured, dissolves in a pool of tears.[21] The song combines a main theme written by Rutherford against a middle section written by Banks, and was designed to sound like Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir".[8][6]
"Robbery, Assault and Battery" was mostly written by Banks, in an attempt to replicate the humour in some of Gabriel's lyrics. Collins, who also contributed to the writing, sang the song in character, inspired by his earlier role as the Artful Dodger in Oliver! before he became a professional musician.[20][22]
"Ripples..." was a combination of a 12-string guitar piece composed by Rutherford and a piano-led middle section written by Banks.[6]
Banks's track "A Trick of the Tail" took form as a song some years before the band recorded it. He was inspired from reading the novel The Inheritors by William Golding and "Getting Better" by the Beatles, and wrote about an alien visiting Earth.[22] When it came to selecting tracks for the album, he wanted to include "something lighter and more quirky."[20]
The closing song, "Los Endos", was written by the whole band. Collins came up with the basic rhythmic structure, inspired by his work in side project Brand X and "Promise of a Fisherman" by Santana, wanting to take the looser playing style into Genesis.[23] Banks and Hackett wrote the main themes, including reprises of "Dance on a Volcano" and "Squonk", and Collins sang a few lines from "Supper's Ready" (on the 1972 album Foxtrot) on the fade-out, as a tribute and final goodbye to Gabriel. The opening section of "Los Endos" was recorded for a completely different song, "It's Yourself", which was later released as a B-side.[24] "Los Endos" became a live favourite, and continued to be played through to the 2007 Turn It On Again tour.[25] In 2014, Hackett added the song to the playlist of his extended Genesis Revisited II tour.[26]
Genesis
Production