After Peter Gabriel
departed for a solo career, Genesis embarked on a
long journey to find a replacement, only to wind back around to their drummer,
Phil Collins, as
a replacement. With Collins as their new
frontman, the band decided not to pursue the stylish, jagged postmodernism of The
Lamb Lies Down on Broadway -- a move that Gabriel would do in his
solo career -- and instead returned to the English eccentricity of Selling
England by the Pound for its next effort, A Trick of the
Tail. In almost every respect, this feels like a truer sequel to Selling
England by the Pound than Lamb; after all, that double
album was obsessed with modernity and nightmare, whereas this album returns the
group to the fanciful fairy tale nature of its earlier records. Also, Genesis were moving away
from the barbed pop of the first LP and returning to elastic numbers that
showcased their instrumental prowess, and they sounded more forceful and unified
as a band than they had since Foxtrot. Not that this
album is quite as memorable as Foxtrot or Selling England,
largely because its songs aren't as immediate or memorable: apart from "Dance on
a Volcano," this is about the sound of the band playing, not individual songs,
and it succeeds on that level quite wildly -- to the extent that it proved to
longtime fans that Genesis could possibly
thrive without its former leader in tow.
Released
2 February 1976 (UK) / 20 February 1976 (US)
Recorded
October–November 1975, Trident Studios
Length
51:11
Label:Charisma, Virgin, Atco
Producer:
David
Hentschel and Genesis
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By R. Vernon
I bought this disk along with the 1970-1975 boxed set. I will probably go back and buy "Wind & Wuthering" too. I have been a Genesis fan since 1975, when, get this, my mother brought home "Genesis:Live" from the library! "Haven't you heard of these guys, dear?" I will never be able to repay her. Since then, I've always loved the band with Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett. The first few albums where Phil Collins took over front-man duties were good ("Trick" and "Wind" being the best), but once Steve Hackett left the band, to me, their writing style became more "pop", and I haven't bought a Genesis album since "Duke".
------------------------------------
By R. Vernon
I bought this disk along with the 1970-1975 boxed set. I will probably go back and buy "Wind & Wuthering" too. I have been a Genesis fan since 1975, when, get this, my mother brought home "Genesis:Live" from the library! "Haven't you heard of these guys, dear?" I will never be able to repay her. Since then, I've always loved the band with Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett. The first few albums where Phil Collins took over front-man duties were good ("Trick" and "Wind" being the best), but once Steve Hackett left the band, to me, their writing style became more "pop", and I haven't bought a Genesis album since "Duke".
That said, I am quite delighted with this new release of "Trick of the Tail". Oh, I must say that, as of this writing, I have not listened to the CD yet, only the DVD in Surround. I will assume (possibly incorrectly?) that the CD sounds as good, as far as overall mix, as the DVD but minus the surround.
I've read other reviews of this and other new Genesis disks and don't understand why some folks don't like it. ("I don't need to hear every stinkin' note Steve Hackett ever plucked" or words to that effect) It makes me wonder if their system was properly calibrated. To me it all sounds GLORIOUS! Hearing some of my life-long favorite music in such wonderful detail is breath-taking. "Entangled", especially the last part, just washes over you with the finger-picked 12-strings, mellotron and synth, then jolts you with the downbeat of "Squonk".
I really appreciate the DTS 96Khz/24-bit version, you can just about hear Phil breathe in-between phrases, and you get a little more "space" around the instruments. And this allows you to hear things in each instrument that you may have never noticed before.
But what I really REALLY appreciate is the inclusion of some concert footage from the 1976 tour with my other fave drummer, Bill Bruford! I didn't get to see this tour and was really bummed about not getting to see Bruford playing with Phil, and now, I HAVE! Rapture! 8^) And the band interviews are fascinating for a Genesis geek, very insightful. Each album has an interview talking about the album at hand, fun stuff!
If you like this album in vinyl, you'll love it in DTS 96/24, and if you like "early Genesis" I HIGHLY recommend getting the 70-75 boxed set. I never got to see them with Peter, and several of the disks in the box include performance videos (mostly from European TV) of the band with him in full glory, masks costumes and all! HEAVEN!! Ever seen them perform "Suppers Ready" with Peter? Neither had I! Now I have TWO versions! I finally have a sense of what they were like back then, and to me, that is something rare and special.
I've read other reviews of this and other new Genesis disks and don't understand why some folks don't like it. ("I don't need to hear every stinkin' note Steve Hackett ever plucked" or words to that effect) It makes me wonder if their system was properly calibrated. To me it all sounds GLORIOUS! Hearing some of my life-long favorite music in such wonderful detail is breath-taking. "Entangled", especially the last part, just washes over you with the finger-picked 12-strings, mellotron and synth, then jolts you with the downbeat of "Squonk".
I really appreciate the DTS 96Khz/24-bit version, you can just about hear Phil breathe in-between phrases, and you get a little more "space" around the instruments. And this allows you to hear things in each instrument that you may have never noticed before.
But what I really REALLY appreciate is the inclusion of some concert footage from the 1976 tour with my other fave drummer, Bill Bruford! I didn't get to see this tour and was really bummed about not getting to see Bruford playing with Phil, and now, I HAVE! Rapture! 8^) And the band interviews are fascinating for a Genesis geek, very insightful. Each album has an interview talking about the album at hand, fun stuff!
If you like this album in vinyl, you'll love it in DTS 96/24, and if you like "early Genesis" I HIGHLY recommend getting the 70-75 boxed set. I never got to see them with Peter, and several of the disks in the box include performance videos (mostly from European TV) of the band with him in full glory, masks costumes and all! HEAVEN!! Ever seen them perform "Suppers Ready" with Peter? Neither had I! Now I have TWO versions! I finally have a sense of what they were like back then, and to me, that is something rare and special.
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