(Disclaimer: Those looking for a brief description of the album will find what their looking for in the "Review Body" section. The section titled "Track Reviews" is meant only for those who want to read detailed descriptions of the songs, and they do not constitute the essence of this review. Lastly and most importantly, this review might not be written in the point of view of a Genesis fan.)

Overall Score: 12/15
Best song: “Entangled”
Worst song: I suppose “Robbery, Assault and Battery”

Review Body:

An eagle visited Peter Gabriel on a hilltop and told him to leave Genesis, so he did, but the other four members still wanted to keep the party going. They set out to find a replacement singer, but after holding 400 painstaking auditions, they discovered that the best person for the job had been among them all along. Surely as a singer, Phil Collins hadn't as much personality nor as much talent as Gabriel, but his voice nonetheless was nice to listen to. He was a fitful choice.

The band members were clearly concerned about the fans' reactions to them continuing without Gabriel, so they made A Trick of the Tail sound as much like a classic Genesis album as possible. However, in doing that, they were starting to sound more like Genesis imitators and less like that same ambitious and imaginative band that we've all come to know and love. Albeit, they were especially good imitators.

Thankfully, they hadn't forgotten how to write an engaging song; everything on A Trick of a Tail is hooky and memorable. What Genesis skimped on, mainly, were the arrangements. Selling England By the Pound and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway had so many rich textures and wildly imaginative moments that they had me gaping at them in a childlike manner. A Trick of the Tail, on the other hand, contains much thinner atmospheres, less interesting synthesizer tones, and their extended instrumental interludes contain fewer surprises.

My favorite moment on this album, oddly enough, is “Entangled,” which sounds like a Simon and Garfunkel classic, except it's better. I stand by my earlier statement that the arrangements throughout this album aren't nearly as exotic and captivating as they were on Genesis' previous three works, but the jangly guitar texture they create is undeniably beautiful. Collins might not have had Gabriel's expressive singing voice, but his vocal delivery is so warm and sweet that I can do nothing else but love it. The only conceivable complaint I have against that song is that it's more than six minutes long, and it never changes its course. Lengthy songs on Selling England By the Pound would go to the moon and back, but “Entangled” pretty much stays put, preferring merely to wallow around in that gentle texture. (Banks comes in with some ominous Mellotron passages at the end, which helps for sure.) Nonetheless, a good song is a good song, and “Entangled” certainly fits that bill.

I'm also quite fond of the title track, which is about the extent of Collins ability to do performance singing! That's a silly, playful song with evolving textures and a melody that's so catchy that it's golden. “Squonk” is an entertaining song that, if Wikipedia can be trusted at all, was Genesis' attempt to mimic Led Zeppelin. If that's true, then those who complain about Genesis' under-utilization of their guitarist definitely have a point since it's Tony Banks who plays the main riff with that wussy sounding keyboard of his!

I also approve of the epic way this album opens and closes. The main riff on “Dance on a Volcano” is quite memorable and those huge synthesizers Banks plays starts to sound larger than life. The near-instrumental, “Los Endos” is similarly exciting and fun to listen to. The midsection of the album surely could have been beefed up a bit although I find the vocal melodies to be quite exquisite. “Mad Man Moon,” in particular, is nice to listen to, but I find its instrumentation to be woefully bare and uneventful. Surely if Gabriel had been there, he would have wagged his finger at them for that!

All in all, while this album isn't as imaginative or as ambitious as the Gabriel-led Genesis albums, it's a formidable and entertaining work in its own right. Also, not to spoil the remainder of my Genesis reviews, this is handily my favorite album of the Collins-era.

Track Reviews:

Dance on a Volcano A
While I will never concede that Collins-led Genesis was better than Gabriel-led Genesis by any stretch of the imagination, there is at least some appeal to hearing them instrument their songs more simply. Certainly, Genesis retreated quite a bit from those amazing textures they created throughout Selling England By the Pound and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by orchestrating this with very plain and simple guitar and synthesizer patterns. Nonetheless, the actual notes these instruments play are quite compelling. The epic guitar riff followed by that huge synthesizer WHOOSH that surfaces throughout the song is quite memorable. The meat of the song is quite exciting and snappy, and Collins gives a solid vocal performance. He's not as immediately engaging as Gabriel was, but he's certainly fun to listen to. Most importantly, the melody is catchy and worth humming along with. Collins' drumming continues to be rather complex, though, and I'd say was just as good as his drumming had always been.

Entangled A+
I've been under the impression that this would have made an excellent Simon & Garfunkel ditty. It's slowly paced, it's atmospheric, it's jangly and mostly acoustic, it's mystifying, the vocals are sweet and gentle, and it's not terribly complicated. That also leads me to continue proclaiming that the music on this album isn't nearly as exotically textured as earlier Genesis albums. Nonetheless, a great song is a great song is a great song. The hooks are warm and I want to hum along with this. I'm sure Gabriel would have given a much more warm-hearted and personality ridden vocal performance to this, but I like listening to Collins sing this, too. Collins might have been the dork who wrote “Sussudio,” but he had a likable singing voice. The song length, at six and a half minutes, would be something that might work against it since it doesn't change a whole lot through the course of the song. However, this thing is so enchanting that I never grow tired of it, and that haunting Mellotron solo at the end surely helped matters.

Squonk A-
There's a strange song title although a “Squonk” is apparently some sort of mystical figure that people actually talk about. At least they weren't writing songs about dragons or unicorns! Since I was on Wikipedia anyway to learn what a “Squonk” was, I learned that this was the song that Phil Collins sung to convince the other band members that he was suitable to take over as the lead singer. I also read, oddly enough, that this was intended to be some sort of take-off on Led Zeppelin. I can't say I hear Led Zeppelin in this, but perhaps that's because it was too well-written! It's also not guitar heavy at all; the riffs are being played by cute sounding organs. (Genesis must've had some contempt for Steve Hackett! They do a song dedicated to Led Zeppelin and Tony Banks plays the riff!)

Mad Man Moon B+
What a beautiful melody, especially at the beginning. But other than that, this is the album's ultimate proof that Genesis lost a lot of their majesty when Peter Gabriel left. The textures sound so simple and, ack, even bare. The song evolves fluidly through crescendos and dizzying chord progressions just like a Genesis prog-rock tune is supposed to—and yes, they have some good ones—but why the hell doesn't this song put me in a trance? It's well written, the melody is good, the performances (what's here) is alright. But I'm not starry-eyed about this in the slightest. Aw!

Robbery, Assault and Battery B+
Once again, there's no doubt whatsoever that these songs are well-written and filled to the brim with memorable hooks. The quickly paced textures they deliver throughout this lighthearted song are fun to listen to, and Collins sounds like he's trying to ape Peter Gabriel's performance-based singing. (Collins attempts at performance-singing are ultimately feeble, however!) It's a fun song to listen to, and I don't have too many complaints about it, other than it doesn't unlock any secret doors. (There's my ultimate fanboy statement about early Genesis! They open up secret compartments in my brain!)

Ripples B+
Beautiful! Especially that chorus that soars out over that relatively more uneventful verses structure that is instrumented minimally with some jangly acoustic guitars. I don't like the melody quite as much as “Mad Man Moon,” but as I said, this album is certainly not lacking in the melody department. My main complaint, once again, is the instrumentation. The beginning of the song starts to bore me a little bit. The extended prog-rock instrumental interlude midway through makes a pleasant listen, but it's not terribly inventive nor as exciting. I find myself spacing out in the middle of it whereas the interludes in Foxtrot and Selling England By the Pound have me holding onto every moment.

A Trick of the Tail A
Quite easily the most playful and fun song of the lot, although I don't find it quite as enchanting as “Entangled!” I suppose people who thought early Genesis were too complicated might enjoy the relatively simpler patterns they adopt here while keeping its textures evolving. The length is relatively short (four and a half minutes) and they find quite a lot of things to do in that space. The lyrics tell a story, and Collins does a formidable job carrying out the vocals. (Although what I'm imagining Gabriel doing here doesn't even compare to how Collins is singing this!) Without a doubt, this is a fun and endearing song.

Los Endos A-
I read that Genesis were seriously considering going on as a purely instrumental group, which might not have been a terrible idea if their instrumentation was as colorful and imaginative as it was on their previous three albums! But this almost purely instrumental song makes quite a solid listen. The instrumentals are bold and punchy, they come out with instrumental themes that stick in my head. They even revisit the same riff that they opened the album with to tie the whole thing together. I wouldn't quite lump this in as a must-hear Genesis classic, but it's well played and entertaining. I might even call it epic. (The reason this isn't quite an instrumental is because I hear Collins singing at a couple points deeply in the background.)

Concluding Remarks:

Genesis lost all their sense of imagination and ambition once Peter Gabriel left, but their first Collins-led album has its fair share of hooky melodies and high entertainment value.

Read More Genesis Reviews by Starcollector!

From Genesis to Revelation (1969) | Trespass (1970) | Nursery Cryme (1971) | Foxtrot (1972) | Genesis Live (1973) | Selling England By the Pound (1973) | The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) | A Trick of the Tail (1976) | Wind & Wuthering (1977) | Seconds Out (1977) | And Then There Were Three (1978) | Duke (1980) | Abacab (1981) | Three Sides Live (1982) | Genesis (1983) | Invisible Touch (1986) | We Can't Dance (1991) | The Way We Walk, Volume 1: The Shorts (1992) | The Way We Walk, Volume 2: The Longs (1993) | Calling All Stations (1997) | Genesis Archive 1967-75 (1998) | Genesis Archive 2: 1976-92 (2000)

Recommended: Yes