Genesis / Foxtrot (1972)

United Kingdom

Progressive Rock, Pop Rock, Symphonic Prog, Progressive Pop, Rock Opera

Foxtrot was the first album I heard from Genesis, and I confess that I didn't like it on the first listen (this unfortunately happens), but today I think it's one of the nuggets of the golden age of progressive rock.

The album starts with the sensational ''Watcher Of The Skies'', a track that opens the A side in an excellent way, just that opening, it's worth having this record in the collection of those who enjoy progressive rock, really one of the best and the group's most famous songs of the time with Peter Gabriel. On the second track, we have ''Time Table'', we have a good 4 min song with a more romantic theme than the previous one. As for the third song, we have 8 minutes of a rock opera telling a story that involves 4 characters about a company employee who evicts tenants. In the next track, which even closes the A side, we have a song about a Norse king known as Canuto, conqueror for those who don't know, this mythological thing is something normal in the band.

Now we come to the B-side with "Horizons", a very beautiful acoustic guitar vignette but that soon ends for the entrance of "Supper Is Ready", a 22 minute song that has all the elements that guarantee its place as one of the brands- records of progressive rock with musical influences that go through folk, classical music and rock. Divided into 7 sections, in this song, the references of the lyrics are so many that no one has ever really been able to really know clearly what it is about but it can be said that it is about the battle of good against evil, evoked by the apocalyptic tone of the ending, which ends the disc in a masterful way.

Foxtrot is the band's first major work to be a big hit with audiences and critics, and in my opinion, it's not only one of the band's best albums, it's also one of the best albums of the 70's.

Members

Tony Banks (keyboards), Mike Rutherford (bass, guitar), Peter Gabriel (vocals, flute, oboe, 1967-75), Anthony Phillips (guitar, 1967-70), Chris Stewart (drums, 1967-68), John Silver (drums, 1968-69), John Mayhew (drums, 1969-70), Phil Collins (drums, vocals, 1970-96, 2006-07, 2020-present), Steve Hackett (guitar, 1970-77), Ray Wilson (vocals, 1997-98)

Track Listing

01 - Watcher of the Skies

02 - Time Table

03 - Get 'Em Out by Friday

04 - Can-Utility and the Coastliners

05 - Horizons

06 - Supper's Ready

i. Lover's Leap

ii. The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man

iii. Ikhnaton and Itsacon and Their Band of Merry Men

iv. How Dare I Be So Beautiful

v. Willow Farm

vi. Apocalypse in 9/8 (Co-Starring the Delicious Talents of Gabble Ratchet)

vii. As Sure As Eggs Is Eggs (Aching Men's Feet)

YANDEX

Genesis / Nursery Cryme (1971)

United Kingdom

Progressive Rock, Pop Rock, Symphonic Prog, Progressive Pop, Rock Opera

Pleasant and likeable, although quite immature progressive rock. You can't take away from this music that it is formally more ambitious than most rock, but it is already very pale in comparison to the greatest works of bands. You can hear here great ambitions, but greatly exceeding the band's skills, both composing and instrumental - there is no need for at least one man who would introduce some impressive virtuosity or give it a compositional touch. Genesis works more like "we have cool instruments, we have cool inspirations, we have cool stories in our heads, let's try a hundred different things and see what comes out." Sometimes something very good comes out, but a specific roughness to a greater or lesser extent usually envelops this music, and at times it even turns into a real brothel. Actually all the time listening to this otherwise enjoyable album, I would have been wondering why I'm not listening to Magma, King Crimson or even Yes now, if it hadn't been for Genesis's success in a slightly different field than the typical progressive rock field. This ensemble has an impressive and distinctive sense of telling stories with its pieces, for conducting suggestive musical narratives (by all means available). As a result, Genesis also managed to create an expressive fairy-tale atmosphere, strongly supported by British folk. It is by no means perfectly thought out and polished, but it somehow works, and often not somehow, but just great.

The first reason this album is worth checking out is The Musical Box, a slightly eccentric combination of a sentimental and erotic, romantic song with a threshold suite. However, for a suite of a recognized threshold ensemble, it is quite a conservative thing, a bit sluggish and technically limited, and the emotions are a bit too sloppy, and a bit too exalted (although both - in a still quite nice way), at least medium subtle this works very well in combination with each other. Everything that the piece consists of is subordinated to the musical narrative straight from symphonic poems. Emotionally expressive melodies (fitting like a glove to Gabriel's theatrical vocals), dynamic and agogic contrasts, constant juggling with instruments to transform the sound, generally large and frequent variability of individual fragments: all this allows the band to build a well-thought-out, narrative development of tension, emotions, moods, thanks to which the effect is actually very successful as an atmospheric musical story. A bit lower is The Return of the Giant Hogweed, heavier in sound and a bit more intense, moving in a marching rhythm, full of nice harmonic progressions and with a nice texture, in which the organ plays a particularly important role, despite the fact that it is heavy guitar riffs, expressive vocals and loud the drums are dynamically in the foreground. It also follows an interesting narrative path. In the third suite, The Fountain of Salmacis, it doesn't work that well anymore, but there are some pretty cool sonic escapades starring the melotron and nice epicness.

The rest are obvious stuffers, which can be divided into pleasant and nondescript trifles. This album is chaotic, very uneven, even fragments of individual tracks are uneven. Nevertheless, he is very successful, original, sincere, he does not try to pretend what he is not. Maybe not the entire album, but at least The Musical Box is a significant event for the genre.

Members

Tony Banks (keyboards), Mike Rutherford (bass, guitar), Peter Gabriel (vocals, flute, oboe, 1967-75), Anthony Phillips (guitar, 1967-70), Chris Stewart (drums, 1967-68), John Silver (drums, 1968-69), John Mayhew (drums, 1969-70), Phil Collins (drums, vocals, 1970-96, 2006-07, 2020-present), Steve Hackett (guitar, 1970-77), Ray Wilson (vocals, 1997-98)

Track Listing

01 - The Musical Box

02 - For Absent Friends

03 - The Return of the Giant Hogweed

04 - Seven Stones

05 - Harold the Barrel

06 - Harlequin

07 - The Fountain of Salmacis

YANDEX

Genesis / Trespass (1970)

United Kingdom

Progressive Rock, Pop Rock, Symphonic Prog, Progressive Pop, Rock Opera

A truly underrated album by critics. It is the album that marks the beginning of the group's progressive phase.

The compositions are bizarre, but demonstrate that this would be the fetus of what Genesis would be; twelve-string guitar junctions, integration of British folk and progressive rock and surrealist lyrics. Probably the band's most unique LP.

At that time Anthony Phillips was still the leader of the group, and in Trespass it is more than proven that he was the character that would define the definitive characteristics of Genesis as a symphonic progressive band (although he is not well recognized for that).

Members

Tony Banks (keyboards), Mike Rutherford (bass, guitar), Peter Gabriel (vocals, flute, oboe, 1967-75), Anthony Phillips (guitar, 1967-70), Chris Stewart (drums, 1967-68), John Silver (drums, 1968-69), John Mayhew (drums, 1969-70), Phil Collins (drums, vocals, 1970-96, 2006-07, 2020-present), Steve Hackett (guitar, 1970-77), Ray Wilson (vocals, 1997-98)

Track Listing

01 - Looking for Someone 7:04

02 - White Mountain 6:40

03 - Visions of Angels 6:48

04 - Stagnation 8:46

05 - Dusk 4:11

06 - The Knife 8:55

YANDEX

Genesis / From Genesis To Revelation (1969)

United Kingdom

Progressive Rock, Pop Rock, Symphonic Prog, Progressive Pop, Rock Opera

This genesis of Genesis in 33 r.p.m. format, is a work that many fans of the classic formation, namely those who elected “Lamb Lies down” as one of the wonders of the century, will hardly tolerate, and that those for whom the band is that trio led by Collins probably won't even notice, since it's light-years from the synthetic Pop of the 80s; if this seems to me an almost inevitable conclusion after verifying that almost 1,500 votes on the album page failed to make it reach the threshold of 3 stars, and even taking into account the uniqueness of the content, I would not hesitate to push it above the waterline, as I find much more reason to be happy listening to it than I do with most of the Collins-era products. band, although often with alternative titles and/or other subterfuges intended to deceive the less enlightened; perhaps this is one of the reasons for the anger it arouses in many cases).

The 1st idea that remains is that this must be the only feature film where Gabriel participated containing more than half a dozen songs per side; next is that the vocalist had not yet defined his identity in terms of timbre and style, with everyone, except the drummer John Silver (except for the duly compensated exception by a certain David Thomas who also gave a little help in the choirs), contributing with parts vocals; right after that this is the band's work with more string, wind and brass arrangements, arrangements that are both vulgar and capable of submerging the group's instruments, in themes with sweet melodies and highly predictable harmonies; in fact, Gabriel seems to admit it when he sings “Music, all I hear is music guaranteed to please…”, which is confirmed when the melody of “In The Wilderness” seems exactly the same as that of “The Conqueror” that follows it”; however, right after that, he sings “…and I look for something else”, and really in this last song there is already a more Rock impulse, and even a very psychedelic guitar solozito at the end.

It's effectively from British-Psych that the best themes will drink, although what you hear could have been done by Tomorrow, or by Pretty Things among many others, or just like the various intros based on acoustic piano or 12-inch guitar. strings are reminiscent of the Gracious for example; on the other hand, although in terms of composition the ideas are still generally unidirectional, many of the same or other introductions are nothing but false starts before the song undergoes an unexpected change and change of direction, with theatrical ambitions suggesting sensations that go from menacing to hopeful (“The Serpent”), or to an arrangement where the 12-string and piano are joined by a harpsichord and flute, as well as some externalized oboe embellishments (“Am I Very Wrong?”) ; and although the succession of songs almost without silence between them is perhaps the most evident suggestion of a predisposition towards the Progressive and the concept-albums, these genes already seem to want to come to the fore in the above themes, or in others with some epic sense such as “ In Limbo”.

And given what followed, one might in retrospect consider Gabriel's words in “A Place to Call My Own” positively prescient.

P.S. the re-release of the CD album on which this text is based, includes, in reverse chronological order, the group's first two singles, plus drummer Chris Stewart, The Silent Sun / That's Me December 1967, and A Winter's Tale / One-Eyed Hound from May of the following year, just click on their links to find more details.

Members

Tony Banks (keyboards), Mike Rutherford (bass, guitar), Peter Gabriel (vocals, flute, oboe, 1967-75), Anthony Phillips (guitar, 1967-70), Chris Stewart (drums, 1967-68), John Silver (drums, 1968-69), John Mayhew (drums, 1969-70), Phil Collins (drums, vocals, 1970-96, 2006-07, 2020-present), Steve Hackett (guitar, 1970-77), Ray Wilson (vocals, 1997-98)

Track Listing

01 - Where the Sour Turns to Sweet

02 - In the Beginning

03 - Fireside Song

04 - The Serpent

05 - Am I Very Wrong?

06 - In the Wilderness

07 - The Conqueror

08 - In Hiding

09 - One Day

10 - Window

11 - In Limbo

12 - Silent Sun

13 - A Place to Call My Own

YANDEX

Beggars Opera / Mrs Caligari's Lighter (2012)

United Kingdom

Progressive Rock, Symphonic Prog, Boogie Rock, Rock, Blues Rock

A very good album for new era Progressive Rock. Probably the last album of Beggars Opera.

Members

Ricky Gardiner (guitar, vocals, 1969-76, ?-present), Raymond Wilson (drums, percussion, 1969-74), Alan Park (keyboards, 1969-73, 1980), Martin Griffiths (lead vocals, percussion, 1969-72), Marshall Erskine (bass, flute, 1969-71), Virginia Scott [aka Virginia Gardiner] (keyboards, 1970-74, 1975-76, ?-present), Gordon Sellar (bass, guitar, vocals, 1971-74, 1975-?), Pete Scott (vocals, 1972-73, 1975-76), Linnie Paterson (vocals, 1973-74, 1980-90), Colin Fairley (drums, 1974), Colin Pattenden (bass, 1980-?), John Hollywood (drums, 1980-?), Lyndsay Bridgewater (keyboards), Gordon Neville (vocals), Tom Gardiner (drums)

Track Listing

01  -Mrs Caligari's Lighter

02 - Doris

03 - The Comforter

04 - Love is Just a Torrent

05 - Funny Eyes

06 - You Just Don't get It

07 - It's Friday Night You Know

08 - You have to Watch You Know

09 - How Long Before the Machine Rusts

10 - So Long

YANDEX

Beggars Opera / Promise In Motion (2011)

United Kingdom

Progressive Rock, Symphonic Prog, Boogie Rock, Rock, Blues Rock

It's a very good album. It's like a return to the old days of Beggars Opera. Of course, in a brand new time, with a brand new understanding.

Members

Ricky Gardiner (guitar, vocals, 1969-76, ?-present), Raymond Wilson (drums, percussion, 1969-74), Alan Park (keyboards, 1969-73, 1980), Martin Griffiths (lead vocals, percussion, 1969-72), Marshall Erskine (bass, flute, 1969-71), Virginia Scott [aka Virginia Gardiner] (keyboards, 1970-74, 1975-76, ?-present), Gordon Sellar (bass, guitar, vocals, 1971-74, 1975-?), Pete Scott (vocals, 1972-73, 1975-76), Linnie Paterson (vocals, 1973-74, 1980-90), Colin Fairley (drums, 1974), Colin Pattenden (bass, 1980-?), John Hollywood (drums, 1980-?), Lyndsay Bridgewater (keyboards), Gordon Neville (vocals), Tom Gardiner (drums)

Track Listing

01 - Lions 6:27

02 - Her Hand in Mine 8:52

03 - Promise in Motion 8:03

04 - The Edible Woman Again 6:50

05 - You Misremember Me 6:44

06 - Bees 6:59

07 - Clyde 7:46

YANDEX

Beggars Opera / Lose A Life (2010)

United Kingdom

Progressive Rock, Symphonic Prog, Boogie Rock, Rock, Blues Rock

Much better than the previous album. An above average album.

Members

Ricky Gardiner (guitar, vocals, 1969-76, ?-present), Raymond Wilson (drums, percussion, 1969-74), Alan Park (keyboards, 1969-73, 1980), Martin Griffiths (lead vocals, percussion, 1969-72), Marshall Erskine (bass, flute, 1969-71), Virginia Scott [aka Virginia Gardiner] (keyboards, 1970-74, 1975-76, ?-present), Gordon Sellar (bass, guitar, vocals, 1971-74, 1975-?), Pete Scott (vocals, 1972-73, 1975-76), Linnie Paterson (vocals, 1973-74, 1980-90), Colin Fairley (drums, 1974), Colin Pattenden (bass, 1980-?), John Hollywood (drums, 1980-?), Lyndsay Bridgewater (keyboards), Gordon Neville (vocals), Tom Gardiner (drums)

Track Listing

01 - Electrofire Invasion 11:53

02 - Electro Half Light 6:11

03 - Masts on My Roof 11:24

04 - Cosmic Tango 6:49

05 - Dr.Carlo 7:00

06 - Tango for the End of Time 4:34

YANDEX