A Beatle and Led Zeppelin fan, "Trick of The Tail" is one of rocks best top five albums of all times. Listening to it for almost 50 years, it still amazes me... And I have been a musician for 40 years.
This album has a special meaning for me. It came out about a month before my daughter was born. One night, a radio station played the entire album at midnight, & I happened to be up nursing my daughter & caught the broadcast. I bought the album next day, & have always associated it with her birth. It's a musical masterpiece!
Was living in Germany with a German buddy and he took me to see Genesis in 1978 and at that time I had never heard of these guys! Phil Collins came out and spoke German and I thought they were a German band. I soon realized they were British and fell in love with them right away. I went out and got every record they made that I could at the time.To this day I still listen to Genesis everyday! My favorite band of all time!! Always make me think of my German friends that I still see every once in a while going back there! Thank you to all the German people that showed a 17 year old kid all about life! I'll never forget how you welcomed me into your lives! All the best from California
A Trick of the Tail is my favorite album of Genesis and one of my favorite pieces of music ever. It is really hard to define how sublime the music is here. To me this is classical music.
That day in 1970, when Peter Gabriel called Phil Collins' number to invite him for an audition, made them all legends and multi-millionaires. Similar to Floyd getting Gilmour when Syd went down. The whims of fortunes...
I was on board with the first live album with Gabriel still in the band. But when this lp came out my junior year, man. And a couple more friends climbed aboard as well. Classic album for me.
We went to the concert in San Diego wondering who was going to be the new singer. As the band started we saw Chester Thompson and Phil both playing drums side by side. Wtf?...Phil then came out from behind his kit and bounded down front to deliver an incredible job on vocals with tons of showmanship! We were stunned and elated!! Did not see that coming and my mates and I will never, ever forget that magical night of true shock and awe.
Totally relate!! I first heard Genesis on Duke just after their concert at the Greek (I lived down the street from there). I was so frustrated to have missed them. But then went to see them at the LA Arena and was so enthralled and hypnotized..
My friend Dave said I’ve just seen the gods come to earth. His brother a multi instrument performer asked to go pro and be a very humble and centered prodigy just nodded his head and leaned back into his Osh Kosh Overalls. Quite the thing when 18 months earlier they’d seen the full The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway at the Santa Monica Civic. Just one balmy night in the hills near Studio City in a new amphitheater....1976...
This album was my introduction to Genesis back in the mid 70s, when I was in my mid teens. One of my older brothers brought it home. When I first heard it, my jaw kind of dropped, as I hadn't heard anything quite like it before. I have been a fan ever since, and I still think this album is fantastic.
Lloyd: This album, from start to finish, is one of those that must be heard from start to finish, like a "Dark Side of the Moon" album. It is awe inspiring and always gives me the willies when I slap the headphones on and dive into the volcano.
I saw Genesis when they came out with "And Then There Were Three". They played so much at that concert, in Toronto,at the CNE. It was 1978 or 79. One of my best concerts ever. Today, they are my all time favorite band. Loved The Beatles all my life, Loved Floyd all my life, but I can't stop listening to Wind and Wuthering and Trick of the Tail and And Then There Were Three, and Abacab, Invisible Touch, Genesis Rock...all of them. They are just that fantastic. Killer band.
I absolutely love this album! Some of the best writing that was ever done by Genesis. Musically this is also a fantastic piece of work that can only be seconded by Wind and Wuthering. I still think The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is the best Genesis of all-time, and Selling England By The Pound is considered their masterpiece, but I really REALLY love this album!
I saw the first Trick show at Hammersmith Odeon. A year previous we had assumed our favourite band had died ! Two minutes in to the show we realised that they were here for ever !
For me (a good deal of the older catalogue, in fact), this album is an autumn one--early to mid-October. I'd gotten a CD copy of this one for a birthday at a time I did a LOT of driving for my job. So October afternoons / evenings on the road tend to be my automatic recall for this album. Particularly tracks like "Entangled". But I can grasp your take of this one as kind of a "fireside" song.
I can't help commenting on the music Ripples! The melody, the lyrics and, especially, Steve's wonderful guitar! She cries, speaks, groans ... asks to be heard! superb!
Both A Trick Of The Tail and Wind & Wuthering are masterpieces, imho. Squonk, Mad Man Moon, Eleventh Earl Of Mar, One For The Vine, etc. Just so many incredible songs. I think ATOTT, W&W, ATTWT and Duke is one of the best runs of albums ever.
@patepulkkinenvtec2403 Nope just inferior compositions compared to their earlier stuff and I mean Trepass - Wind & Wuthering. I prefer the Peter Gabriel era but my favourite song is Blood on the Rooftops from Wind & Wuthering so I don't stay bias on Phil Colins & Peter Gabriel.
A lot of people (me included) thought they wouldn't survive the departure of Peter. This album proved that wrong. The departure of Steve was, for me, more significant because it signaled a departure musically. From then on the sound was more pop and commercial, and that's when I lost interest. From Abacab on they were no longer "my" band. Hear they did well though. :-)
Me too..1977..Had already been into Beatles ,Stones Zep, PF ,BS , Yes but aslong came my introduction to this album..Just entering junior high..A whole new world was opening up to me and this album blew me away..Opened my mind to Genesis..Played the grooves off the album
Soundspur I second that. When Peter left we all were very disappointed and figured that was Genesis' end. When Trick came out we were all so pleasantly surprised and then to have Peter's first album as well. It was just a new phase. Nothing will ever compare to Supper's Ready or SEBTP . Thank God Steve still puts out new music.
Mike Rutherford has a nice speaking voice... only if you could figure out a single word he says, for a non-native English speaker like me it's quite impossible to make up what he is actually saying due to his thick accent 😅.
Musically one of my favourite albums and possibly my favourite album cover (simply, clean but beautiful) and liner notes (the font). Can't imagine simply buying a digital copy as most people do now. I perused the liner notes while listening to the music for hours.
In the early 80's I was subjected to Genesis often during Euchre parties in a friends basement. They listened to nothing else and I couldn't stand it. They knew I didn't like Genesis so that gave them even more license to play it often. One night, 'Trick of The Tail' came on and I found myself humming one of the tracks and asked who it was.....The rest is history! I fell in love with this album immediately. For Trick of the Tail skeptics, I recommend you listen to the album in for 3 or 4 times. You will be hooked.
I saw them in an arena on this tour for the "Trick of the Tail" album. They walked on stage in the dark unannounced and opened with Moog sub-sonic bass pedals "dah dah da daaah. There was huge fog suddenly everywhere with focused orange and red par lamps beams shooting down directly on the stage. It was like the Red Sea parting and it was quite incredible to me as ateenager back then.
I just spent the last couple of evenings listening to these excellent Genesis album compilation interviews and surmise that Mike and Tony as the two longest running members are significant in that Tony’s underlying and lead keys provide the continuity and consistency of the bands trademark sound, while Mike was the rock that held the personalities of the other members enough in check that they could contribute their talents at a high level while continuing to improve and increase their gifted contributions. He couldn’t keep them individually in the band indefinitely obviously. He may in fact be the actual non self appointed leader of the band. He’s a gifted song writer and musician of the highest caliber.
I remember Jordan Rudess said that is his fave Genesis album, thank for him for introducing that, still my fave,too. Brilliant chords and harmony all over there.
Unlike "Dance On A Volcano", which slapped me flat right away, "Squonk" took a few listens to grow on me. Now it's my favorite track from the album, followed by "Dance" and "Entangled".
I hope you geezers understand how much you are LOVED!❤ My favorite album. In Spring of 1980, I would begin walking over to my new friends house,stoner/rocker HQ in our junior year,and Mike would play seconds out,Squonk,specifically,as I began to devirginize these virgin pink boxers lungs with thai stick from an aperatus called "atomic bong" and listening to Squonk.There was forest wallpaper and trinkets from #paramountimports. Middle earth in one bedroom. And in that condition,with such music,this 17 year old r&b brother began to change. Quickly and forever. ☁ #santaclara #tulanedrive #wheelingdrive #genesissecondsout #1980
Just saw Steve Hackett live. Opener is DOAV, then Dancing with the moonlit knight. 3rd was Squonk. What an opening! They played a 2:45 minute show. Simply amazing and a must see.
Charles Alvarez - the trouble with Mad ManMoon is that there are too much keyboard overdubs!! A great song but I don’t think they could ever play it live unless Tony has a secret twin to help with keyboard parts.
TOTT is the one Genesis album everyone I know seemed to have in their collection. It takes the Prog chops of Lamb and makes it more accessible and earthy.
I had a group of friends (in my teens) who never stopped playing Genesis. I was immersed in Foxtrot, Selling England, The Lamb Lies Down, but Trick Of The Tail & Wind & Wuthering were not permitted on the shelf (although they had both been released years earlier). I suppose I was a bit brainwashed into believing that only Gabriel's Genesis was worth listening to. It was actually the cover artwork that seduced me into buying a used copy of Trick Of The Tail many years later. I thought that if the music matched the cover in any way, I might hear something that I liked after all! That's how I wound up discovering my all-time favourite Genesis album. And then it was straight out to buy Wind & Wuthering the very next day (which now comes in at #2). But when it comes to my favourite Genesis song, it's Firth Of Fifth.
Acho que era 1976 ou 77 estávamos numa praia deserta acampados, me lembro do sol, da praia deserta, da liberdade ouvindo este album gravado em cassete, que delicia foi minha juventude que jamais voltará. A praia em questão se chama Juqueí litoral norte SP, hoje totalmente loteada e repleta de condominios.
I'd say if all Gabriel-Era Genesis albums are a 9 or higher, then the Hackett records are both an 8. The difference in quality is negligible until ATTWT, and Duke is fantastic, but the rest contain some of their best and worst tracks
I love all the comments. Same here. Discovered the band with this album. Listening to college FM late at night on headphones when Ripples came on. It blew me away. Didn't look back, though when I started buying the back catalogue and heard Gabriel for the first time I was like: wtf is this? I've since come around :)
Tony has a very frank way of speaking. It's his work he's critiquing, for Christ's sake. All this bile from the "fans" here is belied by the fact that the rest of the band all remain friends with Tony to this day. He's head and shoulders above many of us in many ways is the problem most of you critics have with him.
I still have my original vinyl album bought in the 70's. And I still listen to it. Nothing better than the smooth sound of the old vinyl on my Techniques Quartz Timed Direct Drive Turntable I bought in the late 70's or early 80's, it still works great. I do need to give it a lube job now though, after all it is at least 40yrs old. I also have a CD version of this. MP3 doesn't do any music justice and I avoid it if at all possible. I miss the singer songwriter era so much. Real musical talent. Don't like this stuff today that is computer generated by people that can't even play an instrument.
this was my first Genesis record and i cant tell ya how many times i used to play drums along to it ! 10 years old down in basement trying to keep up with phil :)
And then again the band members themselves are taking "Ripples" for granted. One of the greatests pieces af art ever written, andall the feedback it gets from the genious behind it is that" it's got a strong chorus"...
It's all a question of perspective. Ripples probably took them a week to put together (I am guessing) and it's awesome, but I am sure that, for them, keeping a band progressing and touring for so many years probably ranks much higher as it takes years of hard work and commitment. Raising their family probably is up there too. The great artists know that true genius is a combination of instinct, luck and circumstances, on which they have no or very little control over.
Well said. My favourite Genesis song on my favourite Genesis album. I think they recognised that it's a fan favourite by playing it live well after this documentary was made, which is something.
Steve at 8:00 is really honest here saying he didn't have much material for Trick because he had just done a solo album - but he did have lots of stuff for the next album, that didn't make it to the album. I read somewhere that Phil had remarked that Steve could have just gone and done another solo album instead of leaving Genesis. Maybe that is right. I wish Steve had stayed. After all, Steve had solo albums even before Pete. They should have said "No no you can't go. don't be daft." but they said "OK mate if that's what you want to do - 'bye."
LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS ALBUM! all of it. hadn't known Genesis until wind and withering, which I fell in move with (your own special way was ll i needed to hear),.. then went backwards and found this album,.. kept going backwards, enthralled by the Lamb,.. back and back until the beginning:))) then forward, and sideways to much of the solo stuff,... and now on w Genesis Revisited, Steve's maestro band! deep gratitude for this band!
A Trick Of The Tail was Chris Squire's favourite Genesis album of all times. And it was very much a Banks' album in many ways. Each and every time I hear the piano intro of Mad Man Moon and then Phil starts to sing "Was it summer when the river ran dry...." I can hardly stop myself from crying out of emotion.
Great and very insightful interview for a marvelous and classic Genesis album! Love the title song,Phil did a soulful job on it. As he did on the rest of the songs. This album proved that the rest of the band made the perfect choice to have Phil take over as vocalist for the group!!
Loved hearing the guitar again after it was almost completely lost for large portions of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Also one of the favourite album covers and liner notes (loved the font).
Really irritates me when people slag off Tony. Just because he has that public school boy dry sarcastic tone to his voice does not make him arrogant. Banks was the backbone of the classic Genesis sound. I actually think in person he would be really funny, his acceptance speech at the 2016 Prog awards being a case in point.
Brian ~ Agreed. lf you've been with this band since the beginning, then it's the _music_ that matters. Not everyone can have a personality like Zappa had. l _love_ these dudes!
Got besides the point of irritation because I've been hearing/reading silly comments for over 40 years now, but, yeah, still bugs me a bit when people fail to recognize the wonder that Tony Banks is :)
I agree. People don't like things sugar-coated then complain when they hear honesty. I like all the guys and what made them individuals is what made the band so great.
Its not that, its that he always take the honour of most songs when we know the others made them. We of course understand "he could finish the songs" but it become a bit too much for me.
Nobody who was a Genesis fan from the get go had a problem with Peter. Most of those fans stuck around for one or two post Gabriel albums then pretty much gave up on the whole thing. The pre and post Lamb fandoms are entirely different crowds.
Considering the stakes involved, with Peter leaving, Trick of the Tail is probably their greatest achievement. Phil more than rose to the occasion on vocals, the cover art was great (Wind and Wuthering as well), and there was a great dynamic range to the tracks. The live shows at MSG with Phil and Chester on drums were fabulous.
Not enough on 'Ripples' here - to my old ears it's always been their greatest composition. An emotional song about the sadness of growing old, and it always brings a tear to my eye.
This album and wind and wuthering hit different somehow. I absolutely love the early albums, foxtrot is still my favorite, but there’s something about the composition and arrangement of these albums that keeps me coming back. Part of me wishes that Hackett stayed around for one more album with the foursome version of Genesis.
I'm definitely a Gabriel-era fan, to me that is still the band's best and most creative period but funnily enough Trick is my favorite album. The songwriting is simply superb and the material strong and even. Thanks for the memories.
oddly, this was my the first cassette of Genesis...and i went to Nirvana....and after this i found out that there were older albums...and i got them all when ever i could... it was like a finding a goldmine spiritually...what to me was revolutionary, was life is not to hurry...transcendental music... and life!! Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo that i´m into now...VYASA
I first heard this album within a yr of it coming out and it's got to be one of my top 10 favourite albums of all time and i've always had a special interest in the title track itself, also being my favourite Genesis song, but it wasn't untill nr the beggining of last yr, 2020, that it had even more significant meaning not only to me personally, but kinda weirdly maybe for all of us, if you think about it listening to those majical lyrics, which i don't need to recite to you all, I think it says a hellava lot about where we are now today too!!!
