SACD Genesis – Foxtrot

A miniature beside a long-form piece

Genesis released their fourth album, Foxtrot, in 1972. Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins work across a striking range of scale, from the short guitar piece “Horizons” to the roughly 23-minute “Supper’s Ready”. The latter contains seven sections. Its length is an obvious point of entry, but following the relationships between those sections offers a more rewarding way into the music.

Before that closing sequence come “Watcher of the Skies”, “Time Table”, “Get ’Em Out by Friday” and “Can-Utility and the Coastliners”. Give those songs their own hearing. The first part of the album presents several possibilities within the same five-piece group, rather than merely acting as a prelude to its longest composition.

A keyboard with another band in its past

Banks’ Mellotron is central to the instrumental world of “Watcher of the Skies”. Genesis had acquired a Mellotron Mark II previously associated with King Crimson. Its keyboard activates recorded tape sounds, giving the orchestral idea behind the instrument a distinctly physical mechanism.

An instrument passing between musicians can become part of two different stories. Banks and Rutherford developed the idea for “Watcher of the Skies” while travelling in Italy. Set alongside Gabriel’s voice, Hackett’s guitar and the rhythm work of Rutherford and Collins, the keyboards provide another way for the group to shape a piece beyond a conventional vocal-and-accompaniment arrangement.

Building the extended composition

Work on “Supper’s Ready” included rehearsals beneath a dance school in Shepherd’s Bush. “Apocalypse in 9/8” grew from playing together by Banks, Rutherford and Collins, with Hackett adding guitar parts. That origin offers a useful perspective: an extended composition can develop from interactions between players as well as from individually prepared material.

Follow how one section prepares the next and how musical ideas return. The acoustic guitar of “Horizons”, placed immediately before the suite, provides a much smaller-scale point of comparison. Dave Hitchcock produced the album, with John Burns engineering the August 1972 sessions at London’s Island Studios. The recording brings both concise writing and an extended form into a single programme.

The Hybrid Stereo SACD

Analogue Productions CAPA 027 SA belongs to the Atlantic 75 Series. According to the publisher, Chris Bellman mastered directly to DSD from the original master tape at Bernie Grundman Mastering. This Hybrid Stereo SACD includes a CD layer playable on a standard CD player; the SACD layer requires compatible equipment. The format allows “Supper’s Ready” to run without a physical side change. This is a stereo release, not a multichannel edition.

Michael 45 holds the goods in Germany and dispatches from Hilden, so German and EU customers can order without arranging a personal US import or waiting for customs processing.

Also in another edition: Foxtrot

More by Genesis: The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway · Nursery Cryme

Artist page: All titles by Genesis and Phil Collins

Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe

Musicians

Documented selection of participating musicians. Personnel may vary by track; this list does not claim to be complete.