Genesis – A Trick Of The Tail

Genesis find their new voice

When Genesis began work on A Trick Of The Tail at London’s Trident Studios in autumn 1975, a fundamental question remained: how would the band continue after Peter Gabriel’s departure? Phil Collins, Tony Banks, Steve Hackett and Mike Rutherford retained much of their shared musical language, but the voice at the center of the songs had to be replaced. The search eventually led to the musician already sitting behind the drums. Collins had rehearsed with prospective singers; when he sang the material himself, the answer proved to be within the band.

Released in February 1976, the album documents that transition in eight pieces. It was recorded during October and November 1975 and produced by David Hentschel and Genesis. The circumstances explain its significance, but the music extends beyond a personnel decision. Extended forms, changing meters, twelve-string guitars and storytelling remained part of the group’s work. Collins added lead vocals to his drumming duties. An essential part of the music’s rhythmic interior was thus connected with its new voice, while the four members reorganized their responsibilities in the studio.

Four musicians and a shared musical space

Banks plays the central keyboard instruments, including piano, organ, Mellotron and synthesizer. Hackett contributes electric and twelve-string guitars; Rutherford combines bass, bass pedals and twelve-string guitar. Collins handles drums, percussion and vocals. These multiple roles help explain how a four-piece band could build several instrumental layers. The studio personnel should not be inferred from subsequent concert photographs: Bill Bruford joined the touring lineup but did not play on this album.

“Entangled” and “Ripples” demonstrate the importance of acoustic guitars to the ensemble. “Entangled” brings together Hackett’s contribution and Banks’s development of the material, while “Ripples” connects Rutherford’s guitar ideas with Banks’s extended middle section. Following the transitions reveals how a relatively contained motif can lead into a larger structure. Elsewhere, “Dance On A Volcano” and “Squonk” provide more strongly articulated rhythmic movement. The album develops its variety through these changes of emphasis: familiar instruments assume different responsibilities from one piece to another.

Eight stories and returning motifs

The album’s narrative world ranges from fantastic creatures to the small criminal drama of “Robbery, Assault And Battery.” “Squonk” draws on a legendary creature said to dissolve into tears. The title song has a longer history, with Banks having worked on it during the Foxtrot period. “Mad Man Moon” develops his compositional voice in another form. These different origins make A Trick Of The Tail an album of several writers’ perspectives. Unlike its immediate predecessor, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, it does not tell one continuous story.

Connections nevertheless emerge across the sequence. The closing “Los Endos” returns to ideas from earlier pieces, including “Dance On A Volcano” and “Squonk.” A second listen can reveal how music first encountered as a finale reorganizes material already heard elsewhere. Brief vocal references near the end also connect the new lineup with its history. The eight-part program consequently offers both individual songs and relationships extending across the album. This double-LP edition preserves the musical order, while dividing it among four sides changes the points at which the record is turned.

The Atlantic 75 edition at 45 RPM

Analogue Productions presents this version in the Atlantic 75 Series on two 180-gram records playing at 45 RPM. It uses the original mix and should be distinguished from the later Nick Davis remix. Chris Bellman’s cutting work at Bernie Grundman Mastering is documented by the runout inscriptions. The tape source is not established clearly enough to support a definitive original-master claim for this particular edition. The production details of other versions should therefore not be transferred to it.

The packaging includes a Stoughton gatefold jacket with two pockets and textured stock. QRP is associated with the release; later unnumbered copies within the series may also be pressed at RTI. No particular early numbering is promised. The product number is AAPA 073-45. Musically, the focus is the complete eight-track album: the first Genesis studio recording after Gabriel’s departure, and a document of Banks, Collins, Hackett and Rutherford developing their collective language within a new arrangement of responsibilities. The change of singer is heard as part of the work of the entire band.

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Also on SACD: A Trick Of The Tail

Artist page: All titles by Genesis and Phil Collins

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Series: Atlantic 75 Series – all 75 albums, time journey and the people behind Atlantic

Musicians

Participants and documented credit status. Track references correspond to the tracklist.

• Phil Collinsdrums, percussion, lead vocals, backing vocalsParticipation: Album personnel
• Steve Hackettelectric guitar, twelve-string guitar, guitar synthesizer (EMS Synthi Hi-Fli)Participation: C2, D1
• Mike Rutherfordtwelve-string guitar, bass, bass pedalsParticipation: C2, D1
• Tony Bankspiano, synthesizer, organ, Mellotron, twelve-string guitar, backing vocalsParticipation: A2, C2, D1, B2

Studio lineup without Bill Bruford. Album credits do not establish every instrument on every track.