Review:
Foxtrot was Genesis’s milestone at the time.” JP This “is where Genesis began to pull all of its varied inspirations into a cohesive sound – which doesn’t necessarily mean that the album is streamlined, for this is a group that always was grandiose even when they were cohesive, or even when they rocked, which they truly do for the first time here.” STE
“Indeed, the startling thing about the opening Watcher of the Skies is that it’s the first time that Genesis attacked like a rock band, playing with a visceral power. There’s might and majesty here, and it, along with Get ‘Em Out by Friday, is the truest sign that Genesis has grown muscle without abandoning the whimsy.” STE Still, to some, “what sounded wildly innovative 35 years ago now seems endearingly goofy and all too overblown.” JP
Unquestionably, “the bombast runs thick on this album, nearly half of which is devoted to the music-hall apocalypse of” JP “the epic 22-minute closer Supper’s Ready, a nearly side-long suite that remains one of the group’s signature moments. It ebbs, flows, teases and taunts, see-sawing between coiled instrumental attacks and delicate pastoral fairy tales.” STE “They’ve rarely sounded as fantastical or odd.” STE
“If Peter Gabriel remained a rather inscrutable lyricist, his gift for imagery is abundantly, as there are passages throughout the album that are hauntingly evocative in their precious prose. But what impresses most about Foxtrot is how that precociousness is delivered with pure musical force. This is the rare art-rock album that excels at both the art and the rock, and it’s a pinnacle of the genre (and decade) because of it.” STE
Review Source(s):
- STE Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
- JP Jon Pareles, Blender magazine. (10/07), pp.118-9.
--
--
2.0
