Foxtrot marked a decisive point in Genesis's career. An emerging art-rock band who were building up a growing cult following with a busy touring schedule, this album was an artistic and commercial landmark: It was their first album to chart, reaching Number 12 (rather bizarrely, it made it to Number One in Italy!). Including the classic "Watcher Of The Skies" and Peter Gabriel's whimsically compassionate slice-of-life "Get 'Em Out By Friday", the highlight was the ambitious side-long epic "Supper's Ready". Comprising seven linked subsections, it is a story of two lovers and the struggle between good and evil; certainly it was the most innovative and entertaining piece the band had produced to date. Depending on your perspective, the relatively low production values of the recording could be said to detract somewhat from the impact of the album or to add a pleasantly rough edge to what might otherwise be a somewhat prim sound. --James Swift
Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Foxtrot 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. 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. Certainly, they've rarely sounded as fantastical or odd as they do on 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. 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.
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