Last Updated on 27 January 2026 by Massimo M.
Foxtrot is the fourth album recorded in the studio and released by Genesis.
We are in 1972 and Genesis, who had recently released Nursery crime, an album that at the time had received a great favor from the critics and also from the public. They were therefore in the uncomfortable position of having to meet enormous expectations regarding the new album to be released.
The question was: is it possible to improve the high quality expressed in Nursery crime? The answer is yes of course, if you have a band formed by Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Tony Banks, Mike Rutheford and Phil Collins
Genesis recorded the tracks for Foxtrot in about two months, i.e. between August and September 1972, at Islands Studios in London. However, the first recording was decidedly unproductive, above all for reasons that had very little to do with music.
Initially the producer was to be John Anthony, with whom they had worked on their new song “Happy the Man” earlier in the year, but rising costs mainly due to the slow progress of the album caused disagreements between Anthony and Charisma Records, Genesis’ historical label.
So Gabriel and his partners found themselves having to find a new producer and it wasn’t a simple undertaking. The situation generated a loss of focus from the band who could not produce anything really good for the new album. So they decided to put an end to these unproductive sessions and embark on an Italian tour in August 1972, only to resume work on the album the following month.
After trying to be produced by Tony Platt, who quickly left due to incompatibility of character, finally the Genesis found the square, even if with some grumbling on the part of Banks, with Dave Hitchcock, who had previously brought Caravan to the fore, and John Burns as engineer, who would continue to work with them on their next three albums as well..
In the end, despite all the difficulties, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins managed to pull a series of high, if not very high quality songs out of the hat which, when they weren’t used for Foxtrot, ended up on the band’s later works or on Hackett’s solo album.
Initially the band worked on some of Hackett’s pieces, but these were then shelved to be included in 1975 in the guitarist’s first solo work, Voyage of the Acolyte. The sound material that properly reworked will become “Watcher of the Skies” and “Can-Utility and the Coastliners” was instead performed live several times before the actual recording of Foxtrot began
Another piece, devised by Rutherford, was recorded but not used immediately. This too was later adapted by Hackett in “Shadow of the Hierophant” in Voyage of the Acolyte. An early version of “Firth of Fifth”, written by Banks, but without . However, Banks worked hard on it over the next year and managed to release the song on their next album, Selling England by the Pound..
During the Foxtrot recording sessions Genesis also recorded one of the most popular songs during live performances, “Twilight Alehouse”, which had been performed when Anthony Phillips, one of the founding members, was still in the band. However, this recording was not used for the new album and remained unreleased until 1973 when it was released as a single in limited edition.
The album opens with Watcher Of The Skies a song whose lyrics were inspired by the writings of the famous science fiction writer Arthur C. Clark. It’s a track that needs no introduction. It became a classic even before it was recorded. The spatial and monumental introduction of mellotron was ideal to start the concerts, combined with the play of ultraviolet light and clouds of smoke , created the ideal atmosphere to bring out all the theatricality of Peter Gabriel, which was at its peak at the time.
The second track is Time Table in which the protagonist is the magnificent piano of Tony Banks who weaves a melancholy and pungent melody. A simple piece but of extraordinary intensity
Get ‘Em Out by Friday is presented in a more gritty and experimental way, not only instrumentally but also lyrically. It is in fact a mini operetta in which the three main characters, to whom as many musical themes correspond, speak in the first person, each telling their own story. For each of the characters Peter Gabriel adopts a different vocal style showing, if ever there was a need, what a very high level his interpretive ability had reached. A song to be appreciated on many levels, not only for the technique of the musicians and for the musical interlocking, but also for the story, which ends with a journey into the future until 2012.
Can-Utility and the Coastliners, whose text was written by Steve Hackett, is instead inspired by the Nordic legend of Canute the Great, king of England, Sweden and Denmark around the year one thousand. Legend has it that this king, fed up with being flattered like a god by his subjects, wanted to show them his human nature. To this end, he had his throne placed facing the sea and ordered the waves to stop in front of it, obviously without success. The throne sinking into the sea thus becomes a metaphor for the vanity of human affairs.
The second side opens with the short instrumental piece Horizons for acoustic guitar, performed by Hackett alone, inspired by the first movement of Bach’s Suite for cello solo BWV 1007, an author much loved by progressive musicians.
And so we come to the most important composition of Foxtrot, his true masterpiece, which is also what can be considered as their first authentic masterpiece. Let’s talk about the Supper’s Ready suite, which almost entirely occupies side B of the disc, and is the result of the active collaboration of all the members of the band.
The music of Genesis in the early seventies is highly elaborated, a progressive rock with very wide expressive possibilities, and Supper’s Ready is the emblem of this musical moment.
It is an extremely complex composition, of a spiritual nature, which draws its inspiration mainly from the Apocalypse of St. John (chapter 19 verse 9) “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage feast of the Lamb” .
So the main theme is the atavistic struggle between good and evil and the title, Supper’s ready, refers to the dinner that celebrates the victory of good over evil. Not only this though. The suite also tells the story of two lovers and, in the broadest sense, of all humanity.
Peter Gabriel also evidently realized the complexity of this work of his. In fact, each of the seven parts of Supper’s Ready has an explanatory note written in his own hand.
It is an extremely complex composition, of a spiritual nature, which draws inspiration mainly from the Apocalypse of St. John 
The first song that opens Supper’s Ready, Lover’s Leap, tells of a story that takes place inside a house and is very calm and harmonious: two lovers have met again and now they finally seem happy, but something mysterious happens and their bodies begin to transform, while seven mysterious and cloaked men walk in the garden.
The guaranteed eternal sanctuary man
The pair of lovers suddenly find themselves in a fantastic place where they meet two characters who are opposites of each other. The first is an evangelical pastor who symbolically represents good, the second, who obviously represents evil and who presents himself as the man of the Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary, is the head of a scientific religious movement and claims to know how to fight fire that is, the sexual impulse that prevents one from attaining spiritual enlightenment.
Ikhnaton and itsacon and thier band of merry men
The Man of the Eternal Guaranteed Sanctuary has two generals in his employ, Ikhnaton (name of Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep IV) and Itsacon (pun meaning he is a crook). The two generals have the task of unleashing a merciless war against all those who do not intend to follow the religion of the man of the guaranteed eternal sanctuary.
How dare i be so beatiful?
The battle is over and the dead are scattered everywhere.
The two lovers wander desperately and end up meeting a young man near a lake who, as in the myth of Narcissus, is transformed into a flower.
The title is sarcastically dedicated to the producer of their first album Jonhatan King who loved to repeat the phrase How dare I be so beautiful?
Willow’s Farm
The two lovers end up in a pond. When they come out of the water, the scenery around them changes completely. The two find themselves in a grotesque, amusing (Winston Churchill dressed as a woman) and changeable (a whistle directs the constant changes) world. It is a section that lightens the atmosphere a little, moving it away from the demanding religious theme.
Apocalypse in 9/8 featuring the delicious talents og Gabble Ratchet
The reference to the Apocalypse of St. John returns. A whistle sends the lovers back to their world where the Apocalypse is underway, with Magog’s guards sowing death, while Pythagoras composes a song and the world, using the same words of Gabriel, he turns on himself.
As sure as eggs is eggs
Good triumphs over evil, humanity saves itself from destruction and even lovers are led to the New Jerusalem, where they finally find the longed-for serenity.
The title of this last part refers to a poem by William Blake (And did those feet in ancient time) inspired by the legend according to which Jesus Christ would have arrived at Glastonbury in England.
Apocalypse in 9/8 featuring the delicious talents og Gabble Ratchet
With Foxtrot Genesis land for the first time in the United States. An overseas arrival that was not immediately exciting. The debut is in a Christmas concert, full of problems, at the Philharmonic Hall in New York on December 13, 1972, preceded by a live for a few students at Brandeis University in Boston two days earlier. But even if not triumphal, the landing in the USA will be an excellent driving force for the Genesis in Europe and in particular at home. From this moment on, the press and the media will begin to deal with them more intensely.
Foxtrot is the first Genesis album that enters the UK top 20 and is the record that launches the band into the big family of progressive rock.
Foxtrot was re-released in 1994 as a digitally remastered CD by Virgin.
Later, in 2008, it was featured in the Genesis 1970–1975 box set, reissued as a hybrid CD / Super Audio CD with a new stereo and 5.1 surround mix and with a DVD of previously unreleased bonus material. Reissue includes liner notes written by Queen drummer Roger Taylor.
Foxtrot track list 1972
Side A
Watcher of the Skies – 7:21
Time Table – 4:47
Get ‘Em Out by Friday – 8:35
Can-Utility and the Coastliners – 5:45
Side B
Horizons – 1:39
Supper’s Ready – 22:57
I. Lovers’ Leap
II. The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man
III. Ikhnaton and Itsacon and Their Band of Merry Men
IV. How Dare I Be So Beautiful?
V. Willow Farm
VI. Apocalypse in 9/8 (Co-Starring the Delicious Talents of Gabble Ratchet)
VII. As Sure as Eggs Is Eggs (Aching Men’s Feet)
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Leave a Reply