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Genesis: A Trick of the Tail

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Virgin Records
Released: 1976
Time:
 51:14
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): See Artists ...
Rating: ******.... (6/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.worldofgenesis.com
Appears with: Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Steven Hackett, Mike + The Mechanics, Tony Banks, Ray Wilson
Purchase date: 1987
Price in €: 14,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Dance On A Volcano (M.Rutherford/T.Banks/S.Hackett/P.Collins) - 5:53
[2] Entangled (T.Banks/S.Hackett) - 6:26
[3] Squonk (M.Rutherford/T.Banks) - 6:27
[4] Mad Man Moon (T.Banks) - 7:33
[5] Robbery, Assault, & Battery (T.Banks) - 6:14
[6] Ripples (M.Rutherford/T.Banks) - 8:04
[7] A Trick Of The Tail (T.Banks) - 4:34
[8] Los Endos (M.Rutherford/T.Banks/S.Hackett/P.Collins) - 5:45

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Steve Hackett - Electric Guitar, 12-String Guitars, Producer
Tony Banks - Pianos, Synthesizers, Organ, Mellotron, 12-String Guitar, Backing Vocals, Producer
Phil Collins - Drums, Percussion, Lead & Backing Vocals, Producer
Mike Rutherford - Basses, Bass Pedals, 12-String Guitar, Producer

David Hentschel - Producer

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


LP:
US Atlantic SD-36-129: (Gatefold album with lyrics printed on inside cover, pictures of album characters printed on inner album sleeve.)
UK Charisma CDS 4001: (as Atlantic release)
ATCO SD 38-101: (Gatefold with art/lyrics inside)
Germany Charisma 6369 974 (6106): (German import "au dem Hause Phonogram" gatefold with English lyrics and sleeve containing characters.)
US Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab MFSL-1-062: 19?? (Master recording, marketed by AtCo, pressed in Japan)
Cassette:
US ATCO CS 38-101: (no insert)
UK Charisma 7208 602
Germany Charisma 7164 047
UK Virgin OVEDC 306: re-issue
CD:
US Atlantic 38101-2: July 1987 (AAD, booklet contains lyrics and album characters.)
UK Virgin CDSCD 4001: 1984 (as Atlantic release)



The quality of the group's first post- Peter Gabriel album astonished everyone, especially coming out after an 18-month gap following The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. The opening number, "Dance on a Volcano," almost deliberately recalls "At the Cinema" from Selling England by the Pound in melody and structure, and Phil Collins sounds more like Peter Gabriel than Gabriel himself did. Tony Banks' and Steve Hackett's "Entangled" was the prettiest song the group had recorded up to that time, a gossamer-textured piece about sleep and dreaming in which a strummed acoustic guitar makes its most prominent appearance ever on a Genesis song, supported by the sweetest singing of Collins' career. Not all of the material is in league with these two songs, but all of it has some moments of tremendous beauty, and Tony Banks' "Robbery, Assault and Battery," with its bold, hard-rocking choruses and extended song structure, would have been worthy of inclusion on any of the group's earlier records. Even "Los Endos," an instrumental finale that ought to be considered a cop-out in the absence of a good song, provides the quartet with an opportunity to showcase its still considerable collective skills to which few fans could object. The 1995 "Definitive Edition Remaster" is a vast improvement in sound and packaging over the earlier CD version, and is the one worth picking up.

Bruce Eder, All-Music Guide
 

 L y r i c s


Dance On A Volcano

Holy Mother of God
You've got to go faster than that to get to the top.
Dirty old mountain
All covered in smoke, she can turn you to stone
So you better start doing it right
       better start doing it right.

You're halfway up and you're halfway down
And the pack on your back is turning you around.
Throw it away, you won't need it up there, and remember
You don't look back whatever you do.
Better start doing it right.

On your left and on your right
Crosses are green and crosses are blue
Your friends didn't make it through.
Out of the night and out of the dark
Into the fire and into the fight
Well that's the way the heroes go, Ho! Ho! Ho!

Through a crack in Mother Earth,
Blazing hot, the molten rock
Spills out over the land.
And the lava's the lover who licks your boots away. Hey! Hey! Hey!
If you don't want to boil as well.
B-B-Better start the dance
D-D-Do you want to dance with me.

You better start doing it right.

The music's playing, the notes are right
Put your left foot first and move into the light.
The edge of this hill is the edge of the world
And if you're going to cross you better start doing it right
                                 better start doing it right.

You better start doing it right.

Let the dance begin.


Entangled

When you're asleep they may show you
Aerial views of the ground,
Freudian slumber empty of sound.

Over the rooftops and houses,
Lost as it tries to be seen,
Fields of incentive covered with green.

Mesmerised children are playing,
Meant to be seen but not heard,
"Stop me from dreaming!"
"Don't be absurd!"

"Well if we can help you we will,
You're looking tired and ill.
As I count backwards
Your eyes become heavier still.
Sleep, won't you allow yourself fall?
Nothing can hurt you at all.
With your consent
I can experiment further still."

Madrigal music is playing,
Voices can faintly be heard,
"Please leave this patient undisturbed."

Sentenced to drift far away now,
Nothing is quite what it seems,
Sometimes entangled in your own dreams.

"Well, if we can help you we will,
Soon as you're tired and ill.
With your consent
We can experiment further still.

Well, thanks to our kindness and skill
You'll have no trouble until
You catch your breath
And the nurse will present you the bill!"


Squonk

Like father like son
Not flesh nor fish nor bone
A red rag hangs from an open mouth.
Alive at both ends but a little dead in the middle,
A-tumbling and a-bumbling he will go.
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Could never put a smile on that face.

He's a sly one, he's a shy one
Wouldn't you be too.
Scared to be left all on his own.
Hasn't a, hasn't a friend to play with, the Ugly Duckling
The pressure on, the bubble will burst before our eyes.
All the while in perfect time
His tears are falling on the ground
BUT IF YOU DON'T STAND UP YOU DON'T STAND A CHANCE.

Go a little faster now, you might get there in time.

Mirror mirror on the wall,
His heart was broken long before he ever came to you.
Stop your tears from falling,
The trail they leave is very clear for all to see at night
                                       all to see at night.

In season, out of season
What's the difference when you don't know the reason.
In one hand bread, the other a stone.
The Hunter enters the forest.
All are not huntsmen who can blow the huntsman's horn
By the look of this one you've not got much to fear.

Here I am, I'm very fierce and frightening
Come to match my skill to yours.
Now listen here, listen to me, don't you run away now
I am a friend, I'd really like to play with you.
Making noises my little furry friend would make
I'll trick him, then I'll kick him into my sack.
You better watch out... You better watch out.

I've got you, I've got you, you'll never get away.

Walking home that night
The sack across my back, the sound of sobbing on my shoulder.
When suddenly it stopped,
I opened up the sack, all that I had
A pool of bubbles and tears - JUST A POOL OF TEARS.

All in all you are a very dying race
Placing trust upon a cruel world.
You never had the things you thought you should have had
And you'll not get them now,
And all the while in perfect time
Your tears are falling on the ground.


The Squonk is of a very retiring disposition and due to its ugliness, weeps constantly. It is easy prey for hunters who simply follow a tear-stained trail. When cornered it will dissolve itself into tears.
True or False?


Mad Man Moon

Was it summer when the river ran dry,
Or was it just another dam.
When the evil of a snowflake in June
Could still be a source of relief.
O how I love you, I once cried long ago,
But I was the one who decided to go.
To search beyond the final crest,
Though I'd heard it said just birds could dwell so high.

So I pretended to have wings for my arms
And took off in the air.
I flew to places which the clouds never see,
Too close to the deserts of sand,
Where a thousand mirages, the shepherds of lies
Forced me to land and take a disguise.
I would welcome a horse's kick to send me back
If I could find a horse not made of sand.

If this desert's all there'll ever be
Then tell me what becomes of me.
A fall of rain?
That must have been another of your dreams,
A dream of mad man moon.

Hey man,
I'm the sand man.
And boy have I news for you;
They're gonna throw you in gaol
And you know they can't fail
'Cos sand is thicker than blood.
But a prison in sand
Is a haven in hell,
For a gaol can give you a goal
[and a] goal can find you a role
On a muddy pitch in Newcastle,
Where it rains so much
You can't wait for a touch
Of sun and sand, sun and sand...

Within the valley of shadowless death
They pray for thunderclouds and rain,
But to the multitude who stand in the rain
Heaven is where the sun shines.
The grass will be greener till the stems turn to brown
And thoughts will fly higher till the earth brings them down.
Forever caught in desert lands one has to learn
To disbelieve the sea.

If this desert's all there'll ever be
Then tell me what becomes of me.
A fall of rain?
That must have been another of your dreams,
A dream of mad man moon.


Robbery, Assault & Battery

The streets were deserted though the police were alerted,
They considered the phone call a hoax.
Furtively glancing then jauntily prancing
The youth caught the guards unaware.

Slipping between them he ought to have seen then
The eyes and their owner so near.
With torch shining bright he strode on in the night
Till he came to the room with the safe.

"Hello son, I hope you're having fun."
"You've got it wrong Sir, I'm only the cleaner."
With that he fired, the other saying as he died,
"You've done me wrong," it's the same old song forever.

Robbery, assault and battery,
The felon and his felony.
Robbery, assault and battery,
The felon and his felony.

Picked up the diamonds and bundles of fivers
He pushed them well down in his sack.
But the alarm had been sounded, he was completely surrounded
But he had some more tricks up his sleeve.

"Come outside with your hands held high."
"You'll not get me alive Sir, I promise you that Sir."
With that he fired, the other saying as he died
"You've done me wrong," it's the same old song forever.

Robbery, assault and battery,
The felon and his felony.
Robbery, assault and battery,
The felon and his felony.

"He's leaving via the roof, the bastard's got away.
God always fights on the side of the bad man."

"I've got clean away but I'll be back some day,
Just the combination will have changed.
Some day they'll catch me, to a chain they'll attach me,
Until that day I'll ride the old crime wave.

If they try to hold me for trial
I'll stay out of gaol by paying my bail
And after I'll go to the court of appeal saying
"You've done me wrong," it's the same old song forever."

Done me wrong - same old song - done me wrong.


Ripples

Bluegirls come in every size
Some are wise and some otherwise,
They got pretty blue eyes.
For an hour a man may change
For an hour her face looks strange -
Looks strange, looks strange.

Marching to the promised land
Where the honey flows and takes you by the hand,
Pulls you down on your knees,
While you're down a pool appears.
The face in the water looks up,
And she shakes her head as if to say
That it's the last time you'll look like today.

Sail away, away
Ripples never come back.
Gone to the other side.
Sail away, away.

The face that launched a thousand ships
Is sinking fast, that happens you know,
The water gets below.
Seems not very long ago
Lovelier she was than any that I know.

Angels never know it's time
To close the book and gracefully decline,
The song has found a tale.
My, what a jealous pool is she.
The face in the water looks up
She shakes her head as if to say
That the bluegirls have all gone away.

Sail away, away
Ripples never come back.
They've gone to the other side.
Look into the pool,
Ripples never come back,
Dive to the bottom and go to the top
To see where they have gone
Oh, they've gone to the other side...

Sail away, away
Ripples never come back.
Gone to the other side.
Look into the pool,
The ripples never come back, come back,
Dive to the bottom and go to the top
To see where they have gone
They've gone to the other side
Ripples never come back
Sail away, away...


A Trick Of The Tail

Bored of the life on the city of gold
He'd left and let nobody know.
Gone were the towers he had known from a child,
Alone with the dream of a life
He travelled the wide open road,
The blinkered arcade,
In search of another to share in his life.
Nowhere.
Everyone looked so strange to him.

    They've got no horns and they've got no tail
    They don't even know of our existence.
    Am I wrong to believe in a city of gold
    That lies in the deep distance, he cried

And wept as they led him away to a cage
Beast that can talk, read the sign.
The creatures they pushed and they prodded his frame
And questioned his story again.
But soon they grew bored of their prey
Beast that can talk?
More like a freak or publicity stunt.
Oh
No.

    They've got no horns and they've got no tail
    They don't even know of our existence.
    Am I wrong to believe in a city of gold
    That lies in the deep distance, he cried

And broke down the door of the cage and marched on out.
He grabbed a creature by the scruff of his neck, pointing out:
There, beyond the bounds of you weak imagination
Lie the noble towers of my city, bright and gold.
Let me take you there, show you a living story
Let me show you others such as me
Why did I ever leave?

    They've got no horns and they've got no tail
    They don't even know of our existence
    Am I wrong to believe in a city of gold
    That lies in the deep distance, he cried
    And wept.

And so we set out with the best and his horns
And his crazy description of home.
After many days journey we came to a peak
Where the beast gazed abroad and cried out.
We followed his gaze and we thought that maybe we saw
A spire of gold - no, a trick of the eye that's all,
But the beast was gone and a voice was heard:

    They've got no horns and they've got no tail
    They don't even know of our existence
    Am I wrong to believe in a city of gold
    That lies in the deep distance

Hello friend, welcome home.


Los Endos

There's an angel standing in the sun.

There's an angel standing in the sun,
Free to get back home.

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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