Rock History & Me #2: Foxtrot
In the summer of 1973, glam rock was still in its pomp with the charts full of Chinn-Chapman productions and the TV screens bringing outrageous sequinned costumes and equally outrageous hairstyles into our living rooms. Each new release by the likes of T Rex, Sweet, Slade, Mud, Roxy Music and (dare we say it) Gary Glitter was eagerly awaited and then thrust immediately into maximum radio airplay.
Best of all for me, I’d left behind the schooldays which I’d grown to despise and at 16 felt more than ready to be out earning a living instead of listening to the dullard individuals who called themselves schoolteachers. I felt a heady combination of anticipation and rebellion that summer.
Interspersed with the glam rock hits were straggling ripples from Motown, some disco and soul, plus the occasional irritatingly successful hit by someone your parents liked. Perry Como or Ken Dodd, perhaps. I was just starting to be drawn to the slightly heavier stuff creeping into the charts, such as Hawkwind, Jo Jo Gunne, Nazareth, even Alice Cooper, when, out of the blue, the next page was turned.
The doorbell rang and a friend from school walked in – he was staying on for the dreaded sixth form – with an unfamiliar LP tucked under his arm, mostly pale blue but with strange characters depicted on its sleeve, a sleeve which opened out to reveal even stranger lyrics and startlingly obscure song titles.
“Listen to it, it’s crazy”, said Mark, “I’ll pick it up next week”.
It was Foxtrot, by a band called Genesis.
As the sound of the mellotron and the manic bass line built and the rasping vocal cut in, I knew instantly that this was different. Rhythmic, possessed delivery: “Watch-er-of-the-skies, watch-er-of-all”. Bloody hell, he’s singing about God! Over and over again I listened to that album, studying the lyric sheet and marvelling at the character play and intellect of its content. Suddenly, like a lightning bolt, it dawned on me that there was a whole world of music outside of, and away from, the pop charts.
I started buying the NME every Thursday, started attending gigs, started exploring the genre which I quickly learned was called “prog rock”. A gateway had opened and I raced through it to discover Caravan, Camel, Pink Floyd, Yes, ELP and others. The Top 30 became all but irrelevant; I stopped watching TOTP and discovered Whistle Test instead.
Of course prog rock as a genre was to become widely derided in subsequent years, but for me it was where I learned to look harder for new music, it was the dawning of a desire to seek and find obscure yet talented bands. I devoured album after album, band after band, building a formidable prog rock collection including all Genesis albums and everything from The Enid and Renaissance to those bands producing the “Canterbury sound”. It’s somewhat ironic that I now live near Canterbury.
Yet it all started with Foxtrot, Peter Gabriel’s rasping voice morphing into different characters, Steve Hackett’s uniquely gliding guitar work and the quasi-classical compositions of the band as a whole opening the door of musical discovery.
For prog rock, its heyday was relatively short lived. Gabriel impressed for ever but Genesis without him descended into something entirely less palatable (I can’t stand Phil Collins’ voice, for a start). For me, music had opened up and my thirst for musical discovery had arrived, and over 50-odd years later it’s never really left. When nowadays the ipod shuffle chooses Watcher Of The Skies, I still rock, swoon and think of those wonderful days of breaking new musical ground.
Days when mountains came out of the sky, and stood there.
11 Comments
giacomoasinello
I enjoy these! You actually beat me to it. I was going to start a series called “Albums I Can’t Live Without” but sadly, at the moment, I can’t post anything. Whenever I try, I am faced with what I believe is called the WordPress white screen of death and I have no idea how to fix it. If/when I resolve the problem I’ll start the series and we can see whether we have any old favourites in common!
Phil & Michaela
Yes, do it – I’ll look forward to reading those and seeing what makes your list. Have to say I’m enjoying writing these, the memories are flooding back
wetanddustyroads
I had to find my way to YouTube to listen to “Watcher of the Skies”. And while listening, I had to laugh at the very first comment on this song: “I love this song. My neighbour must love it too, she always bangs along on the wall, so I play it louder for her.” 😄.
Phil & Michaela
Ha ha yes that’s a funny comment! But that person is dead right, it has to be played LOUD!!!
Toonsarah
I was never a Genesis fan but I loved reading about your love of this album and how it influenced your musical tastes – a great read!
Phil & Michaela
There’s been two Genesis incarnations really – the prog rock band with Gabriel was a very different animal from Collins’ Genesis. You know Sarah, writing this, it’s so easy to bring back those feelings of my teenage years. I guess we remain the same person inside ourselves for ever, we don’t really change that much!
leightontravels
First off the Ken Dodd comment made me laugh out loud. Well, I enjoyed reading this, though I can’t say I’ve ever delved too deeply into Genesis. Back when I had a hard record collection I did own a couple of Peter Gabriel LPs, so I had always meant to look into Genesis. As I have never listened to a full Genesis album, I’ve made a note to listen to Foxtrot from start to finish the next time I have a batch of photo editing to do.
Phil & Michaela
Yeah. Do it!
Jyothi
Enjoyed reading it!!
Gilda Baxter
Phil, this post is a musical education. I have never heard of “prog rock”, I have been a fan of the Phil Collin’s Genesis era, so it is interesting to hear about the “Gabriel” era.
Phil & Michaela
Ha it’s a long time ago now and prog rock wasn’t too everyone’s taste, that’s for sure.