Genesis A Trick Of The Tail

Getting the Most Out of Genesis's A Trick of the Tail

A Trick of the Tail is Genesis's eighth studio album, released in February 1976. It was the first album recorded without original member Peter Gabriel, with Phil Collins taking over lead vocal duties. The album reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and went on to become one of their most commercially successful releases. The album is notable for its long instrumental passages and complex time signatures. Tracks like "Dance on a Volcano" and the title piece "A Trick of the Tail" feature extended compositions that showcase the band's progressive rock roots. The former is a five-part instrumental suite clocking in at over nine minutes. The title track runs nearly eleven minutes and is built around intricate guitar work from Steve Hackett. What makes this album stand out technically is how the band transitioned from Gabriel's theatrical approach to Collins' more drum-focused style. The shift is most apparent in the rhythm section. Collins was already an accomplished drummer before becoming the frontman, and that background shaped the album's groove in ways that differentiated it from its predecessor, Selling England by the Pound.

Available Formats and Where to Find It

The album is available across all major streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon Music. For physical copies, you can find original Pressings on vinyl through Discogs or SecondHandSongs. A remastered CD version was released in 2007 as part of the Genesis Legacy Edition series. If you are looking for the highest quality audio, the 2007 remaster is the way to go. The original 1976 pressing on Atlantic Records has a warmer sound but can suffer from surface noise on used copies. The remaster cleaned up the frequency range without squashing the dynamics, which was a concern some fans had after earlier CDs in the catalog were over-compressed.

What to Listen For

Several details get lost on casual listens. Rutherford's bass lines are more prominent here than on previous albums. On "Who Gets the Credits?," his picking pattern drives the entire track. You also get your first real taste of Collins as a lead vocalist on "Against the Odds" and "Ten Lively Little Lies," tracks that later became singles and showed the band moving toward a more accessible sound. Hackett's guitar on the title track uses a mix of standard and 12-string tones layered together. The solo in particular has a clean tone that sits forward in the mix, something that wasn't as common in prog guitar work at the time. If you are trying to learn the pieces, transcribing the title track will test your understanding of modal interchange and odd meter phrasing.

Common Misconceptions

A lot of people treat this album as a transitional record between the classic era and the pop-heavy 1980s output. That is only half true. The songwriting on "Hold on My Heart" and "Your Own Special Way" shows a clear direction toward melody-driven material, but the album still demands patience from the listener. Several tracks require repeated listens to fully register their structures. Another point of confusion is the lineup. Collins on drums and vocals, Hackett on guitar, Rutherford on bass and guitar, Banks on keyboards. That same core would last through Wind & Wuthering in 1976, though Hackett left shortly after its release. If you are tracking the band's evolution, this album marks the exact moment where the transition began in earnest.

Production Notes

The album was produced by the band themselves, a shift from earlier records that featured external producers. Tony Smith, the band's manager, served as executive producer. The recording took place at Strawberry Studios in Stockport and The Manor Studio in Oxfordshire. Engineer David Hitchcock worked on several tracks, and his work gave the album a relatively dry, punchy sound compared to the lush production on later records. I remember trying to match the snare tone from "Dance on a Volcano" for a cover project. The closest I got was using a heavily gated reverb setup with a specific compression curve, but the original track relied more on the natural room sound of Manor Studio combined with minimal processing. Trying to recreate that exact hit requires either the right space or a very careful sample blending approach.

Track Listing

The standard edition contains seven tracks. "Dance on a Volcano" is the opening instrumental. "A Trick of the Tail" serves as the centerpiece. "No Reply at All," "One for the Vine," "Who Gets the Credits?," "Ten Lively Little Lies," "Against the Odds," "Hold on My Heart," and "Your Own Special Way" round out the release. Some editions include bonus tracks from the 2007 remaster, including alternate takes and demos that give insight into the recording process.