Tabletop Genesis Episode 10 – “Foxtrot”

foxtrotStrap on your batwings and flower masks as the members of Tabletop Genesis discuss the band’s 1972 classic, Foxtrot. The expanded podcast covers everything from alien visitors and carved oak tables to restrictions on humanoid height – PLUS, almost an hour devoted to the magnum opus, “Supper’s Ready.”

12 thoughts on “Tabletop Genesis Episode 10 – “Foxtrot”

  • January 25, 2016 at 5:49 am
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    Thank you for another great podcast.

    I think you made some good points, but I have to disagree regarding the best “Suppers Ready” rendition. I also heard the “Seconds Out” version first, but after hearing the Gabriel version I’ve never really gone back. I now prefer the live version from “Archive”.

    Keep up the good work!

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  • January 25, 2016 at 10:25 am
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    Great review of the album, I grew up with Genesis as a child and for me the definitive version of Suppers Ready is the studio version. I very rarely listen to the live version. This is the same with my same aged friends that grew up with Genesis. I think maybe the later generations who discovered Genesis in the 80’s/90’s then sought their back catalogue with go with the Seconds Out version. People tend to migrate to the Genesis “sound” they first got to love.

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  • January 26, 2016 at 3:38 am
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    Another great discussion – thanks again.
    I like the longer 2-hour format. Are you actually recording longer, or just editing less? Whichever the case, please keep it up.

    Appreciate the comparison of different versions of Supper’s Ready too, not just limiting the talk to the version on the current album.

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    • Tabletop Genesis
      January 26, 2016 at 11:00 am
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      Thanks, Paul! I’d say the longer podcasts are a combo of the two: we’re not restraining ourselves to thinking we have to stay close to an hour or 90 minutes. And as we get better at it, we’re finding there’s less we have to edit. If anything is taken out, it’s not really because we want to make them shorter, but because we want to keep a nice flow to the discussion (and sometimes, to avoid sounding like complete fools. 😉 Example, during the Nursery Cryme discussion, I started going off about how a particular song really showed the group’s sense of humor. After strange looks from the rest of the Tabletop, I realized the song we were supposed to be covering was For Absent Friends, not Harold the Barrel. Oops! Do over!
      Tom

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  • January 30, 2016 at 3:14 pm
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    I don’t know… I can say I’ve been listening to “Foxtrot” and the rest for practically all of my life now, and also read practically every little bit of info regarding it all. So I have my opinions and points of view and all that concerning it all and can argue them quite solidly. Just like so many others… So if it’s true that it’s always good to revisit it all, I’d really like to go beyond the iteration of all that stuff. I like what I like and I know what I know (in my wardrobe), just like anybody. But this doesn’t take me to new territory.

    Why not dealing with the yet undealt with? Sex and Genesis, for instance and given sex always is a sure hit. The sexual lives of Genesis’ members. Their known, unknown and supposed sexual perversions, for instance. Genesis and bondage, Genesis and bestiality, Genesis and fruit-sex…

    D’you get my point? But great podcast anyway!

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  • March 3, 2016 at 9:56 am
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    I haven’t finished the podcast yet, but I really like Stacy’s Can-Utility/Dance on a Volcano/You Might Recall prototype discussion. I think I might even agree on the latter two, but hard to pick the prototypical five-man track. Might be Hogweed for me.

    Also agree with Stacy on Seven Stones!

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    • March 3, 2016 at 4:44 pm
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      Hi Al, thank you for your feedback! You are my favorite podcast listener.

      Love,
      Stacy

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  • March 16, 2017 at 4:56 pm
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    Fabulous discussion as usual. I’m still playing catch-up on older episodes.

    Time Table and Can Utility are my favourites after the obvious Supper’s Ready.

    Regarding Time Table, I was always of the opinion that the eponymous object was the thing that witnessed all of the changes, if only it could talk. The dusty room and its contents were still there though everything else had moved on. This song inspired me in my finals art exam in 1974 to paint a picture of that dusty room. It got me the best grade possible and was the top graded in that year in our school.

    Can Utility is a masterpiece. I love the baroque playing by Tony as the energy builds up. The whole piece encapsulates as said Stacy, Genesis in microcosm. Musicianship, stature, power and eccentricity. I loved the quote in the more recent (the tribute bands episode) by the music teacher who compared Genesis to Yes. This song illustrates perfectly his point.

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  • September 28, 2017 at 3:49 pm
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    I just listened again to this podcast and I think you guys (and gals) really excelled yourselves with this one. Of course it helps that Foxtrot is one of my top Genesis albums, but even so it was good to hear you give Supper’s Ready its due and delve deeply into analysis of all the various sections, and what bits were contributed by each band member.

    I hope you seriously consider my suggestion of making the polls multiple choice in future. This album illustrates why, probably more so than any other. Supper’s Ready was always going to top the poll, so the small number of people who voted for (say) Time Table might not reflect the general opinion of this song among the fans. I would suggest allowing us to tick as many boxes as we want, up to a maximum of about one third of the number of tracks. We want more bites at Tom’s poll!

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  • December 27, 2020 at 12:59 pm
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    Long time Genesis-fan (born 1979), I saw them in 1992 and 2007 in The Netherlands where I live.
    And I love the podcasts! I have recently discovered them. So now I am listening to the discussion of Calling All Stations.
    Just wondering… is it correct that you didn’t talk about the B-sides of Foxtrot (Twilight Alehouse and Happy The Man)?
    Greetings! Floris Swaan, The Netherlands

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    • Tabletop Genesis
      February 25, 2021 at 12:59 pm
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      Thanks, Floris! Someone else recently made mention that we never discussed those B-sides – I honestly thought we did, but it’s been years since we did those album episodes, so you would know better than us! We’ll have to make a special point to talk about those songs in an upcoming episode.

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  • March 31, 2022 at 2:17 pm
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    Tom’s pole was wrong. 9/8’s voted for Supper’s Ready!

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