Watcher Of The Skies
Watcher Of The Skies was released as a single a while after the release of Foxtrot. It came out in a different version than on the record in February 1973 and had Willow Farm as a B-side. The track had been made more radio-friendly by cutting away the entire intro and starting with the first verse right away. Also, the end was changed into a repetition of the line "Watcher of the skies" until it fades out. I believe that this version can be found on the third CD of the Genesis Archive 1967-1975 box set.
Time Table is built up around Banks's acoustic piano and is a lot gentler than Watcher Of The Skies, the verse ("Why?") being the most aggressive part of the track. The piano intro which seems to be doubling back upon itself is the most interesting part of the track, since the rest sounds a bit too "normal" for Genesis standards. Nice, but not that special. The lyrics are a somewhat philosophical reflection on the Middle Ages, but not really among the best Genesis have written, in my opinion. The song forms a bit of quiet before the storm that is Get
Get' Em Out By Friday.
Phil Collins Inspired by his own trouble with his landlord, Gabriel wrote Get 'Em Out By Friday as a protest song against the way landlords treated their tenants. It has the form of a radio play put to music and contains a range of different characters (one of which sounds suspiciously much like Collins doing a silly voice). The music of the track, going from aggressive, fast sections to calmly flowing ones and back again was largely a group effort. It contains some great bass, drums and organ playing and is among my favourite early-Genesis songs.
The largely underrated Can-Utility And The Coastliners was written in the rehearsal room and road-tested before it was recorded, just like Watcher Of The Skies. It is a story about King Canute, although I have read a theory that said that it is in fact about Gabriel himself; a singer wary of "flatterers" and of singing. The track contains some lovely bass pedal and mellotron sections. It also features one of the few guitar solos on the album. Great track! Hackett had been suffering from a slight inferiority complex during the recording of the album as a result of his smaller contribution compared to the others when it came to writing music. Even though he did get more material onto Foxtrot than on the previous record, he was not feeling very content with myself as a fledgling song-writer. He thought he could do more than he did and was actually feeling that he should leave the band because of that. The others strongly disagreed, stating how much they appreciated his guitar work. The inclusion of his unaccompanied solo piece Horizons was, however, not just a concession to Hackett; it was a track all band members liked. Just like Time Table this classical guitar piece offers a nice resting point between the intensity of Can-Utility And The Coastliners and the "mammoth"
