50 years ago today (2/2/76), Genesis released their seventh album, A Trick of the Tail. It was Genesis’ first album after Peter Gabriel left to pursue a solo career following The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Instead of collapsing, the band quietly reinvented itself. Phil Collins stepped up from behind the drum kit to handle lead vocals, and rather than trying to replace Gabriel’s theatrical presence, Genesis leaned into something subtler, warmer, and more musical. Listen to “Squonk,” the song that Collins first sang and lured his bandmates to choose him as the next lead singer, and the Bonham flair on drums isn’t bad either.
