Watcher Of The Skies

First a word on the album cover of Foxtrot:

In the words of artist Paul Whitehead:

...recommended that I go and see Stratton-Smith, and he introduced me and we got on. And Peter Gabriel and I got on great. Gabriel had already seen my work, and he kind of knew of me because I was editing a magazine called Time Out. I was the art director, and I was one of the people that started that. There were four of us who started it. That kept me very much in touch with what was going on in London. I had a show and it was mentioned in the magazine and (Gabriel) saw some of the work. With Genesis, I became a sort of 'art director' for them. I got to know them and as time went on I would introduce them to different artists and styles and books. Whenever I went to meet them I'd have an armful of books with me and say, "look at this, isn't this neat?

"Having worked with the band on the previous two record covers (and, it turns out, also providing the titles for all three albums), we'd developed a very sound approach to creating the imagery. I would stay with the band for three or four days while they were developing things musically and lyrically. We'd then have a number of brain-storming sessions where I'd show them books and other reference materials. I'd do pencil sketches of the design ideas I'd have on tissue and then we'd come to an agreement as to what the basic approach would be and which images would be included in the final painting. Peter would give me the libretto and I'd then go away for a couple of weeks and we'd then hold an unveiling of the painting - done in oils - in Tony Stratton-Smith's office (often accompanied by champagne, as would be served at any art opening).

My favourite cover is probably Nursery Crime. It was one where I was just given free reign to do whatever I wanted to do and everybody loved it. It was like "Let's focus on 'The Musical Box'" because it was the strongest song so I said it's got to be a Victorian look, and let's deal with the nastiness and violence in the nursery.

Foxtrot was the follow-up to Nursery Cryme, and it was our goal to continue to use the cover imagery to poke fun at British High Society (where Peter, Mike and Tony had all come from). The cover of Nursery Cryme painted a scary portrait of the game of croquet, a staple of aristocratic entertainment, and so we chose another activity associated with the priviledged class - fox hunting - as the main theme for the new record. Cover is originally a put-down on fox-hunting as a aristocratic sport. You'll note, though, that I included a scene from the previous record - the croquet tournament - in the background of this new image to provide the continuity we were looking for."

It took on a stronger meaning when he heard "Supper's Ready". The ice floating on water is like the soul floating in the human body. (..."like the Fox on-the-rocks...") The fox, is a passion, a violent aspect, but it has used its cunning and adopted a disguise and the ice to escape its pursuers.

"Adding a new dimension to the fox-hunting theme, I based the four principal images on the left-hand side on a loose interpretation of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. "Death rides a pale horse" - you'll see that the character on the white horse is weeping - and he also has a huge chip on his shoulder (perhaps as he's the only one actually named in the Bible)! These characters have come to the water's edge in their chase after the Fox, but as foxes are known for their cunning, this one has chosen to disguise himself in a red dress and escape the huntsmen and their dogs by escaping on the water on top of an ice floe. At the time, in America, pretty girls were known as 'foxes', which is another reason I chose to add a more feminine touch to the crafty fox's escape. It was inspired by hearing somebody (an American, I think it was) say, "Ah, she's a real fox, man." And Jimi Hendrix did Foxy Lady. And the whole theme of the album got into the fox outwitting the people hunting it ......

Here's an interesting aside - as we were always trying to get away with something for a laugh and sneak something past the censors, I was particularly proud of how we accomplished this feat in this painting. Now, you may have looked at this cover hundreds of times, but I'll bet that you have never noticed just how "excited" the 4th horse (the one farthest to the right, ridden by the rider with the green head) is to be this close to the Fox.. ;-) To this day, I still win bets with people who 'know this painting backwards and forwards' but who've never seen that particular 'naughty bit' before!

I also included some imagery from the lyrics of 'Supper's Ready' - the 'six saintly shrouded men, move across the lawn slowly, the seventh walks in front, with a cross held high in hand', as well as some additional imagery from other songs and albums, such as the Hogweed and the croquet mallet floating in the water.

The cover is adopted into half land and half sea, and it shows that there is as much life in the sea as there is on the land. There is also death in the sea, as signified by Cynthia's mallet, the shark, the Hogweed and the nuclear submarine.

The band and I also felt it important to include images that reflected the state of the world and the planet at the time. In the water in the upper right-hand corner, you'll see a U.S. nuclear submarine, which represents the presense of the U.S. Naval Fleet off the coast of Scotland. Many people in Britain, including members of Parliament, were unhappy with the fact that the U.S. maintained a fleet of nuclear subs 'only 30 minutes by missle' away from the Soviet Union. The 2 dolphins and fish rising up from the ocean were representing the marked increases in water pollution (caused by the nuclear subs?) and its effects on all living things, while the man with his head buried in the sand (to the left of the Saints)represented 'the music business' who had yet to treat the band and its music with much respect To the far left in the painting, you'll see a person riding a bicycle - rather wobbily and, if you've ever tried it, impossible to do on the sand. The cyclist is Peter! Peter would ride a bike to meetings and such, but he was not that steady on his bike...

The hotel is representative of all the hotels that the band were about to spend time in. They were about to hit the big time, and years on the road loomed ahead of them. "The Holiday Inn-style hotel in the background was my way of illustrating to the boys that they had better get used to staying in places like that - another night, another city, another hotel - as they were going to start "going places" very soon, which turned out to be quite right!"