It was released on 13 February 1976 on Charisma Records and was the first album to feature drummer Phil Collins as lead vocalist following the departure of Peter Gabriel.

They entered Trident Studios in October with producer David Hentschel to record the album without a definitive idea of who was going to perform lead vocals.

After the search for a singer proved unfruitful, Collins was persuaded to sing "Squonk", and the performance was so strong, he sang lead on the rest of the album.

Founding member and lead singer Peter Gabriel decided to leave Genesis in late 1974, early in the tour for the album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.

[7] Following the end of the tour, guitarist Steve Hackett recorded a solo album, Voyage of the Acolyte with guitarist/bassist Mike Rutherford and drummer Phil Collins, feeling unsure that Genesis would survive.

[6] The group began rehearsals in a basement studio in Acton, and quickly wrote material they were happy with, but had not yet found a replacement lead singer.

A few weeks into rehearsals, Melody Maker managed to find out about Gabriel leaving the band, and their story made the front page of the 16 August issue, where journalist Chris Welch declared Genesis dead.

[15] The group still wanted a regular frontman for live performances, as they thought Collins would not be able to handle all the material, and it would be problematic trying to sing Gabriel's vocal parts while drumming on tour.

[16] One of the auditionees, Mick Strickland, was invited into the studio to sing, but the backing tracks were in a key outside of his natural range and the band decided not to work with him.

[17][18] With the band's recruitment efforts having failed to produce a suitable vocalist, Collins reluctantly went in the studio to sing "Squonk".

Collins came up with the basic rhythmic structure, inspired by his work in side project Brand X and "Promise of a Fisherman" by Santana, wanting to take the looser playing style into Genesis.

[23] Banks and Hackett wrote the main themes, including reprises of "Dance on a Volcano" and "Squonk", and Collins sang a few lines from "Supper's Ready" (on the 1972 album Foxtrot) on the fade-out, as a tribute and final goodbye to Gabriel.

A Trick of the Tail had a positive reception from music critics, who were impressed that the group could not only survive the loss of Gabriel but still deliver a good album.

[37] The album remained in the UK charts for 39 weeks and recouped a significant amount of the $400,000 worth of debt they had accumulated by the time Gabriel left.

[39] Even after the album had been completed, Collins was unhappy about leaving the drumkit to sing lead, and the band were unsure he would be comfortable as frontman on tour.

[40] Audiences were happy to hear Collins sing old material such as "Supper's Ready" in concert, and the resulting tour raised Genesis' profile in the U.S., where they had been relatively unknown while Gabriel was in the band.