NURSERY CRYME

With two new members onboard - Collins (drums) and Hackett (guitars) Genesis were about to totally change the face of rock music with this release. Looking at the album cover you do get an idea of what kind of music will be involved. If someone had told me that Lewis Carroll had come back from the dead and was now a member of Genisis I wouldn't really have been all that suprised after listening to this album. The music is a progression from the previous album "Trespass" and where there were weaknesses in the band - particularly relating to the drums - those weaknesses are forgotten here. The amazing thing to me relating to this album is that the Genesis members were really young to have displayed the ideas and musical maturity that clearly shows through - I think that they averaged around 22 years of age here. To the music -

"The Musical Box" - this track tells a very weird tale involving murder, rape, a musical box, croquet, an old man, a child and a nanny. The track goes through many moods and nuances and although there are many different soundscapes throughout the track it works out to be a very cohesive whole. A giant of a track and I absolutely love it.

"For Absent Friends" - after the dramatic first track this is a short quiet piece that serves to break the drama, the angst and the musical beauty of the previous track.

"The Return of the Giant Hogweed" - Killer plants seeking revenge against humanity. A quirky track that doesn't hold a place among my favorite Genesis tracks on this album however it sets out to achieve what it was meant to.

"Seven Stones" - Very good softer track. Very nice Mellotron sounds. I like the drums and the bass through this track especially.

"Harrold the Barrel" - Fun track - dark humor, though, gives the jovial sounds a sharp edge.

"Harlequin" - Short, soft, sunny track. Gabriel and Collins harmonise very well here.

"The Fountain of Salmacus" - The tale of the first hermaphrodite - from Greek mythology . The music flows like waves over the listener, in parts hard and in parts gently fragile.

This album is a more adventurous album than was Trespass, it is also a more technically proficient work which was to be expected as both Collins and Hackett brought a more technically experienced edge to the band. Do I prefer it to Trespass? In some ways I do and in some ways I don't - I loved just about every track on Trespass and I can't say the same for this album. "The Musical Box" is a giant track and it, in my own opinion, was the best thing that Genesis had ever done up to this point. The rest of the tracks on this album don't really cause me to squirm in ecstacy other than for "The Fountain of Salmacus" which I find to be brilliant in parts. As a whole I enjoy the Trespass album more than I do this one and if I remove the title track of this album from the equasion then I can understand why. From me a very worthy 4 star album.