NURSERY CRYME

It seems that this EP was released on the US only, as maybe a sample to present the band to America. However, it marks a turning point to the band: The Musical Box was not only a classic track, but it also gave the band something they lacked so far: a true, unique and powerful musical personality. Their sound had had a giant leap from Genesis to Revelation to Trespass, but still they lacked a truly unified trademark sound. With Nursery Cryme in general (and The Musical Box in Particular) they found it: the story line of The Musical Box is pure classic british fantasy and terror in all its glory. Musical speaking, with new members Steve Hackett and Phil Collins on board, they had matured a style of their very own and would leave a mark on the musical scene forever. it is only ironic that, although credited as written solely by the current line up of Genesis, this masterpiece started life as an instrumental piece written by former guitarist Anthony Phillips, initially entitled "F#" (its musical key). It seems that Phillips was not bothered by this, however.

Anyway, this EP also contains two other fine, remarkable, tracks: the acoustic For Absent Friends (written by newcomers Collins and Hackett) which was the first Genesis song featuring Phil Collins on lead vocals, and the complex The Fountain of Salmacis, with its heavy mellotron intro that would be another feature in the new Genesis sound.

As an EP, a great introduction to the band. But since all the three songs were already available on the LP Nursery Cryme, this is surely for collectors and completionists. Nursery Cryme (the album) has another set of strong tracks and it is always better to have them all in the same package. However, it is impossible not to give this fantasitci EP less than 4 stars since all the tracks are classics.

A Nursey Cryme column here, post hidden because already noted; a chronicle to listen to the album in another way. (5 for the album of course)

1. 'The Musical Box' these few notes, engraved in the world's musical unconscious, those who don't know have not yet had access to ecstasy, and that explains the reason for the wars! if not you others, it's Nirvana...play my song, arpeggio, voice from up there, incomparable, yes it's aged, but it's the very purity that inodes your ears at this moment; ecstasy arrives with this drum roll, but how could they compose a perfect title, ah guitar, mellotron, rumble, yes the metal-prog proto was already here, don't forget it; it leaves I'm not redoing the picture for you, Steve's guitar sitting behind his glasses and his hair; tic toc, the guitar spurting to the right, to the left, a furious rise stronger than a piece of DEEP PURPLE, absolute high, who said that in prog we dozed off? shh, the organ returns, majestic, the drums syncopated, yes he was already hitting the Phil well, and this finale, this finale, that's it I'm still crying! just for this title, it's the OMNI, the one from the ''V'' series that will stay in the sky for a long time. 2.For Absent Friends' for a bucolic nursery rhyme serenade, what I'll call the 'Charisma Label' brand with a title that's beautiful stuck, alone I don't know, a whiff of their debut album for me 3. 'The Return of the Giant Hogweed' the little-known, yet intense title with diffuse breaks, intoxicating guitar, aggressive rhythm with this keyboard and this screaming voice; the heavy riff that sends heavy from the start; a fight between Peter and his musical acolytes who explain a horrible story, personally I see the reading of LOVECRAFT in the distant corners where giving milk to the cats of Ulthar could save your life, but I digress, the crystalline piano, stereophonic puts the chip in the earel; Steve launches a solo with languorous spleen, I am saved by the cats, like what I was right, the stereo is working here, dreamlike, fantastic, phantasmagorical, you can't hold back the thrill behind the spinal cord at the entrance to the apocalyptic final, yes I weigh my words, dantesque. 4.' Seven Stones' calms things down from the beginning of the second side, yes... at the time when we had time it was like that; a soft pop dominated by the organ, the guitar just accompanying the unfolding; Peter increases his mouth organ giving emotional power; go for a little botanical flute, a bird sings, a ferret frolics there in the distance and hides behind a stone, the story continues, Phil whose hit we have forgotten too much helps us not to get lost; a solo from who you know, another from Hammond be careful it's dangerous it can make you addicted, it's beautiful, even 52 years later 5. 'Harold the Barrel' let's go for the two dynamic, bucolic and hilarious nursery rhymes; catchy, rhythmic, it goes fast; pomade break of an unavowable sweetness and the final, ah what I had liked that this title lasts, but hey it had to be short; then the final piano I imagine it to last, to last. 6.' Harlequin' perhaps, surely one of the most strummed arpeggios by many budding musicians, surely one of the pieces that represents the peaceful English plain after a frequent downpour, perhaps but one of the rare albums where these titles short ones help me to prepare for the longer ones, to bring out the substantive marrow of them... and the soft ending hints at what will be... 7. 'The Fountain of Salmacis' majestic, dark, disturbing, with this intro in waves, what premonitory of those of this current virus? no I was wandering that's all; well the second piece is too far back on the live, too hard to play I don't know, in any case the air is perfect with these cottony Mellotron notes; the story still brings me back to those moments of youth, lying on the bed reading, forgetting the time, forgetting the time, the worries... because music is for that, one of the most beautiful drugs accepted ; like maddening stereo with the keyboard break, I'll let you listen to it; that's it I come back after the 2-minute break, when it starts again, you follow me, so it starts again but it's more confused, more discordant, shot I am; I can no longer retrace the musical experience of this album, of the good musical cam in fact; OK, I'm going to iron it on the sly, away from everyone.