NURSERY CRYME

This is the first Genesis release containing the classical lineup. It also includes one of my all time favorites Genesis song: The Musical Box. This song is definitely genial and perfectly played. It contains a story of two young children Cynthia and Henry. Cynthia is also the main personage from the album cover (realized by Paul Whitehead which worked also for Van Der Graaf Generator or Le Orme). She is killing Henry with a croquet mallet by removing his head (which is for me really strange and weird). I would say that the story line is fantastic and the way the musicians are playing it really make you feel like being an observer of the story.

We have here also a classic Genesis song - The Fountain of Salmacis - which is dealing with Greek mythology themes (the story of the nymph Salmacis trying to rape Hermaphroditus). Tony Banks's mellotron and Steve Hackett's guitars sounds sumptuous.

Interesting to mention that this album contains a song (For Absent Friends) which is sung by the drummer Phil Collins (later, after Peter Gabriel departure, he will be the group singer and I'm afraid that everyone knows the musical approach the group had after Peter Gabriel had left).

Genesis was always very poetic and the lyrics from this classic album are really enjoyable.

In 1971 some of the best albums of the progressive genres were released and this is for sure one of the best Genesis albums and indicates the direction the band took during the next few years. This is really recommendable for everyone interested in the history of progressive genre. If one fails to understand a song like "The Musical Box" I would say that he will also fail most probably to understand something about this kind of music.

The other songs are also good but probably not with the same level as the first and the last epics. Nevertheless I will give 4 stars (more like 4.5) but I would like to think of this as an highly influential album. I consider it a cornerstone of the symphonic progressive style and music in general.