NURSERY CRYME

After the departure of Anthony Phillips, Genesis decided to take a turn for the better in 1971. Picking up guitarist Steve Hackett, and drummer Phil Collins they began fine-tuning their unique progressive sound and produced their third record, "Nursery Cryme." Nursery Cryme saw the band take a more aggressive direction in some songs, with substantially improved drumming and the development of the band's trademark 12-string acoustic guitar sound. This is the first great Genesis album featuring classics such as "The Musical Box," and "The Fountain of Salamacis."

The album opens with one of the greatest songs of all time, "The Musical Box." The iconic musical box (instrument) notes open the song as Hackett's guitars and Peter Gabriel's famous vocals enter soon after. The beginning of the song has a dark feel with the Victorian flute, guitar, and progressions. Around 3:00, the first real drums pickup during a bridge section, before transitioning to the famous Steve Hackett guitar chords. Heavy drums from Phil Collins bang away in the background as Hackett plays a Van Halen-esque solo. The song dips back into a section with Gabriel vocals along with soft guitar chords and light high hat trills from Collins, before grandiosely rising into another stunning Hackett solo section. The section spans for a while before cooling off for a 2-minute soft section with Gabriel singing over a soft guitar, before going into the iconic ending of the 10-minute epic, with Gabriel shouting "Now! Now! Now! Now! Now!" After one of the greatest starts to an album ever, the band decided to have an acoustic ballad, "For Absent Friends," to change the mood from the prior epic. This is the first song fully sung by Phill Collins and is a really nice song to change the mood.

Fortunately after the short interlude, the band returns to the heavy themes of the opener with the 8-minute angry track, "The Return of the Giant Hogweed." The song is about a Victorian plant called the giant hogweed (which is an actual invasive species in real life) where Gabriel sings of the impending doom of the plants. The song begins with a high-intensity Hackett guitar lick over fast drums, before transitioning into the main riff with Tony Banks' Hammond organ and a steady beat. The song features an awesome vocal and flute performance from Peter Gabriel who is an absolute beast on this LP. At around the 5:00 mark, Tony Banks goes into a piano section with guitar soon joining with thumping drums. The part soon turns into another Gabriel vocal exhibition after an echoing guitar solo from Hackett with ethereal drums and an odd effect on Gabriel's voice. The song ends on a dark upbeat Hammond organ sequence. After the monster track that is Hogweed, we get the fourth track off the album, "Seven Stones." This song may very well be one of the, if not the greatest Genesis deep cut of all time. The song tells the tale of a bitter old man who laughs when the world tires and tires when the world laughs. The song starts off with the lyrics "I heard the old man tell his tale," which are sung over heavy mellotron by Gabriel. The verse section of the song features the great lyricism of Gabriel over Tony Banks' rich L-222 Hammond Organ. The chorus section picks up with the mellotron and soft bass and guitar which eventually leads into the beautiful mellotron outro.

"Harold the Barrel" displays the humorous lyricism of Gabriel. This is a really fun song with an awesome bass line and amazing piano. The song is very fast, and Gabriel's voice goes into many different phases. Around the 1:00 mark, there is a beautiful piano part, that quickly dissipates into the main riff. Mike Rutherford is on point in this song, and the rhythm between him and Collins is amazing. The song is followed by an acoustic piece of about the same length "Harlequin." This song has some sublime melodies and is another very overlooked song on Nursery Cryme similar to "Seven Stones. The song has a very pastoral Tresspass-esque feel to it with Hackett displaying some masterful 12-string guitar work with warm electric piano. Gabriel sings the song beautifully and his voice is overlayed with itself which sounds amazing. The album ends with "The Fountain Salmacis," which is a story about Greek Mythology. The song is very rhythmic with great bass and drum work from Rutherford and Collins. Banks provides a beautiful underlying mellotron while Gabriel sings his heart out about the story of a naiad nymph called Salmacis who fell in love with Hermaphroditus, the son of Hermes and Aphrodite. When he bathed in her fountain, she embraced him and prayed to the gods to be united with him forever. The gods heard her prayer and merged their bodies together, transforming Hermaphroditus into an androgynous being. Hackett provides absolutely stunning tapping throughout a section around the 4:00 mark where we hear the warm tones of the Banks' Hammond L-222. The song goes to its main theme before going into the grandiose ending with heavy mellotron, phased guitar chords, choir, and a great guitar solo from Hackett. A fitting end to a monstrous album.

Nursery Cryme by Genesis is one of the greatest progressive rock albums of all time. As someone who has seen Genesis live (mind you, it was in 2021) I can admit I was a little disappointed that they didn't play this album at all. (although to be fair, they didn't really play much of the prog era). This was contrasted by when I saw Steve Hackett's solo live last year (during the 'Seconds Out Revisited Tour') and he did a smashing rendition of "The Musical Box," including his finger-bleeding solo. All in all, this is the album that truly made Genesis into the progressive rock giants that they would become, and added to the catalog that makes them the greatest band of all time.