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Genesis - Nursery Cryme CD (album) cover

NURSERY CRYME

Genesis

 

Symphonic Prog

4.42 | 3580 ratings

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bristolstc
5 stars "Brush Back Your Hair And Let Me Get To Know Your Flesh. Touch Me! Touch Me! NOOOW!!!" Yeah, the lyrics were far out for the time in "The Musical Box," but they still are coming from some place unique and known only to Peter Gabriel, but let's wind back the clock a bit to before this album..... Genesis had released two previous albums, the underrated From Genesis To Revelation and the masterpiece of nightmare music Trespass. With a near split occuring when Anthony Phillips (guitar) left, the group replaced him with Steve Hackett, previously a member of the lightweight progressive/psych pop christian group Quiet World. Hackett was joined by (err yes) Phil Collins to replace drummer John Mayhew. With the new line up Genesis had to consider two things (A) They had just made a masterwork (B) what would this new line up sound like? Nursery Cryme is among my most beloved albums ever recorded, and a large part of that is in the freshness and inventiveness that came across on the album, with each member contributing something extraordinary to the tracks. For that reason this could be my favourite Genesis record, but I can't be pressed to choose one favourite. This certainly is different from anything else that was being done at the time. The production, playing, lyrics, and vocals still sound advanced and otherworldly. Peter Gabriel's strong, passionate voice and bizarre tortured lyrics are at their most extraordinary on "The Musical Box" and the brilliant closer "The Fountain Of Salmacis," but every track here is a masterpiece. Collins is, as much as I hate him, a brilliant drummer and a huge improvement over the clumsy Mayhew. Steve Hackett's best performance on a Genesis record for the duration of an LP is here, and Mike Rutherford plays an inventive bass and some of the signature 12 string. In the louder sections guitar and mellotron battle out against jarring time changes, while in the quieter parts there is an olde English pagan mysticism that is pure Genesis, copied many times, never equalled. This was the first album I became really enamored of by the group, and it along with their other Gabe era records changed my lifestyle, for the better. All different elements come into play here, from late flashes of the late 60s to hard rock ("The Return Of The Giant Hogweed") to Brit pop/folkrock shorter tracks- a trilogy in fact of "For Absent Friends," "Harold The Barrel," and "Harlequin-" a really beautiful track with some amazing harmony work. Genesis wouldn't sell very many records yet, and for the whole period with Gabriel they simply were too sinister for the mainstream. This is what makes an album like Nursery Cryme essential and what makes their 80s output doggerel. For anyone who hates people who are narrow minded especially towards prog rock, I suggest you do what I do and let a wide grin come across your face every time you play this album and imagine you are torturing them with good music. Back to the album, the whole record is full of greatness, but the most exemplary track may be "The Fountain Of Salmacis" where after dazzling changes and sharp soft/hard contrasts a soaring guitar solo goes into the stratosphere and takes off and never comes back down to earth. A gem
| 5/5 |

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