NURSERY CRYME

When it comes to classic progressive rock albums, it's quite hard to manage to find your very own opinion about them without being altered by the general consensus. Nursery Cryme is for sure one of those records for me. This album is very important to its genre which instantly makes it have a high rating, however I really can't say the music itself is something I would give five stars.

Let's start of with the bad things about this album so I don't leave this review in a low note. For Absent Friends and Harlequin are irrelevant and pretty much just filler, they simply feel like a method to make the album have more tracks. Fountain Of Salmacis doesn't justify its length at all, and it ends up being quite boring and tedious to get through most of the time. Seven Stones is pretty much the single from the album so you can't expect much from it, then again, singles can be very good and even standouts so it's no excuse.

Now the good (which is a lot). The Musical Box is a timeless classic. Here, Hackett makes his debut with an amazing solo around the middle of the song, and the very last minutes have Peter Gabriel singing his heart out in a very powerful and passionate way, he's crazy good! The Return Of The Giant Hogweed is surprisingly catchy despite being a very progressive song, the chorus is very good and lyrics are clever (they sound pompous and epic despite talking a about plant). Harold The Barrel is the most stupid and ridiculous song I've ever heard. Think of it as a good ELP joke song, I'll proudly award it a five star rating.

This album is, most of the time, very enjoyable, but I can't ignore the more lacking parts about it. It's still a solid record and I definitely recommend listening it, it has some shining moments. Four Stars, excellent record.