NURSERY CRYME

This is the third album from my favorite classic prog band, Genesis. I love this album dearly, but they still had not perfected their sound with all this new talent that entered at the release of this album. Being the first album with Steve Hackett and Phil Collins, they sure had an excellent lineup at this time through "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway". True this is my least favorite album of Genesis' classic lineup, but considering every other one I gave 5 stars, that isn't saying too much.

With that said, this album is awesome! With 7 tracks, it contains some short and longer pieces. It is noticeably more geared towards folk at times, as well as containing some of Genesis' most hard rock sections. The general breakdown is, this contains 3 masterpieces, one great song, and 3 sort of unmemorable ones. Considering the three masterpieces take up the bulk of the album, this is an excellent album.

The only real problem is that the recording quality is Genesis' worst. They were never known for having great recording quality, but this is exceptionally bad for them. It was recorded on 8-track, so I shouldn't expect too much anyway. Here's an in-depth summary of the songs, but I'll try to keep it short, being that there are so many other reviews on the site.

THE MUSIC:

"The Musical Box"- A classic progressive rock song. When people think of Genesis, or even prog rock in general, this song is what they think of. It starts as a beautiful acoustic section with light vocals from Peter Gabriel. It later has distorted guitars, mad drumming, and heavy organs. In one of the guitar solos, it is actually one of the first references of the guitar technique "tapping". The ending is awesome, as is this whole song.

"For Absent Friends"- A short little acoustic song with Phil Collins on vocals. Nothing too memorable, but it's alright.

"The Return of the Giant Hogweed"- This starts out with a nice riff that makes for a nice opening. This is kind of a mix between heavier bands like Deep Purple, and the Genesis we all know. It does have some heavy use of organs and distorted voices by Peter Gabriel. The use of flute actually gives this almost a Jethro Tull kind of sound at times. An excellent song!

"Seven Stones"- Somewhat of a ballad, but a beautiful song. The strings ad a nice touch, and Peter Gabriel's voice sounds great here.

"Harold The Barrel"- A lighthearted almost ragtime song. It is very piano driven and has some catchy melodies.

"Harlequin"- Another more folky acoustic song. It's not particularly great, but it's a good enough song.

"The Fountain of Salmacis"- The closing masterpiece of the album. The use of Mellotron is superb here, as is the organ. I really love everything about this song, from the contrasts between dark and light and the excellent jam session near the middle. It has some great use of the flute among some pretty heavy guitar, organ, and bass playing. A masterpiece of progressive rock!

This is full of memorable songs, but has a few songs that are pure filler. Sure it's not as good as Foxtrot or The Lamb, but then again there are few albums that are. If you are looking to get into early Genesis, this is a great album, but I recommend Foxtrot first. This is still an excellent album with some of Genesis' best work.

4 stars.