NURSERY CRYME

Its astounding to think that the band could come up with such a masterpeice when they had just replaced both their guitarist and their drummer. but they did, and in my eyes this is a album just as good as 'Foxtrot' and 'Selling..', i.e. an instant classic. The Album heavily leans on its triad of mini-epic tracks, 'The Musical Box', 'Return of the Giant Hogweed' and 'The Fountain of Salmacis'. using the remaining tracks to fill in the gaps. But i don't mean that the rest are filler! far from it. Once the intense drama of 'the Musical Box' are over, we are treated to the sublime melancholy of 'For Absent Friends', a charming double 12-string ballad that is a welcome interval. Then, after the 2nd drama of the invanding '..Hogweed', there is 'Seven Stones', with its excellent use of the mellotron, an intrument that really only makes its' mark on one other track ('Fountain', obviously). there is then the groovy black 'Harold the Barrel', an enjoyable comedy (the 'silly voices' don't bother me at all) that works quite well. Then there is 'Harlequin', another quiet double 12-string similar to '..Absent..', but more uptempo, and the little electric guitar fill is just perfect. then, of course, is 'The Fountain of Salmacis'. After i had first listened to this, i realised I didn't really have clue what the hell Gabriel was on about, but i didn't really care, because the music was so good! So, in summary, just as good as the more popular albums that came after, lacking the productional polish of 'Selling..', perhaps, and the CD i have is a fairly bad mix (you can hardly hear the vocals in parts, and the keyboards tend to overpower the rest of the band), neither are big enough problems to spoil this incredible partial debut. Oh, and i think everyone should know this is the earliest recording of 'tapping', by Hackett, far outdating EvH. ;-)