NURSERY CRYME

"Trick of the Tail" and "Duke" were played at my house constantly when I was a child. But when I was about 12 or 13, I saw a piece on Peter Gabriel on the old VH1 show "Before They Were Rock Stars." Outlandishly dressed and menacingly shouting "you stand there with your fixed expression," performing the desparate climax of "The Musical Box"on dark stage with thick organ chords oozing out the speakers. The clip must have been 5 seconds long but it stayed with me for a couple years until I got the album. I would not be disappointed. "Nursery Cryme improves on the promise of Tresspass, and with the entrance of Collins on drums and Hackett on guitar, they lay out 7 different futures in just as many tracks on this scattershot masterpiece. From the alternating acoustic melancholy and electric absurdity of "The Musical Box" to the King Crimson goes music hall of "Harold the Barrel" to the widescreen mythology of "The Fountain of Salmacis" the band provides a fascinating snapshot of 1971 in the world of Genesis. After years of listening, it is the artistic dead ends I keep returning to. "For Absent Friends" is a very English take on the folk pop in miniature that Simon and Garfunkel laid claim to in the sixties, with a beautifully innocent vocal debut by Phil Collins. "Harlequin" is a gentle duet between Gabriel's gravelly and soulful vocals and Collins more smooth style over a pastoral backing track with interjections of Hackett's electric guitar. For the next 7 years or so, Genesis would explore the paths set by the more substansial epics on this disc. But this album provides an addictive and enjoyable "what if" in the careers of one of prog's most beloved bands.