NURSERY CRYME

First of all, let's start with the fact that this album has possibly the coolest cover art ever! Musically, this is also top-notch! 'The Musical Box' is one of the greatest prog songs of all time. There aren't very many albums or movies that evoke as many different moods and feelings as can be found in THIS ONE SONG!! 'For Absent Friends' marks Phil's first vocal for the band and it's still quite good because he kinda still sounds like Peter. 'The Return of the Giant Hogweed' did for prog what 'The Day Of The Triffids' did for literature. 'Harold The Barrel' is probably the most hillarious song ever written about suicide and the orchestra-like intro and outro of 'The Fountain of Salmacis continues to give me chills to this day. I would say that the star of this album, however, would be Steve Hackett's completely original guitar sound. There has been nothing like it before or since. Listen to the guitar work in 'The Musical Box' immediatelly following Peter singing "and I touch...THE WAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!!!" Phenomenal!