NURSERY CRYME

If there is one candidate for the top three of the best Genesis albums, then its definatly this one.....I often think which one I like more Selling ot this one....since both have such a collection of extremely beautifull numbers. The Lamb...is Genesis absolute masterpiece...and in my eyes the best album ever made...but the Quality of Nursery Cryme is...not far behind....NC is however also the album that made Genesis famous...and...it was during this tour that Peter suddenly turned up on the stage with a fox head that eventually brought them on the front of Melody Maker.......

It was the second album that I brought from Genesis. After Selling, it was the next stop....totally hooked as we were to Selling, it was already a month later and another payslip from a parttime job allowed us to to buy the next album in a row....Right from the beginning we were totally hooked..and The Musical Box soon grew out in our favorite Genesis song (and that stayed like that for a very long time). We even named our Prgressive Rock radioshow after it, that I did for 5 years on the local radio.

The Musical Box is a song that rather starts out softly displays some very beautifull and touching flute, and 12 string guitar till around 3 min, we hear the Phil for the first time.......after that the refrain kicks in and 1/2 min later we hear Hacket coming on loud introducing himself with great bravoure......and turns the song into something that scatters all the softness Genesis ever had or sometimes pretends to be...especially cool is the guirat sneer at 4.10......eventually the cviolence calms down and Gabriel takes over again before again....violence breaks out out again.......Some fantastic guitar and druming interplay in this part of the song....till eventuaklly onceagain...it calms down and the last part of the song begins...as this part has been played so many times after Gabriel left...most recently in in the Old Medley..in the 1992 tour I think this part is the most famous part....of the song...however in my opinion..not a strong as the things we heard before this....

For Absent Friends is just a very short song sung by Phil Collins (I think his first one ever)...guided by some nice guitar from Hackett (once again)......

The Return Of The Giant Hogweed is another rough song...that this time blows out completely after a very short intro of Steve....some great drumming and guitar, once again....while some extremely theatrical vocals of peter again...something he will repeat again one year later With Get Em Out By Friday.......On Genesis live this is guided by some amazing distorted guitars of Steve....but here not so obvious and only heard very far in the background untill 4.15 where the guitar takes over the mainstage together with the flute......untill it goes over in a nice piece of piano of tony.....that eventually ends in an amazing bridge.......with some absolutely amazingly guitarwork from hackett.....soon joined by some great drumming from Phil. Eventuallly Gabriel comes back once again to sing a few lines untill the song eventually comes towards a climax uf music......Great, great song...

Seven Stones is a truly underestimated song.....that needs alot of time before it is noticed amomst all this great giant pieces of music....Only performed 2 times, as far as I know...it has some absolutely fantastic vocals of Peter.......that are almost constantly guided by some great Mellotron.....that gets a more prominent role while the rong goes along.....along with Steve's guitarsound.....eventually evolving in some absolutely drewing mellotronplaying. that start around 04.00, and what now makes this song so amazing......

Harrel The Barrel is a song.....that is funny, cute and I think more ment as a reliever and to show a more humorous side of the band....as a seperate song the song does not work out so we'll......but as a song as part of the album its great. It gives some rest to Steve's playing....and draws attention to some other members....Peter in particular...who gives another theatric performance here.

Harlequin is another soft song with some great twelve string playing....I think from Tony and is a great song that evetually leads us to one of the other 3 highlights The Fountain Of Salmacis....A song that is characterized by extreme mellotron violence and now I think about it.......really reminds me alot of the song In The Wake Of Poseidon of King Crimson.....that also had the same over blowing melltron sound/use........The Melltron kicks in...right from the beginning........and totally overblows you...During the chords this mellotron moves to the background....while during the refrain its coming back again....eventually evolves this in some great guitarplaying....and up to a really great climax that eventually is a worthy closer of a classical album.