NURSERY CRYME

I'm not that big a fan of Genesis, but I like Trespass and its follow-up Nursery Cryme. Especially on this album the band plays progressive rock that actually does have moments when the music rocks. The band also sounds quite lively, as if the album was recorded live in the studio. Peter Gabriel's story telling and moments of intimacy with the listener are also very effective here. The production of this album has a distinct warm lof-fi sound, that works great for the moods of the album. Phil Collins is introduced as the new drummer and joins the instrumental section is accentuating every theme. I myself prefer the more stable framework and timing that John Mayhew provided on Trespass. To my ears Collins' drumming is a bit chaotic and too much up front. The song-writing on Nursery Cryme is very good throughout and after catching the listener with opening lines of 'The Musical Box' you're in for quite the ride. 'The Return of the Giant Hogweed' is one of my favorite songs of the band; it has a great story in which Gabriel would introduce singing different 'roles' with different moods in a song. This theatrical approach is so often sorely lacking in the band that try to mimic Genesis.