NURSERY CRYME

Expanding on the style of the great 'Trespass', Nursery Cryme saw a band getting into its stride, helped of course by the entry of both Phil Collins and Steve Hackett. Phil Collins brought in his excellent drumming talents and his soft, melodic vocals. Hackett on the other hand, may have had an even bigger impact on the bands sound,his guitar playing could switch between delicate and beautiful to heavy and aggressive. By now the band had become great composers and very much worked as a whole. The lyrics are very imaginative and fairy tale like, and may produce many hidden meanings. Banks mellotron now takes a very important role in the atmosphere of the music and his keyboard and piano playing is fantastic.

The albums opener 'The Musical Box' is regarded as one of the best tracks Genesis wrote. Although it suffers due to shabby production, it still has a certain timeless quality about it,Its melodic, medieval sounding first few minutes to its heavy middle section and its screaming finale justify the praise it gets from Genesis fans and deserves a place in the list of greatest progressive rock tracks of all time. 'For Absent Friends' is a short but sweet interlude between 'The Musical Box' and 'The Return of the Giant Hogsweed' that sounds similar to 'Old Friends' by Simon and Garfunkel. 'The Return of the Giant Hogweed' is another epical sounding track, the lyrics depict a sort of battle sequence and the music is excellent, though of the 'epic three' of the album, I find this one to be the weakest.

'Seven Stones' opens side two, nicely orchestrated and some nice vocals from Gabriel, nothing spectacular but a more relaxing moment on the album due to the mellotron and gentle guitar parts, though the drumming still sounds strong. 'Harold the Barrel' seems like a sort of lively, comedy number yet the lyrics seem to be about a man that is planning to commit suicide, and the melancholy of the last few seconds make it seem like he has! Certaintly an odd track but a good one none the less. The following track is one of my favourite on the album 'Harlequin', a beautiful typical medieval sounding track that is led by Hacketts 12 string guitar. Wonderful vocals and melody and some very thought provoking lyrics 'Came the night a mist dissolved the trees, and in broken light colours fly, fading by'. 'The Fountain of Salmacis' is a very interesting track and the perfect way to end the album, the lyrics do seem slightly barmy yet the music matches 'The Musical Box' easily and contains wonderful flute from Gabriel and again, nice mellotron. It also has strong bass lines from Rutherford as does 'The Return of the Giant Hogweed'.The haunting vocals throughout the track are some of the best on the album, delightful.

Nursery Cryme is well orchestrated and wonderfully executed. Gabriels vocals are powerful, however, he does struggle at some points but the emotion and delivery in his words make it seem barely noticable. The album does have shabby production and the sound does suffer as a result yet the strength of the songs often overcome it and the bands unique sound can be heard without any problem. A classic by all means, but still not a masterpiece.