NURSERY CRYME

Nursery Cryme starts right from where the previous album Trespass left off. While the previous album was primarily composed of lush and lavish acoustic soundscapes only to end on a much harder note with "The Knife". a setlist staple for the band in their earliest years, this album develops a rough, harder sound with the addition of Phil Collins to the drums and Steve Hackett to guitar. Songs like "The Return of the Giant Hogweed", "The Musical Box", and "The Fountain of Salmacis" certainly show the much harder, "rough-around-the edges" side of the band that could potentially compete with contemporaries like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. That's not to say that this album is without it's softer moments, "Harlequin" could definitely fit in perfectly fine on the previous album and "Seven Stones" is a pleasant ballad in the middle of the album. Of course Genesis being a highly eccentric rock band in their early years, there is also moments of distinctly British whimsy with "Harold The Barrel" being the clearest example of that. The songwriting is solid all-around and will only improve with the next offering. The performances are all great, while even though Gabriel's vocals are technically unrefined and "adolescent" so to speak, it perfectly fits in with the atmosphere of the music surrounding him, creating a uniquely "whimsical" environment. The mastering could be better (less "raw" and "bare-bones"), but for what it is, the production still highlights everything where it needs to be in the mix and it still sounds really good. A wonderful addition to any prog collection.