NURSERY CRYME

Nursery Cryme would is in danger of being completely defined by 'The Musical Box'. This song is perhaps the greatest single work in the entire prog rock canon. An extended song but not long winded, powerful but at times gentle, dark but not hokey. The ending may be the single greatest of all time. The song really set the mold for all of Genesis' later Gabriel-Era work as well as setting up the rest of the album. One would have the feeling that the album could be called The Musical Box and other Nursery Crymes (The album coverart is directly inspired by this song). Oh Wait! The rest of the album is awesome too! ' For Absent Friends' I think is one of early Genesis' best short tracks. So simple and quaint but really honest and decidedly British. 'The Return of the Giant Hogweed' is a slice of spot-on, but perhaps a bit silly, progressive bombast that I always felt had similarities to ELP. 'Seven Stones' sneaks up on you. Not long, but not short, it just sort of sits in the middle of the album and doesn't grip you the way 'Musical Box' does, but you find it being the one you're singing in your head after you listen to the whole album. It also has some of Gabriel's best lyrics. Unfortunatly, 'Harold the Barrel' and 'Harlequin' start to make me loose interest. "Harold' sounds funny, but is actually about a suicide. It's good, and I don't mind the cynical lyrics, and it's also quite catchy. However, it breaks up the feeling of granduer that the album conjures so I find myself skipping this and the following track, a just-this-side-of-a-throwaway acoustic Phil Collins number, to get to "Fountain of Salmacis'. "Fountain' really gives 'Musical Box' a run for its money. This song features one of Genesis' best choruses, the sound practically shimmering out of the speakers like a waterfall. Purely beautiful. I think my favorite aspect of this song is that it has that mythical progressive quality and lyrics but, at it's heart, is a solid love song; albeit one sided love. And who said Love Songs couldn't be a little disturbing. It is, afterall, the Greek mythological story of the creation of the first Hermaphrodite. All in all, 'Nursery Cryme' is right up there with everything else produced in the Gabriel-era. It also is the first album to feature Phil Collins and Steve Hackett. In short, it is as the rating signifies; an absolute essential masterpiece. Pure prog, pure enjoyment, pure Genesis.