NURSERY CRYME

This album still sounds much like their previous album, except not so somber. And of course, "Nursery Cryme" marked the change in the lineup that will define them for the next few years. And that's the presence of a permanent drummer, Phil COLLINS, and of guitarist Steve HACKETT (since Anthony PHILLIPS had a problem with stage fright). The music is stronger, more upbeat, and full of great classic stuff like "The Musical Box", "The Return of the Giant Hogweed", and "The Fountain of Salmacis". I really can't understand why "Halequin" gets trashed on, because I find it an amazing acoustic ballad. "For Absent Friends" is the first song Phil COLLINS sings lead on, and it's hard to believe what he'll be doing 10-15 years later (like on "No Jacket Required" or "Invisible Touch"). "Harold the Barrel" finds the band having a sense of humor, something they never had on "Trespass". I remembered when I first bought this LP back in 1993, I kept imagining the girl on the cover with the croquet mallet was Peter GABRIEL himself, and the head she was about to strike was Phil COLLINS.

I was awfully impressed with "Nursery Cryme", since I had my fill of '80s GENESIS by that point, and frankly sick of it, and it was refreshing to hear music that was very far removed from the plastic, synthetic, digitized sound of "Invisible Touch", and it was still GENESIS (of course, GABRIEL and HACKETT were long gone by the time of "Invisible Touch"). Classic album, in my book.