Customer Reviews
A Personal Favorite
You are in for an amazing treat. This is an overlooked gem, but if you love Genesis or Peter Gabriel, search Youtube for "The Musical Box" Genesis live in Belgium. I've owned this on 8-Track, Vinyl, Cassette, and Digital versions; it's one I find hard to live without. .
The debut of Genesis' classic lineup almost 35 years later
By this point, lead singer Peter Gabriel, keyboard player Tony Banks and bass player Mike Rutherford were going through the motions as they lost original guitarist Anthony Phillips and went through drummers as drummer John Mayhew also quit. Genesis' third album Nursery Cryme was released in November of 1971.
The three surviving members of Genesis held auditions for a new drummer and guitarist and settled on then 20 year olds Phil Collins and Steve Hackett (who joined a few months after collins joined). The former also brought some needed humor and a singing voice to off-set Gabriel's theatrics and the latter a superb guitar style.
With a lineup they could be happy with, Genesis went to Trident Studios in London to work on Nursery Cryme, how would the album be, read on.
We begin with the ten minute epic "The Musical Box" which is the reason for buying this album. The beginning is wonderful enough. The overdubbing of 12-strings from Hackett, Banks and Rutherford is quasi-Victorian in its feel with some haunting electric guitar fills from Hackett and joined by Gabriel and Collins' voices and Gabriel's flute. Then it suddenly shifts to an explosive hard rock tune, dominated by the killer soloing of Hackett's guitar and the killer percussion of Collins. Every time I hear this song, I still get a shiver down the spine. The last two minutes of the song are like a religious experience. The virtuoso feel of Banks' organ, cymbal-heavy drumming from Collins, Rutherford's 12-string playing, Gabriel's repeated shouting of the word "now!" and the way Hackett's guitar suddenly bursts from the back to the foreground make for a glorious climax which you don't hear anymore. Next we have "For Absent Friends" which marked the vocal debut of Phil Collins whom would become a key member to this exciting band over the next 25 years. We then end the first half with another epic "The Return of the Giant Hogweed" which tells a haunting but light-hearted tale which is a great song and has an awesome intro with Hackett's guitar and Banks' organ playing a haunting riff.
The next song is "The Seven Stones" which kicks off the second half and is a good tune but not as superb as the first two epics on the album. Next is the comedic "Harold the Barrel" which shows the band were starting to become more light-hearted thanks to Collins' presence. "Harlequin" is next and is the calm before the album's final storm. The final storm is the nearly 8 minute epic entitled "The Fountain of Salmacis" which is a great way to end the album. It starts with Banks' organ and mellotron haunting playing then joined by that awesome bass riff from Rutherford and vocals from Gabriel and guitar from Hackett and drums from Collins. It starts at medium pace then we go fast for the middle section then goes back to the medium pace of most of song then ends slow and majestic. The highlight is the instrumental that occurs about three and a half minutes in. And the way it ends contains some of the most balanced musicianship on the album.
The album may not have sold but who cares about sales, Nursery Cryme is still a classic today despite being recorded in 1971. .
Good to hear again the "Great" Genesis
What a breath of fresh air!! All I can say is how the mighty have fallen!! Peter Gabriels depature was a major nail in the coffin, and after Steve Hackett left and Phil Collins "pop music" sound took over, that coffin was 6 feet under!"The Musical Box" is still a classic some 36 years later! And can you imagine the band now trying to duplicate "The Return of the Giant Hogweed"? The song would not fit in with Phil Collins next "Disney" Musical!!!! . After hearing that pitiful performance by the band at the Live Earth concert, I ordered and received Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot.
. You can see a complete list of all Genesis discography, or go back to the Genesis tabs
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