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Nursery Cryme

Genesis - Nursery Cryme Audio CD

A fair review of the Genesis "Nursery Cryme" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Genesis reviews here, or go back to the Genesis tabs.

Band: Genesis
Title: Nursery Cryme
Rating:

Release Date: 1994-09-20
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Musical Box 2: For Absent Friends 3: Return of the Giant Hogweed 4: Seven Stones 5: Harold the Barrel 6: Harlequin 7: Fountain of Salmacis

Genesis is so EPIC!
In many ways, I prefer Nursery Cryme over Selling England. This is the second Genesis album I have bought now; the first being Selling England by the Pound. The raw sound of Nursery Cryme is just so incredibly powerful. Although all the songs are well-written and very enjoyable, a few soar above the rest. The first is The Return of the Giant Hogweed. This is probably my favorite song on the album and has some incredible writing to it. Also, Seven Stones is a dramatic song that really makes you want to hear more of it. Sadly, it is only 5:11 long. The Musical Box is a great opener and the ending sounds very classical. All in all, a very great album.

A Cryme not to check this one out!!!
Particularly The Musical Box and the Fountains of Salamaicis (I'm sure I misspelled). Like Selling England, this album has more than it's share of epic songs. Definetely one of Genesis' top three Gabriel era albums. I think more specifically than progressive (which this album is the embodiement of that word) the sound of this album is symphonic. Highly arranged, with mellotrons and layers of piano, organ, and guitar. Even the word timeless seems weak when describing the Musical Box and the other highlights of Nursery Cryme. It sounds as if five modern day musicians (relatively modern) traveled back in time to Victorian England with 20th Century instruments and played for the Queen. It somehow exists outside of time. What is truly amazing about this album is that the members of the band were all in their early twenties except Phil Collins who was 19. Yet they somehow sound like they have been around for decades. Peter Gabriel's voice has so much soul and character that it is hard to invision the scrawny punk with a reverse mohawk that he was. I'm probably one of the very few Genesis fan's that ranks this one above Foxtrot. Great album, brilliant musicians. The only reason I didn't give this album 5 stars is because of the song sung by Phil Collins. I really do like Collins, particularly his drumming but that song seems really out of place. On a different note, am I the only one who thinks Phil Collins singing on subsiquent Genesis albums and solo albums was extremely influenced by Peter Gabriel? I've talked to people who confuse the two voices. I personally prefer Gabriel's voice and I never confuse the two. However, it is interesting to hear the similarity.

Music great...remastering lousy
Growing up in the early 90's, I wrote off Genesis without hesitation. Four stars for the music. But recently I was searching YouTube and found a live version of The Musical Box and realized I was wrong all of these years (Genesis actually did make good music once). I tried to buy the Import version of this album from Genesis but was informed it is no longer available even though it is still posted for sale. So I bought the remastered off eBay.

Two stars for the remastering. The Musical Box remastering is appalling. The volume is all over the place, the bass is muddy and lost and vocals get lost in the background, making it painful to listen to. The rest of the remastering on the CD gets better but suffers from the same problems.

One reviewer here mentioned getting the vinyl version which I will try to hunt down, hopefully it doesn't have these same issues. .

Once Upon A Band
This of course introduces Phil Collins into the band (as a drummer and singer)and the fact that they'd settled on a particular style and sound. 'Nursery Cryme' is a key album for Genesis in many ways. In this case a concept album based on a series of. . . . well nursery rhyme concepts with consistantly Enlish twists. "The Musical Box" is more or less the perfect example of the approch;a tune based in a light acoustic melody that builds in and out of flashes of rockier guitar and poignant organ solos puncuated by Peter Gabriel's flute. The lyrics even go as far as throwing in the first verse old "Old King Cole". This may sound clished but what really makes this album so interesting is what Phil Collins brings to the band and how,contrary to popular belief how well he and Gabriel's sound meshed together. Collins would later be a member of the jazz-fusion group Brand X and that comes out wonderfully,as kind of a preview of things to come,on the strongly. . . well jazzy drumming on the short but sweet "Harold The Barrel" and the more epic "The Fountain Of Salmacis"-this is actually a great tune that really crosses the line between jazz-fusion and prog-rock with very little distinguishing points in between. This doesn't really come as a surprise considering how close early fusion and prog rock could be to each other sometimes. There was always the possibility of longer winded tunes such as "The Return Of The Giant Hogweed" of being somewhat overblown but at the same time Genesis' music isn't alienating-it draws in the listener the same way ELO and a lot of Rush's best music does. There are of course gentle moments here such as the sort acoustic ballad "Harlequin" which is also very nice. In many ways this album is not tremendously different then it's predesessor Trespass except of course Gabriel took the heavy reverb effects off his voice and let it speak for itself,which is great because Peter Gabriel always had (and still does) have one of the most natural expressive voices in rock,the same as Robert Plant and Freddie Mercury (even if they are somewhat louder). These people didn't need reverb and studio magic to enhance their voice and it was wise Gabriel dropped that heavy processing of his vocals. Well none of that matters in the end-this album crossess an important bridge for Genesis and even if a full fledged musical direction is still slightly unfocused in a few places this album is sure to grab your attention.

Mout Ida Rises Like an Island
Knife had some great works; White Mountain, Visions of Angels, Knife, but this album marks the beginning of the most fantastic era of the best band ever, from here to Gabriel's departure after Lamb. The Genius-sis didn't start here, as many maintain. The new addition of Hackett and Collins makes the band sound a bit choppy and unfamiliar on this album, and there is a lack of smoothness that is gone by the time the band produced Foxtrot. The album flows from the eccentric and dark Musical Box to the comical Harold the Barrel, the super-sweet and romantic Harlequin (the album art associated with this song contains the mental image of the most beautiful imaginary girl ever) to the powerful, moving, mysterious, tear-your-hair-out climactic Fountains of Samicus, the tale of the morphing hemaphrodite. Wow, well worth the price of admission for just this cut. Genesis forever.

You can see a complete list of all Genesis discography, or go back to the Genesis tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.