Nursery Cryme by Genesis, their third album, from 1971, is a crucial album that saw the addition of Phil Collins on drums and vocals and Steve Hackett on guitar, creating the "classic" lineup that would consolidate the Genesis sound.
Peter Gabriel: vocals, flute, percussion.
Tony Banks: keyboards, mellotron, 12-string guitar.
Mike Rutherford: bass, 12-string guitar.
Phil Collins: drums and backing vocals (replacing John Mayhew).
Steve Hackett: electric and acoustic guitar (replacing Anthony Phillips).
All artists I've discussed at length in the Genesis article "Genesis: Prog, Pop, and the Influences of the "Genesis" Sound"
The album forms a fundamental triptych for progressive rock, which, along with Foxtrot and Selling England by the Pound , would become an impressive series of essential albums.
The band abandons the song format for complex structures, typical of progressive rock, with variable rhythms and elaborate progressions, introducing more aggressive and complex sounds than their previous album, Trespass, for a fairytale progressive rock that tells stories of elves and forbidden love. Musically, the album is an innovative masterpiece, thanks to Collins' virtuosity on drums and the use of the Mellotron (purchased from King Crimson) and Hackett's tapping technique. It reminds me of when I spoke of the instruments used by Dave Kerzner on his album “IT - A Celebration of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway” for the songs played on authentic vintage instruments from the 1970s, including many of Tony Banks' keyboards. I wonder if the mellotron purchased by King Crimson was also there.
The title is a play on words between "nursery rhyme" and "crime."
The atmosphere is fairytale-like, gothic, with lyrics exploring fantasy worlds, with references to myths (the hermaphrodite in "The Fountain of Salmacis") and Victorian horror stories, inspired by English nursery rhymes (the aforementioned nursery rhymes). The lyrics draw on macabre fables, mythology, and surreal chronicles. "The Musical Box" tells the story of Cynthia, who kills her playmate Henry with a croquet mallet; the child's spirit then reappears, aged, through a music box. "The Return of the Giant Hogweed" describes a "killer plant" (inspired by the real-life Heracleum mantegazzianum) invading England. "The Fountain of Salmacis" is based on the Greek myth of Hermaphroditus and the nymph. Salmace.
The tracks are all masterpieces.
The Musical Box opens the album.
It is one of Genesis's most famous compositions, a visionary suite that alone represents the style of early '70s progressive rock.
The song originates from an instrumental piece called "F#," written by Mike Rutherford and Anthony Phillips before he left the band. The final version includes key contributions from Steve Hackett, who introduced the use of the tapping technique on the guitar; Phil Collins, who brings an aggressive and complex rhythmic dynamic; and Tony Banks, who incorporates sounds from The Who, at Peter Gabriel's suggestion.
The "Lyrics Tell a Macabre Tale," written by Peter Gabriel, tells a surreal and violent story set in the Victorian era. During a game of croquet, little Cynthia kills her playmate Henry by decapitating him with a mallet. Some time later, Cynthia finds Henry's music box. When she opens it, the melody (Old King Cole) awakens the child's spirit, who He reappears in corporeal form but rapidly ages into an old man. The spirit, gripped by repressed desires typical of adulthood in a senile body, attempts to seduce the little girl (hence the famous climax, "Why don't you touch me, touch me, touch me now!"). The housekeeper intervenes, throwing the music box at the ghost, destroying both of them.
The suite alternates moments of extreme sweetness with imposing explosions. After an acoustic intro, a 12-string guitar arpeggio creates a fairytale atmosphere, a pressing instrumental section begins where keyboards and electric guitars dialogue magnificently toward a theatrical finale, with Gabriel's vocal crescendo, one of the most intense moments of his career in my opinion.
The Musical Box in live concerts was performed with Peter Gabriel's famous disguise, who wore the mask of a hunched old man during the final section to visually interpret Henry's transformation.
"For Absent Friends" is a highly underrated track that separates the two suites on side A of the album.
It's the first Genesis song sung entirely by Phil Collins, showcasing for the first time the tone that would become central to the band after 1975.
The lyrics describe a scene from everyday English life and exude melancholy and nostalgia, with two widowers going to church on a Sunday afternoon in a typically British pastoral atmosphere described in great detail, such as park gates closing at six o'clock or a little girl pushing a pram.
Musically, it's a song lasting less than two minutes, featuring a splendid interweaving of Steve Hackett and Mike Rutherford's 12-string acoustic guitars. A melodic interlude that eases the tension between the epic "The Musical Box" and the aggressive "The Return of the Giant Hogweed." For this reason, it's a highly underrated ballad, a hidden masterpiece. It's a song written for older people, despite having been written by musicians in their early twenties.
"The Return of the Giant Hogweed" is one of the album's most energetic and experimental moments, combining social satire, science fiction, and technical innovation.
The song dramatically recounts the invasion of England by Heracleum mantegazzianum (Hogweed), a real-life toxic plant. It tells the story of a Victorian explorer who brings the plant to England from the Russian hills and innocently plants it in the royal gardens. However, the creature awakens to take revenge on the human race, becoming invincible against all herbicides. In reality, Peter Gabriel uses the plant as a metaphor for the unforeseen consequences of human interference with nature and as a satire of the Victorian obsession with exotic collecting.
Musically, it features revolutionary guitar techniques for the time, particularly the use of tapping in the intro, where Steve Hackett plays the notes on the fretboard with both hands, a technique that would influence generations of rock guitarists, including Eddie Van Halen.
Tony Banks's keyboards are impressive, using electric piano and mellotron, and the powerful rhythm section led by Phil Collins.
The song ends with a pounding crescendo, an unstoppable march that perfectly symbolizes the plant's advance.
"Seven Stones" is the album's hidden gem, a dreamy piece credited primarily to Tony Banks with a romantic arrangement centered on a majestic mellotron and splendid organ. It has a less aggressive structure than the other tracks on the album but ends with a stunning, epic orchestral finale.
The lyrics tell three different parables through the tale of a wise old man: the story of a man lost in a storm who finds refuge thanks to a sign of destiny (seven stones under the leaves); the story of a sailor who avoids disaster by following a sudden instinct dictated by the flight of a seagull; and the story of an inexperienced man who attempts to buy wisdom, only to be cheated, and thus realize that true wisdom is priceless.
Harold the Barrel is one of the most theatrical moments in Genesis's discography, with a fast-paced rhythm and a macabre narrative, a sort of comic "mini-opera" written almost entirely by Peter Gabriel. Unlike the album's lengthy progressive suites, it lasts about three minutes and seems to be played at double speed.
The story recounts the attempted suicide of Harold, a restaurant owner who has suffered a nervous breakdown. Harold disappears, cuts off his toes (serving them for tea in his restaurant), and finally climbs onto the ledge of a building, threatening to jump. The reaction of those around him is grotesque, with his mother, more concerned with appearance than with her son's life, exclaiming the famous line, "Your shirt is all dirty! There's a man here from the BBC!", thus criticizing the spectacularization of grief, with the crowd and the media flocking to witness the event as if it were a show.
Musically, the song features a beautiful dialogue between Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins, who interpret the various characters with caricatural tones, while Tony Banks's beautiful piano sets the pace, accompanied by a spectacular bass line by Mike Rutherford.
Harlequin is a brief acoustic interlude that precedes the album's finale. Written primarily by Mike Rutherford, it harks back to the pastoral, folk atmosphere of Genesis' Trespass. It features a gorgeous interweaving of 12-string acoustic guitars played by Rutherford and Steve Hackett, accompanied by melodic bass, and beautiful vocal harmonies featuring Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins in a melancholic choir. The lyrics focus on the passage of time, the fading light, and nature preparing for its rest. Harlequin appears not as a classic commedia dell'arte character, but as a metaphor for the changing colors and shadows in the forest. A highly elegant piece, the sweetest and dreamiest side of early '70s British progressive rock.
"The Fountain of Salmacis" is one of the absolute pinnacles of symphonic progressive rock. It's about eight minutes long, with a mythological and solemn atmosphere. The lyrics, written primarily by Mike Rutherford, are inspired by Greek myths (Ovid's Metamorphoses) and tell the story of Hermaphroditus, son of Hermes and Aphrodite, and the nymph Salmacis.
The nymph, hopelessly in love with the young man bathing in her fountain, prays to the gods to remain united with him forever, and her wish is granted, merging their bodies into a single being of both sexes.
Musically, the song is a triumph of Tony Banks' keyboards. The opening Mellotron is one of the song's most notable moments, with strings and choirs creating a majestic and hypnotic wall of sound. Steve Hackett's solo in the middle and final sections features dreamy melodic lines. Phil Collins's drums are jazzy and powerful, with stunning transitions between time signatures. One of the most emotional songs in Genesis's discography, arguably the one that defined the "Genesis sound," which would be perfected on the next album, another Essential masterpiece, Foxtrot.
Paul Whitehead's artwork perfectly reflects the surreal and Victorian concepts, depicting the little girl from "The Musical Box" playing croquet with severed children's heads, while other elements reference themes from other songs, such as the hogweed plant, the old man from "Seven Stones," and the Venus de Milo (a reference to "The Fountain of Salmacis"). The cover has a distressed honey-varnished look, creating a macabre fairytale feel.
Upon its release, the album went almost unnoticed in the UK, only entering the charts in 1974. However, it achieved immediate success in continental Europe, especially in Italy, where Genesis became a cult phenomenon (which continues to this day), allowing the band to embark on their first major international tours.
Today, the album is universally recognized as one of the cornerstones of progressive rock. A must-have for any Prog collection worthy of the name.
This is why I periodically return to it, because for me, it's the "place" where my love for prog began, when I was 14 and the keyboardist of a band looking for a drummer gave me a TDK D90 cassette (now lost) to explain the genre I would later play for years and love throughout my life, along with the Genesis tracks from this album. That was the first time I encountered that scratchy edge that appears in Peter Gabriel's dense voice, the scream that's almost stifled at first but finally breaks free when he says, "Why don't you touch me... now! now! now! now! now!", while Phil does what he does best. The full band, the best of Steve, Mike, and Tony. And so does the whole album. A spectacular record. Not even second to Selling England by the Pound, and not just for sentimental value: in my ranking, they're tied.
It's nice to go back every now and then and discover that deep down, musically, I've always been just a dinosaur from odd eras, or perhaps, given the evolution of what I listen to, a chameleon.
Note: All links to the musicians' works are in the TAGS under the article title or on the "Artists" page.
Tracklist
1. The Musical Box (10:24)
2. For Absent Friends (1:44)
3. The Return of the Giant Hogweed (8:10)
4. Seven Stones (5:10)
5. Harold the Barrel (2:55)
6. Harlequin (2:52)
7. The Fountain of Salmacis (7:54)
Duration 39:09
LineUp
- Peter Gabriel - lead vocals, flute, tambourine, bass drum
- Steve Hackett - electric guitar and 12-string guitar
- Tony Banks - organ, Mellotron, piano and electric piano, 12-string guitar, backing vocals
- Mike Rutherford - bass, bass pedals, 12-string guitar, backing vocals
- Phil Collins - drums, percussion, lead vocals (2) and backing vocals
.jpeg "Foxtrot by Genesis")