As with Trespass, I love every bit of this album. Favorites are "The Musical Box", "Hogweed", Seven Stones" and the "Fountain of Salmacis".
I particularly like the photo from the same session where Gabriel has a scowl. I've always thought that was rather funny.
Hopefully Rose River Bear will chime in explaining some of those complex guitar tunings (which in my estimation started with 'The Musical Box' or at least around that time). I'm really interested in those.
This has definitely struck a chord. But what the heckety-heck has I Wish It Would Rain have to do with this classic Genesis album?
I first picked this up in about 1978. It was probably the 3rd Genesis album I picked up, following Trick of the Tail, Wind and Wuthering. I have mixed feelings on this album. The Musical Box is still one of my all-time favorite songs; not just by Genesis, but by anybody. Although they are short, acoustic songs, I really enjoy both For Absent Friends and Harlequin. I love the feel of Seven Stones. Harold the Barrel is pleasant enough, nothing special, but it does have a Monty Python-esque humor to it. But, the other 2 long songs on the album are a mixed bag for me. There are parts of Giant Hogweed and Salmacis that are tremendous, but even after 40 years of listening, there are still sections of those songs that do nothing for me, or even annoy me. But, it was the beginning of the classic 5 man line-up that would only get better over the next 3-4 years and produce some of the best music ever made (in my humble opinion)
Now we're talking. Nursery Cryme is 100 percent my favorite Genesis album. Every song is fantastic, and side 2 has some of the most underappreciated Genesis tracks of all time. Though I'd say much of that is due to the band basically dropping every one of them from their live setlists just a few years later. Seven Stones, Harlequin, Salmacis, and to a lesser extent Harold the Barrel. I received NC as a gift on Christmas 1980, I think. Possibly '81. But I instantly fell in love with it. Every song's a nursery rhyme or tall tale, and the glorious album jacket with lyrics and superb illustrations really captured my imagination. It reminded me of an old hard bound book I had as a child full of prose, fables, and nursery rhymes chock full of imagery and here was an album that captured it all on vinyl. Just fantastic. It also features Phil's first vocal track, another underrated gem 'For Absent Friends.' And as much as I love Musical Box and Hogweed, my overexposure to them has dented their magnificence ever so slightly. (But very slightly.) All in all, when there's a passage of time where I don't listen to Genesis very much and I have that itch to scratch, its Nursery Cryme I tend to revisit first. It is THE album that made me a true fan.
Nursery Cryme will be up next won't it. Never heard this album properly so as each song is discussed I will listen and throw in my two penceworth (I'm very cheap, you know). It's a very short piece by the look of it, little more than half an hour with a chunk of that being from the curtain-raiser.
The Musical Box The song opens with a series of chords of F#-B minor-E with some suspended notes in between. The intro forms the basis of the verse chords. The verse starts on the B minor then goes to F# and E. Peter sings a modal based melody that sounds somber. At :24 a turnaround section enters and the song shifts to the key of A major with a D chord following in a church (plagal) cadence. The verse returns at :41 and the turnaround (departure) follows. Phil adds in some harmonies. At 1:12 a chorus section enters based on E to F#....a chord hook that will be reprised later. At 1:22 some vocal effects lead to a minor drop section in F # minor with Peter playing some beautiful flute. At 1:46 a bridge enters based on F# minor and the pleading quality comes thru. At 2:09 a transition section enters and the song changes key once again to G major. At 2:27 the song shifts again to A minor. At 3:15 the song finally major shifts to A and the chorus follows. Some effects giving the feeling of metamorphosis follows and then bam......at 3:38 the chorus chords are reset into a hard rock setting of E-F# and then D-E power chords. A brilliant reset of the chorus chords and the song rocks out. Some call and response from Tony. At 4:08 Steve plays a sering pick scrap and what follows is the first of many of his amazing guitar solos. His solo is mainly based around F # Phrygian. Fantastic pulloffs and at 4:29 lo and behold some tapped notes way before anyone knew who Eddie Van Halen was. At 4:50 a verse enters based on F # minor. After a long cadence the song gets back and lifts to F# Major. Fine solos from both Tony and Steve follow. At 6:35 some brutal double bends from Hackett. At 6:59 a theme enters and is played in harmony by Hackett. At 7:18 an ascending run in F# ending on the dominant C# note starts to turn the section around....at 7:27 Steve raised the ascending line an octave finally bringing the section to resolution. At 7:36 the verse returns and hints at going to a minor key with D# minor but quickly returns to F#. Brilliant use of using chords that are not expected to start a section. At 8:34 the song returns to F# again and what follows is one of my favorite and most moving sections in music that I have ever heard. Tony plays a beautiful chord progression with descending minor chords at 8:40 but they are somewhat understated and then at 9:00 the song's emotional impact is ramped up and the pleading from Peter is heart wrenching. At 9:10 Tony plays the descending minor chords with incredible changing inner voices and the effect is shattering and sounds funereal and like a chorale. Peter follows with harrowing pleading and at 9:14 the song returns to F# in a coda...the home key signaling a push to finality. Incredible stuff. Peter continues pleading and Hackett and Banks call and respond with a beautiful melody that counters Peter's intensity. At 9:58 the song starts to get grounded with a simple chord progression of I-IV-V and repeats with Hackett playing some more great harmony lines. At 10:10 the song struggles for resolution with a classically based ending with alternation of F# and C# chords. Hackett plays some harmony notes of G# and A# and then at 10:16 the final F# chord enters and is held in grand fashion bringing the song to an end. One of my favorite rock songs and their first work of genius. A brilliant mix of key changes to highlight the changing emotional landscape and vignette like sections. Avoidance of strong cadences gives the song its fantasy like quality. Prog rock does not get any better than this. Phil and everyone are amazing.
I did not mention the guitar tunings in my breakdown of The Musical Box. IIRC, I think Rutherford's guitar may have been set to a different tuning but a lot of the times, their sound was the result of different inversions played by multiple guitars.
I love this run from “Nursery Cryme” thru “A Trick Of The Tail” — and up to “Abacab”. Actually most nearly all is excellent, but this album was their first “great” album and “The Musical Box” their first masterpiece imo. It gets even better from here!
Nursery Cryme is a terrific album! It was the first one I bought, and also (intentionally) the first CD I bought. I would put the top four tracks in this order, top to bottom: The Fountain of Salmacis The Return of the Giant Hogweed Seven Stones The Musical Box Only the last couple of minutes of The Musical Box really hold my attention, but they really hold it. A dramatic wind-up to a middling-to-superior song.
I won't get into the details so not to bore anyone but Seven Stones is one complex tune as far as harmonic structure goes. It is really out there.
Though I like Stagnation and The Knife, the addition of Phil and Steve and the recording of Nursery Cryme is where Genesis really starts for me. While I enjoy it as a whole, The Musical Box and The Fountain of Salmacis are the standouts to me, moreso than the content of Foxtrot, frankly. I often think of NC and Foxtrot as sister albums due to the sound ("Edwardian" rock, I love that!). It evolved and changed on Selling England, with Tony's addition of the Arp Pro-soloist. Anyway, Nursery Cryme to me is a snapshot, almost a black and white Matthew Brady photo, back into a different time
Ooops. I thought I saw your review for Nursery Cryme on the previous page. Are we not to review any songs until you do each one?
