We continue our look at the music of 50 years ago…..
The 3rd studio LP from the English band Genesis, “Nursery Cryme”, was the first one featuring the classic lineup and it’s a gem. Though not very popular at the time (except in Italy, for some reason), the album shows a band on the rise, full of the stuff that made English prog rock so entertaining. From the lyrical content (bizarre and engrossing), to the extravagant musical passages ranging from quiet and pretty to loud and aggressive, Nursery Cryme is a winner.
The band was in flux after the last LP and needed some fresh blood. The band brought in Steve Hackett and Phil Collins to add to the heady mix of Peter Gabriel, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks. It meshed. Collins holding down the beat and adding alot of flourishes that the previous drummer could not and adding his voice to the band’s mix as well. Hackett was a revelation on guitar not only electric but twelve string acoustic as well. Banks added a Mellotron to his box of aural paints and it brought more depth to the sound. And then there is Gabriel. With this LP he started showing the strength that he would bring to the next few records, and his solo career later in the decade and into the 80’s. He was a striking presence both on record and especially live as he started adding his costumes and masks during the tour behind this album.
The songs range from the macabre lyrics of “The Musical Box”, which became an in concert favorite…to the fun of “Harold The Barrel” to the sci-fi escapism of “The Return of the Giant Hogweed” and “The Fountains of Salmacis”.
Print out the lyric sheet for The Musical Box and marvel at the tale… set in Victorian England. Hackett and Rutherford’s guitars stand out and Collins strong drumming brings out the depth of the music. Wikipedia describes it thus…
“The Musical Box” was a lengthy piece that described a macabre story placed in Victorian Britain. A young boy, Henry, is accidentally decapitated by his friend Cynthia while playing croquet. Returning to the house, Cynthia plays Henry’s old musical box, which unleashes the spirit of Henry as an old man. Henry has become sexually frustrated and attempts to seduce Cynthia. The nurse enters the room, hurls the musical box at the wall, destroying both it and Henry.[19][20]
That I may join with you,
All your hearts now seem so far from me
It hardly seems to matter now.
Of a kingdom beyond the skies.
But I am lost within this half-world,
It hardly seems to matter now.
Here it comes again.
Play me my song.
Here it comes again.
Just a little bit more time,
Time left to live out my life.
Here it comes again.
Play me my song.
Here it comes again.
And a merry old soul was he.
So he called for his pipe,
And he called for his bowl,
And he called for his fiddlers three.
On the mantlepiece –
And I want, and I feel, and I know, and I touch,
Her warmth…
Brush back your hair, and let me get to know your face.
She’s a lady, she is mine.
Brush back your hair, and let me get to know your flesh.
And all this time has passed me by
It doesn’t seem to matter now
You stand there with your fixed expression
Casting doubt on all I have to say.
Why don’t you touch me, touch me,
Why don’t you touch me, touch me,
Touch me now, now, now, now, now…
This isn’t the Genesis of the 1980’s. That version was fine…but this is what the band originally started out wanting to do. As the advert that Steve Hackett ran that caught the eye of Gabriel stated…”Imaginative guitarist/writer seeks involvement with receptive musicians, determined to drive beyond existing stagnant music forms” . For a time they did exactly that.
