Murder, Lust and Magic! (Nursery Cryme - Genesis)

Member Name: cyberem78

Product:	Nursery Cryme - Genesis
Date:	26/01/09 (122 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Eerie surreal songs. Great performances by the band.

Disadvantages: Can seem a bit too high brow/typical of art rock.

As a teen I aimed to work my way back through the history of progressive rock group Genesis by buying up every one of their many albums from the Phil Collins era way back to those produced when quirky Peter Gabriel was on vocals. I remember browsing through the CD's in the store and seeing this album jump out at me. What struck me most then was the illustration on the CD booklet. I'd later discover it was a painted design based on the lyrics of the songs on the album by artist Paul Whitehead, a man who'd been responsible for a couple of other iconic record sleeve designs for the group. The picture shows a strange little girl of olden times holding a croquet mallet above her head. The look on her face is a demonic one, almost as if she is possessed by an evil force. All around her on the lurid stripes of the croquet lawn there are decapitated heads being used as balls! A po-faced nanny is seen to the left of the girl, moving towards her on what look like prehistoric roller skates. She has a sword-like item in her hand which she seems intent on using to harm the little girl.

The illustration both disturbed me and interested me. What kind of musical madness could be represented by such an image? When I'd bought the CD I discovered that most songs have a tiny painted illustration beside them inside the lyrics booklet. The pictures are sometimes a little abstract but relate to the meaning of the songs in some way.

There are seven tracks on the album. The band line up at the time was Peter Gabriel on vocals, Phil Collins on drums and vocals, Tony Banks on Keyboard, Mike Rutherford on electric guitars, Steve Hackett on guitars. This was the group's third album which was released in 1971.

Facts I note about the album are that there are three epic length tracks of almost 8 to 10 minutes long with first track 'The Musical Box' being the most important of those. There is also an interesting blend of vocal performances here with Phil Collins taking a turn on the short track 'For Absent Friends'. He also sings alongside Gabriel on the track 'Harlequin' where it is very difficult to seperate the voices from each other as they have such similar tonal quality.

The album is steeped in a mythological sense with the tracks alluding to fairytales (odd stories invented by the band) and legends (based on Greek mythology, for instance). There is an equal sense of high drama and tragedy mixed with comedy and school boy silliness. An example of the band's intelligent but juvenile humour can be heard in the track 'Harold the Barrel' which contains lines like "Harold the Barrel cut off his toes and he served them all for tea...he can't go far...he hasn't got a leg to stand on!"

I enjoy all the songs on this album but I am especially haunted by the first track, on which the cover of the CD album really relates to the most. 'The Musical Box' tells the story of two Victorian children, Cynthia and Henry. Cynthia kills Henry by decapitating him with her croquet bat. He then inhabits his musical box as a spirit and is manifested as a body when she opens the box weeks later. Unfortunately his childlike body begins to age rapidly and as it does so Henry suffers the urges of a lifetime - those sexual desires and ambitions. In his madness he attempts to fulfill his needs with Cynthia but the household nanny turns up just in time to destroy Henry by hurling the musical box at his form. The story is printed alongside the song just to clarify matters. In the music there is an eerie atmosphere. Gabriel is able to portray the ugliness of the situation beautifully with his gravelly, exaggerated pronunciation. A song that incorporates many musical transitions to match the mood of the characters or capture the drama of the events this is now a Genesis fan's classic track and I would recommend listening to it. Phil Collins has also sung it very well on live concert recordings, although the song often looses it's central core with just the beginning and ending performed.

Track listing is as follows:

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

Summary: A brilliant third album by Genesis with Peter Gabriel on vocals.