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Waft more stolen baby powder back to the main GENESIS page now! The Game is Up, Phil. Return Those Diapers To That Baby At Once!
Overall Album Score: 8.4 out of 10 ...and so, Little Red Riding Hood went off into the elven forest for her grandmother's house, to whom she embarked in order to deliver her mother's basket of freshly made and steaming hot batch of exciting underwear... ...Okay ... I'm not exactly sure where I was going with that. So ... on with the review! This is a good album! Perhaps it's not as 'easily digestible' as Genesis's previous effort, but this one really scores big on the ole artistic front. Guitarist Tony Philips and drummer John Mayhew left the band and they were replaced by a better guitarist, Steve Hackett, and ... voila! ... a better drummer, Phil Collins! Oh yes! That's 80's dude with that really strange hair-do! (Rumor has it that Phil Collins actually had some hair at this point.) While the album isn't too deviant from Genesis's previous album (Trespass), it does show a good deal of maturation. The simple fact that I find this album not-so-easily-digestible, yet entertaining with a depth, makes this growth evident! I also find the lyrics a bit more intriguing and fun to listen to. There are basically two classes of songs on here. The long and the short. With the most notable exception of the three-some minute "Harold the Barrel," (which is my favorite moment of the album), the short songs are by-and-large unremarkable and somewhat boring. Whereas the longer, epic songs tend to be better realized. Although, I do not like all these long songs in their entirety, they do have quite a bit to offer. So ... my fellow Genesis fan ... does this album kick butt or what? At this point, I haven't given the fellow prog-rock band "Yes" a thorough listen-to yet, but I must say that Peter Gabriel-era Genesis is my favorite prog-rock outfit so far! I enjoy listening to their albums so much, and I can find but very little to complain about. So what if this album (as well as most of their other albums) get dull at spots? I don't feel like I've just been crapped on after listening to it even if I don't use it as background music and am listening to it closely. (And ... yes ... there are plenty of other people's albums I've listened to and/or reviewed that made me feel like I've just been dumped on!) While, I don't feel like this particular album is something GREAT, I feel that it is definitely something enjoyable. (This also noting that these guys aren't the greatest instrument players on the planet.) Oh... that came off a little bit negative! I don't mean to say that the only ability Gabriel-era Genesis has is the ability to not poo on me ... rather, I really like this band because all their albums come off as very interesting and even kinda "timeless" as I get lost into many of these epic meandering. In a nutshell, that is what I think is so great about this band and why I ever became enamored by them! On second thought, strike that I said that Genesis was one of my favorite prog-rock band ... they're one of my favorite bands altogether! Anybody not acquainted with them in the Gabriel-era really ought to take a look! Those of you who might remember the 80's Genesis or the 90's "We Can't Dance" hit ... early-to-mid 70's Genesis is much different than that! You'll be surprised. And, you really won't regret it, unless the whole idea of progressive rock doesn't interest you. Speaking of this album's place in the entire Genesis discography; perhaps this addition is one of the worst of the Gabriel period ... but that's like saying Teddy Roosevelt is the worst president on Mount Rushmore. I might have a small voice, but I have a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig... Overall Album Score: 8.4 out of 10 (What this album gains artistically compared with Trespass, it loses in accessibility. Oh well. Both albums are welcome in my CD player!) Average Song Score: 8.7 (Yes! Apart from a few dull moments, this is a set of songs that are practically worth diamonds!) Album Tilt: 8.0 (Again ... this can be a hard album to digest and isn't easily likable. Fortunately, this is a case where I feel like I digested the entire thing, and it didn't really take that much effort. Again, there aren't too many particularly WONDERFUL moments in here. But there are enough good moments that at least make me regard this album with a fond aura. The melodies could have used more hooks, however.) Artist Tilt: 8.5 It is rich, it has texture, personality, depth, and color. It's a very 'artistic' album ... However, its perhaps *too* artistic, which can a bad thing if it means audience alienation. Increase this score by a half-point if you're a major prog-rock fan; you're adequately prepared to fully appreciate what the album has to offer. If you don't care for the genre, decrease it by a half; you'll probably get bored and not find it particularly 'artistic' at all. Me ... I'm quite comfortable leaving this score on the middle ground.) Track Reviews The Musical Box 9/10 Immediately when this song strikes up, I know that this is going to be phenomenally more grandiose and mature than anything that appeared on Trespass. The opening chords sound fantastical. As the song progresses, it keeps a very slow, steady pace. (Bits of this part are rather boring.) And then after three-and-a-half or so minutes, the song picks up thunder into an interesting-like prog-rock jam. Then the song slows down and starts sounding a bit like the soundtrack to a fantasy film (and it's tasteful). Peter Gabriel's singing does, in fact, sound quite epic here and lovely. Then the song gets harder and grittier with another interesting rock jam (yes ... we can really appreciate the line-up addition of Steve Hackett). Perhaps the jam lingers on for a bit too long, but there's no real reason for me to complain about it. Then the song quiets and slows AGAIN. It no longer sounds a whole heck of a lot like a fantasy film. It's not actually too wonderful here. Then some organs pick up and the song starts getting good again, Pete starts screaming a little bit. Okay ... the organ here coulda been improved on. But that's okay. Tony Banks. And that's the song, ladies and gentlemen! The whole ten minutes and twenty-three seconds of it! Overall, it does in fact leave a little bit to be desired. For example, there are no real hooks nor does any part of the song particularly grab me. But I do like it. For a song that contains many different parts that sound almost unrelated, I'm amazed that I can think of it as epic! Nice one! For Absent Friends 8/10 It's kind of a beautiful song, but it's almost entirely unremarkable. Eh... it's barely over a minute-and-a-half ... so why should I care? On with the show! The Return of the Giant Hogweed 10/10 (P.S. I wasn't really expecting my commentary of that first track to be so detailed! I don't really feel like repeating that now!) Well, this is another one of the long songs ... but it's by and large much more organized and uniform compared with track #1. The song is sung more on the medium-volume (whereas the other one just went up and down all over the volume knob) and the melody is generally uniform throughout the entire song. And, this one is much more pleasing to the ear as fewer moments in this track come off as boring. In fact, the entire song is good! Classic prog-rock! The instrumental interludes are very nice here as well, although Tony Banks' piano solo greatly lacks passion (Then again ... should I even be expecting passion?) The lyrics ... hmmm ... are interesting. It's about some evil plant emerging and taking revenge on the planet. Yah. Seven Stones 7.5/10 I'm a bit spit with this track. At times, I think it deserves a seven. At other parts I think it deserves a nine. But, the moments I think it deserves a seven are long and pointless. The track is five minutes long. So, a seven-point-five is fair, methinks. Harold the Barrel 10/10 Wow! After that song literally fizzled away into nothingness, I usually get quite a shock to hear this very confident, bouncy, and very good song pop up OUT OF NOWHERE. Alone, I might not have liked this track as much. But it's a strong 10 and it's clearly the album's most significant concentration of hooks. Nice! It's clearly my favorite 'short' song. Well ... since I bothered to try making sense of these lyrics ... It's about a dude name Harold who is about to jump from a window. (Ooo! Depressing!) Harlequin 7.0/10 Quite unremarkable this under-three-minute track is. Boring in fact. But it's only three minutes long. Blahhhhhh. It does at least sound like it belongs in the album. The Fountain of Salmacis 9.5/10 Utterly dynamic, Genesis closes this album with a BANG! This one is almost acid-psychedelic, in fact! Perhaps the track is most characterized by an ominous chord beginning to be very soft but then growing louder as if somebody was playing with the volume knob. (These go up to ELEVEN!) It's an odd experience that very easily gets a hold of my attention, albiet it's not something good to listen to early in the morning or late at night (as I just found out). It makes me think I'm going mad! Then during certain interludes, a busy organ playing its notes perfectly during Gabriel's singing lyrics are quite memorable. Then the song lingers a little bit in borderline-interesting category. Then a most-memorable, grandiose chorus strikes up! Oooo! Then we go back to a simpler moment we've seen already. Then it picks up dynamics again and there goes that heavenly chorus again! What a dynamic closer! Are you fuming at the ears, or just plain want to get your opinion about this album out there? You are? Well, then E-mail your opinion about this album here. hola_el_pola@hotmail.com (Ezequiel) receieved Dec. 22, 2003 I would like to tell you that the fact that "The Musical Box" doesn't get a 10 as a rating is pathectic...i can't believe it, it's such a solid song, never boring (you just haven't heard it enough)-it's a masterpiece, it's unique...i've played that song myself with my band, and the power it transmits is unbelievable...i can't understand how you can call it dull...and the ending is sheer brilliance...so is "the fountain of salmacis"...the whole song--its perfect thats all i wanted to say Don Ignacio Responds: Mere reservations is what keeps me from giving "The Musical Box" the full ten. I agree with you that it is a classic. slb23@shaw.ca (Simon B.) received July 24, 2004 This is one of the two Genesis albums my Uncle lent me five
years ago (the other was FOXTROT). I think that it is one of the best
Gabriel-era albums, and deserves its status as a classic prog-rock
album.
carrotkins@hotmail.com (egle) received May 23, 2007 ok, expect more of my comments further on becus i've just started reading your awesome reviews and i already love you! I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYONE WHO THINKS HAROLD THE BARREL IS THE BEST SONG FROM NURSERY CRYME. WE ARE MADE FOR EACH OTHER DAMMIT! no look seriously i love this song. though is it just me or has anyone else noticed that phil tries to shout louder than peter on this one? it always makes me giggle. the expression of this song.. the characters.. the everything is so good! ..but there are also stuff that made me hate you! how can you say that nursery cryme is one of the worst gabriel-era albums?!.. no fucking way! and harlequin? boring?! that little child song is totally beautiful, sensitive and and and.. boring? come on! anyway, your reviews are great. i'll keep on reading and commenting, babe. |
All reviews are copyrighted by Michael Lawrence. He's a sorority boy.
