Genesis Nursery Cryme CD

Genesis: Peter Gabriel (vocals, flute, bass drum, tambourine); Steve Hackett (electric guitar, 12-string guitar); Tony Banks (12-string guitar, piano, electric piano, organ, Mellotron); Mike Rutherford (12-string guitar, bass instrument); Phil Collins (drums, percussion).
If Genesis truly established themselves as progressive rockers on Trespass, Nursery Cryme is where their signature persona was unveiled: true English eccentrics, one part Lewis Carroll and one part Syd Barrett, creating a fanciful world that emphasized the band's instrumental prowess as much as Peter Gabriel's theatricality. Which isn't to say that all of Nursery Cryme works. There are times when the whimsy is overwhelming, just as there are periods when there's too much instrumental indulgence, yet there's a charm to this indulgence, since the group is letting itself run wild. Even if they've yet to find the furthest reaches of their imagination, part of the charm is hearing them test out its limits, something that does result in genuine masterpieces, as on "The Musical Box" and "The Return of the Giant Hogweed," two epics that dominate the first side of the album and give it its foundation. If the second side isn't quite as compelling or quite as structured, it doesn't quite matter because these are the songs that showed what Genesis could do, and they still stand as pinnacles of what the band could achieve. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Genesis's third album was a far cry from the delicate folk-rock tapestries and chiming 12-string guitars of its predecessor, TRESPASS. The infusion of a semi-classical structural sensibility had become more prevalent. Fragile ballads are at a minimum, replaced by driving classical-rock epics full of heavy guitar, bass lines, and sweeping Mellotron. The sound occasionally recalls the refined but uncompromising instrumental attack of the Nice (particularly in Tony Banks's Keith Emerson-ish blasts of organ bravura).
The interlocking guitar arpeggios and folkie moments central to TRESPASS are still present, however, providing contrast to NURSERY CRYME's bolder moments. The group's ambitious compositional style and Gabriel's eccentric lyrics are at their height on "The Fountain of Salamacis," "The Musical Box," and the instrumentally sophisticated "The Return of the Giant Hogweed," making NURSERY CRYME the first Genesis album to truly define their mature style.Mojo (Publisher) (3/01, p.82) - "...Enter Phil Collins and Steve Hackett for a set that eclipsed its predecessor [1970's TRESPASS] in technical ability. 10-minute opener 'The Musical Box' benefiting from jazz-influenced playing..."