Genesis
Nursery Cryme

On "Nursery Cryme," Genesis adhere to roughly the same musical guidelines they established on the wonderful and weightless "Trespass." Here, in my opinion, the Mellotron is the core of all the instruments used, and one senses that the musicians are very comfortable constantly dwelling in this "bed of pure and resonant sound." Guitar work is practically only revealed to the listener in the opening track, "The Musical Box," which is complex and ponderous even by modern standards. The entire music on the album feels so detached from the listener that it feels as if you're floating in a boundless, oily space. This "oiliness" is the same influence of the Mellotron, the master here, to whom all the other instruments happily serve. The Mellotron not only makes the music on the album rich, but also fresh. Such freshness momentarily distracts you from the obsessive thought that you can't really break down Genesis's works into understandable components. No, I don't even want to call them songs in the traditional sense. They're more reminiscent of semi-fairytale, somewhat symbolic, yet moderately expressive episodes from life, to which a corresponding musical accompaniment has been selected. This accompaniment is distinguished by its absolute innocence and its reluctance to instill anything. It simply gently invites you to look at events from a distance, without participating in them or passing judgment. This is a great achievement of Genesis. This accompaniment is a kind of reflection of a certain routine, once settled into which, you already know in advance that no shocks await you. And so you can talk about anything without getting particularly upset. From this perspective, the musical language on this album is very democratic. And compared to the previous work, the degree of musical variation here, in my opinion, is an order of magnitude greater. There's room for humor, sarcasm, and fairytale storytelling. The album also has a surprising quality: by the end, having forgotten absolutely nothing, you want to return to the beginning and relive that hazy dream in the hope that perhaps the colors will be more vivid once again. And there's no point in picking apart each track individually, distinguishing between good and bad numbers. They're all unified and linked by similar musical ideas.