As we have seen in previous episodes, which anticipated this important anniversary, Phil Collins - Read - e Steve Hackett - Read - they made their entry into Genesis in the second half of 1970.

After i first concerts of the new formation - Read -, the band has composed and recorded il new album - Read -.

On November 12, 1971 it comes out Nursery cryme.

The album receives a mixed response from critics (see below) and is not initially a commercial success; it no longer sells than Trespass and does not enter the English rankings until 1974, when it reaches its top at no. 39.

Speaking of the record's success, remember Steve Hackett in his autobiography A Genesis in my bed... - Buy it below and, in addition to the author, help Horizons Genesis - READ HOW:

“At the exit he received a mixed reception. Many loved him, but some criticized him. One critic suggested that that the texts had been fished out of the books. But I believe that if mythology touches you, whatever its root, it connects to feelings and personal experiences. Even if at the beginning it was not hailed as a classic was applauded in retrospect. "

Remember Armando Gallo in Genesis: I Know What I Like - Buy it below:

... that the interest of Charisma he moved on to the Lindisfarne, which suddenly stood becoming a major British attraction, reaching the first place in the charts with the album Fog on the Tyne.

Gallo reports the words of Tony Banks: “It slowly dawned on me that Nursery Cryme wasn't really an improvement over Trespassed and with this in mind I accepted it. I just felt that having lost Ant (Read), we were losing a great deal of strength in the group and we were too young and immature to be able to deal with that drastic change very quickly. I think that that 'Musical Box' and 'Salmacis' are the two driving songs of the album and they were inheritance of the days of Ant».

Ma Peter Gabriel has no second thoughts and remains firm on the sound of the band. He told Disc & Music Echo, reported in Without Frontiers: The Life and Music of Peter Gabriel by Daryl Easlea - Buy it below:

"Like listeners we have all been bored to death by groups that improvise and do solos of guitar. With us, everyone plays a part predetermined as an orchestra, so basically if someone starts improvising with the own part, it will sound very messy. However, it is very difficult to improvise unless you're playing something a lot simple and we don't play anything much simple".

Keith Emerson is the only one out of balance and, in a full-page Charisma advertisement published in the Melody Maker on November 20, he writes among other things: "This is not the beginning for Genesis nor the end. No bullshit: Their new album is really amazing".

As known, Nursery, on the other hand, is successful in continental Europe, particularly in Italy, where it reaches fourth place in the rankings, and was Silver certified by the British Phonographic Industry in 2013.

On 24 January the group played a thirty-minute set on Belgian television to promote the album. It's not the first time on TV for Genesis (they were on the BBC on 9 January), but it's the first surviving full broadcast on video.

Remember Mike Rutherford in its autobiography, The Living Years, Arcana - Buy it below:

«In Belgium the television studio it had a white bottom, until we crossed it and we settled down and it really wasn't anymore White. They had to hide ours with paint tracks before shooting can begin.

In those days there were always technical problems with television programs. We tried to do what we could to keep it from being a disaster, but we knew that the situation was not favorable.

The technicians had one completely different mentality from that of the roadie, who just want to get their job done right. The TV technicians on the other hand seemed concerned only with getting their lunch breaks. This meant a lot of waiting, or "hurry up and wait", as they used to say then: you came to the studio, you went to do your makeup and then you sat down for three hours wondering what I was doing there. "

Here is the video of the broadcast:

Video track list:

The Fountain Of Salmacis 0:05 - Twilight Alehouse 7:24 - The Musical Box 13:20 - The Return Of The Giant Hogweed 23:00

Nursery Cryme Track List:

All songs are credited to Genesis. The actual authors are listed below.

Side one

1. "The Musical Box" Gabriel, Phillips, Rutherford, Banks, Hackett 10:25

2. "For Absent Friends" Hackett, Collins 1:48

3. "The Return of the Giant Hogweed" Gabriel, Banks, Hackett, Rutherford 8:09

Side two

1. "Seven Stones" Banks, Hackett 5:08

2. "Harold the Barrel" Gabriel, Collins 3:01

3. "Harlequin" Rutherford, Phillips 2:56

4. "The Fountain of Salmacis" Banks, Gabriel, Rutherford, Hackett 8:02

During the Nursery Cryme Tour, Genesis record Happy the Man, never entered any studio album, but released as a single with Seven Stones as side B.

Daryl Easlea, in the aforementioned volume Without Frontiers, has collected some criticisms published for the release of the album. 

"Richard Cromelin of Rolling Stone summed up that the" main problem lies not with the concepts of Genesis, which are, if nothing else, outrageously imaginative and amiably eccentric, nor with their musical structures - long, involved, multi-movement upon which they hang. their narratives - and not even their playing, which gets rather lethargic at times. It's bad production, a murky, distant stew that at best boils quietly when what you desperately need are drum blasts and guitars, the scream of the organ, the abrasive rasp of the vocal cords ". 

Rolling Stone finds the "tales of Mother Goose (in children's literature she is an anthropomorphized goose in the role of an old country lady, who tells fairy tales or recites nursery rhymes Ed.) In the ten minutes of 'The Musical Box!".

Village Voice critic Robert Christgau writes sarcastically: "God's wounds! It's a 'rock' version of the Hermaphrodite myth! In quotes, because the organist and the vocalist (influenced by the mime) have the drummer a bit confused! Or maybe it's just the invocation to the Old King Cole! ""

Here are other reviews posted on the web:

BBC Music's Chris Jones praises the two new band members as key to Genesis' artistic success, commenting: "Collins' snappy drums are augmented by his amazing singing ability not unlike Gabriel ... Hackett's arsenal of tapping and swell techniques really broadened the band's palette, giving Tony Banks more room for his watermarks. organ at Delius, not to mention their newly acquired Mellotron ", and" Genesis virtually invented their own genre, Edwardian rock ".

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic considers the album highly inhomogeneous, but defines The Musical Box and The Return of the Giant Hogweed as "true masterpieces", and concludes that even if the rest of the album "It's not quite as compelling or as structured, it doesn't matter, because these are the songs that have shown what Genesis can do, and are still the pinnacle of what the band can achieve." 

On the album Genesis play:

Tony Banks - Hammond organ, Mellotron, piano, electric piano, 12-string guitar, backing vocals
Mike Rutherford - bass, bass pedals, 12-string guitar, backing vocals
Peter Gabriel - lead vocal, flute, oboe, bass drum, tambourine
Steve Hackett - electric guitar, 12-string guitar
Phil Collins - drums, vocals, percussion, lead vocals on "For Absent Friends", co-lead vocals on "Harold the Barrel" and "Harlequin" (uncredited). 

The album is taken on tour in the UK, Belgium and Italy, and some dates in France and Germany. The songs played are Happy The Man, Stagnation, Fountain Of Salmacis, Twilight Alehouse, Musical Box, Return Of The Giant Hogweed, Harold The Barrel, Harlequin, The Knife, Bye Bye Johnny (Can Utility And The Coastliners), Going Out To Get You, Get 'Em Out By Friday, Seven Stones.

But this will be the subject of new articles. Come back to visit us.

The eighth stage runs through the several editions in which the album was printed and shows the videos of the songs in the live.

As we have seen in previous installments, joined Genesis Phil Collins - Read - e Steve Hackett in the second half of 1970 - Read -.

After i first concerts of the new formation - Read -, the band has composed and recorded il new album - Read -.

In England la version of Nursery cryme è Pink Scroll Label area of Charisma. You see it above. A roll of pink parchment with the inscription "The Famous Charisma Label". WATCH THE AVAILABLE COLLECTION VERSIONS. The cover can be opened and contains the texts. 

In Italy it is still there Philips, as for Trespass, to put the album on the market. The distribution takes place in January 1972. The cover is not gatefold and is glossy. Inside the envelope contains the texts. Here she is:

In May 1972 the first and only single from the album: Happy The Man / Seven Stones. 

COLLECT IT ON EBAY

Rare and therefore highly priced versions with Charisma label of the individual. The Italian one is practically impossible to find, others are more common, like this one:

Click here to COLLECT IT ON EBAY.

As with previous albums, theRussian edition, comes after the end of the Soviet era and already in the post-vinyl era. 

Here is how the album is commented in the video taken from the DVD Inside Genesis:

The songs on the album had various live and cover versions. Here are a few video:

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