Nursery Cryme by Genesis

From here there was no turning back…

The fiftieth anniversary of the third album by Genesis, Nursery Cryme, was reached in November last year. This was the album that first put together the classic line-up, allowing their individual sound to take shape.

After the release of their second album, Trespass, the band was in crisis. Anthony Philips, who at the time was the musical guiding light of the band, decided to quit. He was struggling with performing live at various gigs, triggering bouts of acute anxiety and eventually forcing him to make a rapid exit. Without Philips, Genesis’s continued existence was thrown into question. But with two albums now under their belt and the support of the Charisma record label, continue they did.

They sacked their drummer and replaced him with a precocious Phil Collins. For a while they continued as a foursome: Banks on keyboards, Peter Gabriel vocals and flute, Mike Rutherford guitars and their new drummer. And then came Steve Hackett to replace Anthony Philips on lead guitar.

According to the band, the drumming style of Collins gave a new dimension to their sound: aggressive, versatile and jazzy. He also contributed vocal harmonies with Gabriel, and made his debut on lead vocals on the forthcoming album.