About "Rob Gould and Friends play Nursery Cryme" (2023)

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Rob Gould and Friends play Nursery Cryme
news at Fruits de Mer Records

SIDE ONE
The Musical Box 10.49
For Absent Friends 1.44
The Return Of The Giant Hogweed 8.26

SIDE TWO
Seven Stones 5.06
Harold The Barrel 3.09
Harlequin 2.55
The Fountain Of Salmacis 8.12

The Musical Box
Rob Gould – all keyboards, bass pedals, guitar, backing vox and musical box
Pete Carlyle – lead vox
Luiz 'Lad' Garcia – backing vox
Phil Craigie – lead and acoustic guitar
Fernando Alge – lead guitar
Trevor Pollitt – bass guitar
Jay Tausig – drums


Rob Gould – all keyboards, bass guitar, backing vox and musical box
Kimberly Bass – lead and backing vox
Jay Tausig – acoustic guitar and backing vox
Luiz 'Lad' Garcia – electric guitar
Pete Carlyle – backing vox

The Return Of The Giant Hogweed
Rob Gould – all keyboards and vocoder
Jay Tausig – vox and drums
Fernando Alge – all guitars
Trevor Pollitt – bass guitar

Seven Stones
Rob Gould – all keyboards, bass pedals
Luiz 'Lad' Garcia – lead and backing vox
Icarus Peel – lead guitar
Gabriel Costa – bass guitar
Jay Tausig – drums

Harold The Barrel
Rob Gould – all keyboards and backing vox
Jay Tausig – drums and vox
Pete Carlyle – vox
Luiz 'Lad' Garcia - lead guitar
Gabriel Costa – bass guitar

Harlequin
Rob Gould – all keyboards and sequencing
Jay Tausig – vox, drums and bass guitar
Icarus Peel – acoustic guitar

The Fountain Of Salmacis
Rob Gould – all keyboards
Jay Tausig – lead vox and drums
Luiz 'Lad' Garcia – backing vox
Fernando Alge – guitars
Gabriel Costa – bass guitar
bonus tracks

Twilight Alehouse
Rob Gould - all instruments except:
Pete Carlyle - vox
Luiz 'Lad' Garcia - electric guitar

Happy The Man
Rob Gould - all instruments
Pete Carlyle - vox
Trevor Pollitt - bass guitar

all songs written by Genesis (Banks, Rutherford, Gabriel, Hackett, Collins)

produced by Rob Gould with Luiz 'Lad' Garcia and Jay Tausig
mixed by Luiz 'Lad' Garcia with Rob Gould
mastering by Luiz 'Lad' Garcia
cover design and cover art by Rob Gould
photography by Rob Gould and Mike Gould

'Rob Gould and Friends play Nursery Cryme' was recorded between September 2021 and September 2022
in studios and in homes in England, Scotland, Brazil, Spain and The United States Of America

Cover locations: Skipton Castle, Pavilion Gardens ~ Buxton
and The Forbidden Corner ~ Coverham.

Play Me Old King Cole
On the back of the relative success of 'Rob Gould plays Pawn Hearts' released through Fruits de Mer Records in the summer of 2021, I had the idea of doing a follow-up, full covers album of another of my all-time favourite records. But, which one? Nursery Cryme had been a huge influence on me as a late-teen, and has stayed with me throughout my life as a musician, as have many of the earlier Genesis albums. But it was Nursery Cryme in particular that I felt I knew best..having probably listened to it more than any other.. It's true to admit that elements of 'Hogweed' 'Salmacis' and 'Musical Box' would seep into my first two bands (Synthetic Brain and Masque) repertoire (probably unbeknown to my goth, punk and metal-head band mates). Another factor in choosing NC over perhaps 'Foxtrot' or 'Selling England By The Pound' , was it seemed (not so in hindsight) infinitely more playable than the other Genesis classics, and maybe isnt regarded with as much reverence as say 'The Lamb' or 'Trick' – (although I'm sure it is to many many fans of the band.)

Sunday at Six
In stark contrast to Pawn Hearts, where I felt there was a lot of room for my own interpretation of the 3 epic songs on that album, with Genesis – summed up by the under-stated quote of Michael Rutherford – “If you play all the right notes, then the songs will sound quite good” - there was less room for improvisation, and I knew I had to get 'all the right notes' as close to the original versions as much as possible. Albeit with my own unavoidingly, distinct style , and the unique feel and sounds of my talented friends who we'll come to later.. So there was a lot of study, and practise – akin to being a classical musician I guess – (which, I hasten to add, I most certainly am not).. Over a period of weeks / months even, (some would call it 'lockdown behaviour') I painstakingly recorded and put together a 'basic' (not so basic) template of each song, tempo maps, chords and notes, and added as many parts as I could in readiness for my musician friends to add their parts.

Turn and Run, Nothing Can Stop Them
I am very fortunate to know some great , great musicians, and was able to ask back many of the fabulous contributors to Pawn Hearts. It was particularly important to me to get Pete Carlyle and Luiz 'Lad' Garcia on board from the outset. Pete has been a huge source of enthusiasm and moral support throughout the whole process of putting Pawn Hearts and Nursery Cryme together, and has most definitely become a partner in cryme over the past few years. Not to mention his huge skill in vocalising the incredibly tricky Peter Gabriel parts. Luiz is my old bandmate from my 'Ashtar' days. I have known him since 2005 when he gave me the amazing opportunity to join his band as keyboard player for their tours of Europe and South America throughout the mid to late 00s. We have recorded together, even though I'm in England and he's in Brazil, on and off now for many years, and he was my 'go to guy' not only as a guitarist and vocalist , but in helping with production and mastering the final recordings. His fellow band-mates from the Sao Paolo based, 'Dr Fantastico', who featured on Pawn Hearts 'Lemmings', were a 'must ask' to get involved, and Fernando Alge (guitar) and Gabriel Costa (bass) duly obliged with some great takes.. both, like me, huge fans of the original album. Another coo for me was to enlist 2 old band mates from the 1990s band Some Strange Quarters. Trevor Pollitt (bass), Phil Craigie (guitar) and myself had actually been working closely (socially distanced in Madrid, Ramsbottom and Buxton) throughout the covid lockdowns remotely from our respective houses, on a fusion project called Sector NINE – spawning 4 albums in the space of just 12 months from 2020 to 2021. They are both amazing players, and not necessarily into prog rock, so it was great to get differing styles and elements into the collective sound pool.

Within the Seventh House A Friend Was Found
With so many key players on board, and with many new parts coming in on a regular weekly basis, it still seemed like the end product was not in sight. So I asked Keith Jones from Fruits de Mer Records if he could recommend anyone from his label that might be interested in adding a part here and a part there. It was Keith who I approached with the idea of doing Nursery Cryme, and who was enthusiastic to hear what we were doing, and, thankfully for me, to put the album out on his label. He mentioned two people that he felt could help - Jay Tausig, and Icarus Peel. Both of which I was familiar with, having appeared along side them on a few Fruits de Mer Records compilations over the past decade or so. IP recorded amazing parts for Harlequin and Seven Stones – and like Trevor and Phil, he came at the tracks from a different , 'not symphonic prog' angle which added a significant and very much welcomed shift to the feel of the tracks. Jay's input to the project from the off was extra-ordinary. Not only did he brilliantly vocalise many of the tracks, he also provided me with stunning drum parts for all the albums songs – effectively giving me Gabriel and Collins in 1 box. Jay was also able to source the hauntingly beautiful vocal talents of Kimberly Bass, who he got over to his California studio to record 'Absent Friends'.

With A Grin On My Chin / Is It Really True?
With all my keyboard and instrument parts recorded and other musicians parts in, edited and thrown into the mix, there were still chunks of time sat in the waiting room. Waiting for an acoustic guitar track here or a bassline there, for example.. So, although I had other project to work on, I filled some of this time looking at other Genesis tracks to record. Pete Carlyle and I chatted about songs from the same period or sessions back in 70 / 71 and expressed a great fondness for 'Happy The Man' – and I also had a real soft spot for 'Twilight Alehouse' which I had on a taped video from the Belgium Musique TV show recorded in 71/72 - I think it was broadcast here in England late one night in 82 on the BBC. So it made sense to record them (and not Foxtrot tracks) as bonus tracks. The 2 songs are me & Pete, with Luiz playing some fabulous, extra guitar on 'Twilight' in the final hours before mixing, and Trevor with a great bass-line on Happy The Man.

You Must Be Joking
So in an ideal world, you get the band together, you learn the songs, your practise the songs together, you record together, you mix and produce an album with at least two of the band in the mixing room.. Not in this case. Collating parts from 10 musicians spread around 5 countries over 12 months was extremely labour intensive (many hundreds of hours spent) and down right difficult at times, but, was ultimately extremely rewarding both in the end, and during the whole process of putting the project together. Once all the parts were recorded and submitted, Luiz and I spent weeks and weeks sending files and mixes backwards and forwards (across the Atlantic Ocean) until the ultimate mixes were finalised.

And In The Broken Light
Sat at my pc writing this, I'm suddenly aware that there are 28 dolls-heads all staring at me from behind my back! Reason being, I bought them online as props for a potential album cover photo shoot, the idea was to have them lying around a stately home lawn while a croquet mallet wielding 'Cynthia' played havoc. One evening, we headed down to Buxton park with a 'bag of heads' , mallets, hoops and an illuminated plastic Giant Hogweed, only to be stared and pointed at by local dog walkers and joggers, impossible to get a shot without intrusion.. . In the end, after months of different location visits and camera snaps, I settled on using some shots from the front lawn of Skipton Castle, and photo-shopped all characters (and musician heads - if you look closely at the cover) and props onto the finished artwork.. We actually only used a couple of the dolls heads on the cover!

Some Creature Has Been Stirred
So we've reached the end, with a lot of help from my friends! It goes without saying what joy and pleasure Genesis have given me over my lifetime. From my older sister's worn vinyl copy of 'And Then There Were Three' to her 2nd Genesis album 'Trespass'' a gift from 15 year old me.. which, let's be honest, I bought for myself! To buying Abacab on the day of release in 3 different coloured formats.. To discovering Nursery Cryme!. Watching open-mouthed the Belguim TV show with a rare 'Twilight Alehouse'.. to refusing to believe 'Happy The Man' actually existed.. (really)... to seeing the Genesis boys live on a couple of occasions in the 80s – hoping upon hope that they'll play some old songs! To drunkedly singing / shouting the words of Hogweed with Nadeen in the Cheshire Cheese, Buxton one Saturday night back in 85.. I'm sure everyone who is reading this has their own Genesis love story.

Rob Gould (May 2023)

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