The Judge
RAVES!
Date: 11/12/10
Genesis - "The Fountain Of Salmacis" (1971)
Jumping back in time a bit here, primarily because I've had this track as an earworm all week, and it might help to dispel it.
Nursery Cryme was Genesis' third LP, and the first to feature Steve Hackett on guitar and Phil Collins on drums and vocals. This track - the album's closer - is based on the story of the encounter of the demi-god Hermaphroditus with the naughty naiad Salmacis.
Although the already-apparent aspects of Genesis' style are present in full - the vocal gymnastics of Peter Gabriel, the dominant organ and Mellotron of Tony Banks, the bass of Michael Rutherford, alternately agile and thudding - the strong features of the track are the contributions of Hackett, showing already his ability to range between the understatedly atmospheric and the adeptly powerful.
There's only the static image of the album cover on this video, but that means you can read the back-story and the lyrics as the song progresses without missing anything:
