Search - In the Nursery :: Anatomy of a Poet

You will never listen to music the same way again.

05/11/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Known primarily for their dramatic neoclassical sound (think snare drum, tympani, and synthetic strings), In the Nursery here try something a little different--and succeed beyond all expectations. They tone down the bombast a bit, and the result is a heavenly journey into trip-hop land, with such literary giants as Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats, and Ernest Dowson along for the ride. Contemporary British author Colin Wilson supplies the narration, lending his rich voice (think Richard Burton in "Camelot") to Wilde's "The Harlot's House" and Dowson's "Cynara," among others. Yes, the trademark sweeping cellos, plaintive oboes, ethereal female vocals, and crisp snare drum are all here, but "Anatomy of a Poet" unveils a more mature ITN sound--something a bit more flowing, seamless, and, well, astonishingly beautiful. Wilson's voice and the poems he reads are a natural fit for ITN's soundtrack-like sound, and you wonder why it took them this long to find him. "Anatomy of a Poet" may be pop music, in a broad sense, but I'll take 30 seconds of this disc over the entire recorded output of any rock band."

Puts the whole goth/industrial genre to shame

Erik F | 01/21/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I first heard this when I was running a record store back in 1993. Someone threw it in the in-store system, and my first thought was, "oh yeah, In the Nursery, I remember them. Boring goth. I've had my coffee. Might as well." By the time "Byzantium" came on, I was floored. In anyone else's hands, this album would have fallen embarassingly flat, but these guys had the guts to do a spoken-word musical version of Yeats' poem, and not only does it WORK, it's beautiful. This is one of those few pop albums that truly lives up to its ambitions. The "dance" numbers on here fit in perfectly with the ominous readings, and the whole thing fits together as a perfect whole. This may be one of the best records I heard in the '90s, and I've heard alot. This album originally went out of print for awhile. What's on (...) is a reissue. This one has been remastered with even better sound than the original. The last three tracks are "bonus tracks" that they tacked on for the reissue, I guess. They're pretty mediocre compared with the rest of the album. Still, I'm just glad this is back in print. BTW, "Seventh Seal" is a narration of the Bergmar film, done up in what can only be described as industrial Morricone. That's a compliment:)"