The Musical Box (2007 Stereo Mix)

Steve Hackett is one of the best guitar players of all time

This song is arguably the most important in the band's history. They started writing it while Anthony Phillips and John Mayhew were still in the band, and Phillips' decision to quit was the most pivotal and consequential event in their timeline. After deciding to carry on, they made several key decisions about their ambitions as a group and how to best realize them. They sacked the good but technically limited Mayhew, the found the world class drummer Collins who brought his voice and his arrangement smarts to the group. They had a harder time finding a new guitarist and gigged a while without one with Banks playing the guitar part on the keyboard, which greatly expanded his technical abilities for the better. And when they finally found Steve Hackett, they found another world class musician with an unique combination of technical mastery and musical sense, who used his skills to create atmospheres and accents instead of distracting firework displays of virtuosity. All of these developments are apparent in the finished track here, the song they chose to lead off their first album with this lineup and with their newfound attitude. I would love to hear any early demos that might have been made when Phillips and Mayhew were still in the group just to see how far they came in the end. Everything that followed was possible because of what transpired here.

Unbelievable! Can't hear this without picturing Gabriel screaming down into the mic with his old man mask on and lights blasting up into his face...and the humping. Gold.

The end section is the greatest bit of progressive rock opera ever produced.

7:38 to the end: probably the all-time best closing section of any Genesis song! I've been listening to this for over 30 years and I still get goosebumps....

This is the best song Genesis ever produced. Gabriel is at the top of his game.

Blown away again by this song. How did we allow out culture to rot so badly?

Pete sounds like a tortured genius being persecuted by purveyors of ageism. If this song is not mankinds pinnacle contribution to the humanities it is near.

And to think they composed and recorded this when they were 21 years old! Absolutely amazing. I'm pretty confident that in another fifty years they will be considered the "classical music" of our time...musical maestros.

Peter Gabriel haters can go straight to Hell. His voice and lyrics are part of what makes early Genesis so awesome. "Uninspired" my ass. Easily one of the greatest lyricists and singers in rock. There's nothing tepid or uninspired about him as a vocalist or a lyricist. He's theatrical, emotive and brilliant at both. Love this song.

I love the transition at 4:48. The singing and guitar always give me Goosebumps. I wish they would have played around with that idea a bit longer, it took me a while to get used to the transition out of section.

i just saw steve hackett live in chicago yesterday....all Genesis fans have to go!!! was a fantastic performance!! A friend and I were speechless!

Some guys think that a good guitarist is the guy that plays loud and with a melody! SH for me is a classical base guitarist with a performances that are absolutely touch the perfection.

My fav-o-rite Genesis track. It is absolutely gorgeous. A masterpiece of musical inspiration. Everyone...is clicking on all cylinders here.

how we obsessed over the gabe as kids also still do now and always

Tony Banks was awesome on Acoustic Guitar and Keys

Gabriel forever

A musical masterpiece! Simple as that!

3:38 stll gives me the same chills as the first time I heard it.

I'm sure I got my tinnitus from listening to this particularly song on my headphones again and again. My folks couldn't stand it. They also never got how it was that I did so badly in school yet remembered every damn note and syllable.