Genesis: The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway - 1974
Yes, it was 1974, and that meant any self-respecting prog rock band should be putting out a bloated double album based on a “concept”. Genesis duly did just that and it was largely Peter Gabriel’s baby, based around a Puerto Rican youth called Rael in New York who....oh I can’t be bothered to find out what he did. I can never get the concepts of these albums anyway...
Gabriel apparently felt that “prancing around with fairies” was old hat and that it was time to get more hard-edged and, to an extent, he achieved that, as the Elizabethan and folky influences disappeared. However there was still a distinctly proggy pretentiousness to the concept which would attract considerable criticism.
Anyway, here we go.....let’s take a listen....(do we have to?).
The opener, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, is actually an attractive rocker with a bit of funk about it, that sounds like some of Peter Gabriel’s subsequent solo material. Fly On A Windshield delivers some impressively heavy rock which morphs seamlessly into an equally heavy number. The plaintive Cuckoo Cocoon takes us into one of the album’s lengthy cornerstones, the strong, solid mid-pace Genesis rock of In The Cage. It features some nice keyboard and bass interplay, although Gabriel’s vocal is, as it often was for me, somewhat irritating and overblown. The Grand Parade Of Lifeless Packaging is quirkily short and punchy - very much in the concept album tradition.
The powerful Back In NYC rocks deeply, bossily and attractively. I like this one. It was one of the album’s more established, longer, fully-formed, “proper” tracks and has hints of The Who about it, for me. Hairless Heart is a short, keyboard and drums-driven instrumental that is not without its pleasant points.
Counting Out Time is a typically Gabriel song with a real catchiness to it. It sounds like Supertramp meets Madness. The Carpet Crawlers is another appealing track. These last two songs were released as singles, which was not a surprise, particularly the former.
The Chamber Of 32 Doors is ok, but a bit too “concept-y” in its stage show, narrative presentation. Mike Rutherford contributes a fine bass on the song, though. Right, we’ve had two of the album’s original four sides and I would be happy leaving it there, considering that it had been a reasonable one. That’s the problem with double albums- they are just too damn long. I much prefer a shorter, more concise single album.
So, on we go anyway....Lilywhite Lilith is a strong serving of grandiose Genesis rock but now here is where the album totally wastes over five minutes on the ambient, electronic noise of The Waiting Room (although I quite like the spacey, rocky bit near the end). Anyway improves things a bit on a very Genesis piano-based piece.
Here Comes The Supernatural Anaesthetist sounds as if it may be awful, but it is actually oddly catchy in its staccato way. The Lamia is also a cornerstone - a lengthy, sonorous and deep number. Silent Sorrow In Empty Boats is an ambient, Van Morrison-esque instrumental.
The Colony Of Slippermen moves between being an instrumental waste of time and providing some attractive passages. Again, though, this is where the album is starting to get very wearing. Ravine duly is an instrumental waste of everyone’s time. The Light Dies Down On Broadway is an improvement but my faculties are numbed by now, so its good points have less effect on me. Riding The Scree is sort of ok and In The Rapids is very Gabriel and it merges Into the lively it.
Some critics love this, some hate it. I guess I am slightly indifferent. I like bits of it, but sitting through it all gives me aural indigestion. It is just too much. The upshot of it all was that Gabriel had gone as far as he could with the band, he left half way through touring the album, (those old “musical differences” eh?) and the halcyon days of Genesis as a prog rock band were over. Personally, give me the title track, the two after it, In The Cage, Back In NYC, the two singles, The Lamia, The Anaesthetist and In The Rapids-it and I would be happy with that as a single album. Bloody hell, I’ve listened to this bugger twice in a few days now. Oh, I forgot- it’s a work of genius according to many, but to me at times it felt like a punishment. There you go, though, I did it.
