The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

A double prog rock album by a band on the verge of losing their voice and lyricist... Clearly the producer never said "maybe that's enough lads?" because an hour and a half is way too much commitment for this kind of thing.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is an album that had everything to be a 4 star album. The music is good with Brian Eno's "Enossification" on some of the tracks as well as all the other musicians doing their part rather well. Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins also held their end of the bargain when it came to the vocals as well. So, why is it only a 3 star album? Well, i'll tell you why, it's because this album is just way too long. The album went on for an hour and a half and never really justified itself being that long. The album never became horrible to listen to but i still found myself losing track on this album. If the album had been cut down a decent bit, it easily could have gotten 4 stars but as it stands, it only gets 3.
Best Song: In The Cage
Worst Song: The Waiting Room

Kind of boring, and weird in a way that a lot of prog is. If you're making prog music it seems to give you license to be irritating and twee in your musical approach, and to be overly sincere about random bullshit. As I'm writing this right now they've just started singing about erogenous zones, and it made me throw-up in my mouth a little bit.

It's not all bad. There's some good music in there in small spots, and some interesting instrumentation in places. But it's mostly just tedious, and long, and I really don't like it.

I think there's a good album in here, somewhere. But it's so damn long that it gets lost in itself. And it's not good enough to be this long.

There's some very interesting things here. But, given the length, and style of music, it's just okay for me.

great old one

Not atrocious. One good song in there, most of them are fine. Far, far, far too long. Maybe it should be 1 star instead?

So far, the generator has largely re-enforced my anti-prog prejudices, so I was not looking forward to this one, but it wasn’t as much of a chore as I was expecting. In fact, if it had just been a single album, it might have got a “surprisingly enjoyable” four stars, instead of an “alright but it goes on a bit” three.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this project it’s that the words “concept album” fill me with dread 😟

This is the final album with Peter Gabriel on vocals (and the last truly great album Genesis made). While earlier Genesis albums may turn off some listeners because of their disjointed tendencies, this album showcases Genesis’ progressive peak. It’s polished, flows well, and is full of virtuoso musical performances. Gabriel is at his most dramatic and Hackett’s guitars are ethereal, but the Rutherford/Collins rhythm section is the real star of the record, constantly driving the music forward with a peculiar bass tone and weird time signatures. While the music is more refined than usual, there are still experimental elements to the music. However, these elements fit seamlessly into the structure of the album and contrast with the melodies and storyline quite well. Pure genius.

5.0/5.0: Iconic

i like a good concept album so i was intrigued going into this. after listening im no longer intrigued. they were way too focused on trying to tell the story that they forgot to make the songs good. the instrumentation is really good but the songs themselves are a slog to get through especially with a double albums worth

'Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid.' Rael apparently means 'God's friend' or 'to be exalted,' but only a friend of the pretentious and extremely boring could manufacture a record like this. The storytelling is tacky and uninteresting while the music matches the lyrics by being an utterly soulless + orchestral mess. 'But I know it's me that's hitting out / And I'm, I'm not full of shit.' Allow me to violently dissent, for this is nothing if not full of it, and finally manifests one of its neologisms: 'Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging.' That's right. So lifeless death'd be more substantial, this album certainly doesn't have 'It,' that universal thing that Rael ultimately becomes one w/. I struggle to know what contextual nightmare could've prompted this drivel.

We moesten net nog Selling England By The Pound luisteren en dit is toch één pod nat. En dan is dit ook nog een dubbel-cd. Het is allemaal prima in elkaar gedraaid, maar (wellicht door de pech dat het direct achter een zelfde soort Genisis album volgt) ik was het bij cd 2 toch flink zat.

I’m at a 5.

Not quite what I was expecting as a follow-up to “Selling England by the Pound” – that’s a pretty straightforward prog rock album. This is… certainly something, though I think its wild eccentricities are right down my alley. Peter Gabriel should probably be tested for drugs.

This is a science fiction journey that starts in New York City with a graffiti artist named Rael, who becomes abandoned by his brother & entrapped in a cave, before dealing with humanoid factories & weird insectoids that can’t decide how society should work. He then finds 32 doors that seemingly only have one way out, before escaping to face his fears. He then dies of anesthesia, gets revived as a humanoid blob of gelatinous flesh, meets some mythological temptresses, but because he’s so goddamn boring, he literally kills & eats them. Afterwards, he canoes his way to a society of “Slippermen” (and by all means, please Google “Slippermen”), who rip his dick off in an attempt to make him fully human again… before a fucking raven takes his ripped off dick and flies away with it. He finds a portal back to New York City, but before going through it, sees his brother drowning in river rapids near a ravine, and decides to save him… before it turns out, he was his own brother all along. He has saved “himself”. From what? I have no earthly idea.

That is, at the very least, my rough interpretation of whatever this story is, which is a maddening concept album that feels like a Star Trek parody on drugs. I truly cannot imagine writing this at all. And yet, for whatever god damn reason, because it’s Peter Gabriel, his maddening vision somehow fruitfully comes to life in one of the coolest prog rock soundscapes I’ve heard from a 70s album. Even if you ignore the batshit insane plot from a lyrical standpoint, the instrumentals, vocal performances & song titles do a decent enough job of getting a framework across.

I don’t think this is as good as Selling England by the Pound, if only because it’s 40 minutes longer & is significantly more confusing due to the concept album plotline, but in terms of pure musicality, this feels kind of even. There’s some fantastic melodies throughout this thing, some excellent guitar work, and some absolutely mental drum patterns from Phil Collins. Honestly, the whole album feels pretty captivating throughout; even at 94 minutes, I never found myself in too much of a lull, but it certainly helps that each side of this album is sort of its own act in this overarching story. Combine that with the number of ambient instrumentals that work as transitions, and the pacing of this album keeps it feeling fresh.

I liked it, but I totally get why someone else might hate it – it’s a weird fucking album, for sure, and following this plot might take away from some of the more musical moments scattered throughout. It’s definitely not the straight-forward, easy, mesmerizingly good album that “Selling England By The Pound” was, but it’s not trying to be at all. For Peter Gabriel’s final album as a member of Genesis, he sure went out with… it. I still truly don’t know what “it” is, but he sure seemed happy to find it.

Ultimately, this is a goofy science fiction album that plays itself totally straight, and which has no right to work as well as it does. I’m a sucker for that sort of campy B-movie bullshit, sue me. At worst, I think it’s a 3 if you hate the presence of a plot, or if the album is just too long to hold one’s attention – for me, it’s a 5. God bless the other members of Genesis for indulging Peter in this wacky plot. How that same man wrote “Melt” & “So”, I’ll never truly know. What a guy.

Say whatever you want, it’s the type of rock I really like.

Great album.

Just too bloody long.

The album kind of fell off after the first record, and overstayed it's welcome a bit, but not a bad album all in all. Ironically, Genesis was better without Peter Gabriel, and Peter Gabriel was better without Genesis.

Favourite songs: Counting Out Time, Broadway Melody of 1974, Fly on a Windshield, Hairless Heart

Least favourite songs: The Waiting Room

3/5

Solid, very entertaining.

Peter Gabriel going way over the top with his creative vision. I don't find it particularly appealing - I enjoy the Phil Collins version of Genesis way more - but maaaaaaaaaan, the sheer effort that was poured into this. No wonder Gabriel split from the band after this.

The last one with Peter Gabriel on vocals. This is a good finale for the best era of the band.