THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY

"The lamb.." is seen by many as the best Genesis album, but for me, it was and is rather disappointing. Up until this point, the band had matured together, their music gaining a growing confidence and maturity This cumulated in "Selling England by the pound" where both Tony Banks and Steve Hackett contributed outstanding performances on keyboards and guitar respectively.

Peter Gabriel was however becoming restless, possibly in part as a result of the lengthy instrumental passages being incorporated into some of the band's tracks. It appears the band therefore decided to pander to his frustrations, and allowed him to dictate the direction of their next album. Gabriel wrote the story for this concept album, together with all the lyrics. The band maintain to this day that musically it was a collective effort, but it seems clear that they were nonetheless, under Gabriel's leadership.

"The lamb lies down on Broadway" was certainly an ambitious album. Originally released as a double LP, it was thus priced higher than its peers, a brave move at a time when album prices were pretty much fixed. With Gabriel having by far the biggest influence on the album, it is heavy on vocals, and light on the instrumental side. Tony Banks' keyboard work is largely suppressed, with only "The cage" really letting him off the leash.

There are many good tracks on the album, but they are shorter songs, with little space for the band members, other than Gabriel, to exploit. The story on which the album is based is lightweight too, "Get 'em out by Friday" on Foxtrot says more in 7 minutes than this album says in 80.

Perhaps it would have been more appropriate for this to be a Peter Gabriel solo album, with Genesis developing further the collective energy they had found on previous albums. I acknowledge I am being perhaps overcritical of this album. There is much to enjoy on it, with strong melodies, and first class performance by Gabriel. My comments really reflect my frustration that it could have been so much better, had the whole band contributed equally.

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