THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY

Finally here, i left the longest, most interesting and probably the best album as my last review for Genesis... well, not quite, there's still one more thing that goes far away into the future.

The Little Prince... i'm glad that this album wasn't about that, instead PGs twisted mind took over and made one of the most theatrical albums ever, he alone made the entire lyrics (except for Light Dies Down) while the rest of the team were making lots of tunes, interestingly a song called "Lilywhite Lylith" was concieved back in 1969 by Anthony Phillips and "Anyway" was also made during that time.

Many credit Peter Gabriel as the only one that made the band great, without a doubt he made the best lyrics, made interesting characters, but what else is to it? The musical part was mostly done by everyone else, and the band changed style progressively in each album, i think that the band got mellow with each release and this album shows it if you compare it with the previous ones. I have always been more about the music than the lyrics, i'm a big fan of only instrumental songs, i listen to jazz and classic music, and i play the piano, i really like Tony Banks even in his worst work i can see what he is trying to do, but if there's something i disagree with him a lot it's about what he thinks about this album, he doesn't like the story, while i really like it, i grew up in the 90s and somehow this story feels right at home as one of the bests. Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford's opinions aside about this album, the band has been trying to bring it back on many occasions, for instance, they tried to make a movie... twice! One when the album was just released and the other in 1994... WHEN I WAS BORN! For the 20 year anniversary of the album that is, and no one wanted to make the movie, also they tried to do a complete tour for this album, Steve Hackett said that recently... WHAT HAPPENED?! And in 1999 they released the awful "Carpet Crawlers 99'" with a video and a missing verse because for some reason Ray Wilson's lines weren't included or recorded i don't remember, everything was recorded separately and badly mixed as well.

This album marks other more important hits, like for example, the ACCIDENT that the band had in one of the tours, it was horrible and that made the band fire the tour crew and almost made them split up completely, it was a disaster worse than the accident on the Abacab tour (That one that PG and Hackett fans always like to bring out). And obviously, this is the last album with PG, were Genesis lost character, PG wanted to follow his own career, the band wasn't his if the members couldn't get along with him, who would want to hang out with a Slippermen that sings bad because his rubber mouth eats the microphone anyways? And even more concerning for PG was his family and a new job that he got offered at that time, working for a movie as a writter, that's when he wanted to sneak up The Lamb, but it didn't happen, the closes thing to The Lamb tho, is the movie "El Topo" from 1970 directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky.

To finish this off, there's a complete story made for this double LP made by PG, + an extended stack of pictures. On the web there's also the complete story of the failed concert by one of the managers that was hit on the head by Tony Banks because Tony wanted to kill him.

This review already has the biggest description i have done, but also it'll be the longest by the cheer amount of songs, and i'll review each.

CD1

1.- The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway 10/10 Perfect start, when i first heard it i thought that i was too repetitive, but now i think that is mesmerizing, i love it and it's a really fun tune to play and sing. It really feels like the start of a theatrical spectacle, it fits the artwork of the box, makes me go back 20 years before i was born and it's just magical.

2.- Fly on a Windshield 10/10 The previous song continues on this one, and this is when the plot starts going after the character is introduced. Our protagonist Rael is transported to another version of the previous described place, showing dead people and mythical creatures. The music accompanies the events perfectly, the tension increases and this song has one of my favourites compositions from the band, where it feels like everyone has the spotlight.

3.- Broadway Melody of 1974 10/10 Continuing with the idea of the previous song, a really short tune to describe what the protagonist can see and then a really beautyful piece of music that makes me feel like the protagonist is being transported somewhere else.

4.- Cuckoo Cocoon 10/10 Also starting from the previous song, our protagonist is followed by pretty instruments and falls into some kind of soft spot where he feels better than at home. Props to Tony Banks.

5.- In the Cage 10/10 IN THE BLOODY CAGE, our protagonist is sleeping deep and awakens in a state of cholera, traped inside a cage alongside many people outside in different cages, and outside its his brother Jhon Hack-, Jhon Rael or something, so it's like Rael Bros. or something. I can't describe how incredible this song is, it has been used so many times in concerts and i never get tired, the feel of emergency in this song and specially that incredible Tony Banks solo that i'm still learning, it's surreal, interestingly enough, that part is almost played by only the 3 persons that held the band for many years to come, another reason for what they played it so much on concerts, trying to transform pop fans into prog fans, and for what i know, they succeeded with a lot of them, this, Supper's Ready and The Cinema Show have changed people from prog to pop. The ending to this song it's too beautiful not to mention it, i always imagine Rael getting outside the cave and finding a boat to cruise over into the next destination, instead of imagining a train on the distance for some reason.

6.- The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging 9/10 I really like the progression done in this song, but it feels like a joke compared to the previous segment, it's a little repetitive but it still follows the story well and demostrates perfectly how weird this world is. Also, this song was heavely altered during production and the band was happy with all changes done in distortion and volume of the song, because it goes and shows in a better way the intentions of this song. "Enosification".

7.- Back in N.Y.C. 8/10 At first i completely disliked this song just for the sound of it, but it got stuck in my head once and i really like it, it's repetitive also and the lyrics and performance of Peter Gabriel is really good here and describes Rael as how he really is. About the odd time signature, i have always liked them, since i was little, before knowing what an odd-time signature was, for example, i really liked that song from the movie "The Truman Show" called "Anthem".

8.- Hairless Heart 10/10 A nice instrumental song that really sets the atmosphere, reminds me of Trespass, it continues from the previous song as well. Rael's hair is shaved, i won't explain much or this review would be more than PG-13.

9.- Counting Out Time 9/10 Continuing from the last song, we touched the dark side of Rael, who he really was in NYC, but now we see the more sexual side, and this song always cracks me up laughing at some points, like when the distorted guitar appears... or i should say "Mr. Guitar", this makes me think that Rael had some mental problems as well, but minor. The bad thing is that this song is a little repetitive.

10.- Carpet Crawlers 10/10 Another Genesis stapple, really emotional, probably the only song that the 3 vocalists of the band have played in concert. It's also a repetitive song, but mesmerizing, everyone does an effort in this song and it's really well done.

11.- The Chamber of 32 Doors 8/10 Rael sees everything and tries to escape, but instead he learns more about people. I really like the atmosphere and lyrics, but again, this song is really repetitive, it feels even more so repetitive than NYC.

CD2

1.- Lilywhite Lylith 9/10 Starting the second disc with a bang, an epic song that takes Rael near an angel that abandons him eventually, its short and repeats some parts. This song continues to the next.

2.- The Waiting Room 10/10 A jam at the studio that was "remade" many times in order to represent purgatory in the most accurate way, devil jam. I don't know what else to say here, that's what it is, not even an experimentation or trying to portray what lyrics are saying, just going there to the absolute.

3.- Anyway 9/10 "I'm the mad, mad, mad scientist", aweosome piano piece by Tony Banks, anyway, this song is not that interesting in order to repeat certain pieces, it's not that long tho, but i'll still rest a point...

4.- Here Comes the Supernatural Anaesthetist 10/10 I really like the rythm of this song, Rael finally got what he deserved (dead?) and we got a really nice song where everybody does it's best, props to Hackett tho... and this is not the end of Rael. Listen this song until the end, the ending part it's really great.

5.- The Lamia 10/10 Rael it's still alive but enters a cave that has 3 lamias inside. The music goes alongside the lyrics perfectly, while i congratulate Peter Gabriel for the detailed lyrics, in this song we can also see how well Tony Banks and Steve Hackett work together, and this happens a lot in many Genesis songs, no wonder why people want them to make music together again. Hmmm, maybe it is too much detail here, but not as much as the next song.

6.- Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats 10/10 As i said in the begining, i really like soundtracks, and this music piece shows how aweosome would be a soundtrack made by Genesis, it's simple, yet i can feel what's happening without any lyrics.

7.- The Colony of Slippermen: Arrival / A Visit to the Doktor / Raven 10/10 And after our protagonist traveled through a river of souls, he came under the seawers, and found another mythical race, though this time, this one is less known... enter the Slippermen, a really gross race, stuff from nightmares, they aren't "bad people" tho. This song recreates this with full detail, would you like to hear that? Maybe not, but the song it's a work of art and the lyrics are really well conected, so it doesn't matter if it's gross or frightening, whatever, you're not transforming into Slippermen, don't worry. This song also features what some we call "A Tony Banks Moment" when there's an incredible piano solo. What the doktor gave as a solution might not be suitable for all ages... why would he pass you that on a yellow plastic? Why is it yellow?

8.- Ravine 10/10 Another piece of music like a soundtrack, done with Keyboards and Accoustic Guitar, a mighty combination, the music tells me that Rael is vanishing and getting transported to the next song.

9.- The Light Dies Down on Broadway 10/10 The only song not writen by Peter Gabriel, but it fits the story perfectly anyways, it feels like a different version from the first song, and i really dig that, giving you a new sense and sitution in the same place, we're back, it's nostalgic, but everything has changed a lot, like when you go to where your local "Blockbuster" was, and now there is just an empty building completely destroyed and filled with rats.

10.- Riding the Scree 10/10 A little part from this mostly instrumental was used in concerts in the solo part of the song "The Cinema Show", and it fits perfectly, but this piece also holds a beef on its own, the drumming is really great on this, as well as Tony Banks. The lyrics near the end add even more to the tense atmosphere.

11.- In the Rapids 10/10 A really mellow song to symbolize loneliness, this is like the bad ending of the story, some people believe that it would've been better if the story ended like this, then the song shifts it's tone like half-way and goes into the next song, with the "happy" ending.

12.- It 9/10 And this is the end of this epic journey, this song gets a little repetitive, but it gets the work done, i specially recommend the version of this song in "3 Sides Live", because they mixed this song with "Watcher of the Skies" and it sounds really good.

In total, CD1 gets a 95/100 and CD2 gets a 97/100, giving a total of 96/100, this album obviously deserves 5 Stars, by it's cheer effort alone deserves it, i love albums like these, but there's a problem, this is the only album that it's really like this, there's only one "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway", while there are many double LPs, this one is the only offer like this.

As i said earlier, this is not my final review on Genesis, in that review i'll talk a little more about the band. After that, i plan to do an extended cut of all the reviews i already made and i also plan to continue reviewing other groups, or people, specially the "5" members of the group (Anthony Phillips instead of Phil Collins since he is not on this site, even tho i'll be reviewing Brand X anyways).

Update: Now i know what "Ravine" means, fixed many writing errors and unnecessary talking, while adding some extra details.

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