THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY

This is a progressive rock double album from 1974 but unlike "Tales from topographic oceans" (which is actually considerably shorter than this), "The lamb lies down on broadway" doesn't feel like a double album. It's quite easy to sit down and listen to this album whole... and be captivated all the way (Just as a side, is it possible to be subjective and objective at the same time?)

When reviewing double albums phrases like "If it had only been a single album" and "If they'd left this, this and this out..." but not with THE LAMB! Now granted, not every song is a winner, but finding weak points is a difficult task.

The music is very colourful. It's actually very accessible and yet it breaks so much ground. Peter Gabriel wrote a very 'imaginative' tale about a young man called Rael and what is basically an Alice in Wonderland style fantasy, only darker. Some may claim that this suppresses the instrumentalists, but in fact trying to capture this bizarre story pushes Tony Banks, Steve Hackett and others to new limits. The music is mainly based around coourful (if not fanciful) tones and a real science fiction sound in the music. Peter Gabiel's vocals somehow fit into it, though actually as far as the vocals go this album is not too bad.

The thing I love most about this album is that though it is highly ambitious prog, it's full of hooks and is quite catchy. Although the lyrics seem obtuse, sometimes they can go to the heart of the simplest of listeners. Behind all the flashy techincal-tronix are memorable riffs and a touching tale about two brothers, and one eventually sacrifices himself to save the other.

Although not quite 5 stars, I would rate it 4.5 and so I might as well pile it upwards, because it's hard to deliver a double album, especially a double album, of this quality.