THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is the ambitious follow up to the prog standard Selling England By the Pound. Peter Gabriel was becoming increasingly restless with the band's extended instrumental passages, leaving him with nothing to do. Thus, he stopped contributing music ideas and instead wrote all of the lyrics for an ambitious concept. Peter decides to expand upon the method of singing he used for the song "Get 'Em Out By Friday" on the album Foxtrot, where he sang multiple roles.

The concept of this album deals with a man named Rael who embarks on a journey filled with challenges, chief of which is his alter ego, John, who never helps him when Rael is in need. Peter ignores time and space; Rael seems to pop up anywhere without notice.The story loses itself many times throughout the album. I know that Peter put in filler to accomodate his costume changes throughout live shows, but the second disc is ruined by these breaks (Waiting Room, Superantural Anaesthetist, Silent Sorrow). I feel that a masterpeice could have been forged from one disc. Unlike on SEBtP, the album relies completely on the concept; on SEBtP the sngs came off as independent of the concept. Almost no song can be played out of context on this album; it makes Tommy look like an album of individual songs by comparison. Since the concept is too dense and drifts often, the album itself lacks focus.

The band plays well as always, but Peter is the center on this album, and his vocal experimentations sometimes succeed but other times are cringe worthy. I'm torn on how to rate this album. I believe every fan of Genesis and even symphonic prog should have this, but the large portion of filler and Peter's hit and miss vocals. It deserves three stars, but I still recommend this album. Read up on the full concept on websites, even among reviews on this site; that will help tremendously.

Grade: C