THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY

I bought this album several months ago, and I am now just starting to like it. Musically, the sound is great (awesome in some cases), but the flaw of this album has to be the overly obscure lyrics.

Overall, the best song for me was "Fly on a Windshield". The lyrics are actually quite clever here, and that Egyptian-rocking instrumental section is a classic. Other enjoyable songs for me are "In the Cage", "Back in N.Y.C.", "The Waiting Room" (gotta love that "Evil Jam"), and "The Light Dies Down...".

Unlike many other reviewers, I totally disliked "The Lamia". The music was pretty soft and bland and the imagery was too overtly sexual for my tastes. Several of the filler songs were kind of bland, too, but each had some redeeming qualty.

The real problem with this album is that the images and instances totally obscure the central topic of this album. After listening to this album several times, I conclude that this album, like many Broadway show tunes, is about love. At this point, I am not sure if a woman is involved, but I am almost certain this album is a love story of sorts. In my opinion, the lamb in the opening song is a beautiful woman with whom Rael has "love at first sight", or some circumstance that causes him to evaluate what he considers to be love. From that point forward, the album slips into Rael's mind as he wrestles with the concept of love, from the pain and monotony of being stuck with one person forever ("In the Cage", "Colony of Slipperman") to the realization that true lovers will weather rough times and ultimately reflect each other ("In the Rapids"). "It" is love, but the lyrics do not communicate it well, in my opinion.

Overall, this is a pretty good album. Definitely worth a listen if you like GENESIS or enjoy prog in general.