The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway...

Hard to say, but if the Melody Maker center page interview about PG leaving Genesis, my take on it, was that he was disappointed with the reviews and the fans, and decided to go do something else.

Some of the material that he had on his first solo album, btw, has that Genesis sound/mix to it, which might have suggested that there was material that was ready to move forward past TLLDOB.

As I mentioned before, I think that the biggest problem during those days, was that some rock critics were on the war path against long anything, and it started, more or less, with CTTE and then was further enhanced by TFTO, and it also included AHM and Echoes. A lot of the reviews were upset that many bands were making it look like they were creating music for the sake of creating music, with no value to it whatsoever.

Time has been very kind to all of these pieces, and they are all remembered and appreciated, which tells you that some over eager fanboys had as much taste for music as they did dish-soap water! AND, it includes some comments by morons, calling TD "washing machine music", which no one, even here, ever said ... time out ... washing machines sound very different, so that guy is out of line and needed to get fired by Trump! Likewise, Rolling Stone, was also a magazine that did not like these big pieces and continued its tradition of only liking famous and hit music.

I don't think that anything following TLLDOB would be a downer or depressing ... it was created to be a stage show, but it didn't get its chance to go so far, and sadly, by that time, stage shows were on the way out (too expansive), with the exception of bands like PF, who continued that tradition, but in some cases they lost money on it, but they had already recouped it via sales, so they did not care!

Lastly, an artist, writer, painter, and even musician, has a right to express himself/herself ... it's weird that we sit here and say it could be depressing, and don't say that some of PH's lyrics ARE depressing, and sometimes strange, although in his later days, he makes a lot more sense. The work they do, is about ... not us ... not what we want ... and I find it strange that we still use that criticism for any of them ... so Picasso is disturbing (one picture anyway) and Bosch is not ... give it a break ... that comment is really not necessary!

Great post and I agree! Some "critics" are worse than even the most stringent naysayer. I do recall reading somewhere, though, that the band was sick and tired of Gabriel's stage antics at this point. Some of the costumes were so massive they obstructed his ability to successfully reach the microphone on stage, and he'd be out of breath from their massive size alone. You can hear him struggling on some of The Lamb LIVE stuff.

None of this negates what you said, because I totally agree. There was something magical about that 1970-1975 lineup!

Genesis always had a problem with consistency.. previous albums had some 1st rate killer stuff.. but along with it came really cringe worthy stuff.. but on the Lamb..  they sort of forgot to include the killer 1st rate stuff to balance out the cringe worthy or simply just plain boring stuff.  That is why some, like me, do call it their worst album.  It was a sin man..against good musical tastes..  and God might forgive that sh*t. but not Big Mick and his heavy hitters. No sir...

The Lamb is hardly my fave Genesis album, but it's still up there in the top tiers of the band's whole catalogue.

here is what I would keep as must keep for an edited version

then there is the stuff that is somewhat worthy of inclusion

But I'm not keen on the rest (side 4 is fairly poor FTM or ITR)

Disc1

1. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (4:50)
2. Fly on a Windshield (4:23)
3. Broadway Melody of 1974 (0:33)
4. Cuckoo Cocoon (2:11)
5. In the Cage (8:15)
6. The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (2:45)

7. Back in N.Y.C. (5:42)
8. Hairless Heart (2:13)
9. Counting Out Time (3:42)
10. The Carpet Crawlers (5:15)
11. The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:40)

Disc 2
1. Lillywhite Lilith (2:42)
2. The Waiting Room (5:24)
3. Anyway (3:07)
4. The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:59)
5. The Lamia (6:57)
6. Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:07)

7. Colony of Slippermen (8:13)
8. Ravine (2:04)
9. The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:32)
10. Riding the Scree (3:57)
11. In the Rapids (2:26)

12. It (4:15)

6/5 stars, ha! 

So you're one of the rare few whom prefer Lamb to SEBT?

"More Fool Me" has always kept it from a perfect 10/10 score for me. It's still a 9.9/10; the other parts more than make up for it for me. Something about Gabriel's delivery and timing on Lamb really stands out to me.