A lot of people remember Genesis for their pop breakout 1986 album Invisible Touch but forget that ahead of that mainstream success they were a heavyweight prog-rock band with an embarrassment of riches on the talent side of the house. Any band that has Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins on its roster of musicians is gonna be pretty good at this whole ear-worm thing, and Genesis was no exception in the mid-70’s. But The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway marked an unfortunate turning point for the band and their collective relationship with frontman Peter Gabriel. During the recording process he was approached by The Exorcist director William Friedkin who was intrigued by a short story Gabriel had written. This meant that Gabriel actually stepped away from the band’s songwriting sessions to explore film ideas while the rest of the group composed music for what would become The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. And as you can imagine, the band wasn’t super stoked about this and the situation, eventually leading to a fracture that ended with Gabriel jettisoned from the band following the album’s supporting tour a year later.
But that tension certainly helped with the writing process. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is a concept album that centers around Rael, a streetwise Puerto Rican punk navigating a surreal journey of self-discovery in New York City. It’s a little convoluted at times (what wasn’t a bit convoluted in the prog rock era of the 1970’s) and the album’s narrative and dense music were at odds with Genesis’s previous direction which leaned towards a more traditional progressive sound. Basically it was an album that was emblematic of the grandiose tendencies of prog-rock of the time that saw sprawling concepts sometimes spin out of control.
But damn if it doesn’t work for me. This is an intense record filled with twists and turns, titillating between soft melodic sections with fluttering pianos before abrupt transitions into harder-edged guitars that scream and pulsate. The first half of the album is filled with some of the band’s most gripping material, like the claustrophobic “In The Cage”, the biting “Back in N.Y.C”, and the epic “The Carpet Crawlers” which became an enduring fan favorite which showcased Gabriel’s ability to deliver both power and soul in his vocals. And while the second half has some of the album’s more meandering moments, it closes with a massive bang with “It” whose jubilant guitar leads make it sound like a sitcom theme song and helped to cement the album as a prog-rock landmark.
Standout Songs: “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway”, “Broadway Melody of 1974”, “The Carpet Crawlers”, “The Chamber of 32 Doors”, “It”, “The Lamia”
