Expecting a " 50 Years Jubilee edition" in August.
(This is an attempt to translate an article by Sebastian Zabel from German Rolling Stone.)
https://www.rollingstone.de/the-lam...-geniestreich-der-genesis-zerstoerte-3007257/
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway: The stroke of genius that destroyed Genesis.
It is considered the most difficult Genesis album, the highlight of progressive rock of the 70s, and Peter Gabriel's stroke of genius. A spinner, artistic double album with a story that not even Gabriel's mother understood. The content is about a Puerto Rican graffiti sprayer in New York, the heroes of a surreal puzzle - but how, where, what exactly, only real Genesis nerds know.
Why the album is so worshipped.
And that's probably not necessary, because most people appreciate "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" because of the music. Jeff Buckley liked the album and even recorded a song from it. Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), John Fruciante (Red Hot Chilli Peppers) and Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) also love the controversial masterpiece.
But what makes its magic and why does its music still captivate listeners all over the world 50 years later?
Perhaps because "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" is one of the "innermost records of all time", as Arne Willander writes in the big title story in the upcoming ROLLING STONE (June issue). Perhaps because the band exchanged the lyrical and pastoral of their previous albums for a cool, urban sharpness that was not known from the British until then.
Genesis have left Peter Gabriel too little air.
When work began in the summer of 1974, Peter Gabriel had just become a father, his wife Jill had a complicated pregnancy and a difficult birth. There were tensions in the group, and Gabriel is said to have been thinking of leaving even then. No one had a family except Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins recalls years later. No one knew the family pressure under which the young father was. The band didn't give him enough air.
Nevertheless, Genesis planned a major US and European tour for the winter of 1974/75. Gabriel had little desire for it. But the others urged him. In November 1974 the tour started in the USA, only shortly after the album was released. By the standards of the time, the Genesis concerts were spectacular - with eight slide projectors, box office films and costume changes. Genesis performed "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" completely.
In a hotel in Cleveland, Gabriel finally announced to the band that he wanted to get out. No one stopped him. And none of the band members even thought for a minute about dissolving Genesis because of it. On the contrary: the band continued pretty seamlessly, wrote songs for the follow-up album "A Trick Of The Tail", held auditions with other singers - and finally realised that their drummer was actually a pretty good singer and even had a similar voice to Gabriel. Thus began the next chapter of success: Phil Collins took over.
The highlight of the highlight is "The Carpet Crawlers".
"The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" is the climax and end point of the classic Genesis cast. Phil Collins later said that "Lamb" was Peter Gabriel's record, but Genesis was not Gabriel's band. The highlight of the climax is certainly "The Carpet Crawlers", one of the most melodic Genesis songs of that time, which developed into a hit. He needed more time to write this melody than any other, said Peter Gabriel.
