Genesis’ “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” turns 50
“The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”, the sixth album by Genesiswas published on November 22, 1974, fifty years ago, and is the last album by the English band in which the singer will participate Peter Gabrielfounding member of the group together with Mike Rutherford And Tony Banks. Gabriel’s farewell album ai Genesis it’s a double album written practically entirely by him. “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” it is a turning point in the career of Genesis and that of Peter Gabriel who will undertake the solo path. The first single of his new life, “Solsbury Hill”released in 1977, perhaps not surprisingly, talks about leaving the old path to take a new one.
In the double album “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” the story of Raela Puerto Rican boy released from a reform school who arrives in New York. On Broadway Rael he finds himself in front of a lamb lying in the middle of the road, from then on he will experience various space-time dreamlike adventures which will lead him to meet (and try to save) his brother John several times to finally realize that he and John are the same person. It is what is called a concept album and is based on a story written by Peter Gabrielreported in full on the album.
Originally the bass player Mike Rutherford had suggested as the theme for the new album by Genesisto base it on the story of ‘The little prince’the well-known coming-of-age story of the French writer-aviator Antoine Saint-Exupery published in the 1940s. Peter Gabriel but he had another idea which he explained in this way ‘Without Frontiers: The Life and Music of Peter Gabriel’: “It was 1974. It was before punk, but I still thought we needed to base the story on a contemporary figure, rather than a fantasy creation. We were starting to enter the era of the big fat ’70s supergroups, and I thought, ‘I don’t want to go down with the Titanic.'”
The components of Genesis they knew that this would be Gabriel’s last album with them. As he admitted Phil Collins“we were not stunned by Peter’s departure, because we had known it for some time.” Peter Gabriel he then went on tour with i Genesis for six months after he informed them he was leaving. “It wasn’t a huge schism, there was no affair with another band member’s wife, it wasn’t an alcohol or drug affair,” the author reported in 2013. ‘Without Frontiers’ Daryl Easlea. “He had enough and knew that if he wanted to move forward, he had to leave the group.” Gabriel had also been contacted by the director at that time William Friedkinwho had directed the films ‘The violent arm of the law’ And ‘The Exorcist’for a film version of ‘The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’but then nothing happened.
When Gabriel left the first time, Phil Collins he said that the group had considered moving on, because much instrumental music had already been written during his absence. But Peter Gabriel he returned and the album was finally assembled. “You could see there were cracks,” Collins later told the Telegraph. “And when he came back, it was like papering over those cracks, but the cracks reappeared.” “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” despite many difficulties it was published.
“It was a kind of ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’, but with this street character in a leather jacket and jeans,” Gabriel declared. “Rael would have been called a punk at the time, without all the post-’76 connotations.” In the end, .Peter Gabriel he described it as “a traditional concept album”, which “looked to ‘West Side Story’ as a starting point”.
When it was published “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” achieved good success. In that period though PeterGabriel he was experiencing family drama, his daughter had a troubled birth (and later childhood) and, in 1974, this thought seemed much more important to him than having a career, with or without Genesis. Work on the album took place in Hampshire, far from home, and Gabriel was often distracted and longing to return to his family. None of the other band members had children and therefore could not fully understand his behavior. As he reflected MikeRutherford in ‘Without Frontiers’: “Jill and Peter were the first to have a baby.
When Angie and I had a baby, and Tony and Margaret had theirs later, we realized it was life changing. Pete got there very early and we weren’t good at changing. We were very unpleasant towards him. That was a really big part of the problem, it all came to a head with “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.” Talking about it now, you can see it quite clearly. We had made a double album that was always well-regarded by the fans but wasn’t much fun to make for a lot of reasons.”
In the end, Peter Gabriel he didn’t just leave the Genesisbut disappeared into his parenting. THE Genesis they were no longer functional to him, Phil Collins he told the Telegraph that that family emergency of Peter Gabriel it happened “without my knowledge, because I didn’t ask. We were selfish in those days. His first wife was having a difficult pregnancy. Nobody knew.” “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” it was not, therefore, simply the last album of Peter Gabriel with i Genesisbut it is also the point of farewell to an entire chapter of his life.
With the exit from the group of Peter Gabriel the Genesis they found themselves grappling with a big question, who would be the new frontman of the band? After all these years the answer seems obvious and natural, but at that time the answer to the problem was not so easy to solve. Gabriel’s search for a new life brought a new artistic life for the Genesis and it definitely upset that of the, until then drummer, Phil Collins. And it’s really ironic that it was Peter Gabriel to bless Phil’s new role, as recalled in 2011 by the author himself
“Shock the Monkey” to the British music magazine Quietus: “We were in the dressing room after the soundcheck working on some song ideas on the piano and I remember encouraging him by saying: ‘If you wanted it you could make it as a singer’ Hahaha!”.
