TS: Tommy vs. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway vs. The Wall

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Thoughts?

― Michael Copeland, Thursday, 31 March 2005 04:32 (8 years ago) Permalink

Tommy and The Wall I can do without. Not familiar with the middle option.

― Hurting (Hurting), Thursday, 31 March 2005 04:37 (8 years ago) Permalink

Wow, what a thread title. I like it.

Big opus pompous monstrosities all. The Who may be one of my favourite bands but Tommy is way down there on my list of their albums. The Wall I positively cannot abide. I guess by default I'll have to say Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, though I haven't heard it enough times to really make that kind of judgement, and I don't particularly care to.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Thursday, 31 March 2005 04:49 (8 years ago) Permalink

the who made lots of better albums than the much-maligned tommy, but if another band had made it and if that other band hadn't given it the baggage the comes with calling a record a rock opera, which is to say if any ol' rock band had released it and treated it as any ol' rock record, my suspicion is it would be remembered as a pretty good, if somewhat odd, one.

"i'm free," "pinball wizard" and the "overture," among others, are great rock songs, and "tommy's holiday camp" and "fiddle about," among others, make for some compellingly strange ditties. there are plenty of other pleasingly rocking and hooky moments and, yeah, quite a few tracks worth skipping, too. not a masterpiece, but far better than a lot of people give it credit for being.

also for what it's worth (i imagine lots of you might hate them for this), guided by voices couldn't possibly have existed without this record.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 31 March 2005 05:01 (8 years ago) Permalink

the lamb by a mile. the concept is at least more interesting than the other two. it has more great songs as well and a lot more diversity, and the sounds on it are just incredible (and yes, you can hear the eno treatments on Grand Parade, and that alone makes it the winner). i got sick of the Wall in high school. Tommy always bothered me.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 31 March 2005 05:33 (8 years ago) Permalink

Tommy is great! I don't get the hate. Christmas is awesome and the songs that fact checking cuz mentions are all great too. The movie is a total classic. The other albums mentioned can go fuck off and spend an evening with Uncle Ernie for all I care.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 31 March 2005 06:38 (8 years ago) Permalink

Lamb easy. The Wall and Tommy.. thats like both of their worst

― charleston charge (chaki), Thursday, 31 March 2005 07:12 (8 years ago) Permalink

I like "Tommy", but "The Lamb" is of course the choice here. One of the best albums ever, even if Genesis did even better stuff earlier and later on.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 31 March 2005 09:01 (8 years ago) Permalink

Definitely the Lamb first, the Wall second and Tommy third.

The Lamb is possibly the prog album of the 70's; everything come together in all its pompous overblown magnificence. An album I couldn't live without - Carpet Crawl gives me shivers every time I play it.

The Wall has had such a critical backlash (and did at the time from the far too precious rock press) that people may be put off, but persevere. It's worth it, especially the quasi musical set piece of the Trial and the superb One Of My Turns.

Tommy - The film has slightly spoilt it for me. I'm not a fan of the movie and never will be, but return to the original Who version and listen to how good some of this music is (although I think Fiddle About may give some minors nightmares.

If you have to pick one don't; get all of them....

― Guilty Boksen (Bro_Danielson), Thursday, 31 March 2005 10:39 (8 years ago) Permalink

would it be really glib and annoying to say i'd rather listen to "tommy" by the wedding present than any of these?

yes, thought so.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 31 March 2005 10:44 (8 years ago) Permalink

Guilty Boksen OTM except "The Wall" is hardly the first Pink Floyd album to get....

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 31 March 2005 12:31 (8 years ago) Permalink

By count of decent tracks:
Lamb > Tommy > Wall
Although I been diggin the various live performances of Sparks lately (including one by Mr. Mike Watt), more than anything Genesis ever did.

By concept:
oh fuckit, who cares.

― dave225 (Dave225), Thursday, 31 March 2005 12:45 (8 years ago) Permalink

Was The Lamb... the one with the weird little story in the gatefold about some bloke on a bus pulling a metal rod out of his chest or something? I used to read that at my mates house and think "what a load of tosh". Then try to get him to play the Soup Dragons or something. Never worked. Fukking hippy.

― bg, Thursday, 31 March 2005 12:50 (8 years ago) Permalink

I'd have to say Lamb as well but to be honest it's a hard slog as well, certain moments aside. "The Carpet Crawlers," however, justifies the album's existence.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 31 March 2005 13:27 (8 years ago) Permalink

I can't believe I'm saying this (just because I was once both a Who and Floyd maniac), but I vote for The Lamb. The Wall has never really done it for me.

― Roadkill Bingo (Roadkill Bingo), Thursday, 31 March 2005 15:19 (8 years ago) Permalink

S.F. Sorrow!

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 31 March 2005 15:24 (8 years ago) Permalink

Didn't we do this?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 31 March 2005 15:27 (8 years ago) Permalink

The Lamb, no question! It's probably one of the most miraculous alignments of theatrical pomp and prog-rock excess, and possibly the best utilization of Peter Gabriel's abilities at expressing paranoia, fear, and hope. I'm not as big a fan of "Carpet Crawlers" as most everyone else, for me instead I have to suggest the powerhouse "In The Cage", a moment of freedom and rage that The Wall seemed to be trying for all the way through, and never quite touched.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 31 March 2005 15:40 (8 years ago) Permalink

Close between "Lamb" (which I have recently decided is a good album, having owned the thing way back when and then forgot about) and "Tommy." I actually like the video of "The Wall," but I find the album tough going, not being a huge Floyd fan (yeah, I like the early stuff, it is a cliché).

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Thursday, 31 March 2005 16:34 (8 years ago) Permalink

S.F. Sorrow!

emphatically agreed!

― milton parker (Jon L), Thursday, 31 March 2005 18:37 (8 years ago) Permalink

"S.F. Sorrow" is really great. Only beaten by "The Lamb..." in this bunch.

Speaking of favourites on "The Lamb...." I have to go for "The Chamber Of 32 Doors" and "The Lamia".

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 31 March 2005 21:18 (8 years ago) Permalink

lamb lies down on broadway

― cornelius crash (cornelius crash), Friday, 1 April 2005 04:30 (8 years ago) Permalink

Ah yes, here's what I was thinking of....

TS: Ken Russell's "Tommy" vs. Alan Parker's "Pink Floyd the Wall"

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 1 April 2005 14:57 (8 years ago) Permalink

6 years pass...

FYI the Musical Box (Canadian tribute band who own all of the original slides from the lamb tour and recreate the stage show with genesis' blessing) are touring the Lamb again this summer/fall. Not missing it like I did last time.

― akm, Thursday, 26 May 2011 07:19 (1 year ago) Permalink

I think they were the ones who Gabriel took his daughter to see once and she said something like "Dad, I can't believe you used to do this." I haven't seen them but I saw another outfit called Re-Genesis who recreated Seconds Out very effectively.

As for this TS I can get behind it (except for Tommy) as my little brother discovered Genesis at the same time as I discovered Floyd and we used to argue endlessly about the relative merits of these two albums. Personally I think The Wall just edges it for its more persuasive tunes and sense of drama. The Lamb's highs (In The Cage, Carpet Crawlers, Counting Out Time) hit just as high but it's a bit of a slog otherwise. A lot of the songs just blend into each other.

― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Thursday, 26 May 2011 08:07 (1 year ago) Permalink

And as for The Who, would Quadrophenia be a better comparator?

― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Thursday, 26 May 2011 08:09 (1 year ago) Permalink

... yes, it would be. FWIW I hate "The Wall" with a vengeance, tried to listen to "Lamb" all the way through once and couldn't believe how dull it was. So "Tommy" wins.

― Tom D has taken many months to run this thread to ground (Tom D.), Thursday, 26 May 2011 10:54 (1 year ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

Lambd Lies down - whats with the album cover

― Brony 4 Life (Latham Green), Monday, 10 September 2012 17:26 (8 months ago) Permalink

This would have to go to Tommy, although I much prefer live versions of the album to the studio release. I haven't listened to The Wall in full since I was about 16, and I found it maudlin even then.

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Tuesday, 11 September 2012 21:49 (8 months ago) Permalink

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