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

LAMB

I can't believe I've never heard Lamb until this week. What a record

Lamb, hands-down. Riding The Scree has the best prog synth solo I can think of, going from monophonic witn portsmemto, to polyphonic, arpeggiated manually, until right before Gabriel starts singing, Banks switches on the arpeggiator and the transition is almost totally seamless.

The drumming on that track is awesome,too, with its asymmetrical rhythm. Post-rockers amd math-rockers should definitely give it a listen.

I also suspect The Flaming Lips owe a lot to Genesis, and Lamb Lies Down.

*portamento

pretty much everything that the second disc of the Lamb does is done better on Wind & Wuthering, in my opinion. First disc is ace but I always get bored around the time "The Waiting Room" comes on

side 4 is the weak one, you're plain wrong about side 3 which is the best on the record

I love the ethereal soft guitar ballads

"Carpet Crawlers" also has some pretty creative keyboard work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq716D1JBAw

Lamb is such a frustrating listen. Its highs are so high (for me, "Carpet Crawlers" and "Cuckoo Coccoon" and in general, all the slower, softer songs) and its lows so low

I just bought The Lamb. I like it but geez, it sounds like garbage, production-wise. I don't need a slick Susudio-esque sheen, but fer crying out loud the thing sounds like it was recorded underwater.

To be diplomatic about the actual music, it's fair to say that Tony Banks is an acquired taste.

i like a lot of things about this record. i like peter gabriel pretending to be a nuyorican street punk while randomly playing bad flute. i like eno's castration sound effect. i like how they left the guitar player off the record entirely, except for side three, which is wall-to-wall guitar solos. i like tony banks and his "hey, check out my arpeggios!" approach to playing. and yeah, i like the production- i mean, hi-fi it's not, but man, if you think the production on the lamb is bad, do yourself a favor and don't listen to nursery cryme!

The 2009 remixes got a lot of hate, but for me the Lamb was the best of the bunch.

I just bought The Lamb. I like it but geez, it sounds like garbage, production-wise.

Is this ever OTM. Always thought the production on Quadrophenia sucked too.

I like parts of Lamb and The Wall, but sitting down and listening to either feels like I'm about to go on a very slow, mostly boring boat ride.

Tommy has a few sloggy moments -- "Underture" and "Welcome" -- but the highs are so much higher than those on Lamb or The Wall.

Also, it's funny. The other two are so crushingly po-faced (Lamb less so than The Wall, tbf).

You don't find the Wall funny? "Day after day, love turns grey, like the skin of a dying man." Come on!

I don't even like "Tommy" that much but the other two are oppressive slogs to get through, and as Tarfumes notes at least "Tommy" has some energetic high points and levity plus a hilarious film adaptation

Come on, "Counting Out Time" is hilarious. xp

look, come on. peter gabriel, nuyorican street punk. i can think of few things funnier than that.

I am finally FINALLY listening to "Lamb" in its entirety as an adult, without outside enhancements - last time must have been around 30 years ago in a friend's dorm room, floored on bong hits - and it is marvellous. Almost doesn't sound like Genesis to my ears.

I can't imagine ever listening to the Wall or Tommy again. But I listen to Lamb all the time. Well, at least the first half.

I think I'll go with "none of them but would be quite willing to listen to a different album by either Pink Floyd, The Who or Genesis"

That's sorted, then!

lamb lamb lamb lamb

...are very good. Love their track 'Cotton Wool'...

It's a shame nothing ever came of the Jodorowsky collaboration. It seems like he was set to assemble a team similar to the one he pulled together for the defunct Dune adaptation (which was going to have a soundtrack by Pink Floyd).