Imperial Aerosol POLL: The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway by Genesis

LOL. Now that's some music Banks could probably get behind.

On the "great real names" tip, the GTR singer is Max Bacon.

The band should have called themselves Bacon. Everyone likes bacon.

I found this on a Prog forum a while back. Don't know how it was put together but it seems reasonably convincing enough:

TRESPASS

Looking For Someone (Banks-Gabriel-Phillips-Rutherford)
White Mountain (Phillips-Rutherford)
Visions of Angels (Phillips)
Stagnation (Phillips-Banks-Rutherford-Gabriel)
Dusk (Phillips-Rutherford)
The Knife (Gabriel-Banks-Rutherford-Phillips)

NURSERY CRYME

The Musical Box (Phillips-Rutherford-Banks-Gabriel)
For Absent Friends (Hackett-Collins)
The Return of the Giant Hogweed (Banks-Gabriel-Rutherford-Hackett-Collins)
Seven Stones (Banks) or (Banks-Hackett)
Harold the Barrel (Gabriel)
Harlequin (Rutherford-Banks)
The Fountain of Salmacis (Banks-Collins-Gabriel-Rutherford-Hackett)

FOXTROT

Watcher of the Skies (Banks-Rutherford)
Time Table (Banks)
Get 'Em Out by Friday (Banks-Gabriel-Rutherford-Collins-Hackett)
Can Utility and the Coastliners (Hackett-Banks)
Horizons (Hackett)
Suppers Ready
a. Lovers Leap (Banks-Gabriel)
b. The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man (Banks-Gabriel)
c. Ikhnaton and Itsacon and Their Band of Merry Men (Rutherford-Banks-Hackett-Gabriel)
d. How Dare I Be So Beautiful? (Gabriel-Banks)
e. Willow Farm (Gabriel)
f. Apocalypse in 9/8 (Banks-Collins-Gabriel-Hackett-Rutherford)
g. As Sure as Eggs is Eggs (Banks-Gabriel)

SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND

Dancing With The Moonlit Knight (Gabriel-Banks-Hackett-Rutherford-Collins)
I Know What I Like (Hackett-Banks-Gabriel)
Firth of Fifth (Banks)
More Fool Me (Rutherford-Collins)
The Battle of Epping Forest (Banks-Gabriel-Rutherford-Collins-Hackett)
After The Ordeal (Hackett-Rutherford)
Cinema Show (Banks-Rutherford-Collins)
Aisle of Plenty (Gabriel-Hackett)

THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (Banks-Gabriel)
Fly on a Windshield (Banks-Rutherford-Hackett-Collins-Gabriel)
Broadway Melody of 1974 (Banks-Rutherford-Gabriel)
Cuckoo Cocoon (Hackett-Gabriel)
In the Cage (Banks-Rutherford-Gabriel-Hackett-Collins)
The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (Gabriel-Banks-Rutherford)
Back In NYC (Rutherford-Banks-Gabriel)
Hairless Heart (Hackett)
Counting Out Time (Gabriel)
The Carpet Crawlers (Gabriel-Banks-Rutherford)
The Chamber of 32 Doors (Gabriel-Banks)
Lilywhite Lilith (Banks-Rutherford-Collins-Gabriel)
The Waiting Room (Banks-Hackett-Rutherford-Colliins-Gabriel)
Anyway (Banks-Gabriel)
The Supernatural Anaesthitist (Hackett-Gabriel)
The Lamia (Banks-Gabriel)
Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (Rutherford-Banks-Hackett-Collins-Gabriel)
The Colony of Slipperman (Banks-Gabriel-Rutherford-Hackett-Collins)
Ravine (Rutherford-Banks)
The Light Dies Down on Broadway (Banks-Rutherford)
Riding The Scree (Banks-Collins-Gabriel)
In The Rapids (Rutherford-Banks-Gabriel)
It (Banks-Hackett-Rutherford-Gabriel-Collins)

Not 100% on everything, and I made a couple adjustments from the PE2 list, such as Cinema Show, which I thought lyrics by Gabriel/Banks, and wikipedia says Banks/Rutherford.

I think Tony comes across as much more likable than expected during his Prog awards speech:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUK3QLAvH6Q

I love how all the Genesis guys still appear to be friends. I mean, in the career-spanning doc, Banks seems to be an especially big asshole to Peter! But here they are cool.

So many times during the...Showtime?...HBO?...Genesis documentary from a couple years ago, Tony said, "I quite liked what I'd written on [song], but then Peter Gabriel added his vocals and melody line, and I don't like [somg] anymore." It felt like a running joke by the fourth or fifth time.

Well, Peter's vocal melodies came quite a bit later and I think the band just got used to hearing things without the vocals. There was one song on Lamb--I forget which one--that was supposed to be an instrumental, until Gabriel decided that for whatever reason it needed lyrics

don't know if I really hear Hackett as a pioneer - he's got a style, but I more often than not wonder where he is on some of these recordings. then again maybe burying the guitar was pretty innovative back then

He seems pretty prominent on the pre-Lamb albums to me, even more pre-Selling? Some of his lead playing seems like a prototype for a lot of hard rock/metal playing that came later.

So I listened to this during a long evening of driving tonight. My vote will probably be for "Back in NYC". I also read what Wikipedia had to say about the storyline, almost all of which was news to me, although I've listened to the album many, many times over years. I think it's because the way the vocals were recorded and mixed was really original and distinctive but also largely serves to either obscure the text or at the least take my attention away from it a lot of the time. The vocal sound is very expressive but I'm not listening to the words nearly as much as with "The Musical Box" (a good earlier example of dealing with sexuality and horror btw!) or "Supper's Ready", which is curious for an album where the lyrical narrative seems to have been important to Gabriel.

There's some crazy Hackett stuff on "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight." Crazy Phil fills, too.

Ha, I was listening to "Dancing..." when I was typing that, actually.

Come to think about, listen to Steve's solo on "The Musical Box."

Gabriel sums up what made Hackett an innovative guitarist in a BBC doc from the ‘90s. When the band was auditioning guitarists after Anthony Phillips left, he says, all the other guys they were seeing were “into notes and flash. Steve was into atmosphere.”

xp Epping Forest was meant to be an instrumental, but the lyrics/melody/singing is my favourite part.

Come to think about, listen to Steve's solo on "The Musical Box."

There's a close up of him tapping in 1972 around 4:09 here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W35wtfcByIY

Whole solo is classic ofc.

That's the one with Tony playing guitar!

"but honestly i've never seen an interview with him where he didn't come off as a smug dick"

Anil Prasad just interviewed him (not published yet) and said it was one of the best interviewed he's ever done; I know Banks was a huge influence on his life and if you follow or know Anil he actually is pretty dismissive of prog people and uptight assholes in general. So I'm interested to see how Banks comes across.

From interviews, it kind of seems like Steve is the only guy who still unapologetically loves the prog albums. I think he says in the Selling England interview that he thought they were the best band in the world.

Anil Prasad usually gets the best out of the people he interviews so I wouldn't be surprised if he comes off well in it

To me, Banks comes across more "Wynton Marsalis smug" or "John Zorn smug" than "Mike Love smug." This to me is an important distinction.

"Anil Prasad usually gets the best out of the people he interviews so I wouldn't be surprised if he comes off well in it"

his new interview with Jakko from Crimson is simply great.

To me, Banks comes across more "Wynton Marsalis smug" or "John Zorn smug" than "Mike Love smug." This to me is an important distinction.

― Paul Ponzi

who would be more offended at being mentioned in the same breath as the other: wynton marsalis or john zorn?

Almost definitely Marsalis, I would think

Hmm, I dunno, that is a tough one!

Prescriptivist traditionalist vs hyper-eclectic postmodern = no contest who would take more offence afaict but idk has Zorn ever expressed disgust about other musical movements?

No, he's too into his own shit, prolly. Outsider gonna outside.

There's this one chordal move they do several times throughout the album that just kills me every time. Prime examples would be the end of both Broadway Melody and Cuckoo Cocoon. I don't have the firmest grasp on music theory, but it seems like they're resolving to the I chord with the iii in the bass, which aurally conveys a sense of "to be continued"

Grand Parade has the most outrageous crescendo I can think of. I hope someone throws a vote at it. Might have to be me. Also seriously considering voting for Supernatural Anaesthetist. Beautiful chord progression plus my favorite Hackett solo. He's such a fine dancer...

Or Cuckoo Cocoon, which sounds like being wrapped in the coziest warm blanket or, uh, cocoon, which I guess is the point.

Anyway this is the hardest decision I've ever had to make.

"The Lamia" was one that stood out last time I listened. "Back in NYC" probably still getting the vote, though.

Back in NYC -> Hairless Heart is one of my favorite sequences, the way they go from the over-the-top machismo of the former to the forlorn introspection of the latter

Re: Lamia, "It is the scent of garlic that lingers on my chocolate fingers" is such a weirdly, grotesquely evocative line. Tony Banks probably hated it being grafted to his composition lol

It's fair to say that all that revolting/creepy imagery went out the window when Gabriel left

"Home by the Sea:" creepy!
"Illegal Alien:" revolting!

YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

tomorrow

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Not bad! The last Genesis tour, it was pretty jarring to hear them do "Carpet Crawlers" immediately followed by "Invisible Touch."

If Windshield and Broadway Melody were sequenced as one song--as they should have been--it would absolutely have been a contender here. Typically, the second LP is underrepresented in the poll, which is as it should be. I don't necessarily get the crazy "Carpet Crawlers" love but I'm cool with these results

There was no wrong answer, really.

otm

I’m satisfied with the results

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4Ml1QDdNZ0

^^^ dope

TS: Gilbert/Giraffe vs The Musical Box

Watched a bit of that. Musical Box seems more "authentic" but maybe these guys are slicker?

I saw MB do Selling England (and more) and thought they did a good job. Still have't watched their Lamb show on youtube.

I've seen them do both and they were both great, though (I'm sure I posted about this before) when I saw them do "Lamb" I want to say they had the Phil Collins impersonator on drums, who could sing like Phil, looked like Phil, and even played left-handed like Phil.

Noted Genesis freak Ryley Walker did a nice acoustic cover of Counting Out Time
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-XvYI6jjlr/

Finally getting into the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway after a period of longing to connect but being repelled by it.

Been really drawn to the way it sounds, the strong sense of setting and landscape, and how it somehow defies the album format, or record or whatever. Part of it is that it seems to exist in a stage of space- and the perspective of a stage is reinforced by specific lyrical cues ("the stage is set for you") as well as the kind of theater ensemble nature of the music. Like, there are very few overdubs as far as I can tell, but it's hardly a 'band playing together in a room' kind of vibe, it's a rehearsed performance.

The thing is, there are all these shifts in perspective, along (am i crazy???) a vertical (???!!!) axis... it zooms way out at times, and sort of plants you at the center of the stage at others. I mean, wtf? Did they record it in a really tall building or something? Idgi? Part of it is probably illusory, as a result of inconsistencies in the lyrical perspective (shifting from 1st person to 3rd etc) that feel arbitrary or even faulty, but now that i that i think about it, must surely be deliberate and may be kind of masterful.

The "backdrop" is very convincing, as a Manhattanite of many years, as well as that vertical element there's a high contrast of bright and dark against clean black negative space, that conjures the city lights at night... Or am i importing the sense of contrast from the artwork? Or my own surroundings?

Seriously, wtf is going on here?