•
Rating:
A great band, a tri-form masterpiece, "Foxtrot - Selling England By The Pound - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway", and it is precisely on this last album that today's attention falls because it will close the tortuous union with the group's soul, namely Gabriel. Now muddied by several external pressures, he will shoot off like a meteor on a long journey into an undiscovered universe and will become the precursor of the personal atomic theory called Peter Gabriel (and which for many will represent the first solo release), genius of geniuses, in a way militant, narrator of his soul and the freest feelings, a musician attentive to various innovations from the most remote corners of the world, whimsical and chameleon-like, his disguises become history to the point that people will go to concerts because captivated by the continuous transformation linked to his lyrics and creativity, managing and moving at his pleasure often improvising and heavily clashing with his bandmates to the point of becoming unbearable and vice versa, but then thinking about it, how is it possible to cage a stage animal with a rebellious soul screaming for freedom, I would say it is categorically impossible and inevitable.
"Don't cover my eyes, while I write, I want to be able to take a look at the glass butterflies that have settled on the walls."
This double album is astonishingly difficult, progressively dilatable and becomes unique because it is full of merits, flaws and double meanings both for the lyrics and the music, it is a true and monumental progressive rock opera, a story narrated and sung with such genuineness where the voice shatters eardrums and the music is of a compromising stasis thanks to the skill of the musicians, the listening must be perpetual for all four sides, to glimpse the total essence of such beauty.
"The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" oneiric opening invested with piano and percussion and a lot of vocal charge - "Fly On A Windshield" an open sky tale, the instruments are distressed - "Broadway Melody Of 1974" more complete narrative accompanied by harp - "Cuckoo Cocoon" flute and instruments are guardians of eternal secrets - "In The Cage" such a sweet and violent instrumental metamorphosis - "The Grand Parade Of Lifeless Packaging" sneaky mixings - "Back In N.Y.C." progressive and luminescent sound - "Hairless Heart" instrumental and monumental - "Counting Out Time" cheerful, naive and impish - "Carpet Crawlers" fantastic and very intimate - "The Chamber Of 32 Doors" percussion, guitar and voice are teeming - "Lilywhite Lilith" vehemence in zimology - "The Waiting Room" vibrating bells, castrated instrumentations, stressful meows and a predicted storm - "Anyway" propelling piano - "Here Comes The Supernatural Anaesthetist" guitar walkover - "The Lamia"extraordinary metaphor of sex, the piano and Peter's deep voice are fundamental - "Silent Sorrow In Empty Boats" heterogeneous - "The Colony Of Slippermen (The Arrival/A Visit To The Doktor/Raven)" divided into three different parts - "Ravine" bewitching - "The Light Dies Down On Broadway" revisits the dialogue of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway and The Lamia excellently merging them - "Riding The Scree" completely instrumental and grating - "In The Rapids" introduces the concluding and explosive"It".
Indelible imprint, milestone of a confusing, eclectic and mesmerizing density never generated in the '70s.
And if you want to know the story of Rael = Real = Reale = Peter Gabriel...
Rael is a New York slum hooligan who one morning is struck by the vision of a lamb lying on the Broadway sidewalk. While staring at the lamb, a kind of screen projecting images of the Big Apple descends from the sky advancing on him. Paralyzed by fear, he can no longer flee and the screen strikes him making him faint. He wakes up in a strange underground world where he will live a staggering series of adventures between the mystical and the symbolic, learning to know himself and his limits. At first, it is like a cocoon that makes him feel calm, so much that he sleeps in serenity but wakes up in a cave with his heart in his throat because he has to fight against a rock cage that moving squeezes him to almost suffocate him. Outside the cage, he glimpses his brother John who, despite invoking his help, abandons him and when he thinks he will die, the cage disappears, and he returns to freedom. Wandering, he arrives at a factory where human beings are assembled, all with a predetermined and forced destiny, and finds other people who had significance in his life and finds his brother. These visions of known people make him think about his past and what his present life is. Continuing his journey, on an apparently obligatory path, he arrives at a long corridor where many people crawl towards the opposite end where there is a huge wooden door. Only he can ask questions to these people and when he reaches the door, he opens it and finds an enormous table set and a spiral staircase disappearing into infinity and he will start to climb it. At the top, he will find the entrance to a huge cave full of people openly discussing which of the 32 doors will give freedom. In this crowd, Rael will find Lilith, an old blind woman who promises to help him find the right door and, trusting her, he lets himself be left in a room where she promises that another person will come to pick him up, but he fears it might be a trap and at that moment two huge spheres of light enter almost attacking him. Frightened, he gathers some rocks and hits them shattering them, causing the wall above to collapse, and it seems to be the end for him. However, he finds space between the rocks and saves himself again. Thus, he enters a huge room with a pool and dreams a little of rest, but instead sees three strange figures swimming towards him. They are the wonderful Lamia, half snakes and half women with whom he has an ecstatic sexual experience. But as soon as they bite Rael's flesh, they die, and he, distraught, feeds on them, then decides to continue reaching a colony of deformed beings, the Slippermen, who welcome him well, telling him they became like that after eating the Lamia, which regenerate each time forcing them into continuous sexual activity, which will also involve Rael, making him a slave for life, but he can reunite with his brother who is also transformed into a huge mass of flesh, and thus he despairs, but a Slipperman encourages him because perhaps there is a solution, castration. Dr. Dyper performs it, and after the operation delivers a pendant containing the "fruit of sin" to be used only in case of need. While the two talk, a huge raven descends from above and steals the precious pendant. Rael asks John for help, but he, fearing to lose his pendant, abandons him again, so he chases the crow, which will throw the pendant into an underground river, but while trying to retrieve it, he hears his brother's cries struggling in the river and simultaneously sees a crack in the wall that would lead him to freedom and his previous life, which is slowly closing. He must decide whether to escape saving himself or stay and save John, and he decides to save his brother. He fights against the current and finally reaches the shore realizing his brother has his same face and while he stares in amazement, a purple mist envelops them dissolving them. Have you entered between reality and the essence of the story? If you understand the mechanism of the narrative, then you will enter a surprising and reflective world but above all full of personal surprises. Rael and John dissolve because maturity will have been reached due to a fundamental choice transforming them into a single complete man, the underground journey is one's unconscious and is the unconscious of each of us, it's just about understanding what is better to do, escape to live or stay to grow? You are free to interpret, and this is what Peter Gabriel wanted to convey to us.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (04:45)
The lamb lies down on Broadway
And the lamb lies down on Broadway.
Early morning Manhattan,
Ocean winds blow on the land.
The Movie-Palace is now undone,
The all-night watchmen have had their fun.
Sleeping cheaply on the midnight show,
It's the same old ending-time to go.
Get out!
It seems they cannot leave their dream.
There's something moving in the sidewalk steam,
And the lamb lies down on Broadway.
Nightime's flyers feel their pains.
Drugstore takes down the chains.
Metal motion comes in bursts,
But the gas station can quench that thirst.
Suspension cracked on unmade road
The trucker's eyes read 'Overload'
And out on the subway,
Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid
Exits into daylight, spraygun hid,
And the lamb lies down on Broadway.
The lamb seems right out of place,
Yet the Broadway street scene finds a focus in its face.
Somehow it's lying there,
Brings a stillness to the air.
Though man-made light, at night is very bright,
There's no whitewash victim,
As the neons dim, to the coat of white.
Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid,
Wipes his gun-he's forgotten what he did,
And the lamb lies down on Broadway.
Suzanne tired her work all done,
Thinks money-honey-be on-neon.
Cabman's velvet glove sounds the horn
And the sawdust king spits out his scorn.
Wonder women draw your blind!
Don't look at me! I'm not your kind.
I'm Rael!
Something inside me has just begun,
Lord knows what I have done,
And the lamb lies down on Broadway.
On Broadway-
They say the lights are always bright on Broadway.
They say there's always magic in the air.
02 Fly on a Windshield (02:45)
There's something solid forming in the air,
and the wall of death is lowered in Times Square.
No one seems to care,
they carry on as if nothing's there.
The wind is blowing harder now,
blowing dust into my eyes.
The dust settles on my skin,
making a crust I cannot move in.
And I'm hovering like a fly,
waiting for the windshield on the freeway.
04 Cuckoo Cocoon (02:11)
Rael regains consciousness in some musky half-light. He is warmly wrapped in some sort of cocoon. The only sound he can hear is dripping water which appears to be the source of a pale flickering light. He guesses he must be in some sort of cave - or kooky tomb, or catacomb, or eggshell waiting to drop from the bone of the womb.
Wrapped up in some powdered wool - I guess I'm losing touch.
Don't tell me this is dying, 'cos I ain't changed that much.
The only sound is water drops, I wonder where the hell I am,
Some kind of jam?
Cuckoo Cocoon have I come to, too soon for you?
There's nothing I can recognise; this is nowhere that I've known.
With no sign of life at all, I guess that I'm alone,
And I feel so secure that I know this can't be real
but I feel good.
Cuckoo cocoon have I come to, too soon for you?
I wonder if I'm a prisoner locked in some Brooklyn jail
- or some sort of Jonah shut up inside the whale.
No - I'm still Rael and I'm stuck in some kind of cave.
what could've saved me?
Cuckoo cocoon have I come to, too soon for you?
Resigning himself to the unknown he drifts off into sleep.
05 In the Cage (08:14)
I got sunshine in my stomach
Like I just rocked my baby to sleep.
I got sunshine in my stomach
But I can't keep me from creeping sleep,
Sleep, deep in the deep.
Rockface moves to press my skin
White liquids turn sour within
Turn fast - turn sour
Turn sweat - turn sour.
Must tell myself that I'm not here.
I'm drowning in a liquid fear.
Bottled in a strong compression,
My distortion shows obsession
In the cave.
Get me out of this cave !
If I keep self-control,
I'll be safe in my soul.
And the childhood belief
Brings a moment's relief,
But my cynic soon returns
And the lifeboat burns.
My spirit just never learns.
Stalactites, stalagmites
Shut me in, lock me tight.
Lips are dry, throat is dry.
Feel like burning, stomach churning,
I'm dressed up in a white costume
Padding out left-over room.
Body stretching, feel the wretching
In the cage
Get me out of the cage!
In the glare of a light
I see a strange kind of sight;
O cages joined to from a star
Each person can't go very far;
All tied to their things
They are netted by their strings,
Free to flutter in memories of their wasted wings.
Outside the cage I see my brother John,
He turn his head so slowly round.
I cry out "Help!" before he can be gone,
And he looks at me without a sound.
And I shout out "John please help me !"
But he does not even want to try to speak.
I'm helpless in my violent rage
And a silent tear of blood dribbles down his cheek.
My little runaway.
In a trap, feel a starp
Holding still, Pinned for kill.
Chances narrow that I'll make it,
In the cushioned straitjacket.
Just like 22nd St,
And they got me by my neck and feet.
Pressure's building, can't take more.
My headache's charged. Earaches roar.
In this pain
Get me out of this pain.
If I could change to liquid,
I could fill the cracks up in the rock,
But I know that I am solid
And I am my own bad luck.
Outside John disappears and my cage dissolves,
And without any reason my body revolvess.
Keep on turning
Keep on turning
Keep on turning
Keep on turning
Keep on turning
Turning around
Just spinning around.
Down, down, down..........
06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (02:45)
When all this revolution is over, he sits down on a highly polished floor while his dizziness fades away. It is an empty modern hallway and the dreamdoll saleslady sits at the reception desk. Without prompting she goes into her rap: "This is the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging, those you are about to see are all in for servicing, except for a small quantity of our new product, in the second gallery. It is all the stock required to cover the existing arrangements of the enterprise. Different batches are distributed to area operators, and there are plenty of opportunities for the large investor. They stretch from the costly care-conditioned to the most reasonable mal-nutritioned. We find here that everyone's looks become them. Except for the low market mal-nutritioned, each is provided with a guarantee for a successful birth and trouble free infancy. There is however only a small amount of variable choice potential - not too far from the mean differential. You see, the roof has predetermined the limits of ac
tion of any group of packages, but individuals may move off the path if their diversions are counter-balanced by others."
"It's the last great adventure left to mankind"
- Screams a drooping lady
offering her dreamdolls at less than extortionate prices,
and as the notes and coins are taken out
I'm taken in, to the factory floor.
for the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
- All ready to use
the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
- I just need a fuse.
Got people stocked in every shade,
Must be doing well with trade.
Stamped, addressed, in odd fatality.
That evens out their personality.
With profit potential marked by a sign,
I can recognise some of the production line,
No bite at all in labour bondage,
Just wrinkled wrappers or human bandage.
Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
- All ready to use
it's the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
- I just need a fuse.
As he wanders along the line of packages, Rael notices a familiarity in some of their faces. He finally comes upon some of the members of his old gang and worries about his own safety. Running out through the factory floor, he catches sight of his brother John with a number 9 stamped on his forehead.
The hall runs like clockwork
Their hands mark out the time;
Empty in their fullness
Like a frozen pantomime.
Everyone's a sales representative
Wearing slogans in their shrine.
Dishing out failsafe superlative,
Brother John is No. 9.
it's the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
- All ready to use
it's the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
- I just need a fuse.
The decor on the ceiling
has planned out their future day
I see no sign of free will,
so I guess I have to pay,
pay my way,
for the Grand Parade...
it's the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
- All ready to use
it's the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
- I just need a fuse.
07 Back in N.Y.C. (05:34)
No-one seems to take up the chase, and with the familiar faces fresh in his mind he moves into a reconstruction of his old life, above ground - Too much time was one thing he didn't need, so he used to cut through it with a little speed. He was better off dead, than slow in the head. His momma and poppa had taken a ride on his back, so he left very quickly to join The Pack.
I see faces and traces of home back in New York City -
So you think I'm a tough kid? Is that what you heard?
Well I like to see some action and it gets into my blood.
The call me the trail blazer - Rael - electric razor
I'm the pitcher in the chain gang, we don't believe in pain
'cos we're only as strong, yes we're only as strong,
as the weakest link in the chain.
Only after a spell in Pontiac reformatory was he given any respect in the gang.
Let me out of Pontiac when I was just seventeen,
I had to get it out of me, if you know what I mean, what I mean.
You say I must be crazy, 'cos I don't care who I hit, who I hit.
But I know it's me that's hitting out and I'm, I'm not full of shit.
I don't care who I hurt, I don't care who I do wrong.
This is your mess I'm stuck in, I really don't belong.
When I take out my bottle, filled up high with gasoline,
You can tell by the night fires where Rael has been, has been.
Now, walking back home after a raid, he was cuddling a sleeping porcupine.
That night he pictured the removal of his hairy heart and to the accompaniment of very romantic music he watched it being shaved smooth by an anonymous stainless steel razor.
As I cuddled the porcupine
He said I had none to blame, but me.
Held my heart, deep in hair,
Time to shave, shave it off, it off.
No time for romantic escape,
When your fluffy heart is ready for rape. No!
Off we go...
Your sitting in your comfort you don't believe I'm real,
You cannot buy protection from the way that I feel.
Your progressive hypocrites hand out their trash,
But it was mine in the first place, so I'll burn it to ash.
And I've tasted all the strongest meats,
And laid them down in coloured sheets (laid them down in coloured
sheets).
Who needs illusion of love and affection
When you're out walking the streets with your mainline connection?
connection.
As I cuddled the porcupine
He said I had none to blame, but me.
Held my heart, deep in hair.
Time to shave, shave it off, it off.
No time for romantic escape,
When your fluffy heart is ready for rape. No!
09 Counting Out Time (03:41)
The palpitating cherry-red organ was returned to its rightful place and began to beat faster as it led our hero, counting out time, through his first romantic encounter.
I'm counting out time,
Got the whole thing down by numbers.
All those numbers!
Give me guidance!
O Lord I need that now.
The day of judgement's come,
And you can bet that I've been resting,
for this testing,
Digesting every word the experts say.
Erogenous zones I love you.
Without you, what would a poor boy do?
Found a girl I wanted to date,
Thought I'd better get it straight.
Went to buy a book before it's too late.
Don't leave nothing to fate.
I studied every line, every page in the book,
Now, I've got the real thing here, I'm gonna take a look, take a look.
This is Rael!
I'm counting out time, hoping it goes like I planned it,
'cos I understand it. Look! I've found the hotspots, Figs 1-9.
- still counting out time, got my finger on the button,
"Don't say nuttin - just lie there still
And I'll get you turned on just fine."
Erogenous zones I love you.
Without you, what would a poor boy do?
Touch and go with 1-6.
Bit of trouble in zone No. 7.
Gotta remember all of my tricks.
There's heaven ahead in No. 11!
Getting crucial responses, dilation of the pupils.
"Honey get hip! It's time to unzip, to unzip, zip, zip-a-zip-a-zip.
Whipee!"
(Take it away Mr. Guitar)
- Move over Casanova -
I'm counting out time, reaction none to happy,
Please don't slap me,
I'm a red blooded male and the book said I could not fail.
I'm counting out time, I got unexpected distress from my mistress,
I'll get my money back from the bookstore right away.
Erongenous zones I question you -
Without you, what would a poor boy do?
Without you, what would a poor boy do?
Without you, mankind handkinds thru' the blues.
10 Carpet Crawlers (05:14)
There is lambswool under my naked feet.
The wool is soft and warm,
-gives off some kind of heat.
A salamander scurries into flame to be destroyed.
Imaginary creatures are trapped in birth on celluloid.
The fleas cling to the golden fleece,
Hoping they'll find peace.
Each thought and gesture are caught in celluloid.
There's no hiding in my memory.
There's no room to void.
The crawlers cover the floor in the red ochre corridor.
For my second sight of people, they've more lifeblood than before.
They're moving. They're moving in time to a heavy wooden door,
Where the needle's eye is winking, closing in on the poor.
The carpet crawlers heed their callers:
"You've got to get in to get out
You've got to get in to get out."
There's only one direction in the faces that I see;
It's upward to the ceiling, where the chambers said to be.
Like the forest fight for sunlight, that takes root in every tree.
They are pulled up by the magnet, believing that they're free.
The carpet crawlers heed their callers:
"You've got to get in to get out
You've got to get in to get out."
Mild mannered supermen are held in kryptonite,
And the wise and foolish virgins giggle with their bodies glowing bright.
Through a door a harvest feast is lit by candlight;
It's the bottom of a staircase that spirals out of sight.
The carpet crawlers heed their callers:
"You've got to get in to get out
You've got to get in to get out."
The porcelain mannikin with shattered skin fears attack.
The eager pack lift up their pitchers- the carry all they lack.
The liquid has congealed, which has seeped out through the crack,
And the tickler takes his stickleback.
The carpet crawlers heed their callers:
"You've got to get in to get out
You've got to get in to get out."
11 The Chamber of 32 Doors (05:40)
At the top of the stairs he finds a chamber. It is almost a hemisphere with a great many doors all the way round its circumference. There is a large crowd, huddled in various groups. From the shouting, Rael learns that there are 32 doors, but only one that leads out. Their voices get louder and louder until Rael screams "Shut up!" There is a momentary silence and then Rael finds himself the focus as they direct their advice and commands to their new found recruit. Bred on trash, fed on ash the jigsaw master has got to move faster. Rael sees a quiet corner and rushes to it.
At the top of the stairs, there's hundreds of people,
running around to all the doors.
They try to find, find themselves an audience;
their deductions need applause.
The rich man stands in front of me,
The poor man behind my back.
They believe they can control the game,
but the juggler holds another pack.
I need someone to believe in, someone to trust.
I need someone to believe in, someone to trust.
I'd rather trust a countryman than a townman,
You can judge by his eyes, take a look if you can,
He'll smile through his guard,
Survival trains hard.
I'd rather trust a man who works with his hands,
He looks at you once, you know he understands,
Don't need any shield,
When you're out in the field.
But down here,
I'm so alone with my fear,
With everything that I hear.
And every single door, that I've walked through
Brings me back here again,
I've got to find my own way.
The priest and the magician,
Singing all the chants that they have ever heard;
and they're all calling out my name,
Even academics, searching printed word.
My father to the left of me,
My mother to the right,
Like everyone else they're pointing
But nowhere feels quite right.
And I need someone to believe in, someone to trust.
I need someone to believe in, someone to trust.
I'd rather trust a man who doesn't shout what he's found,
There's no need to sell if you're homeward bound.
If I choose a side,
He won't take me for a ride.
Back inside
This chamber of so many doors;
I've nowhere, nowhere to hide.
I'd give you all of my dreams, if you'd help me,
Find a door
That doesn't lead me back again
- take me away.
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By Mr_Iko
I love to call it 'Music-All': a watershed between a rock opera and a musical to be performed on a Broadway stage.
Should you not like this album, I recommend consulting a good doctor for an otoscopy.
By Old King Cole
"The Lamb is something more... too varied, containing too many different elements to be classified in a genre that is undoubtedly open but still has boundaries that delimit it."
"The main instrument in 'The Lamb' is [Peter Gabriel's] voice, which finally reaches its peak of technique and, above all, of expressiveness."
By STIPE
"Gabriel was Genesis and Genesis was Gabriel."
"A courageous work, completely different from their discography and also the last one by Gabriel with his old companions."
By paolofreddie
The album ranks among the most interesting in progressive and rock music in general.
The Lamb is one of the most complex and difficult to analyze albums in the history of prog and that is what enhances its intriguing nature.
By EverardBereguad
"The result was a carpet of 'pure anxiety' on which all the songs were built."
"It is a mistake to look for what Genesis had to say with this album in the moral of the story or the meaning of the lyrics."
