The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Genesis's sixth studio album, arrived on Charisma in 1974 as a sprawling double-album rock opera, and it was the last studio record with Peter Gabriel out front. The story follows Rael, a rebellious kid from New York City who is dragged down into a surreal underworld full of bizarre characters, and his journey plays out as an allegory of finding himself.

Getting there was rough. Gabriel insisted on writing the concept and every lyric himself, broke off to work with filmmaker William Friedkin, and kept dashing off to his wife's side through a hard first pregnancy, so Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, Phil Collins and Steve Hackett jammed out most of the music at Headley Grange and in Wales. Out went the pastoral English fantasy; in came gritty American imagery, stranger textures and shorter songs, under a stark Hipgnosis cover. Reviews were mixed at first, but it is now counted among prog's defining works. Gabriel left after the tour.

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