I just wanted to express my gratitude as well to the powers
that be that made this performance available.
Like my taste for a good stout, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway was an acquired one for me- I came
into the Genesis camp circa 1977 (Seconds
Out was my first album). I distinctly remember hearing The Lamb… in it’s entirety for the first time on my way to, of all
things, a Journey concert. I recall
being able to pick out the title track and “The Carpet Crawlers”, having been
exposed to them on Seconds Out. I grew to like “Back in NYC” right away, and
then spent the rest of my young adulthood trying to figure out just what the
hell the rest of the album was about, especially as the
post-Gabriel-and-Hackett version of Genesis played less and less of this
material.
Thankfully, three things happened to make me appreciate The Lamb.. One, I got a little older and
wiser, making me more sensitive to and appreciative of different pieces of
music. Two, some very enterprising folks
from a long-ago Genesis fan forum called “Paperlate” produced an exhaustingly annotated
document of this story. And last, but certainly not least, my having to do a
lot of work in Montreal exposed me to that wonderful little dance troupe known
as The Musical Box, and that I was able to see them reproduce this very show on
two occasions, pointing-out what I missed 30 years ago.
I have an old cassette copy of “Swelled and Spent”, which
had to suffice for over 20 years as my live archive of this. I felt cheated when the boys decided to
rerecord some pieces of this show, and market it as the holy grail on their
first box set.
So again, thanks folks for getting this one out. It was long overdue, and I will certainly be
in line to purchase my own copy of it, if and when it becomes available. I’m only hopeful that Genesis themselves will
delve into those boxes of soundboard cassettes rumored to be in a closet either
at The Farm, (or one of Phil’s homes) and get busy making those available. Bumps, warts, and all, it makes for a very
pleasant experience.