THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY

I don't know why it happened that the two most celebrated symphonic prog acts - Yes and Genesis - were taken over in year of 1974 by the vision of their vocalist which in both occasion lead to a double record. The spiritual artistic vision of Jon Anderson made Yes making the four sidefilling epics on "Tales of Topographic Oceans" which is dominated by long atmospheric instrumental pieces and the artistic vision of Peter Gabriel lead to the "rock opera" called "The Lamb lies down on Broadway" which was dominated by his vocal expressions. Both artists seemed to be looking for the zenith in their carreers, but with just limited effect, although some fans do claim they succeeded in it.

In my opinion there is some great material on The Lamb Lies down on Broadway, although not enough to fill two records with. The first side of the first record is arguably the best by containing the great titletrack and the psychedelic "Grand parade of lifeless packaging". On this side the balance between the instrumental parts and the vocal parts is still good. On the second side the first track (Back in N.Y.C.) the vocals are already too dominate for me. It fells like a relief if the symphonic part starts. The second side is still quiet good, but certainly out of balance and with several weak spots. And it only gets worse on the third and fourth side (I must admit I have only rarely listened to them, because I always felt I had listened enough after two sides).

If the thirst side was released as an EP I shoud have given four stars for it. In the form it is actually released I think that three stars is almost more then it deserves.