Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (Deluxe Edition) (2025)

In Genesis’ incredible body of work, ‘The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway’ is a landmark record. Originally released on 22 November 1974, at the pinnacle of their early success, it came at a pivotal point in Genesis’ history. It is rated as one of the greatest albums of its era and one of the most influential progressive rock albums of all time.

Genesis' sixth studio album was released as a double album by Charisma Records and is the last to feature original frontman Peter Gabriel. The group's longest album to date, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway peaked at No. 10 on the U.K. Albums Chart and No. 41 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S..

The album is a concept album and tells the surreal story, devised by Gabriel, of a young Puerto Rican named Rael who embarks on a journey through a series of strange and bizarre events in New York City.

Musically, the album is a departure from the band's previous works, incorporating a wide range of styles including progressive rock, art rock, funk, and jazz fusion. The album features complex rhythms, intricate melodies, and dense layers of instrumentation, showcasing the band's virtuosic musicianship.

The album is notable for its use of storytelling, with each track contributing to the larger narrative of Rael's journey. The lyrics are often cryptic and abstract, and the album's surreal imagery has been interpreted in a variety of ways by listeners and critics.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway gained acclaim in the years after its release, reaching gold certification for sales in the U.K. and U.S.. In 1978, Nick Kent wrote for NME that it "had a compelling appeal that often transcended the hoary weightiness of the mammoth concept that held the equally mammoth four sides of vinyl together." In a special edition of Q and Mojo magazines titled Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, The Lamb ranked at No. 14 in its 40 Cosmic Rock Albums list. The album came third in a list of the 10 best concept albums by Uncut magazine, where it was described as an "impressionistic, intense album" and "pure theatre (in a good way) and still Gabriel's best work." A Rolling Stone poll to rank readers' favourite progressive rock albums of all time placed The Lamb fifth in the list.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is widely regarded as one of Genesis's most important and influential works, inspiring generations of progressive rock musicians.

This 50th-anniversary Deluxe Edition is a true celebration of a remarkable album that embraces the groundbreaking music, giving the whole band’s insight alongside evocative imagery and unseen photos. Ultimately, it celebrates the huge magnitude of what this record is, which Alexis Petridis sums up perfectly in the opening paragraph of the liner notes…

“Perhaps it makes sense that an album as complex as The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway has an equally complex history. The saga of its making is a strange and lengthy one, involving rat-infested country houses, uncanny presentiments of the future—or at least the future of rock music—Hollywood directors, personality clashes and inflatable penises. It’s also occasionally controversial: Talking to the former members of Genesis about The Lamb…nearly half a century on, it’s hard not to be struck by the fact that they seldom agree about it. Some members of the band have said they think it’s the best album of their career. Others think of it as a brave but flawed experiment. Some people view it as the absolute apotheosis of early-’70s progressive rock: a double concept album filled with dense, intricate, ever-shifting music, featuring a plot so knotty and strange even some members of the band didn’t understand it (“Ask Peter—I’m just the drummer,” shrugged Phil Collins when a journalist quizzed him about it shortly after release) and subject to one of the most famously theatrical live presentations in rock history. Some people think it presages the arrival of punk rock. In fact, there’s every chance that The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is all those things—flawed experiment, career highlight, prog masterpiece, weirdly prescient precursor of punk—at once, which might account for its longevity.”

Remastered from the original 1974 tapes by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios with assistance from Nick Davis.

Peter Gabriel, lead vocals, flute
Steve Hackett, guitars
Mike Rutherford, bass guitar, 12-string guitar
Tony Banks, keyboards
Phil Collins, drums, percussion, vibraphone, backing vocals
Additional musician:
Brian Eno, electronic effects

Digitally remastered