“The Lamb” was a 23 song epic prog-rock concept album released by Genesis in 1974. The album tells the story of a half-Puerto Rican juvenile delinquent named Rael living in New York City, who is swept underground to face bizarre creatures and nightmarish dangers in order to rescue his brother John. This was also the last album Peter Gabriel recorded with Genesis, and later became a cult classic.
So, why re-record it? Believe me when I say that’s the very question I’ve been asking myself these days. “The Lamb”, to me and a lot of other people, has been one of those albums that has remained intriguing over the years. The ideas, the lyrics, the story, all seemed very open ended to me. Genesis’s performance of these songs was based around the electronic equipment they had available at the time and was part of their “sound”. There’s Mellotrons instead of choirs, Arps instead of orchestra, not to mention a roller coaster of meters and time signatures that opens the door for many kinds of interpretations. If you’ve heard our cover of “The Colony of Slippermen”, it’s apparent our goal was to honor what Genesis did, but at the same time take the whole thing one step further.
Now, the Lamb (our Lamb), has horns, strings, accordions, whistles, walls of vocals, rock guitars, and plenty of groove. Not to mention a more dynamic, clearer sound-which is cool for the storyline since it’s sometimes hard to make out what Gabriel is talking about on the original.
Our “tribute” to the Lamb is do out in October/November and hopefully will be a good listen for Genesis fans and those that have never heard the original.
Also, you can check out studio footage as it becomes available on my you tube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/mhornsby13
More later…