Revisiting Genesis' The Lamb with Dave Kerzner
This week I talked about The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway with a guy who is no stranger to Genesis or that particular work.
Thanks for spending part of your day with Michael’s Record Collection. I wanted to make sure to invite you to try out the podcast version of MRC, which you can find on Spotify, or most of the popular podcast downloading platforms (Apple, Google, etc.). A good place to organize your podcast subscriptions and downloads, and to discover new shows, is Goodpods, and I was humbled to recently find Michael’s Record Collection ranked among the top independent music podcasts on that app. You may note that the top-ranked indie music podcast listed in the image below is the one I wrote about on Aug. 3 — Playlist Wars.
It occurred to me that it may confuse some folks as to why there are three formats for MRC. This newsletter gets more of my direct thoughts on the albums discussed here — more of a traditional review. It takes less of your time to consume. The video channel provides unedited interviews and a chance to see my interactions with the guests on topics beyond the album or band being discussed. The podcast is basically a cleaned up version of the audio track from the video, but with the added bonus of providing some short samples of the music being discussed (except in some of the early episodes) and can be consumed on your daily commute, during a workout, or wherever you are, without requiring the attentiveness of watching it. Different people like to consume their media in different ways, so I am happy to provide MRC in multiple ways.
With all that said, let’s get to this issue, in which I spoke with progressive rock musician Dave Kerzner about his favorite Genesis album — The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.
A lot of people love the 1974 Genesis classic The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, but few people are as connected to both that band and that particular progressive rock double-album as Dave “Squids” Kerzner. A talented musician in his own right with a long list of contributions on a myriad of albums — solo, various bands and side projects, and tribute records — Kerzner is also known in wider music circles for his work in sampling vintage musical instruments as well as specific musicians, such as late Rush drummer Neil Peart.
Kerzner is currently working on his next album — though whether it’s a solo album or part of his In Continuum project is yet to be decided — and a tribute to Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, with former It Bites lead vocalist Francis Dunnery. The latter should come to fruition this year.
This isn’t the first time Kerzner has dipped his toe in The Lamb. Back in 1994 he was part of a 20th anniversary celebratory live performance of most of that album at ProgFest ‘94 with Kevin Gilbert’s band, which included members of Giraffe and drummer Nick D’Virgilio. And the ties to the Lamb go deeper still, as D’Virgilio — who went on to play drums with Genesis on the Calling All Stations album after Phil Collins’ departure — himself put out a Lamb tribute with a project called Rewiring Genesis in 2008. Kerzner is using some of D’Virgilio’s drum tracks from that release on his own forthcoming Lamb tribute.
But Kerzner’s ties to Genesis don’t stop there. He and Collins’ son, Simon, formed a band called Sound of Contact and put out a fantastic album called Dimensionaut in 2013, which was one of my favorite releases that year. Kerzner had previously helped with Simon Collins’ solo albums as well. In addition, Squids worked with Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett on his Genesis Revisited II release. He’s also learned production techniques from Genesis producer Nick Davis, too.
But perhaps the most fascinating tie that Kerzner has to Genesis is that he now owns several original pieces of equipment that Tony Banks used in the band’s recordings and on tour. After recently being told that Banks was clearing out some things from the band’s recording studio, The Farm, Kerzner purchased as many items as he could.
“I was on an email thread that was like maybe seven or eight (potential buyers) and I was one of them,” Kerzner said. “And I was fast, I was like, ‘Yep, I’ll take this, this, this, this, this, this,’ and I was borrowing money anyway (to make the purchase), but there’s only so much you can borrow. So, I got a few producer friends of mine to get a few other things and one of them bought the Hammond organ that (Banks) used on The Lamb and I’m like, ‘Why did I not buy that?’ But I’m sampling it. But I got his ARPs (synthesizers), his Mellotron, the RMI…a bunch of stuff."
Those instruments couldn’t have gone to a better home, because Kerzner will use them to create new music and add them to his sound library, not just put them behind glass to look at as museum exhibits.
Although Kerzner doesn’t like to rank albums, he admitted that his favorite Genesis period was from Trespass to Abacab, and if pressed, he’d likely go with The Lamb.
“I would probably say yes,” he said, adding that it was “in (his) top 10 favorite albums of all time.”
The sixth Genesis studio album, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway was released by Charisma Records on Nov. 18, 1974 — nearly 47 years ago. It was the last Genesis studio album to feature original vocalist Peter Gabriel before he embarked on his solo career. The recording of The Lamb was a difficult time for Gabriel, who had pressures from within the band to finish an ambitious double album, was given an opportunity to write a screenplay for William Friedkin (a project which ultimately kind of fizzled out), and he was dealing with his wife’s difficult pregnancy. He was away from the band multiple times during the recording of the album and there were some grumblings from the other members who weren’t always the most understanding when it came down to what Gabriel was going through with regard to his home life.
Genesis worked on new material for the album at the historic Headley Grange for three months in the spring and summer of 1974. Gabriel came up with the story concept for the album and insisted on writing the lyrics himself. Given the opacity of the concept itself, it’s unlikely the other band members would have been able to make enough sense of it to write about it anyway. The other four band members — Collins (drums, percussion and backing vocals), Hackett (acoustic and electric guitars), Banks (keyboards), and Mike Rutherford (bass, 12-string guitar) — conceived of the music through jam sessions. The band moved on from Headley Grange and began recording at Glaspant Manor in Wales in August of 1974, using mobile studio equipment. Recording finished up in October. John Burns, who had started producing the band’s records with Selling England by the Pound, co-produced The Lamb with the band.
“There's some trade offs in the production (due to the mobile recording equipment), but it sounds good anyway,” Kerzner said. “It’s not as crystal clear as Selling England, or Trick of the Tail after. But it still sounds gritty and atmospheric and everybody sounds great on it and and everybody's kind of come into their own. And, of course, Peter Gabriel — well, that's his best work with Genesis besides “Supper’s Ready,” I think.”
The story behind The Lamb is a bit of a convoluted mess, if we’re being honest, but Gabriel wanted to ground it in a gritty reality, rather than some fantasy realm, although it still finds its way to dark caves and other strange places. The protagonist is Rael, a street kid from New York City, and the titular lamb is the catalyst that sets off a chain of events that I won’t even begin to try to explain. Members of Genesis have tried, and failed, to tell the story. But Rael goes on a journey of self-discovery, has some misadventures, and runs into some strange creatures and characters along the way.
“It's just not what you're used to. It's not, you know, kings and queens and all that kind of stuff,” Kerzner said, calling the story ‘cryptic.’ “This is some punk kid with an aerosol can. And, you know, weird shit’s gonna happen, but that's part of what's great about it.”
Gabriel sings in different styles or voices for different characters along the way over the 23 tracks, spanning four album sides. The first of those sides kicks off with the title track, which serves as the anchor for a trilogy of songs with the heavy-hitting “Fly on a Windshield” and “Broadway Melody of 1974.” But the whole album flows from song to song and Genesis did well to bring each song around to a place where it could be picked up by the next.
“Cuckoo Cocoon” is an odd song that leads into the centerpiece of the first side — “In the Cage.” That track is the longest on the first album, at 8:13, and showcases Banks’ keyboard prowess with a signature solo. The track starts with a heartbeat-like cadence and then proceeds to build in intensity, giving way to the solo while Rutherford shines with excellent bass work and Collins’ drumming supports the entire thing. “In the Cage” is one of the album’s biggest highlights — if not the very pinnacle.
As a kid, Kerzner said he once hired a new keyboard teacher based on his ability to learn Banks’ “In the Cage” solo from the live version on the Seconds Out album and teach it to him.
“He was great because he learned it, and then explained it to me,” Kerzner said, adding that his new instructor made it easy to understand by describing Banks’ approach to it.
That first side ends on another odd song, “The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging.” Once the listener flips the album though, Genesis comes out punching with “Back in N.Y.C.,” a heavier track than Genesis fans were used to at the time.
“That may be as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than “Fly on a Windshield,”” Kerzner said.
Genesis immediately contrasts that with the ethereal “Hairless Heart,” on which Hackett’s delicate guitar work shines. The band shows its humorous side next with “Counting Out Time,” a song about trying to learn how to please a woman by reading an instructional book. That’s Kerzner’s least favorite track on the album (“It's a little too goofy,” he said), but I find it catchy and fun. The centerpiece of the second side is the slow-moving and atmospheric “The Carpet Crawlers,” where Banks’ keyboards and Gabriel’s vocals stand out. The album side concludes with “The Chamber of 32 Doors,” with some of Gabriel’s most emotive vocals.
““Back in N.Y.C.” is a killer tune, and (so is) “Carpet Crawlers,”” Kerzner said of the album’s second side. He went on to say about the latter song, “I don't get tired of that song. You know, it's a beautiful song. And one of the most underrated things I think from Genesis is when they did a new version in 1999 of that song, which I like.”
That new version, titled “Carpet Crawlers 1999,” was recorded for the Turn it On Again: The Hits compilation album and was the last new studio recording by any iteration of Genesis.
The second disc is where the music and the story get weirder. The third side kicks off with another rocker in “Lilywhite Lilith” before giving way to the odd — and some would say, self-indulgent — “The Waiting Room.”
“It really kind of sets the tone for, you're now going deep into the rabbit hole at this point,” Kerzner said of “The Waiting Room.”
The band rewards the listener for sitting through some of the weird sounds in the first half of the song with an incredible jam in the track’s back half. Another juxtaposition occurs with the beautiful “Anyway,” preceding the strange vocals of "Here Comes the Supernatural Anaesthetist.” Then comes the third side’s centerpiece — “The Lamia.”
At this point, Rael finds himself face to face with three siren-like snake creatures but all of the weirdness of that part of the story is laid out over one of the album’s most sublime pieces of music.
The third side closes with another ethereal track, “Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats,” a brief instrumental that showcases Banks.
““Silent Sorrow” is just one of the most beautiful uses of Mellotron choir I've ever heard,” Kerzner said. “And I love that song.”
Side four kicks off with its centerpiece song, “The Colony of Slippermen.” The first section, “The Arrival,” consists of more weird noises a la “The Waiting Room,” but after that, the song kicks in nicely and becomes one of the most dazzling and complex pieces on the album. It is the closest thing the album has to an epic, clocking in at 8:20.
“It’s very hard to play,” Kerzner said of Banks’ parts in “Slippermen.” “What Tony's doing there in certain parts of it is he's playing two arpeggios at the same time. One of them is doing four notes and the other one is doing three notes. Kevin (Gilbert) was an amazing musician, playing all the instruments and everything, but he couldn’t play that. And he's like, ‘How can you play it? How are you able to count that?’ And I said, ‘I'm not counting. I'm able to play it because I know what it's supposed to sound like and feel like.’ I don't know if it's two time signatures at the same time. I don't know enough theory to be able to describe it, but it's weird.”
It isn’t as weird as the lyrics, which have the protagonist getting his penis cut off and a raven flying off with it, but at this point in the record I’m checked completely out of the lyrics and just having a good time with the overall vibe.
For me, the album bogs down a bit in the middle of the fourth side with “Ravine” and “The Light Dies Down on Broadway,” but it picks back up with the final trilogy of “Riding the Scree,” “In the Rapids,” and “It.”
The story is beyond making any sense of it, and that might be the joke, as Gabriel ends the final track with “It’s only knock and know-all but I like it.”
“It is a very strange way to wrap the whole album, especially with that whole ‘it's only knock and know-all but I like it.’ It almost sounds like they didn't finish it and he's like, ‘Well, whatever, it's rock and roll,’” Kerzner said with a laugh.
The Lamb wasn’t quite the commercial success Genesis had hoped. The release was so close to the start of the tour that the band was playing this concept album in its entirety to an audience that largely hadn’t heard it yet. As a result of its length, a lot of the band’s well-known favorites were left out of the setlist, which disappointed some fans. It reached the top 10 in the U.K., but only made it to no. 41 on the Billboard 200 in the United States and had no charting single in this country. It went to no. 15 in Canada, no. 24 in New Zealand, and no. 80 in Australia. It reached gold status in the U.S., U.K., France, and Canada.
Gabriel left the band at the conclusion of the ensuing tour and Genesis was changed forever. After two strong albums as a four-piece band, Hackett also left and then, as they say, there were three. Collins, Banks, and Rutherford went on to unparalleled heights of success as a trio, creating some of the most interesting pop music of the 1980s, selling out stadiums around the world, and churning out a series of multi-platinum-selling albums.
The words above don’t do our discussion of The Lamb justice. You can check out my entire conversation with Dave Kerzner in the video below. He goes into greater detail about his upcoming work, his interactions with folks like Genesis producer Nick Davis and other key figures in the band’s circles, and his love of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.
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