Friday marks the 50th anniversary of Genesis’ sixth studio album, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, the last Genesis record to feature frontman Peter Gabriel.
The album was a concept record conceived by Gabriel, with a bit of a bizarre story centered around a Puerto Rican youth named Rael who goes on a spiritual journey of self-discovery.
But recording the album was not without problems. Guitarist Steve Hackett tells ABC Audio there was some concern within the band about whether Gabriel would finish the record, as he was dealing with some personal pressures surrounding the birth of his first child.
“I think that it was probably the most difficult album that Genesis ever got to make because we weren’t sure if Peter Gabriel was going to be in the band or not,” he says.
The album went on to be a top 10 hit in the U.K. and peaked at #41 in the U.S.
Genesis supported the record with an extensive tour, playing the album in its entirety. The tour featured lots of theatricality, with Gabriel donning multiple costumes, but it seems he had some even bigger ideas for the production.
“It’s an album that was as much about the visuals as it was … the grooves,” Hackett says. “So the last time we were talking about doing that in its entirety with Pete, Pete was already talking about avatars even then, several years ahead of ABBA.”
During the tour, Gabriel let the band know that he’d be leaving at the end of it. They would go on to have even more success with drummer Phil Collins as frontman.
Genesis will celebrate the album’s anniversary with The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition), dropping March 28.
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