As always, see anything you like, email me. All boots are listed in chronological order, and all are on Audio CD-R unless I say otherwise. All dates are written in the European style, as in day/month/year. Click on the text links below to scroll directly to the entry you're interested in.

Tour Summary and Menu

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - Outtakes, 1974 (Headly Grange Studios)

The Demo Mix Down on Broadway, 1974 (Studio)

Indianapolis '74, 22/11/74 (Convention Center, IN)

Indianapolis '74 (alt), 22/11/74 (Convention Center, IN)

Cleveland '74 (first night), 25/11/74 (Music Hall, OH)

Baltimore '74, 1/12/74 (Lyric Theater, MD)

Baltimore '74 (alt), 1/12/74 (Lyric Theater, MD)

The Lamb Lives in NY City, 6/12/74 (Academy of Music)

NYC '74 (second night), 7/12/74 (Academy of Music)

Rael in NYC, 7/12/74 (Academy of Music, NY)

Palace Theatre, 8/12/74 (Providence, RI)

Providence, 8/12/74 (Palace Theatre, Providence RI)

Providence Remaster, 8/12/74 (Palace Theatre, Providence)

Hogweed 14, 8/12/74 (Palace Theatre, Providence RI)

The Boston Lamb, 9/12/74 (Music Hall, Boston MA)

Waterbury '74, 12/12/74 (Palace Theater, Waterbury CT)

BURP II 03, 12/12/74 (Palace Theater, Waterbury CT)

Move Over Casanova, 15/12/74 (Forum, Montreal)

Toronto '74, 16/12/74 (Concert Bowl, Maple Leaf Gardens)

The Lamb Descends on Waterbury, 10/1/75 (W. Palm B.)

Hogweeds 05, 10/1/75 (West Palm Beach Convention)

From One Fan to All the Others, 11/1/75 (Lakeland, FL)

Lakeland '75 (AS Version), 11/1/75 (Civic Center Concert Hall, FL)

Live at Lakeland (GASP 016), 11/1/75 (Civic Center Concert Hall, Lakeland)

Twilight Alehouse, 24/1/75 (Shrine Auditorium, LA)

Shrine '75, 24/1/75 (Shrine Auditorium, LA)

Live at Phoenix (GASP 010), 28/1/75 (Civic Plaza Assembly Hall, AZ)

Oslo '75 (GASP 005), 19/2/75 (Ekeberghallen, Oslo Norway)

Copenhagen '75, 21/2/75 (Falkoner Theatrit, Denmark)

Berlin '75, 23/2/75 (Eissporthalle, Berlin Germany)

Amsterdam '75 (1st night)(Digital Bros.), 24/2/75 (Carre Hotel)

Cambrai '75, 26/2/75 (Palais des Grottes, Cambrai France)

Colmar '75 (GASP 006), 28/2/75 (Salle des Expositions, Colmar France)

Dijon '75 (GASP 007), 1/3/75 (Palais des Sports, Dijon)

Paris '75, 3/3/75 (Porte de Versailles, Paris)

Lisbon '75, 6/3/75 (Pavilhao dos Desportos, Lisbon Portugal)

Lamb in Badalona, 9/3/75 (Nuevo Pabellon Club Juventud)

Porte de Versailles '75, 17/3/75 (Paris, France)

Annecy '75, 22/3/75 (Salle D'Expositions, Annecy France)

The Real Last Time, 24/3/75 (Palasport Parco Rufino, Turin)

Bern '75, 29/3/75 (Festhalle, Bern Switzerland)

Stuttgart '75, 2/4/75 (Killesberghalle, Stuttgart Germany)

Revelations on Broadway, 3/4/75 (Jahrhunderthalle, Frankfurt)

There's Always Magic in the Air (PRRPGS001), 3/4/75 (Frankfurt)

The Lamb Lies Down on Dusseldorf, 6/4/75 (Philipshalle)

German Melody of 1975, 7/4/75 (Westfalenhalle 3 Dortmund)

Digital Lambs in Dortmund, 7/4/75 (Westfalenhalle 3)

Hamburg '75, 8/4/75 (Congress Centrum, Hamburg)

Groningen '75, 10/4/75 (Martinihal-Centrum, Holland)

A Blaze of White Light (PRRPGS09), 10/4/75 (Holland)

Rotterdam '75, 11/4/75 (Ahoy Sportpaleis, Holland)

Master of Rotterdam, 11/4/75 (Ahoy Sportpaleis, Holland)

Brussels '75, 12/4/75 (Vorst Nationale, Brussels Belgium)

Lamb Stew, 15/4/75 (Empire Pool, London)

Musical Box, 15/4/75 (Empire Pool, London)

Awed Man Out, 15/4/75 (Empire Pool, London)

A Perfect Vintage, 15/4/75 (Empire Pool, London)

The Light Goes Down on Empire, 15/4/75 (Empire Pool)

Empire Pooled (CF), 15/4/75 (Empire Pool, London)

We are the Lamia of the Pool (PRRP10), 15/4/75 (Empire)

Southampton '75, 16/4/75 (Gaumont Theatre, Southampton)

Liverpool '75, 19/4/75 (Empire Theatre, Liverpool)

Manchester '75 (1st night)(HW02), 27/4/75 (Palace Theatre)

Manchester '75 (2nd night)(HW08), 28/4/75 (Palace Theatre)

Bristol '75, 30/4/75 (Colston Hall, Bristol)

Birmingham Hippodrome (HW11), 1/5/75 (Birm., UK)

Birmingham Hippodrome (FAde 001), 2/5/75 (Birm., UK)

Wiesbaden '75, 12/5/75 (Rhein am Main Halle, Germany)

Wiesbaden '75 (alternate), 12/5/75 (Germany)

Echoes of the Broadway, 15/5/75 (Palais des Sports, Rheims)

Rheims '75, 15/5/75 (Palais des Sports, Rheims)

San Sebastian '75, 18/5/75 (Velodromo Anoeta, Spain)

San Sebastian '75 Remastered, 18/5/75 (Velodromo Anoeta)

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - Outtakes

1974

01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (4:27)
02 Cuckoo Cocoon I (2:14)
03 Cuckoo Cocoon II (2:14)
04 In the Cage (7:14)
05 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (2:40)
06 Back in N.Y.C. I (5:37)
07 Back in N.Y.C. II (5:39)
08 Counting Out Time (1:57)
09 Anyway (3:11)
10 The Lamia (7:00)
11 In the Rapids I (1:42)
12 In The Rapids II (1:15)
13 The Carpet Crawlers I (6:06)
14 The Carpet Crawlers II (5:07)
15 The Carpet Crawlers (15/4/75) (5:40)
16 The Carpet Crawlers (24/6/77) (5:18)
17 The Carpet Crawlers (7/5/80) (5:30)

Type/Quality: Studio/Very Good-Excellent

Comments: (See next entry for an upgraded, 2-disc version of this material.) More Carpet Crawlers than you can shake a stick at! That's what this disc has. It also has a bunch of studio outtakes from the Lamb sessions of 1974 at Headly Grange Studios. (For a compiled list of all my studio outtakes for Genesis, check out the top of the Compilations/Misc. page.) All of these songs are very near their completed state, and lack only the odd changing of the mix/arrangement/voice effect to make them sound pretty much as they did on the album. The title track interestingly does not start with the full keyboard intro, but instead with an unnerving guitar riff that sounds pretty cool. "Counting Out Time" starts right when Pete starts singing, and ends abruptly before the bridge. "Anyway" has a skipping error (copied from the master disc, it seems) in the bridge of the song. My upgrade below does not have this error. "Lamia" has a flute solo to compliment the guitar in the ending section. I'm glad they chose to drop it, as it just makes for a somewhat confusing jumble of sounds on this version; still, it's interesting to hear it, and I always enjoy hearing more of Pete's flute playing. "In the Rapids" in both takes is not really the full version, but both come close. The second one starts at the first line of lyric, the first one a little further in. The first one gets to the end of the song, but the second one stops before it gets there.

Now for all the "Carpet Crawlers." The first two versions are studio takes. The first one actually gets a certain way through the song and then stops. Then it picks up again a few lines before the stopping point and carries on till the end. The second one is a whole version, and it sounds a little better (Pete's vocals seemed too loud or something on the first version). The last three versions are all various live performances. The first is from the ubiquitous Empire Pool show (more on that below), the second from the WW tour, so we can hear Phil sing it in his own special way...This track was dated incorrectly as 24 June 1976, which would have made it an audience show from France. In fact it is a radio sourced track from Earls Court in '77 (see the SAB remaster). Then we get to hear him again, this time from the Duke tour. Interesting how his voice has changed. I have seen this track incorrectly dated as 5 July, but it must be from the Musica show of 7 May. If you can sit through that many versions of "Crawlers" in a row, I applaud your patience.

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The Demo Mix Down on Broadway

1974

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway I (4:30)
1-02 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway II (4:24)
1-03 Fly on a Windshield I (jam w/vocal rehearsal) (11:59)
1-04 Fly on a Windshield II (ending)/Broadway Melody of 1974 (instrumental) (2:14)
1-05 Cuckoo Cocoon I (2:17)
1-06 Cuckoo Cocoon II (2:20)
1-07 Cuckoo Cocoon III (2:18)
1-08 Cuckoo Cocoon IV (2:16)
1-09 In the Cage (7:22)
1-10 In the Cage (partial, instrumental)(3:18)
1-11 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging I (2:46)
1-12 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging II (beginning) (0:44)
1-13 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging III (2:44)
1-14 Back in N.Y.C. I (5:45)
1-15 Back in N.Y.C. II (ending) (0:25)
1-16 Back in N.Y.C. III (ending) (0:50)
1-17 Back in N.Y.C. IV (5:50)
1-18 Counting Out Time (incomplete)(2:00)
1-19 The Carpet Crawlers I (6:06)
1-20 The Carpet Crawlers II (5:31)

2-01 Lilywhite Lilith (2:43)
2-02 The Waiting Room (sound effects) (5:03)
2-03 The Waiting Room I (evil jam) (3:56)
2-04 The Waiting Room II (5:13)
2-05 Anyway I (3:12)
2-06 Anyway II (3:17)
2-07 The Supernatural Anaesthetist I (2:43)
2-08 The Supernatural Anaesthetist II (ending jam) (1:29)
2-09 The Supernatural Anaesthetist III (ending jam) (2:14)
2-10 The Supernatural Anaesthetist IV (ending jam) (2:08)
2-11 The Supernatural Anaesthetist V (ending jam) (2:05)
2-12 Lamia I (w/flute on ending) (7:06)
2-13 Lamia II (6:56)
2-14 The Colony of Slippermen I (instrumental) (0:39)
2-15 The Colony of Slippermen II (instrumental) (1:31)
2-16 The Colony of Slippermen III (instrumental) (2:23)
2-17 The Colony of Slippermen IV (ending, instrumental) (0:29)
2-18 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (vocal rehearsal) (1:32)
2-19 Riding the Scree (4:14)
2-20 In the Rapids I (incomplete; first half) (1:20)
2-21 In the Rapids II (incomplete; second half) (1:09)
2-22 In the Rapids III (incomplete; beginning cut) (1:43)
2-23 In the Rapids IV (incomplete; beginning cut) (1:45)
2-24 In the Rapids V (vocal rehearsal) (3:11)
2-25 It I (vocal rehearsal) (2:45)
2-26 It II (vocal rehearsal) (4:55)

Type/Quality: Studio/Very Good

Comments: Here's another pile of studio outtakes from the Lamb sessions. Some of these are no doubt repeats from the above entry. In fact, my guess would be that every track on the previous entry is on here, so this is most definitely an upgrade. I also have some alternate studio outtakes from this period as bonus tracks on my Lamb Descends on Waterbury show of 10/1/75; this one may not duplicate all of those. However, it gives an interesting peek into some of the development stages of the songs. Most are nearly final versions with just a slightly different mix or a different vocal line, but some are fairly rough and formative. "Lamb" is heard without the piano intro, but with a twangy guitar thing. There's some nice jamming from "Fly on Windshield," very preliminary stuff with Peter trying some wailing overtop. "Cuckoo Cocoon" gets a little repetitive because all the takes sound nearly identical, from near the final version. "Cage" is in a near-final version for the first take, while the second is an instrumental bit from the middle section of the song. "Grand Parade" features two nearly final, complete takes sandwiching a false start take. "NYC" is near the final version for the first and last versions, while the middle two takes are just of the ending section of the song, with only the backing vocals on the first one and with Pete and Phil on the second. The last take of "NYC" has what sounds like a false start for "Counting Out Time" on the end of it. Then we hear an incomplete version of "Counting Out Time," which gets up to the "heaven ahead in number eleven" line before breaking off. Ending the first disc are two good takes of "Carpet Crawlers," though the first one cuts off and picks back up again from an earlier point.

Now on to disc 2. We begin with an alternate take of "Lilywhite Lilith." Nothing interesting there. But the next track is very unusual, as it is simply a sound effects demo for "Waiting Room." There is the random clacking of what sounds like a sloppily handled measuring tape combined with a very strange zooming noise reminiscent of video games. Occasionally Peter's voice comes in and mutters something. Near the end, there is laughter--it's possible someone knocked something over in their enthusiasm. Following this are two different evil jams, the second more complete than the first. Then two basically final forms of "Anyway." My previous outtake bootleg had a disc error on "Anyway"--both of these are clean. Following that are a bunch of "Anaesthetists," mainly focusing on the guitar solo at the end, though the first take has the short vocals at the beginning. The second take has some interesting keyboard noises in it. The "Lamia" takes are both final and complete, but the first has a flute solo on top of the guitar solo--it doesn't work. The "Slippermen" stuff is much less final, and is more like the band messing around with a song idea, trying to pin it down. There are no vocals. "Light Dies" is without lyrics, but Peter sings gibberish overtop. "Scree" is basically a final version, and it sounds great. "Rapids" comes in multiple takes, none of them the complete song. From the first two takes you can piece together the whole song, but the second two start a few lines in. Though these first four all feature Peter singing the correct words, the last one is an earlier version with Peter yowling along to try out some vocal ideas (the lyrics were probably a long way away). Pete also yowls his way rather embarrassingly through some early takes of "It," bringing the outtakes to a strange conclusion.

Conspicuous in their absence are the little instrumental tracks from the final album: "Hairless Heart," "Silent Sorrow," "Ravine." Also unrepresented is "Chamber of 32 Doors." However, all in all this is a neat collection of rough studio work from a band in the midst of generating a musical masterpiece.

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Indianapolis '74

22/11/74

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (7:12)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (3:49)
1-03 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:44)
1-04 In the Cage (7:42)
1-05 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (5:02)
1-06 Back in NYC (6:01)
1-07 Hairless Heart (2:24)
1-08 Counting Out Time (3:29)
1-09 The Carpet Crawlers (5:21)
1-10 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:29)
1-11 The Story of Rael (2:33)
1-12 Lilywhite Lilith (2:32)
1-13 The Waiting Room (5:22)
1-14 Anyway (3:13)
1-15 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:26)
1-16 Interlude (1:21)
1-17 Lamia (7:00)

2-1 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (2:36)
2-2 Arrival (2:04)
2-3 The Colony of Slippermen (6:12)
2-4 Ravine (1:25)
2-5 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:22)
2-6 Riding the Scree (3:56)
2-7 In the Rapids (1:57)
2-8 It (4:10)
2-9 The Musical Box (13:54)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: (See my alternate version of this gig, below.) At the Indianapolis Convention Center in Indiana, this is the first recorded show of the Lamb tour, and the third gig actually played (the first two were consecutive gigs in Chicago). I usually complain about the beginning of this tour, and say that the band weren't really good at playing the album until later in the tour. While I still think this is true, and while there are a few band mess-ups on here, this is a nice performance and what could have been a very nice recording of it.

Unlike later performances of the album, Peter begins the show by telling the whole story up to and including "Grand Parade." In later gigs he would shorten this introductory story until it was just about the black cloud swallowing Manhattan island (in this one he is very literal about the whole thing: "this takes us up to side one of the album"), and in still later gigs he probably removed the introductory story altogether (Peter also would eventually change the person of the story from third to first, as though he actually was Rael). After the introductory story, there is a long pause before the music begins. Fairly early on we can recognize one particular fan who very much enjoys saying "Yeehah!" He will say it often throughout the show. The recording has some pops throughout, possibly from a vinyl source.

Before the second side of the album can begin with "Back in NYC," Peter points out a comical sketch starring Gus the Roadie and Mike the guitarist. There is a small jump or cut in "NYC," coming right before the "You're sitting in your comfort" line. The opening of CC is slightly clipped. Pete's microphone malfunctions at the beginning of this song, because he is unable to sing a good deal of the opening section. Tony carries on manfully by himself until Pete is able to join in. Pete messes up some lyrics later in the song. Another cut occurs between CC and "32 Doors."

Pete tells the whole story for the remainder of the album before "Lilith." At this point he was not yet comparing a band member to the slipperman, nor was he making the "one puff and you snuff it" gag about Death. The bass seems particularly heavy at the beginning of the second half of the show. In a very strange tracking choice, the first disc goes all the way up to the end of "Lamia" before ending--unfortunately, it is at the end of this disc that we get the first real problem with this show, which is that "Lamia" is littered with loud, annoying scratches. This sounds like a burner error, but according to comments from Willem Beens and Halley, this problem seems endemic to most versions of this show. The scratches also occur at the end of the second disc, ruining the encore of "Musical Box."

As for the rest of the show: Peter in his slipperman get-up is difficult to hear. The beginning of "Light Dies" is slightly cut. There is a small cut in "Scree" and a cut in the story for "Musical Box." Interestingly, in his story for this song, Pete again mentions Henry's pantaloons, something he would omit in later versions of the story. Mike seems to have more problems before they can begin this song, this time of the tuning variety.

Really this is what could have been quite a nice recording of an early and important Genesis show--it's just those two scratchy tracks that bother me.

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Indianapolis '74 (alternate)

22/11/74

1-01 Introduction (2:10)
1-02 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (4:47)
1-03 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (4:26)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:10)
1-05 In the Cage (8:11)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (2:53)
1-07 Story of Rael (1:32)
1-08 Back in NYC (5:55)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:16)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:36)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:15)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:29)
1-13 The Story of Rael (2:29)
1-14 Lilywhite Lilith (2:41)
1-15 The Waiting Room (5:09)
1-16 Anyway (3:20)
1-17 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (3:36)
1-18 Lamia (7:00)

2-1 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (2:36)
2-2 The Colony of Slippermen (6:12)
2-3 Ravine (1:25)
2-4 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:22)
2-5 Riding the Scree (3:56)
2-6 In the Rapids (1:57)
2-7 It (4:10)
2-8 Intro: Box
2-9 The Musical Box (13:54)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: At the Indianapolis Convention Center in Indiana. This version has the same cuts detailed in my previous entry, and the show is divided across the two discs in the same odd way (though the tracking is slightly different), but this one seems to sound cleaner and is without the scratches on "Lamia" and "Box". I mention a small cut in "Scree" in my previous version but the song appears complete here. So this is definitely an upgrade and clearly the better of the two versions--nice!

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Cleveland '74 (first night)

25/11/74

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:09)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (beginning)(2:18)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (1:26)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:37)
1-05 In the Cage (7:24)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:12)
1-07 Back in NYC (7:03)
1-08 Hairless Heart/Counting Out Time (beginning)(2:37)
1-09 Counting Out Time (3:09)
1-10 The Carpet Crawlers (5:23)
1-11 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:30)

2-01 The Story of Rael (2:28)
2-02 Lilywhite Lilith (2:50)
2-03 The Waiting Room (4:56)
2-04 Anyway (3:12)
2-05 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:26)
2-06 Interlude (1:31)
2-07 Lamia (7:11)
2-08 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (2:45)
2-09 Arrival (1:29)
2-10 The Colony of Slippermen (6:25)
2-11 Ravine (1:09)
2-12 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:32)
2-13 Riding the Scree (4:23)
2-14 In the Rapids (2:03)
2-15 It (5:46)
2-16 Intro: Box (3:58)
2-17 The Musical Box (11:08)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: At the Music Hall in Cleveland, Ohio, this is a very early show from the Lamb tour--as far as I can tell, it is only the second recorded show available. The quality is actually rather nice, though whoever tracked this did a bit of a shabby job (see the first disc tracks above). The intro story which Pete almost definitely tells before the beginning of the music (see the previous entry; also when Pete comes back in to tell the story before "NYC," he has clearly already explained the beginning to the audience) is cut, and the first disc starts with the title track. Someone--either the taper or someone near him--coughs a lot in this show. It's very annoying, and I kept thinking of a Bugs Bunny cartoon where an animated audience member who hacks too much is gunned down by Bugs (by the end, you may wish you were in Cleveland with a weapon as well). Pete is still telling very impersonal stories for the album, explaining before "NYC" that "this is up to the end of side two" on the record.

The opening of "32 Doors" is cut--as it is often cut on audience recordings (must have been about the time when everyone's tape ran out). The band slip up a bit when the "Arrival" section of "Slippermen" ends and the song proper is supposed to begin--it doesn't, at least not for a few seconds. Pete is very hard to hear in this song, because of his awkward costume (again a feature fairly characteristic of Lamb shows). The band messes up again at the "Here I go!" section of "Scree."

Here's an interesting trivia bit for you: in "In the Rapids," Pete does not sing the verse that goes "Striking out to reach you, I can't get through to the other side/When you're racing in the rapids, there's only one way, and that's to ride." In fact, I have noticed in many Lamb shows that Pete does not sing this verse. Some day I will have to check through my Lamb shows to see how many are missing these lines, but I do know that it is not every show--sometimes he sang the whole song.

In another humorous band mess-up, Mike Rutherford is not back with the band by the time Pete is done telling the story for "Musical Box." Pete asks the audience to concentrate very hard so that Mike will appear. I think Phil is about ready to start a drum solo, but Mike finally comes back and they can begin the song.

There are very few cuts here, and the quality is not bad at all--the only thing that bugs me about this one is the missing introductory story. Other than that, this is a very nice example of an early Lamb show.

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Baltimore '74

1/12/74

1-01 Introdcution (1:50)
1-02 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (4:43)
1-03 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (4:04)
1-04 Broadway Melody of 1974 (ending)/Cuckoo Cocoon (2:49)
1-05 In the Cage (7:02)
1-06 In the Cage(ending)/The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:19)
1-07 The Story of Rael (1:56)
1-08 Back in NYC (5:36)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:10)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:30)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:21)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:44)

2-01 The Story of Rael (3:04)
2-02 Lilywhite Lilith (2:58)
2-03 The Waiting Room (6:14)
2-04 Anyway (3:21)
2-05 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (3:27)
2-06 Lamia (6:52)
2-07 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats/Arrival (4:54)
2-08 The Colony of Slippermen (6:19)
2-09 Ravine (1:33)
2-10 The Light Dies Down on Broadway/Riding the Scree (7:41)
2-11 In the Rapids/It (6:00)
2-12 The Musical Box (12:30)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Fair

Comments: At the Lyric Theater in Baltimore, Maryland. The track times, which are really quite inventive, do not match that of other versions of this show I've seen, but having received the next entry (a better version), I can now confirm this is at least the same recording that other people think is the Baltimore show. It is definitely an early Lamb show, as in Peter's introduction he mentions how the first chunk of the gig will follow the first side of the album--something he stopped talking about as the tour progressed. There are some light scratches on the soundtrack during the story at the beginning of disc two, but they go away once the music starts and don't come back. There is a cut in "The Waiting Room," but due to the nature of the song, it's a bit hard to tell how much has been removed. As he seemed to do many times on this tour, Pete omits a verse from "In the Rapids" which begins with the line "striking out to reach you." There is a cut after "It" to remove the applause before the encore, but when the recording comes back in it is hard to make out Pete's story for "Box." There is some fumbling with the microphone.

The quality here is a little below average, but not awful, and the cuts are very minimal (just the one in TWR, really).

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Baltimore '74 (alternate)

1/12/74

1-01 Introdcution (1:56)
1-02 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:00)
1-03 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (4:47)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:11)
1-05 In the Cage (8:14)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:14)
1-07 The Story of Rael (1:49)
1-08 Back in NYC (5:57)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:34)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:46)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:39)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (6:01)
1-13 The Story of Rael (3:33)
1-14 Lilywhite Lilith (2:57)
1-15 The Waiting Room (5:14)
1-16 Anyway (3:36)
1-17 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (3:01)

2-01 Interlude/Lamia (8:48)
2-02 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:21)
2-03 The Colony of Slippermen (8:42)
2-04 Ravine (1:46)
2-05 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:44)
2-06 Riding the Scree (4:30)
2-07 In the Rapids (2:06)
2-08 It (4:29)
2-09 Intro: Box (2:01)
2-10 The Musical Box (11:16)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: At the Lyric Theater in Baltimore, Maryland. This alternate version of the recording comes from a 3rd generation source. It is clearer and stronger and more speed-correct (slower) than my previous version, and tracked much better. There is no real chatter from the audience and only some very few microphone bumps (most noticeable in the intro to "Box," where there is some fumbling). The cut in "Waiting Room" which was present on the previous version is still here--the volume drops after the cut and has to build back up. This version is divided over the discs differently and the second disc begins just a bit before the first disc cut off. There are better recordings to be had from early in the tour, but this one isn't bad at all.

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The Lamb Lives in NY City

6/12/74

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (6:31)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (1:10)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (3:36)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:14)
1-05 In the Cage (7:29)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:33)
1-07 The Story of Rael (1:50)
1-08 Back in NYC (5:55)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:31)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:41)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:34)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:25)
1-13 The Story of Rael (3:04)
1-14 Lilywhite Lilith (2:58)
1-15 The Waiting Room (6:14)

2-01 Anyway (3:21)
2-02 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:24)
2-03 Improv (1:09)
2-04 Lamia (7:07)
2-05 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (2:50)
2-06 Arrival (1:41)
2-07 The Colony of Slippermen (6:34)
2-08 Ravine (1:37)
2-09 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:37)
2-10 Riding the Scree (4:21)
2-11 In the Rapids (2:05)
2-12 It (4:35)
2-13 The Musical Box (partial)(7:35)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: At the Academy of Music in New York. This is a very early Lamb show which other boot sites rate fairly high. After some consideration I've upped my rating a bit, but I still don't think it's as great as others seem to make out. It's a bit crackly, a tad wavery, has hiss, some breaks, some cuts, and also has a fairly noticeable crunchy noise which comes in and out at random intervals. In my version there was originally a huge hiccup in "Back in NYC," resulting in something like 1:30 of repeated music! However I have repaired that problem. For all of its problems, this is still a pretty good audience recording, and if only the show were complete I might have rated it higher.

At his introduction, Pete says the show is "from the same people who brought you...texas chainsaw massacre." You'll notice that, once again, "Windshield" and "Broadway Melody" have been mistracked. Why this is so difficult for people to figure out, I don't know. For some reason, Pete does not appear to play the flute at all during "Cuckoo Cocoon," which allows one to hear what goes on behind the flute better, but still detracts from the song. Over the course of the gig, the taper sneezes a few times--I've heard many coughs on audience recordings, but few sneezes. Unique! Part of "Crawlers" seems to be played out of key by Tony, confusing Peter so that he begins to sing the notes wrong. Clearly the band were still rusty (in my opinion they didn't get really good at playing the album until around April of '75). Much later in the performance Pete skips a couple of lines of "In the Rapids"--it's not a cut, he just skips over them.

Around the end of what would be the first two sides of the LP, the taper had to flip his or her tape. The first few seconds of "32 Doors" are cut, and there is another cut around halfway through the song. There is a straight drum solo right in the midst of "Waiting Room," which I don't remember having heard on other versions of the song. As it turns out, this is because a power failure occurred which caused all of the band's instruments to lose sound except Phil's drums--he manfully plays on without missing a beat, while a roadie wanders around in the dark of the stage trying to find the fuse box. Once he does, power is restored and the band pick up where they left off (I took this info from the "Interesting Incidents" section of Simon Funnell's invaluable web site). This makes the gig an interesting and unique one. Clearly this was one of those shows from this tour where everything did not go right ;). After "It" ends, the recording cuts big time, and "Box" comes in at the second repeating of the "Play me my song" lines.

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NYC '74 (second night)

7/12/74

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:18)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:32)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:21)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:21)
1-05 In the Cage (8:23)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:08)
1-07 Back in NYC (6:17)
1-08 Hairless Heart (2:33)
1-09 Counting Out Time (4:03)
1-10 The Carpet Crawlers (5:49)
1-11 The Chamber of 32 Doors (6:09)

2-01 The Story of Rael (3:23)
2-02 Lilywhite Lilith/The Waiting Room (ending)(3:08)
2-03 Anyway (3:37)
2-04 The Supernatural Anaesthetist/Interlude (3:53)
2-05 Lamia (7:36)
2-06 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:23)
2-07 The Colony of Slippermen (9:16)
2-08 Ravine (1:41)
2-09 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:51)
2-10 Riding the Scree (partial)(0:21)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: (See my better version of this recording, next entry.) At the Academy of Music in New York, this is the second of two consecutive gigs played in NYC. This one may be worse than the first one when it comes to recording quality. Multiple versions of this gig seem to exist, with varying degrees of completeness; this version seems to match the most complete one, since it gets to "Scree" before cutting off (see Simon's versions of the show on The Movement), but something may be strange about my particular version, since it is missing the entire song "The Waiting Room." The two versions Simon lists both seem to have a complete version of TWR, so I am a bit confused. It's worth it to mention additionally that I had to track this show myself, as the original version I was sent pretty much had each disc as one big track.

Let's talk about the show in detail. The entire recording sounds too slow to me, and not only that but rather sickly as well. I think it seems to slowly alternate between being too slow and being almost the correct speed, back and forth, creating a sickly, not-quite-in-key sound overall. This is a shame, because if the speed problem was sorted out the quality would be rather nice. There is no intro from Pete at the beginning (this is cut from the recording), and the first Rael story break, which should come after "Grand Parade," has been edited out. The guitar comes in a bit late during the bridge of "Counting Out Time," and sounds a bit hesitant. There is a small cut about halfway through "32 Doors." Originally, the last part of the story of Rael was partially repeated on the end of the first disc, but I have removed this. The story on the second disc begins at the cave-in and goes on to the end of the story. Pete says that he is glad to see there are some lamia in the audience.

As I mentioned earlier, all of "The Waiting Room" except the last 8 seconds or so is gone. During "Silent Sorrow," a fan very clearly shouts "We want an encore!" It seems like an inappropriate time to me... It's possible that the end of "Ravine" is slightly clipped, because "Light Dies" seems to cut in very abruptly. Of course, the worst cut in the recording is at the end of the show, because there is no end of the show: twenty seconds into "Scree" the sound cuts out and that's it.

So this show has multiple problems, including the loss of "Waiting Room" which is probably not common to most versions.

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Rael in NYC (upgrade)

7/12/74

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:53)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:26)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:10)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:12)
1-05 In the Cage (7:43)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (4:35)
1-07 Back in NYC (5:43)
1-08 Hairless Heart (2:26)
1-09 Counting Out Time (3:41)
1-10 The Carpet Crawlers (5:25)
1-11 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:39)
1-12 The Story of Rael (3:04)

2-01 Lilywhite Lilith (2:49)
2-02 The Waiting Room (5:34)
2-03 Anyway (3:26)
2-04 The Supernatural Anaesthetist/Interlude (3:32)
2-05 Lamia (7:00)
2-06 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:06)
2-07 The Colony of Slippermen (8:27)
2-08 Ravine (1:45)
2-09 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:34)
2-10 Riding the Scree (partial)(0:19)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: At the Academy of Music in New York. The original bootleg I received exactly matched the track times of Rael in NYC as listed on The Movement. The version listed here is identical except for the last two tracks on disc one, because I patched "32 Doors" and re-tracked the story.

This version is superior to the previous entry in several ways. First of all, the speed sounds correct, not too slow as the other one was, and not wavery. The introductory story and the story told after "Grand Parade" are both here in their entirety, and "Waiting Room" is here. Unfortunately the recording still cuts off at the beginning of "Scree," a real shame. However, as I suggested in my comments for the previous entry, without the speed problem this is actually quite a nice recording. The overall sound is a bit "fuzzy," but quite clear. There is a blowing sound in a few places during the first two songs, but it does not recur after that.

There was a problem which I assume is common to the original Rael in NYC which my first version did not have, involving "Chamber of 32 Doors." Both versions of the song had a small cut a few minutes into the song, but this version had a second cut toward the end which my first version did not. What I have done here is patch in the second missing bit from the first version. I discovered that with my software I have the ability to alter the speed of the audio and managed to do some speed correction to the patched-in passage, though not nearly as expertly as I could have. The patch is quite obvious, but it at least makes the song more complete.

I also fixed the tracking on the end of the first disc, which originally had "32 Doors" divided across two tracks, the track division occurring at the second cut. So this is a unique version of this fairly good early Lamb recording.

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Palace Theatre

8/12/74

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:32) (including introductory story)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:31)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:11)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:17)
1-05 In the Cage (8:10)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (5:57) (including story for side two)
1-07 Back in N.Y.C. (5:57)
1-08 Hairless Heart (2:27)
1-09 Counting Out Time (3:49)
1-10 The Carpet Crawlers (5:36)
1-11 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:55)

2-01 Lilywhite Lilith (5:51) (including story for sides 3 and 4)
2-02 The Waiting Room (5:52)
2-03 Anyway (3:34)
2-04 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (3:38)
2-05 The Lamia (7:07)
2-06 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:24)
2-07 The Colony of Slippermen (8:34)
2-08 Ravine (partial) (0:18)
2-09 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:52)
2-10 Riding the Scree (4:36)
2-11 In the Rapids (2:10)
2-12 It (5:29)

Type/Quality: Audience/Poor-Fair

Comments: Recorded at the Palace Theatre in Providence, Rhode Island. I have multiple versions of this gig and this is the worst one (see below entries for upgrades). This is not the ultimate performance of The Lamb. The sound level is very, very low, and you'll have to crank your volume up really high to hear this one at all. It's transferred from a tape that was missing the encore number "Musical Box" that is usually featured on this bootleg. The end of "It" makes it clear that the band were about to play another song, but then the song ends before the encore begins. However, from what I can tell all of the recordings of this show are missing "Ravine;" the beginning of the song really is there, but it gets cut almost immediately. The recording does at least have the whole story. During the story that Pete tells after "Grand Parade," there is some major feedback that Pete comments upon. The feedback comes back every once in a while, but the sound quality is really not that bad in general--mostly the problem with this recording is its incredibly low volume level. Also the very beginning of a few songs are cut off; we miss the very beginning of the intro story, and the first few seconds of "Chamber of 32 Doors," and "Lilywhite Lilith." The instrumental improvisation at the end of "Supernatural Anaesthetist" is pretty cool.

Providence

8/12/74

1-01 Introduction (0:44)
1-02 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:02)
1-03 Fly on a Windshield (2:28)
1-04 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:09)
1-05 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:13)
1-06 In the Cage (7:52)
1-07 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (2:55)
1-08 The Story of Rael (2:53)
1-09 Back in NYC (5:52)
1-10 Hairless Heart (2:23)
1-11 Counting Out Time (3:44)
1-12 The Carpet Crawlers (5:31)
1-13 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:34)

2-01 The Story of Rael (3:08)
2-02 Lilywhite Lilith (2:33)
2-03 The Waiting Room (5:49)
2-04 Anyway (3:16)
2-05 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (3:35)
2-06 Lamia (6:47)
2-07 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:20)
2-08 The Colony of Slippermen (8:18)
2-09 Ravine (partial) (0:40)
2-10 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:44)
2-11 Riding the Scree (4:10)
2-12 In the Rapids (1:58)
2-13 It (4:37)
2-14 Intro: Box (2:21)
2-15 The Musical Box (10:32)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: This is the identical show as the previous boot, but this one sounds better (see the Hogweed version of this show, two entries down, which is the best version). It almost sounds like it's the very same audience recording, but possibly from an earlier generation and without the loss of volume. Whereas the other boot was missing the beginning of "Lilywhite Lilith," this one is not. It is still missing the beginning of the intro story and the very very opening of "Chamber of 32 Doors." Actually this boot, though it sounds better and actually includes the encore number that was missing on the previous version (as well as having much more of "Ravine," though not all of it), was more incomplete than the above one. It was missing the end of "Slippermen" and a big chunk of "Light Dies Down." I filled in those holes with the corresponding music from the other boot. You'll notice the shift in volume, but I think it flows quite well, if I do say so myself. There is one fixable error on here which I didn't notice at the time of re-burning, so I didn't fix it. The count-in for "Lilith" is repeated due to a hiccup. See below entries for better copies of this.

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Providence Remaster

8/12/74

1-01 Introduction (0:40)
1-02 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:05)
1-03 Fly on a Windshield (2:27)
1-04 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:09)
1-05 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:14)
1-06 In the Cage (7:59)
1-07 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:14)
1-08 The Story of Rael (2:46)
1-09 Back in NYC (5:49)
1-10 Hairless Heart (2:23)
1-11 Counting Out Time (3:44)
1-12 The Carpet Crawlers (5:30)
1-13 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:47)

2-01 Lilywhite Lilith (2:55)
2-02 The Waiting Room (5:47)
2-03 Anyway (3:29)
2-04 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (3:36)
2-05 Lamia (7:01)
2-06 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:24)
2-07 The Colony of Slippermen (8:30)
2-08 Ravine (partial) (0:42)
2-09 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:40)
2-10 Riding the Scree (4:21)
2-11 In the Rapids (2:03)
2-12 It (5:13)
2-13 Intro: Box (2:08)
2-14 The Musical Box (partial)(4:36)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: At the Palace in Providence, this is a remaster of the typically-traded audience material from this date, which has been nicely remastered by this guy I know. He did a nice job--there's some inevitably digital-sounding stuff in the background sometimes, but I found the recording to be remarkably clear for where it must have come from. I heard layers of the music that I don't remember being able to hear before, particularly Phil's vocals, which come out very nicely here. The only unfortunate part of this show is that it came from an inferior, high-generation source, so there are multiple cuts not present in the low-gen, patched-up Hogweed version (next entry). Here, the very opening of "32 Doors," the second story of Rael, the second half of "Ravine," and a good deal of "Musical Box" are all missing. If the Hogweed version did not exist, this would win as my best version of Providence.

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1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:32)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:27)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:10)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:14)
1-05 In the Cage (8:03)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:06)
1-07 The Story of Rael (2:44)
1-08 Back in NYC (5:52)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:23)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:39)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:35)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:52)
1-13 The Story of Rael (3:07)

2-01 Lilywhite Lilith (2:58)
2-02 The Waiting Room (5:48)
2-03 Anyway (3:23)
2-04 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:40)
2-05 Interlude (1:03)
2-06 Lamia (7:02)
2-07 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:27)
2-08 The Colony of Slippermen, a) The Arrival (2:01)
2-09 b) A Visit to the Doktor & c) The Raven (6:33)
2-10 Ravine (2:01)
2-11 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:42)
2-12 Riding the Scree (4:25)
2-13 In the Rapids (2:04)
2-14 It (4:25)
2-15 Intro: Box (2:31)
2-16 The Musical Box (11:40)
2-17 Watcher of the Skies (7:54)

Type/Quality: Audience/Very Good-Good

Comments: The Providence gig has long been seen as one of the better audience recordings from the Lamb tour, but I've never had a really good version of it. Fortunately, as they so often do, the people of Hogweeds have come along and made the definitive version of this recording. Two cuts indigenous to the best versions, one at the beginning of "32 Doors" and one larger one cutting off most of "Ravine," have both been patched seamlessly in this version (using source material from other gigs). Also, unlike any other version of this recording in circulation, this one features both encores played that night--a fairly rare occurrence in any Lamb show. Interestingly, the very beginning of Pete's intro to the concert still seems to be cut off. This is definitely the best version of this show I know of, and is actually among the best examples of an early performance of the Lamb around.

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The Boston Lamb

9/12/74

1-01 The Story of Rael Part 1 (1:20)
1-02 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:16)
1-03 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (4:12)
1-04 Broadway Melody of 1974 (ending)(0:32)
1-05 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:12)
1-06 In the Cage (8:09)
1-07 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:04)
1-08 The Story of Rael Part 2 (2:05)
1-09 Back in NYC (6:12)
1-10 Hairless Heart (2:14)
1-11 Counting Out Time (3:42)
1-12 The Carpet Crawlers (5:41)
1-13 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:48)
1-14 The Story of Rael Part 3 (3:06)

2-01 Lilywhite Lilith (2:52)
2-02 The Waiting Room (6:20)
2-03 Anyway (3:24)
2-04 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (5:19)
2-05 Lamia (7:08)
2-06 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:06)
2-07 The Colony of Slippermen (8:32)
2-08 Ravine (1:53)
2-09 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:39)
2-10 Riding the Scree (4:24)
2-11 In the Rapids (2:07)
2-12 It (4:56)
2-13 Intro: Box (2:37)
2-14 The Musical Box (12:06)
2-15 Old Man River Outro (2:07)

Type/Quality: Audience/Very Good-Good

Comments: At the Music Hall in Boston, this is the Digital Brothers remaster of a very nice audience recording from the day after one of the other memorable audience recordings from this tour (the famous, and much more common, Providence gig). For some reason this recording stayed locked away for a very long time before coming to light, but it's good that it did eventually get released, because it is a good one.

There are two chunks of the recording, one at the beginning of "Crawlers" and one at the interlude section of "Anaesthetist," which have been patched from the Providence recording, but other than that this is all from Boston, and is complete. I felt that the overall sound was quite nice, but suffered a bit from that obviously doctored "digital" type of sound that I imagine I can hear in some remastered recordings.

I admit I was ready to strangle the Digital Brothers for the way they consistently mistrack "Fly" and "Melody," because it causes bootleggers everywhere to perceive the two songs together as just "Fly" and the 30-second "segue" portion as "Broadway Melody" in its entirety--which is just plain wrong. However I saw in the original text notes for this show that they do not really think the two songs are tracked this way--so I don't understand why they always break the tracks up like this!! Why not just follow the album?

Anyway, now that I've gotten that off my chest, two interesting things about this particular performance. One is that at the beginning of "Chamber of 32 Doors," Steve's guitar somehow malfunctions and he cannot play his part. Instead, all we can hear is some flute work from Pete--I'm not sure whether this is usually what he plays and we just usually can't hear it under the guitar, or whether Pete is trying to cover up for the fact that the lead guitar is missing by ad libbing.

The other interesting thing I noticed is that Pete seems to speak in the midst of the improv section of "Supernatural Anaesthetist," which I don't remember having heard before--this is particularly odd as according to the notes this seems to be the part of the song that is plugged from Providence. Hmmm.

You'll see that there is definitely only one encore, since we get to hear the entire closing song in the auditorium after "Box."

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Waterbury '74

12/12/74

1-1 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (6:02)
1-2 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (3:58)
1-3 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:40)
1-4 In the Cage (7:15)
1-5 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:06)
1-6 Back in NYC (7:03)
1-7 Hairless Heart/Counting Out Time (5:26)
1-8 The Carpet Crawlers (5:23)
1-9 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:49)

2-01 Lilywhite Lilith (6:29)
2-02 The Waiting Room (4:52)
2-03 Anyway (3:18)
2-04 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:40)
2-05 Lamia (7:49)
2-06 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:12)
2-07 The Colony of Slippermen (8:03)
2-08 Ravine (1:55)
2-09 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:28)
2-10 Riding the Scree (4:20)
2-11 In the Rapids (2:07)
2-12 It (4:03)
2-13 The Musical Box (13:37)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: (Though I don't consider it an upgrade, I do have the BURP II version of this recording, next entry.) At the Palace Theater (just like the one in Providence!) in Waterbury, Connecticut, this is (unlike other pretenders--see The Lamb Descends on Waterbury) the "real" Waterbury show, and is really quite a nice audience show from early in the Lamb tour. It has its problems, but is an enjoyable show to listen to and the quality is good. There is a small, well-hidden cut in the transition between "Back in NYC" and HH. The audience get annoyed I think at Pete's lengthy final story chunk before "Lilywhite Lilith," and he ends up rushing through a few parts of it. During the interlude linking "Anaesthetist" with "Lamia," a guy starts talking (he may be trying to come onto someone else in the audience). Eventually he shuts up. Pete, unfortunately, cannot be heard at the beginning of "Lamia," and does not start singing until well into the song. This may be due to some technical problem related to the "shower curtain" device that surrounded him during this song. There's a nice crowd reaction for Pete's Slipperman costume, but you can really hear how the outfit interferes with his vocals--also, for whatever reason, Pete neglects to sing certain parts of the song. Before the typical croquet story for "Box," Pete makes an announcement to the crowd asking them not to light up matches or cigarettes.

There are a lot of pops and crackles in the background of this recording, and some inventive tracking on the first disc, but as I said the overall sound is clear and quite detailed, and the audience does not interfere too much. Definitely one of the better audience Lamb shows out there, for quality and completeness. Of course, given the choice, I'd rather hear show from later in the tour, as the band definitely got better at playing the album live.

Simon lists a version of this show with a radio interview tacked on the front--obviously, that is not this version, but I'd hazard a guess that their sources are the same.

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BURP II 03

12/12/74

1-01 Introduction (1:13)
1-02 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (4:52)
1-03 Fly on a Windshield (2:23)
1-04 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:13)
1-05 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:09)
1-06 In the Cage (7:44)
1-07 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (4:04)
1-08 Back in NYC (5:49)
1-09 Hairless Heart (1:53)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:49)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:34)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:46)

2-01 The Story of Rael (3:37)
2-02 Lilywhite Lilith (2:51)
2-03 The Waiting Room (4:57)
2-04 Anyway (3:30)
2-05 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (3:36)
2-06 Lamia (6:54)
2-07 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:24)
2-08 The Colony of Slippermen (7:57)
2-09 Ravine (2:01)
2-10 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:35)
2-11 Riding the Scree (4:19)
2-12 In the Rapids (2:10)
2-13 It (4:54)
2-14 The Musical Box (13:05)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: At the Palace Theater, this is the BURP II remaster of the Waterbury show. If I have multiple versions from the same date, I usually list those from remastering groups last, assuming that they will generally be the best versions. Unfortunately in this case I think the remaster is almost a step backwards from my previous version--it certainly is not an upgrade. True, the pops and crackles mentioned in the previous entry seem to have been avoided or eliminated somewhat in this version. But the overall sound has less depth and clarity than my previous version, and that ghostly, tinny distortion running through the back that is a sure sign of sloppy digital remastering.

The source recordings for both versions are definitely the same. They both have a cut in the transition between "Back in NYC" and "Hairless Heart." The ending bit of "Waiting Room" also sounds like it might be cut, which would help explain why the song is so short. I also heard a speed change at the end of "Light Dies Down on Broadway." It almost sounded like it could have been a patch, but since I couldn't hear the original recording cutting back in later on, it is probably just a momentary tape malfunction. Oddly enough, I did not hear this speed change on my previous version.

All the interesting things about the show which I described in my last entry can be heard here as well: I mentioned the audience getting antsy during Peter's recitation of the second part of the Rael story, but really they are bored with the first bit as well. This kind of reception to his stories is probably one of the reasons why the band has such bad memories of this tour--though the audience can hardly be blamed, since the album had barely been released at this point and they were being subjected to a lot of unfamiliar material.

Still, they seem into the music--there is one fan who lets out a scream at the beginning of every song. The guy who can be heard talking during the "Interlude" section of the show seems to be getting chummy with the nearby fans so he can smoke some of their weed. As mentioned in the previous entry, Peter's microphone malfunctions at the beginning of "Lamia" and he is inaudible for the first several lines.

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Move Over Casanova

15/12/74

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:03)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:29)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:10)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:09)
1-05 In the Cage (7:19)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:24)
1-07 Back in NYC (6:50)
1-08 Hairless Heart (2:25)
1-09 Counting Out Time (3:37)
1-10 The Carpet Crawlers (5:23)
1-11 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:41)
1-12 Lilywhite Lilith (4:36)
1-13 The Waiting Room (5:39)
1-14 Anyway (3:21)
1-15 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (3:38)
1-16 Lamia (6:50)
1-17 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (2:48)

2-1 The Colony of Slippermen (8:09)
2-2 Ravine (1:46)
2-3 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:34)
2-4 Riding the Scree (4:10)
2-5 In the Rapids (2:08)
2-6 It (3:48)
2-7 The Musical Box (13:15)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Fair

Comments: At the Forum in Montreal. "He looks like a greaser!" comments one chatty female fan as Peter begins singing the opening number. There is some chattiness during the show and the quality is not fantastic, but it is fairly detailed and not unenjoyable. There are some gaps/breaks between some songs, but the songs themselves are surprisingly complete. The only song that I noticed being clipped was the encore, which cuts out abruptly a few seconds before the end.

As he did this early in the tour, Peter specifies in his story before "Back in NYC" that "this is the next section of the story." The female fan parrots him. Peter messes up the lyrics of "Lamia" a bit, and skips a verse of lyric in "In the Rapids" (which he did often on this tour, though not every single time). There is a noise that sounds like gunshots after "It." I thought perhaps it was one of those flash powder mishaps I've heard about with the on-stage explosion that signalled the conclusion of the show, but others have theorized it is the sound of fireworks going off in the audience.

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Toronto '74

16/12/74

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:07)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:29)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:12)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:20)
1-05 In the Cage (8:03)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (2:56)
1-07 The Story of Rael (1:29)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:17)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:44)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:35)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:43)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:58)
1-13 The Story of Rael (2:31)
1-14 Lilywhite Lilith (2:57)
1-15 The Waiting Room (5:39)
1-16 Anyway (partial)(0:57)
1-17 Lamia (partial)(3:36)
1-18 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (partial)(0:53)

2-1 The Colony of Slippermen (8:41)
2-2 Ravine (1:36)
2-3 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:45)
2-4 Riding the Scree (4:27)
2-5 In the Rapids (2:14)
2-6 It (4:17)
2-7 The Musical Box (partial)(0:55)
2-8 Watcher of the Skies (7:56)

Type/Quality: Soundboard/Very Good

Comments: At the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. This recording is one of numerous Farm-sourced recordings from this tour to surface in 2007. Whereas most of the Lamb shows taped by the road crew seem to have been made with a backstage microphone, this is one of a few that is a real soundboard. The sound quality is therefore quite nice, though I heard the occasional buzz and perhaps a few pops, probably from the original tapes.

Unfortunately the show is chopped up. As usual the cuts begin a little past halfway in the performance: we get only the beginning minute of "Anyway" before it abruptly cuts off and we jump to the ending verse of "Lamia." Though in Paul Russell's book he notes a complete "Silent Sorrow," this version (which matches the one listed by Simon on The Movement) only has the first minute of the song before the recording once again cuts off, ending the first disc.

The rest of the Lamb performance continues without a cut. Peter omits a few lines from "In the Rapids," as he often did on this tour, especially in the early days. Unfortunately we are left with only the ending minute of "Box," but we do get the complete second encore, "Watcher."

It's always great to have a Lamb soundboard, but this one isn't going to be going on my "best of" list for this tour--too many cuts.

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The Lamb Descends on Waterbury

10/1/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (4:33)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (4:07)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (ending) (0:28)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:05)
1-05 In the Cage (7:41)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (4:01)
1-07 Back in NYC (5:38)
1-08 Hairless Heart (2:22)
1-09 Counting Out Time (3:32)
1-10 The Carpet Crawlers (5:22)
1-11 The Chamber of 32 Doors (6:14)
1-12 Lilywhite Lilith (2:56)
1-13 Waiting Room (5:41)
1-14 Anyway (3:26)*
1-15 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (3:51)*
1-16 Lamia (6:58)
1-17 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:01)

2-01 The Colony of Slippermen (8:10)
2-02 Ravine (1:29)
2-03 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:32)
2-04 Riding the Scree (4:20)
2-05 In the Rapids (2:18)
2-06 It (5:02)
2-07 The Musical Box (10:15)*
Studio Outtakes: August 1974, Headly Grange Studios
2-08 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (1:26)
2-09 The Colony of Slippermen (improvisation) (1:19)
2-10 In the Rapids/It (5:52)
2-11 It (4:57)
2-12 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (1:27)
2-13 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (4:23)
2-14 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:05)
2-15 In the Cage (3:16)
2-16 The Colony of Slippermen (2:10)
2-17 The Colony of Slippermen (2:28)
2-18 The Colony of Slippermen (0:30)
2-19 Fly on a Windshield (11:58)
2-20 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:16)

Type/Quality: Mostly Soundboard (also * Audience and 2-08 to 2-20 Studio)/Very Good-Good (mostly Very Good)

Comments: (I have the Hogweed remaster of the 10/1/75 material below.) This is a very hefty and very impressive bootleg. Unfortunately the venue is shaky. The date is generally accepted as 10/1 and the venue as West Palm Beach Convention Hall. It can be confused with the 11/1 gig in Lakeland, FL. The actual name of the boot suggests that it was originally thought to be from an earlier show played in Waterbury, Connecticut (see Waterbuy '74, above)--but according to some people it may not be from any of those venues, but from the Gusman Auditorium in Miami!

The * tracks are audience recordings from the 8/12/74 Providence show (which I have in many different forms above). The rest of the second disc after the Lamb show is devoted to some really interesting and great quality studio outtakes from the recording sessions for the album. Most of the songs are in very early, non-lyric form and feature some extended jams that sound really excellent. Cooler than the Beatles Anthology. Track 2-9 is a very early form of the "Raven" section of "Slippermen;" it sounds like they're just messing around with it. Very loose and cool. Pete provides some filler vocals (mostly nonsense sounds) on tracks 2-10, 11, 12, and the second half of 2-19. I found 2-19 especially to be a very cool jam; I always wish they had been able to devote more time to this song on the album. For more studio outtakes of this nature see my first and second entries on this page.

Some more brass tacks type of things: there is no introductory story, and most of the piano intro on the first track is not present; it fades up. The last piano note of "Chamber of 32 Doors" and all of the Story of Rael (part 2) up to the Slippermen part are missing; they have been smoothly covered over with audience sound. "Supernatural Anaesthetist" changes to a different recording right in the middle; it's probably shifting back to the actual "Waterbury" source, instead of the Providence recording. So only half of it is actually from Providence, and the improv at the end of "Anaesthetist" here is different than the one on my Providence boots. There is some feedback in parts of "Lamia." The beginning of disc two starts with the very end of "Silent Sorrow" before going into "Slippermen." Part of the end of "Ravine" has probably been cut, and "In the Rapids" is missing its first three notes. The encore number has a whole verse of the opening section very smoothly removed. Pete sings it like this: "All your hearts now seem so / half a world..." If you know the lyrics well, you'll be able to tell what is missing and why it sounds so smooth. This encore comes from the Providence show, but my boot of the Providence show has the complete encore, with all the lyrics.

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1-01 Introduction (1:03)
1-02 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:09)
1-03 Fly on a Windshield (2:37)
1-04 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:12)
1-05 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:12)
1-06 In the Cage (8:03)
1-07 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (2:56)
1-08 The Story of Rael (1:16)
1-09 Back in NYC (5:57)
1-10 Hairless Heart (2:29)
1-11 Counting Out Time (3:50)
1-12 The Carpet Crawlers (5:34)
1-13 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:54)

2-01 The Story of Rael (2:42)
2-02 Lilywhite Lilith (3:01)
2-03 The Waiting Room (5:42)
2-04 Anyway (3:24)
2-05 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:39)
2-06 Interlude (1:13)
2-07 Lamia (7:15)
2-08 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (2:59)
2-09 The Colony of Slippermen (Arrival) (1:44)
2-10 The Colony of Slippermen (6:31)
2-11 Ravine (1:34)
2-12 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:38)
2-13 Riding the Scree (4:27)
2-14 In the Rapids (2:23)
2-15 It (4:59)
2-16 Intro: Box (3:06)
2-17 The Musical Box (11:11)

Type/Quality: Audience-Soundboard/Good-Very Good

Comments: This is the Hogweeds group re-master of the 10/1/75 show, which was probably at the West Palm Beach Convention Center. Unlike other boots of this performance, the missing soundboard bits have not been patched up with audience recordings from the Providence show of December 1974, but from the actual audience recording of 10/1. This makes it probably the first actually complete recording of this performance, which is nice to have. The soundboard parts sound very good, though not excellent--there's some noise and the mixing is not perfect. Most of Pete's Rael stories, the second half of "Anyway" and the first half of "Supernatural Anaesthetist" and the intro for "Musical Box" have been spliced in from the lower quality audience recording, from which you can actually hear crowd members shouting for the song "Fly on a Windshield"--which I find flabbergasting. Not that I think it's a bad song, it's just not one I would have ever thought people would have shouted for. A nice addition on this show compared to my other version is the full stories--my Lamb Descends on Waterbury boot is missing part of the last story, and has no introduction at all.

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From One Fan to All the Others

11/1/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:29)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:41)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:19)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:18)
1-05 In the Cage (8:31)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (4:31)
1-07 Back in NYC (6:16)
1-08 Hairless Heart (2:36)
1-09 Counting Out Time (3:54)
1-10 The Carpet Crawlers (5:44)
1-11 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:53)

2-01 Lilywhite Lilith (6:31)
2-02 The Waiting Room (5:53)
2-03 Anyway (3:26)*
2-04 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (3:43)*
2-05 Lamia (7:20)
2-06 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:22)
2-07 The Colony of Slippermen (8:46)
2-08 Ravine (1:44)
2-09 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:40)
2-10 Riding the Scree (4:36)
2-11 In the Rapids (2:27)
2-12 It (7:32)
2-13 The Musical Box (10:51)*

Type/Quality: Soundboard-Audience/Very Good-Good

Comments: (See my upgrades, next two entries.) Played at the Lakeland Theatre in Lakeland, Florida--all except the * tracks, which are from the Providence show of 8/12/74. This is interesting, and is probably a big part of the reason that the two Florida shows (of 10 and 11 January '75) get confused so much. What I mean is that the normal version of the 10/1/75 show is also patched in exactly the same places with Providence tracks. They're both soundboard tapes, so conceivably the guy taping them ran out of tape at the same place both nights. As far as I can tell, the complete songs that are starred are totally from Providence (unlike the old, non-Hogweed 10/1 show, which actually had the end of "Anaesthetist"). The very beginning of "Lamb" is also from Providence. (According to the evidence of the AS version of this recording, below, at least the ending part of "Waiting Room" has also been patched from another source.) Anyway, the bit that's not from Providence sounds quite good. The sound is a little dull and compresssed, but it's definitely soundboard stuff. Often there is a kind of doppler effect on Pete's voice, which you don't hear in other versions of the show; I'm not sure if it's the recording or an actual effect used during the performance. A good show.

A note: the original bootleg from which this came was not exactly identical to the version I have tracked above. From One Fan to All the Others is actually a rather famous boot that was 3 discs of material. The first disc consisted almost entirely of BBC session material (it also had "Silver Song" and "Going Out to Get You"), and the second disc had two songs from the much-bootlegged radio show at the Rainbow Theatre in October of '73. I have removed all of this material from my version, because I have it in multiple places elsewhere and I just wanted the Lamb show. I have re-tracked the two discs so that the whole first two sides of the album are on the first disc--this makes the music flow much better. I also re-tracked "Fly on a Windshield" and "Broadway Melody," because no one seems to be capable of tracking those songs correctly--they were wrong on the original version.

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Lakeland '75 (AS Version)

11/1/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:08)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:36)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:18)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:16)
1-05 In the Cage (8:21)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:10)
1-07 The Story of Rael, Part 1 (1:15)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:08)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:33)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:49)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:38)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:52)
1-13 The Story of Rael, Part 2 (3:21)
1-14 Lilywhite Lilith (3:01)
1-15 The Waiting Room (incomplete)(4:39)

2-01 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (partial)(1:26)
2-02 Interlude (1:17)
2-03 Lamia (7:15)
2-04 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:10)
2-05 Arrival (2:00)
2-06 The Colony of Slippermen (6:37)
2-07 Ravine (1:49)
2-08 The Light Dies Down on Broadway/Riding the Scree (8:05)
2-09 In the Rapids (2:25)
2-10 It (5:02)
2-11 The Musical Box (incomplete)(10:06)

Type/Quality: Soundboard/Very Good

Comments: (See the even better GASP version of this, next entry.) At the Lakeland Civic Center Concert Hall (or possibly just Lakeland Theater, as I listed it in the previous entry). This version of the Lakeland soundboard material is rated high on Simon's site. It is just the soundboard tapes, with no patches, so there are some cuts due to tape flips. There is also some hiss, a few pops, and the occasional buzz in the background, but nevertheless the sound quality here is a big step up from my previous version. There aren't a whole lot of true soundboard recordings hanging around from the Lamb tour, and this is one of them--a real gem.

The first song starts just a couple of notes in. The recording then continues uninterrupted until about halfway through the show (the end of disc 1, in fact). "Waiting Room" cuts off very abruptly near the end, and the second disc picks up in the ending solo of "Anaesthetist." So the entire song "Anyway" is gone. Something odd happens near the end of "Ravine"--there is a fade-out and it's possible that the recording picks back up a few seconds before it cut off. For some reason "Light Dies Down" and "Scree" have been combined onto one track.

After the regular show ends, the tape continues to roll until Phil has thanked the audience. Then it cuts off and picks back up as Peter is singing the line "this half a world..." near the beginning of "Box."

Too bad about the cuts, but I think it's nice to just hear the soundboard recording without the patches, especially since it sounds so good here.

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Live at Lakeland (GASP 016)

11/1/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:09)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:44)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:20)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:19)
1-05 In the Cage (8:34)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:11)
1-07 The Story of Rael, Part 1 (1:19)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:32)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:22)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:51)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:47)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:58)
1-13 The Story of Rael, Part 2 (3:28)
1-14 Lilywhite Lilith (3:07)
1-15 The Waiting Room (incomplete)(4:42)

2-01 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (partial)(1:30)
2-02 Interlude (1:19)
2-03 Lamia (7:20)
2-04 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:24)
2-05 The Colony of Slippermen (8:46)
2-06 Ravine (1:44)
2-07 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:40)
2-08 Riding the Scree (4:37)
2-09 In the Rapids (2:26)
2-10 It (4:56)
2-11 The Musical Box (incomplete)(10:20)

Type/Quality: Soundboard/Very Good-Excellent

Comments: At the Lakeland Civic Center Concert Hall. This is one of those very satisfying occasions on which I can say with some confidence: "There will never be a better version of this show." GASP's version is pretty much straight from the soundboard tapes--with all the faults but all the excellent sound native to that recording. The faults are the lack of audience ambience and the typical sloppy tape flips of the inattentive and indifferent Genesis road crew. The big gap comes about halfway through the show, and is the same one heard on my previous version: the end of "Waiting Room," all of "Anyway," and a good bit of "Supernatural Anaesthetist" are missing. "Musical Box" comes in as Peter sings "half a world," and there are two breaks in the song.

My previous version had a cut at the very beginning of the first number: this one seems to begin at the beginning of the song, though the volume is at first very low and takes some time to build up. The problem I mention in "Ravine" on my previous entry is not present here. Though it doesn't matter in terms of listening enjoyment, the tracking of songs on this version is more accurate.

There are now a lot of great-sounding soundboard or near-soundboard recordings available from this tour. This one ranks high among them, though the big cuts do hurt it.

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Twilight Alehouse

24/1/75

1 Watcher of the Skies (8:14)
2 Lilywhite Lilith (3:06)
3 The Waiting Room (6:33)
4 Anyway (3:46)
5 It (4:47)
6 The Musical Box (11:21)
7 Twilight Alehouse (7:53)

Type/Quality: Radio (or Soundboard?)/Very Good

Comments: (See next entry.) From the Shrine Auditorium in LA (the same show featured on the first box set). This one was broadcast probably by Dutch radio in exactly this order, with the second encore being played first and the normally unconnected tracks edited neatly together. This version of "It" and this version of "The Musical Box" I also have on two separate CDs in the Compilations section (and on a bootleg called Lamb Stew, below), but those versions came from mp3s that actually sounded quite a bit better. Even though this concert is duplicated in stellar quality on the first box set, it did not include this version of "It," as the box set replaced the live version with an alternate studio take. The box set also didn't have these encore numbers; in fact the only tracks that are identical to box set tracks are 2-4 (for more on why this happened, check out my comments for Odds, Ends, and Instrumentals, in the Compilations section). Whatever overdubs might have been put in them for the production of the Archive (and there were apparently a lot of vocal overdubs) are obviously not on these tracks. My bootleg A Living Story, which is a short radio broadcast from 2/1/77, also entirely reproduces all of these tracks but the last one, and in slightly better quality (this one sounds a little dull and far away compared to it; and this one has a speed problem--see below). As an aside, I really don't understand why, while they were doing all of these overdubs for the box set Lamb show, they didn't fix Pete's obvious lyric mistakes on two different occasions in the song "Anyway." He says "time to meet the fish" instead of "time to meet the chef," and just sort of mutters over the line that should be "enrich the soil." On every version of this performance these errors are duplicated, even on the box set. I don't approve of overdubs, but if you're going to do them, at least fix the mistakes! It does make it easy to tell the Shrine Auditorium "Anyway" apart from other versions, which is always nice.

I believe this version of "Twilight Alehouse" is the BBC recording from 25 September 1972, not the b-side studio recording that was used on the box set. However, this version of the recording is strange. The backing vocals are more audible than normal, and the guitar is almost totally gone. I've decided this recording is only one channel of a stereo recording; you really notice it at the end, because the screaming guitar that would normally fly back and forth between the left and right channels is only intermittently audible; it keeps cutting in and out, as if someone was tapping the mute button on and off on a TV remote. This boot was transferred from a tape, so the tape may have been recorded in such a way that it dropped a channel. The rest of the songs sound normal to me, and quite good. I didn't even notice it until I specifically compared them with the normal speed songs on the box set, but it does appear that these are a little slow.

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Live at Phoenix (GASP 010)

28/1/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:07)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:36)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:12)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:15)
1-05 In the Cage (7:59)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (2:54)
1-07 The Story of Rael (1:52)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:05)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:40)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:36)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:34)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:46)
1-13 The Story of Rael (3:27)
1-14 Lilywhite Lilith (2:55)
1-15 The Waiting Room (4:11)
1-16 The Waiting Room (continued)(1:41)
1-17 Anyway (3:30)
1-18 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:25)

2-1 Interlude/Lamia (8:14)
2-2 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:27)
2-3 The Colony of Slippermen (8:37)
2-4 Ravine (1:33)
2-5 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:46)
2-6 Riding the Scree (4:00)
2-7 In the Rapids (2:24)
2-8 It (4:11)
2-9 The Musical Box (11:18)

Type/Quality: Soundboard/Very Good-Excellent

Comments: At the Civic Plaza Assembly Hall in Phoenix, Arizona. This release from GASP (Genesis Authentic Soundboard Project), made public in late 2007, differs from several other Lamb GASP releases from the same year, in that it is not an open-air microphone (OAM) recording, but an actual soundboard recording! Apparently the Farm archives include both an OAM and a soundboard recording from this night, released doubly as GASP 9 and 10. (I have both, but have only cared to listen to this soundboard version.)

It really is nice to listen to a true soundboard show. Phil's backup vocals are nicely audible and his drums sound pretty sweet. There are a few pops on the soundtrack that will undoubtedly be fixed by some kind of remaster--but this is a pure, untouched transfer of the original tapes. Though other recordings of the period can suffer from some pretty gaping cuts, this one starts as the first song starts and is only missing a small bit of "Waiting Room" due to the tape change. We do miss the story for "Musical Box," but the whole encore is there.

As with a lot of Lamb shows, the performance is not perfect. I think possibly Peter does some over-enthusiastic yowling at the end of "Counting Out Time," as his voice sounds very tired during "Crawlers." He does somehow recover, but at the end of "Slippermen" there seems to be a microphone failure. Peter has trouble recovering his poise after this and seems very off-balance and tentative through the end of "Slippermen," into "Light Dies Down" and "Scree."

After the regular show ends, the tape cuts off and comes back on in the middle of some kind of technical problem. It is resolved shortly and we get the one encore. Nice to have another Lamb board!

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Oslo '75 (GASP 005)

19/2/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (incomplete)(2:08)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:41)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:12)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:16)
1-05 In the Cage (7:56)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:02)
1-07 The Story of Rael (2:05)
1-08 Back in NYC (5:57)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:28)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:50)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:39)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:30)
1-13 The Story of Rael (2:30)
1-14 Lilywhite Lilith (2:59)
1-15 The Waiting Room (6:18)
1-16 Anyway (incomplete)(2:29)

2-1 Lamia (6:47)
2-2 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:06)
2-3 The Colony of Slippermen (8:43)
2-4 Ravine (1:36)
2-5 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:32)
2-6 Riding the Scree (4:38)
2-7 In the Rapids (2:28)
2-8 It (4:21)

Type/Quality: Soundboard/Very Good-Good

Comments: At the Ekeberghallen in Oslo, Norway. This release from GASP (Genesis Authentic Soundboard Project), made public in 2007, is an untouched version of a Farm-sourced open-air microphone recording of a Lamb show made by the Genesis road crew. This may sound really fantastic, but this particular recording (as described by Paul Russell in his book Play Me My Song) is not the best. There are tape problems resulting in crackles and squeaks on a few songs in the recording, several songs are cut, and some light chatter from what sounds like audience members (or local crew) can be heard once or twice.

The crackles are definitely not in every song; some of the more noticeable problems are in "32 Doors," "Waiting Room," and the ending of "Slippermen." The recording starts well into the first song, right near the end of the bridge section. After Peter tells his first story to the audience (which he tells in all English), there is a technical problem involving Nick the roadie, which Peter titles "What's happened to my fucking lead?" "Anyway" is just coming out of its bridge and heading for the last verse when the recording abruptly cuts off, ending the first disc.

Disc two starts a couple of lines into "Lamia," so all of "Supernatural Anaesthetist" and the linking "Interlude" have been cut. There is a break after "Slippermen" and a tiny bit of the ending of that song has probably been clipped.

Clearly this show has its problems, but it is pretty much a soundboard, and the majority of the recording sounds very nice. This gig, the band's first on this tour played in Europe, also has the distinction of being the (in)famous night on which too much explosive was used at the end of "It"--you can hear a huge boom at the conclusion of the show, and the sound of the audience recovering and beginning to cheer (though you can't hear Phil yelling "You're fired!" at the culprit). There were no encores in Oslo that night!

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Copenhagen '75

21/2/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:05)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:40)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:11)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:17)
1-05 In the Cage (8:01)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (4:25)
1-07 Back in NYC (5:58)
1-08 Hairless Heart (2:27)
1-09 Counting Out Time (3:50)
1-10 The Carpet Crawlers (5:38)
1-11 The Chamber of 32 Doors (7:52)
1-12 Lilywhite Lilith (2:40)
1-13 The Waiting Room (7:09)
1-14 Anyway (3:33)
1-15 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (3:50)

2-01 Lamia (7:02)
2-02 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:28)
2-03 The Colony of Slippermen (6:15)
2-04 The Colony of Slippermen (continued)(1:57)
2-05 Ravine (1:40)
2-06 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (beginning)(0:04)
2-07 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (continued)(3:35)
2-08 Riding the Scree (4:24)
2-09 In the Rapids (2:27)
2-10 It (4:09)
2-11 The Musical Box (incomplete)(12:35)

Type/Quality: Audience/Fair

Comments: At the Falkoner Theatrit in Copenhagen, Denmark. The track times of this show match that of a show labeled as Copenhagen '75 by Halley, who describes the show in such a way that it must be the same one I have. Unfortunately, I traded for this show hoping to receive Simon Funnell's version, which apparently sounds better and has two encores, instead of the single incomplete encore on this version. I can only assume that two different versions are circulating.

This show has multiple problems. The first quarter of the recording is basically ruined by an incredibly annoying high-pitched whine which Halley describes as "tape-run sound." It carries on until around the beginning of "Back in NYC," then pretty much goes away. However, even without that, the sound is still quite muffled, and Halley claims that it runs slow (though I didn't notice it being that bad). There is a small break between the end of the first Rael story and the beginning of "NYC"--probably the tape was switched here, which also explains the loss of the whine--but nothing of the show seems to be missing. There is a similar cut after "Carpet Crawlers" ends; it cuts a little bit into the beginning of "The Chamber of 32 Doors."

Another break/pause can be heard at the transition between "Lilith" and TWR, but again, there is no big loss of music. There is a slightly more considerable cut in "Slippermen" (which strangely enough occurs well after the pointless track break in the middle of the song); it removes the part of the song in which Pete sings "some concern." There is another very small break and cut at the very beginning of "The Light Dies Down," which does in a way explain the track break there. During the second verse of this song, the sound level lowers considerably. It takes it quite a while to creep back up to what it was, if it ever does. Indeed, sound level changes of this kind can be heard from time to time throughout the recording, though this one is probably the worst.

The final problem, as I mentioned earlier, is at the very end of the show. Though Simon's version includes "Watcher of the Skies" as the second encore on this date, this version cuts off abruptly after the line "I've been waiting here for so long" has been sung in "Musical Box." Though the quality could actually be worse, and none of the cuts are very severe, this is still definitely not a particularly good show. A warning to all those looking for this one: try to find out which version your trader has before accepting the trade! Simon's must be better. By which I mean to say: don't take this show from me!

UPDATE: Ironically, I did not listen to my own advice (above) about checking the version on this one. I guess what happened was that after I received this original bad version of the show, I popped it back up on my wish list, but did not make a note to myself that I already had this bad version that needed to be avoided. Thus years later I traded for what is in fact an exactly identical bad version of this show--it seems to be the more commonly-traded version. That lucky Simon Funnell...

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Berlin '75

23/2/75

1-01 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:43)
1-02 The Story of Rael (part 1)(1:29)
1-03 Back in NYC (6:17)
1-04 Hairless Heart (2:38)
1-05 Counting Out Time (4:03)
1-06 The Carpet Crawlers (5:56)
1-07 The Chamber of 32 Doors (6:14)
1-08 The Story of Rael (part 2)(2:36)
1-09 Lilywhite Lilith (3:09)
1-10 The Waiting Room (6:02)
1-11 Anyway (3:43)
1-12 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (4:07)
1-13 Lamia (7:31)

2-1 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats/Arrival (5:54)
2-2 The Colony of Slippermen (7:08)
2-3 Intro: Box (3:16)
2-4 The Musical Box (12:45)
2-5 Watcher of the Skies (8:56)

Type/Quality: Audience/Very Good-Good

Comments: At the Eissporthalle (or Eishalle, or Duetschlandhalle) in Berlin, this is clearly a very incomplete show. Technically it begins during the closing quiet section of "In the Cage," which is sometimes interpreted as being the beginning of "Grand Parade." The quality really knocked me out--it sounds great for an audience recording, at times almost like a soundboard. Unfortunately in "Waiting Room" there is a scratchy distortion which builds up until the recording cuts off: when it picks back up, an indeterminate amount of time further into TWR, the distortion is gone. But the distortion returns again slightly during "Slippermen." This does not seem to be a coincidence and may signal that the taper is getting near the end of his tape, since after "Slippermen" the recording cuts again to after the end of the set. Phil thanks the audience and tells them the band will now play an older number, then Peter takes over and tells the story for "Box." Though this recording is missing many songs (it would be a much-prized bootleg from this tour if it were more complete), it does have the rather rare distinction of having both encores, and afterward we even get to hear the "Old Man River" canned exit music.

Though Genesis would later return to Germany in early April of this year for some great bootlegged performances, this gig was one half of a very small two-night run in Germany, the first of the tour, and Peter does not seem to have prepared for it by learning any German. Instead, he simply tells the stories very slowly with lots of pauses and hopes the audience will understand--there doesn't seem to be much of an audience reaction, so it may have been a vain hope.

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Amsterdam '75 (first night)(Digital Bros.)

24/2/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:20)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (4:44)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (ending)(0:32)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:24)
1-05 In the Cage (8:09)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (ending)(0:57)
1-07 The Story of Rael (part 1)(1:18)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:14)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:35)
1-10 Counting Out Time (4:01)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:52)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (4:10)

2-01 The Story of Rael (part 2)(3:14)
2-02 Lilywhite Lilith (2:51)
2-03 The Waiting Room (7:08)
2-04 Anyway (3:34)
2-05 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (4:26)
2-06 Lamia (5:43)
2-07 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:19)
2-08 The Colony of Slippermen (9:14)
2-09 Ravine (1:57)
2-10 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:42)
2-11 Riding the Scree (4:30)
2-12 In the Rapids (partial)(0:29)
2-13 It (4:40)
2-14 Intro: Box (1:40)
2-15 The Musical Box (11:41)

Type/Quality: Audience/Very Good-Good

Comments: At the Carre Hotel in Amsterdam, Holland, this is a very sweet-sounding remaster by the Digital Brothers which is unfortunately hindered by the number of cuts in the source recording. First of all there is no introduction story from Peter, though at this point in the tour it is possible that he would have told one. Then there is a cut near the very ending seconds of "Cage" which removes almost the entire song "Grand Parade," except for the last minute. Pete, perhaps made nervous by the non-English-speaking crowd, tells his first story section rather haltingly and with little personality. "32 Doors" cuts off a good minute or so before the actual end of the song, and is followed by twenty seconds of silence on the end of the disc.

Disc two begins some little way into Pete's last story chunk, which he tells somewhat better than the first. There is another cut taken out of "Lamia" near the end of that song. Almost the entire song "In the Rapids" is also gone, except about twenty seconds of the ending. Pete's story for "Musical Box" starts a bit in. Interestingly, after "Box" is over you can clearly hear the theatre's exit music, proving conclusively that the band did not play two encores that night.

The big cuts really hurt this show, because otherwise I would have gladly put it on my list of best Genesis bootlegs. The sound quality is fantastic, with only a little of that inevitable digital distortion that seems to come with most remasters. It is very clear and crisp and nice. But the show is basically missing two whole songs, not to mention the chunks taken out of other numbers (plus the Digital Brothers, whoever they are, should be slapped for perpetuating the traditional mis-tracking of "Fly on a Windshield" and "Broadway Melody"). It makes for a nice listen if you are ready for the cuts.

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Cambrai '75

26/2/75

1-01 Introduction (0:26)
1-02 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:10)
1-03 Fly on a Windshield (2:55)
1-04 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:17)
1-05 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:19)
1-06 In the Cage (8:03)
1-07 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:01)
1-08 The Story of Rael (part 1)(1:31)
1-09 Back in NYC (6:08)
1-10 Hairless Heart (2:40)
1-11 Counting Out Time (3:52)
1-12 The Carpet Crawlers (5:43)
1-13 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:42)

2-01 The Story of Rael (part 2)(3:15)
2-02 Lilywhite Lilith (3:02)
2-03 The Waiting Room (7:19)
2-04 Anyway (3:28)
2-05 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:31)
2-06 Interlude (1:25)
2-07 Lamia (7:07)
2-08 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:04)
2-09 The Colony of Slippermen (intro)(2:20)
2-10 The Colony of Slippermen (6:24)
2-11 Ravine (1:50)
2-12 The Light Dies Down on Broadway/Riding the Scree/In the Rapids (beginning)(8:09)
2-13 It (ending only)(1:55)
2-14 Intro: Box (1:57)
2-15 The Musical Box (10:50)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: At the Palais des Grottes in Cambrai, France. There are several "fake" versions of this show circulating, but according to Simon and (I think) Halley, this is the real one. Though not an absolutely perfect show, this is certainly among the best audience Lamb shows out there. A nearly complete show in fairly good quality, and a memorable one at that. Pete starts out in French for most of his intro, but by the last part of the Rael story he's almost totally in English. In fact, in the second part of the story the audience starts clapping in time and eventually Pete just gives up and they go to the music. I believe this may be the first time I've heard the band do this. The show has one cut, but it is unfortunately quite a large one: "In the Rapids" gets to the opening guitar strains, but fades off, and the recording does not pick up again until a good deal of "It" is past. The rest of the show is complete.

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Colmar '75 (GASP 006)

28/2/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:05)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:47)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:04)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:30)
1-05 In the Cage (7:39)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:26)
1-07 The Story of Rael (part 1)(1:21)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:07)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:45)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:37)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:47)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:40)
1-13 The Story of Rael (part 2)(4:46)
1-14 Lilywhite Lilith (ending)(0:52)
1-15 The Waiting Room (4:10)
1-16 The Waiting Room (continued)(2:00)
1-17 Anyway (3:29)
1-18 The Supernatural Anaesthetist/Interlude (beginning)(2:47)

2-1 Interlude/Lamia (8:20)
2-2 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:03)
2-3 The Colony of Slippermen (8:44)
2-4 Ravine (1:44)
2-5 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:35)
2-6 Riding the Scree (4:32)
2-7 In the Rapids (2:26)
2-8 It (4:09)
2-9 The Musical Box (incomplete)(9:32)

Type/Quality: Soundboard/Very Good

Comments: At the Salle (or Parc?) des Expositions in Colmar, France. This release from GASP (Genesis Authentic Soundboard Project), made public in 2007, is an untouched version of a Farm-sourced open-air microphone recording of a Lamb show made by the Genesis road crew. OAM recordings are technically not the same as multi-track recordings from the board (a la Shrine Auditorium), but are still very good and provide nice audience ambience which straight soundboard recordings sorely lack. This one matches the description of the recording by Paul Russell in his book Play Me My Song. The quality is quite nice and the show is almost complete, adding a nice gem to the collection of available recordings for this tour.

The recording starts a few seconds into the piano intro for the title track. There is a rather loud bit of feedback near the end of the song. Peter's first story section features some French, but there is very little French to be heard in the second bit of story. Phil, as is typical, is compared to the slippermen. There are technical problems after the story featuring Tony and Jeff (Geoff?) the roadie in a familiar skit that Peter calls "What has happened to my fucking mellotron?" Phil provides a swinging drum beat that never quite turns into a solo.

Unfortunately the taper decides to turn off at this point and does not start the recording again until near the end of "Lilith"--this is the only real cut in the main show, but it's a big one. There is some very cool flute work from Peter in "Waiting Room." There is also a pointless break and track edit in the middle of the song. The first disc fades off a few seconds into the "Interlude;" the second disc fades in at what is probably around the same point. I'm not sure why the discs are broken up this way--perhaps this is where the overlapping recordings overlapped. Peter has an odd memory lapse in "Slippermen" and forgets several lines of lyric. After "It," the recording cuts a few minutes into "Box," not long before the "Just a little bit more time" line--the song continues to its end with no other cuts.

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Dijon '75 (GASP 007)

1/3/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (4:42)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:59)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:19)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:21)
1-05 In the Cage (8:28)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:09)
1-07 The Story of Rael (part 1)(1:46)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:18)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:38)
1-10 Counting Out Time (4:01)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:54)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:57)
1-13 The Story of Rael (part 2)(3:22)
1-14 Lilywhite Lilith (3:02)
1-15 The Waiting Room (incomplete)(3:16)

2-01 The Waiting Room (continued)(3:32)
2-02 Anyway (3:33)
2-03 The Supernatural Anaesthetist/Interlude/Lamia (11:29)
2-04 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:25)
2-05 The Colony of Slippermen (9:11)
2-06 Ravine (1:57)
2-07 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:42)
2-08 Riding the Scree (4:28)
2-09 In the Rapids (2:32)
2-10 It (4:21)
2-11 The Musical Box (ending)(2:47)
2-12 Watcher of the Skies (incomplete)(6:00)

Type/Quality: Soundboard/Very Good

Comments: At the Palais des Sports in Dijon. This release from GASP (Genesis Authentic Soundboard Project) was made public in 2007 along with a few other shows from this tour (see above entry, for instance!). This open-air mic recording (OAM), made by the road crew, is among the better ones available, because it does not have many cuts or tape problems and it includes at least parts of both of the encores. It also has a fairly good mix in which Phil's backing vocals are very audible.

Most of the piano intro for the first song is missing, but everything else is complete up to the end of the first disc, when the recording ends abruptly about halfway through "Waiting Room" (when the driving riff is just coming in). The second disc begins after the tape change, a little further into "Waiting Room." The rest of the regular show then plays without interruption. After "It," we cut directly to the closing section of "Box." Then I was excited to hear the rare second encore of "Watcher" begin. It gets up to the "Now your thoughts turn to the skies" line, then cuts off.

It's great that these OAM Lamb shows have come to light, though somehow I find that they seem to lack punch--maybe my expectations are too high.

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Paris '75

3/3/75

1-01 Introduction (1:49)
1-02 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:06)
1-03 Fly on a Windshield (3:00)
1-04 Broadway Melody of 1974 (1:50)
1-05 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:52)
1-06 In the Cage (7:46)
1-07 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (5:03)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:12)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:53)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:25)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:59)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:53)
1-13 The Story of Rael (part 2)(3:26)
1-14 Lilywhite Lilith (3:05)
1-15 The Waiting Room (6:52)
1-16 Anyway (3:42)

2-01 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (4:35)
2-02 Lamia (5:56)
2-03 Lamia (ending)(1:36)
2-04 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:29)
2-05 The Colony of Slippermen (8:50)
2-06 Ravine (1:41)
2-07 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:19)
2-08 Riding the Scree (4:29)
2-09 In the Rapids (2:38)
2-10 It (4:13)
2-11 Watcher of the Skies (5:52)
2-12 The Musical Box (12:33)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: At the Porte de Versailles in Paris, France, this version of this show is sometimes misdated as 27 May 1975 in St. Etienne. Also I should warn you first off that on two of the stereos I tried this on, I experienced varying levels of crackles running through the whole recording. By varying I mean that on the same stereo I could listen to the same passage, and one time it would be kind of crackly, and the next time it could be even worse. It was very strange. But on my computer it plays without crackles and is in fact not a bad audience recording for this tour.

As for the show itself: it takes Pete a while to start "Grand Parade," and the band have to go into a holding pattern for a while before he jumps in. There is a small cut in "Counting Out Time" which removes part of the bridge and the beginning of the last verse. "32 Doors," as on many recordings from this tour, fades in, and some of the beginning seconds are missing. There is also at least one very slick cut in the middle of the song, removing one of the "I need someone to believe in, someone to trust" lines without hardly missing a beat--I had to listen to it over to make sure there was even a cut.

Pete tells the second part of the story very well--since he's in France, he uses some French. Unusually, Michael Rutherford is compared to the slipperman rather than Phil or Steve. The beginning of "Slippermen," the "Arrival" section, fades in, but it doesn't seem like too much of the improvisation has been cut. There may also be a cut in "Ravine," but as with most instrumentals of this type, it's kind of hard to tell. Technically the beginning of "Light Dies Down" is on the end of the "Ravine" track (also notice the strange tracking of "Lamia," which places the guitar solo at the end on its own track), but by the time Pete starts singing the track has switched over.

Other than the fact that this is a fairly complete and pretty good-sounding recording, it also has the special feature of including both encores--unfortunately, "Watcher" is missing the entire beginning organ solo, fading in just a few seconds before Pete starts singing. It's possible that the story for "Box" is also slightly cut, though I found it difficult to hear Pete at that point.

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Lisbon '75

6/3/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (4:23)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (ending) (1:31)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (1:48)
1-04 In the Cage (6:56)
1-05 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:24)
1-06 The Story of Rael (0:54)
1-07 Back in NYC (6:14)
1-08 Hairless Heart (2:35)
1-09 Counting Out Time (3:47)
1-10 The Carpet Crawlers (5:39)
1-11 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:27)

2-01 The Story of Rael (2:10)
2-02 Lilywhite Lilith (2:51)
2-03 The Waiting Room (6:43)
2-04 Anyway (3:41)
2-05 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:28)
2-06 Interlude (0:54)
2-07 Lamia (7:01)
2-08 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (0:57)
2-09 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (continued)(1:05)
2-10 The Colony of Slippermen (6:37)
2-11 Ravine (partial)(0:30)
2-12 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:03)
2-13 Riding the Scree (4:19)
2-14 In the Rapids (2:20)
2-15 It (incomplete)(2:55)

Type/Quality: Audience/Fair-Good

Comments: At the Pavilhao dos Desportos in Lisbon, Portugal. This version does not match Simon's for track times, but is close enough that it must just be an alternate version. This recording is so cut to pieces that I'm probably going to spend my whole review just describing all of the cuts. The taper clearly was trying to save space by stopping the recording between songs, but anyone with any sense would know that this is one of the worst live shows during which to try that.

The show starts in, as Pete is singing "Early morning Manhattan." There is lots of audience noise for the first few numbers, but it lessens considerably as the show goes on. The speed is also a little unstable, to add to the problems. The end of "Lamb" cuts to the guitar solo for "Fly on a Windshield." The next song, "Cuckoo Cocoon," is entirely cut. "Cage" fades in and is missing the first line or so. There is also a small cut at the end of that song. The first story section starts in, with Peter saying "Now in English," as though he has just finished saying something in Portugese (perhaps). There is also a cut further into the story.

As "Back in NYC" begins, Peter asks the crowd to please "Shhh." A line is cut near the end of "Counting Out Time." "Crawlers" fades in, and Peter screws up the opening verses of the song; it is not the last of his mess-ups that night. "32 Doors" also fades in. By this time the unstable speed is really very unstable, quite sickly. Somehow it seems to recover on the second disc to a certain extent.

Peter gets through the whole second story section, but the crowd really doesn't seem into it--perhaps they just don't understand. "Lilith" fades in, though not much is cut off the beginning. There are also tiny edits between many of the other songs, as I suggested at the beginning. There is a cut in "Silent Sorrow" which forces a track break, and the "Arrival" improv at the front of "Slippermen" has been entirely cut. "Ravine" is just a partial chunk. Pete messes up the opening lines of "Light Dies Down," and the ending bit of that song is cut, going right into "Scree" (which is, by some miracle, complete). The opening of "In the Rapids" is cut. Appropriately, "It" fades out before getting to the end, and there are no encores whatsoever.

This one is a case of bad taping. Even with the speed instability and occasional crowd noise, this could have been a good recording if the taper had just kept the tape running.

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Lamb in Badalona

9/3/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:17)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (4:43)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (ending)(0:36)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:26)
1-05 In the Cage (8:34)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (5:24)
1-07 Back in NYC (6:31)
1-08 Hairless Heart (2:33)
1-09 Counting Out Time (4:04)
1-10 The Carpet Crawlers (5:49)
1-11 The Chamber of 32 Doors (12:09)

2-01 Lilywhite Lilith (3:04)
2-02 The Waiting Room (7:48)
2-03 Anyway (3:31)
2-04 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (4:23)
2-05 Lamia (7:18)
2-06 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:47)
2-07 The Colony of Slippermen (7:58)
2-08 Ravine (1:50)
2-09 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:44)
2-10 Riding the Scree (4:16)
2-11 In the Rapids (2:32)
2-12 It (4:16)
2-13 Watcher of the Skies (7:44)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: At the Nuevo Pabellon Club Juventud in Badalona (or, as we in America would say, Barcelona) Spain. This is a fairly complete recording and it doesn't sound bad. The main thing missing are the stories; actually, Peter's stories are here in the normal places (after "Grand Parade" and after "32 Doors" on the end of the first disc), but they are not from this date. I tracked them down to the more famous and better quality show of 2 May 1975. It's easy to tell because Peter does not try to speak a different language than English and he tells the story in first person, which he really only did very late in the tour, and I think almost exclusively in England. It's true that these versions of the stories are really very well told and easy to hear--possibly the tape was flipped at this point in the show in Badalona, which would account for the splicing.

As for the actual Badalona material: the first disc starts slightly into Tony's piano intro. There are some pops in the opening track but I didn't hear them anywhere else. As usual in audience recordings, the beginning of "32 Doors" is slightly clipped. The band seem to experience feedback problems from time to time. I think there is a cut in the end of the "Arrival" improv--it's kind of hard to tell with these instrumental sections, but there is an abrupt transition in there. Also a disruption in the sound takes the small phrase "there's no" out of an early verse of "Slippermen."

In a rare (possibly unique) occurrence, the band play "Watcher" as seemingly the only encore. It starts the tiniest bit in, so it's always possible the taper did not record the first and more standard encore of "Musical Box." At the end, in a nice touch which makes identifying this recording very easy, Peter says "Gracias Badalona!" (In case you suspect another splice, my track times do match Simon's version from this date.)

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Porte de Versailles '75

17/3/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (7:13)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (5:00)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (ending)(0:34)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:35)
1-05 In the Cage (8:01)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:09)
1-07 The Story of Rael (1:20)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:26)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:49)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:50)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:54)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (6:04)

2-01 The Story of Rael (3:11)
2-02 Lilywhite Lilith (3:04)
2-03 The Waiting Room (8:20)
2-04 Anyway (3:48)
2-05 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (4:36)
2-06 Lamia (7:29)
2-07 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:37)
2-08 The Colony of Slippermen (9:26)
2-09 Ravine (1:49)
2-10 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:50)
2-11 Riding the Scree (4:33)
2-12 In the Rapids (2:44)
2-13 It (3:58)
2-14 Intro: Box (2:57)
2-15 The Musical Box (12:01)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Fair

Comments: Most likely at the Porte de Versailles in Paris, France, though the origins of this boot are a tad questionable, due to the fact that its track times and structure do not match any of the usual versions on display at the Movement, Halley's list, or Meek's list. Of course, they all seem to have exactly the same version. This show is definitely from Paris, as Peter says something like "Hello, Paris" in French at the very beginning, and the audience--when they can be distinctly heard (which is fortunately not often)--also speak in French. Though there are several French Lamb gigs to be had, there seem to be at most three in Paris. Judging by the encores present here and by the fact that the other versions of the 17 March gig complain of a distortion in "Lamia" (which this show also has), I conclude that the date is in fact correct.

Enough of that rubbish. The sound quality here is far away and pretty low. It suffers I believe from a recorder with automatic record levels, so that whenever the performance gets loud, the recorder compensates by making the music even harder to hear. This can be experienced on various audience recordings from the 70s. There is also the faintest trace of waveriness; at least I seemed to detect it while listening to the second half of the first disc. There is a cut and break in the recording which removes one line from one of the choruses of "Lilywhite Lilith." As hinted earlier, during "Lamia" the sound starts breaking up--the louder parts of the song are especially affected, with a kind of static noise chopping up the recording. After the last verse of "It" is sung by Pete, there is a harsh cut and the recording comes back in very shakily and sounding very muffled. During Pete's subsequent story for "Box" there is a lot of inconsiderate yelling by the audience, and after that song ends, the recording fades out to the sound of them all chanting for "The Knife." Unfortunately there is only one encore on this show. However the sound quality really could be worse and there are only two perceivable cuts in the whole thing (one of them very small), so really this is a pretty nice show. It comes from a time in the tour when they were really beginning to play the album well, and I found it an enjoyable performance.

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Annecy '75

22/3/75

1-01 Watcher of the Skies (8:53)
1-02 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:41)
1-03 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (5:08)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:33)
1-05 In the Cage (7:40)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (5:25)
1-07 Back in NYC (6:14)
1-08 Hairless Heart (2:36)
1-09 Counting Out Time (3:46)
1-10 The Carpet Crawlers (4:53)
1-11 The Chamber of 32 Doors (6:08)
1-12 The Story of Rael (3:10)
1-13 Lilywhite Lilith (2:58)
1-14 The Waiting Room (7:21)

2-01 Anyway (3:52)
2-02 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:30)
2-03 Interlude (1:46)
2-04 Lamia (7:08)
2-05 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats/Arrival (beginning)(3:57)
2-06 Arrival (1:51)
2-07 The Colony of Slippermen/Ravine (beginning)(6:08)
2-08 Ravine (1:16)
2-09 The Light Dies Down on Broadway/Riding the Scree (8:05)
2-10 In the Rapids (2:20)
2-11 It (5:27)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: At the Salle D'Expositions in Annecy, France. The first time I listened to this, I thought perhaps this was a unique show in the history of Lamb shows, in that it appears to begin with "Watcher of the Skies," a song which was usually only a rare encore. Every other show from this tour which is in the correct order begins with "Lamb." On a second more careful listen I distinctly heard the recording shift after the end of "Watcher" and before Peter begins his introductory speech to the audience. Given this fact and the evidence of all other recordings, I conclude that this show has been reordered and "Watcher" should really go at the end--if it is from this night's show at all.

With that out of the way, we can examine the rest of the show. There are occasional feedback problems from the band. There is a small cut at the end of "In the Cage;" the quiet ending section of that song is actually placed at the beginning of "Grand Parade." Peter tells the story mostly in French; even so, the audience don't seem to get it when he recounts Rael's sexual exploits, and little laughter is heard. Peter forgets some of the words in "Lamia." There is a small break in the sound as "Silent Sorrow" begins. There is a cut in "Slippermen" just before the "Raven" section begins.

You'll also notice that the second disc has been, shall we say, creatively tracked. It's odd but if you just listen to the whole disc (as you should do anyway) you won't know the difference.

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The Real Last Time

24/3/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (6:33)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (4:01)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (0:29)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:12)
1-05 In the Cage (7:02)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:31)
1-07 Back in NYC (7:18)
1-08 Hairless Heart (2:02)
1-09 Counting Out Time (3:40)
1-10 The Carpet Crawlers (5:22)
1-11 The Chamber of 32 Doors (6:45)
1-12 Lilywhite Lilith (2:48)
1-13 The Waiting Room (6:40)

2-01 Anyway (3:28)
2-02 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:20)
2-03 Lamia (8:26)
2-04 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:36)
2-05 The Colony of Slippermen (8:26)
2-06 Ravine (1:25)
2-07 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:13)
2-08 Riding the Scree (3:57)
2-09 In the Rapids (2:19)
2-10 It (5:16)
2-11 The Musical Box (12:50)
2-12 Watcher of the Skies (7:20)

Type/Quality: Audience/Fair-Good

Comments: I'm not quite sure why this bootleg has been given the title it has. It could be that the phrase refers to the fact that this show, played at the Palasport Parco Rufino in Turin, Italy, was the only Italian show of the Lamb tour--and thus the last Genesis show Italy would see with Peter Gabriel as front man. It may also be a pun off of "Rael." Anyway, Pete tells the intro story in all Italian, but the rest of his stories are in mostly English, with Italian words mixed in when Pete remembers one (he seems to actually know the Italian for "porcupine," of all things). Some weird and incorrect audio clip is played at the very beginning of "Grand Parade"--I suppose they usually used some kind of canned bit during this portion of the song, but somebody put in the wrong tape or something. It's hard to believe that this tour was such a hard time for the band, because I always think the Lamb shows sound terrific, and this one is no exception. Their musicianship shines out on all the jams and instrumental sections here. Unfortunately this recording is not as perfect as it could be. There are multiple cuts and omissions in the second half of "Chamber of 32 Doors." A big chunk is cut from the middle of "Scree." There is also a definite tape problem during the last quarter or so of "Musical Box"--it gets wavery. Probably this is some kind of speed problem, but I'm no good at judging these things. This recording has both encores from the show, but there are cuts in the second encore--a couple that come very close together near the end of "Watcher." I could wish that it was more complete than it is, but it's more complete than some other shows from this tour, and it is a landmark gig.

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Bern '75

29/3/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:11)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:49)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (1:46)
1-04 Broadway Melody of 1974 (ending)(0:36)
1-05 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:24)
1-06 In the Cage (7:36)
1-07 In the Cage (ending)(0:34)
1-08 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:11)
1-09 The Story of Rael (part 1)(1:24)
1-10 Back in NYC (6:15)
1-11 Hairless Heart (2:37)
1-12 Counting Out Time (4:04)
1-13 The Carpet Crawlers (5:50)
1-14 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:49)

2-01 Lilywhite Lilith (2:39)
2-02 The Waiting Room (5:11)
2-03 Anyway (3:34)
2-04 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:44)
2-05 Interlude (1:38)
2-06 Lamia (7:12)
2-07 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:47)
2-08 Arrival (2:22)
2-09 The Colony of Slippermen (6:26)
2-10 Ravine (1:36)
2-11 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:36)
2-12 Riding the Scree (4:21)
2-13 In the Rapids (2:34)
2-14 It (4:44)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: At the Festhalle in Bern, Switzerland. For me and many other collectors, this recording did not exist until late summer of 2007. Now I have it. It's quite a nice quality audience recording, remastered a bit by the Fado brothers. A good addition to the list of available shows for this tour. It suffers a bit from some inventive tracking on the first disc, where a few of the transitional bits of music are on their own tracks, but I've seen worse.

Peter uses some German in his first story section; the second story is totally cut from the recording. The only cuts in the show (apart from the fact that there are no encores--bummer) come at this halfway point in the performance. First we lose the second story section. Then there is a small cut in the middle of "Lilith." Then a rather large portion of the beginning of "The Waiting Room" is cut--a real shame, because it sounds like this was another killer jam from the band.

Another portion of the show I enjoyed was, oddly enough, the "Interlude" that links "Supernatural Anaesthetist" with "Lamia" (and gives Peter time to get into costume). Most of the time this bit of music really felt like a filler, if you know what I mean, but this time I thought it had some nice little flourishes in it, mostly due to Mr. Hackett. A nice show.

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Stuttgart '75

2/4/75

1-1 Broadway Melody of 1974 (partial)(1:22)
1-2 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:28)
1-3 In the Cage/The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (9:11)
1-4 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (ending)(2:20)
1-5 The Story of Rael/Back in NYC/Hairless Heart (10:06)
1-6 Counting Out Time (4:04)
1-7 The Carpet Crawlers (6:01)
1-8 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:53)

2-01 The Story of Rael (part 2)/Lilywhite Lilith (4:01)
2-02 The Waiting Room (9:57)
2-03 Anyway (3:32)
2-04 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:41)
2-05 Lamia (ending)(2:56)
2-06 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats/Arrival (6:10)
2-07 The Colony of Slippermen (6:40)
2-08 Ravine (1:35)
2-09 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:40)
2-10 Riding the Scree (4:18)
2-11 In the Rapids (2:35)
2-12 It (4:06)
2-13 The Musical Box (11:35)
2-14 Watcher of the Skies (8:10)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: At the Killesberghalle in Stuttgart. This is an oddly-tracked and sadly incomplete recording which nevertheless has quite nice sound quality. There are moments, especially during the quieter parts of the performance, of startling clarity. The louder bits can sometimes get a bit indistinct; at times I felt the keyboards were too low, and Peter's stories (both incomplete on the recording) are very hard to make out.

As you can see by a glance at the track list, the recording does not begin until a few songs into the show, near the end of "Broadway Melody." It continues uninterrupted until Peter tells the audience the German word for "porcupine" (possibly the only word of German he used in the story), then the story cuts off and we go to the beginning of "Back in NYC." The second story doesn't get very far in--about a minute--before it, too, cuts off, and we go to the beginning of "Lilith."

I thought the "Evil Jam" was pretty cool here, with an unusual rhythm from Phil--the band certainly take their time about it. At the end of "Supernatural Anaesthetist," the recording jumps to the end of "Lamia"--a rather nasty cut. There is also a small break and cut right at the beginning of "In the Rapids." There is an extended break after "It" and we miss the story for "Musical Box," though the whole song is present.

As a rare treat, we get to hear the second encore, "Watcher of the Skies." The song fades in partway through the organ intro, and there is a short buzz in the middle of the song.

There really is some nice sound on here, and it's not a bad performance; I probably would have rated it higher if it had been more complete.

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Revelations on Broadway

3/4/75

1-01 Introduction (1:01)
1-02 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (4:58)
1-03 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (4:29)
1-04 Broadway Melody of 1974 (ending)(0:34)
1-05 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:24)
1-06 In the Cage (7:37)
1-07 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:20)
1-08 The Story of Rael (part 1)(1:32)
1-09 Back in NYC (6:03)
1-10 Hairless Heart (2:23)
1-11 Counting Out Time (3:57)
1-12 The Carpet Crawlers (5:39)
1-13 The Chamber of 32 Doors (incomplete)(3:08)

2-01 The Story of Rael (part 2)(4:25)
2-02 Lilywhite Lilith (2:37)
2-03 The Waiting Room (9:07)
2-04 Anyway (3:26)
2-05 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (4:51)
2-06 Lamia (7:02)
2-07 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:49)
2-08 The Colony of Slippermen (7:17)
2-09 Ravine (1:35)
2-10 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:34)
2-11 Riding the Scree (4:14)
2-12 In the Rapids (2:31)
2-13 It (4:01)
2-14 Intro: Box (2:50)
2-15 The Musical Box (10:45)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: (I have a remastered version of this show below.) At the good old Jahrhunderthalle in Frankfurt, this is a nice German Lamb boot. The 6/4 and 7/4 shows, also in Germany, are also fairly good shows from this tour. However, I think this one is better. The bootleg known as Revelations on Broadway is a Highland boot. I'm not absolutely sure this is that bootleg. My confusion is caused by the fact that Halley and Simon's respective boots, both going by this name, do not have matching track times--and neither of their track times match the times on this one! However Pete does tell the intro story of this one in German (for the rest of the stories he resorts mainly to English); and the track times, while not exact, are similar; so I assume this is at least dated correctly.

The sound quality is rather nice, though hissy, and the show is fairly complete. There seems to be a very very small cut in "Hairless Heart." Almost the entire first verse of "32 Doors" is gone--the worst cut. Also a good deal of the end of the "Raven" section of "Slippermen" is gone--the song cuts off just as Pete sings "He walks away and leaves me once again" and goes directly into "Ravine." Also there is that incorrect tracking of "Broadway Melody" which never ceases to irritate me. Other than that we have a nice Lamb show here. I like it.

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There's Always Magic in the Air (PRRPGS001)

3/4/75

1-01 Introduction (1:09)
1-02 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (4:54)
1-03 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (4:50)
1-04 Broadway Melody of 1974 (ending)(0:35)
1-05 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:29)
1-06 In the Cage (7:47)
1-07 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:21)
1-08 The Story of Rael (part 1)(1:37)
1-09 Back in NYC (5:58)
1-10 Hairless Heart (2:29)
1-11 Counting Out Time (4:01)
1-12 The Carpet Crawlers (5:43)
1-13 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:47)
1-14 The Story of Rael (part 2)(4:04)
1-15 Lilywhite Lilith (2:58)
1-16 The Waiting Room (7:38)
1-17 Anyway (3:30)
1-18 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:40)
1-19 Interlude (2:13)

2-01 Lamia (7:13)
2-02 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:44)
2-03 The Colony of Slippermen (8:54)
2-04 Ravine (1:52)
2-05 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:33)
2-06 Riding the Scree (4:15)
2-07 In the Rapids (2:29)
2-08 It (4:05)
2-09 Intro: Box (2:52)
2-10 The Musical Box (11:13)
2-11 Interview w/PG and PC, 28/4/75 (23:10)

Type/Quality: Audience/Very Good-Good

Comments: At the Jahrhunderthalle in Frankfurt, this is a PRRP remaster of one of the better audience recordings from the later part of the Lamb tour. It also includes a nice bonus interview from around the same time. The cuts from the other version are not here--the one in "32 Doors" has definitely been patched from another source. According to my comments on the previous version, there was a cut in "Slippermen," but the song is complete here and has not even been patched. The opening beats of "NYC" are missing, but I think that's the only missing bit.

Ironically, when I requested this show I thought that what I was getting was a remaster of the Dusseldorf gig from a few days later (see next entry), my version of that having always been marred by the fact that it had nasty pauses between tracks that actually chopped into the transitions a little. It's also perfectly nice to have a remaster of this show, but where the irony comes in is that my first version of this show had no problem with pauses, but this one did: the trader I got this from had to remove gaps from his CDs before copying them. The result is almost seamless, but at some transitions if you are listening carefully you will hear a tiny little hitch. Another small problem is that the very beginning of disc 2 has a burst of static on it--I can easily remove this myself before copying.

This is a nice remaster, though, making what was a memorable Lamb recording into one of the best audience shows of the tour. There is still some hiss in the recording (and the volume shifts rather inexplicably from time to time, probably due to the person recording), but the show is now complete and it is a nice performance--particularly "Waiting Room," which is a totally evil version.

And of course we have the interview track. According to the Movement, the interview was by Andy Peebles and was broadcast on Piccadilly Radio. It was definitely recorded around 28 April, because the discussions of the Lamb show center around their performances at Manchester on 27 and 28 April. I like interviews made at the time of the tour, instead of interviews with the band twenty years later, when they can barely remember what they were like back then. Here, we get Peter and Phil talking about how they want the band to be perceived by the press, and Phil talks about the drum training he's had and what his kit consists of. There are also some interesting discussions of their next album and next tour, with no hint of Peter's looming departure.

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The Lamb Lies Down on Dusseldorf

6/4/75

1-01 Introduction (1:00)
1-02 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (4:49)
1-03 Fly on a Windshield (2:53)
1-04 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:13)
1-05 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:26)
1-06 In the Cage (7:43)
1-07 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:14)
1-08 The Story of Rael (1:05)
1-09 Back in NYC (6:20)
1-10 Hairless Heart (2:14)
1-11 Counting Out Time (3:52)
1-12 The Carpet Crawlers (5:33)
1-13 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:40)
1-14 The Story of Rael (3:04)
1-15 Lilywhite Lilith (2:55)
1-16 The Waiting Room (7:58)

2-01 Anyway (3:26)
2-02 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (4:06)
2-03 Lamia (6:54)
2-04 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:39)
2-05 The Colony of Slippermen (8:34)
2-06 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:17)
2-07 Riding the Scree (4:09)
2-08 In the Rapids (2:34)
2-09 It (4:11)
2-10 Intro: Box (2:36)
2-11 The Musical Box (11:29)
2-12 Watcher of the Skies (7:39)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: This is a basically complete Lamb show played at the Philipshalle in Dusseldorf, Germany. Pete tells the whole introductory story in German, but the other bits of story are told in English with occasional German translations. Some of the beginnings of the story tracks seem to be missing. In the "Slippermen" story, Pete compares the Slippermen to keyboardist Tony Banks instead of to Phil Collins (as he usually did). The sound is OK, though sometimes the volume level can get low. There is a short error in "Carpet Crawlers" that may have been caused by a microphone bump, but you don't miss much more than a second of the song, in the middle of one of the many choruses (this momentary loss of sound happens at least twice more over the course of the recording). "Ravine" is missing; that song is always the first to get kicked off the Lamb shows, which I don't really understand (after all, there's also always "Silent Sorrow" and "Hairless Heart," two other simplistic instrumental bits, that could just as easily be dumped). The main problem this recording has was caused by the burning process. I blame the burning software, which on some computers insists on placing a pause between all tracks, whether they need it or not. In this case (and in the case of Hewlett Packard's burning software, which I despise), the pauses are put in at the expense of some of the music--the last second or so of every track is basically gone. I've removed the pauses from this version, but I couldn't put back in the song-ends that were removed. This loss is not noticeable on all the tracks, as many tracks ended after the song was over, so you don't miss anything. Some of them are affected, though: "The Lamb" and "In the Rapids" suffer quite a bit, as does "Carpet Crawlers," all of them because they had abrupt endings that would normally go right up to the end of the track. The transition between "Fly on a Windshield" and "Broadway Melody" is luckily saved by the fact that no one ever seems to know how to separate these tracks correctly (both songs were originally grouped into one track except for the last 30 seconds of "Broadway Melody;" I have fixed that error here). The end of "Cage" is pretty abrupt, as is that of "Lamia." With the other tracks you don't notice the chopped ending as much (some of this has to do with the fact that those songs ended with long held notes, so even with the last second chopped off you still hear the beginning of the ending note). Admittedly, I have more complete and better quality Lamb shows than this one, but I think the performance from this night is above average; the jams and improv sections are good and I like Pete's vocals. Also this show has two encores at the end, somewhat of a rarity in my collection of Lamb shows. During "Waiting Room" it sounds like they play some random bits from a German radio station.

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German Melody of 1975

7/4/75

1-01 Introduction (1:08)
1-02 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:07)
1-03 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (4:52)
1-04 Broadway Melody of 1974 (0:36)
1-05 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:26)
1-06 In the Cage (8:11)
1-07 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:27)
1-08 The Story of Rael (1:35)
1-09 Back in NYC (6:14)
1-10 Hairless Heart (2:34)
1-11 Counting Out Time (4:03)
1-12 The Carpet Crawlers (5:53)
1-13 The Chamber of 32 Doors (partial)(1:41)
1-14 The Story of Rael (incomplete)(3:34)

2-01 Lilywhite Lilith (ending)(1:21)
2-02 The Waiting Room (9:54)
2-03 Anyway (3:40)
2-04 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (4:27)
2-05 Lamia (7:17)
2-06 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:34)
2-07 The Colony of Slippermen (9:01)
2-08 Ravine (1:50)
2-09 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:40)
2-10 Riding the Scree (4:21)
2-11 In the Rapids (2:37)
2-12 It (6:43)
2-13 The Musical Box (11:49)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: (I have the Digital Brothers remaster of this gig directly below.) A Highland boot, from a gig played at the Westfalenhalle 3 in Dortmund, Germany. This is not a bad quality show which is unfortunately a tad marred by a few cuts and a bit of a problem in the volume department. Pete tells the introduction in what I believe is entirely German, but the other bits of the Rael story have less and less German in them, until Pete is basically telling the story in English with a few German phrases thrown in. There's some static in the bridge section of the title track. The sound is really quite good--there's a bit of distortion. The audience isn't chatty. There is a problem with the volume, in that the quiet bits are very, very quiet--I found myself having to turn the volume way high up and then turn it down to normal again for the louder sections. Also, while the taper did a pretty good job, they seemingly did not consider the length of their tape. The recording fades away only one verse and some change into "Chamber of 32 Doors," and it also (for some reason) only gets up to "Ravine" in the last part of the Rael story before cutting off again. It doesn't come back in until the very ending section of Lilith. The recording is complete after that, although there is a small cut in "Box," right near the end of Pete's "now" refrain. If it weren't for the cuts, I'd say this was a pretty great Lamb show--and even with the cuts it's pretty good. They play a nice version of "Waiting Room."

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Digital Lambs in Dortmund

7/4/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (6:15)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (4:53)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (0:29)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:26)
1-05 In the Cage (8:08)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (4:59)
1-07 Back in NYC (6:11)
1-08 Hairless Heart (2:34)
1-09 Counting Out Time (3:54)
1-10 The Carpet Crawlers (5:52)
1-11 The Chamber of 32 Doors (partial)(9:33)
1-12 Lilywhite Lilith (ending)(1:23)
1-13 The Waiting Room (9:48)

2-01 Anyway (3:29)
2-02 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (4:32)
2-03 Lamia (7:12)
2-04 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:30)
2-05 The Colony of Slippermen (8:56)
2-06 Ravine (1:51)
2-07 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:38)
2-08 Riding the Scree/In the Rapids (6:53)
2-09 It (6:38)
2-10 The Musical Box (11:42)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: At the Westfalenhalle 3 in Dortmund, Germany, this is a Digital Brothers remaster of the above entry. It makes for quite a nice Lamb show, though there are a few cuts. The sound is nice and clean, with a bit of digital distortion somewhat evident. The tracking could be more accurate (notice the common mis-tracking of "Windshield" and "Broadway Melody," as well as the combination of "Scree" and "Rapids"). Aside from that, there is the fact that "32 Doors" and "Lilith" suffer from fairly massive cuts (also a small cut in "Box," as mentioned in my previous entry), but this is a problem endemic to the source recording. From time to time the recording will have the slightest jiggle, as though it almost hiccuped or almost skipped. Really though this is a nice improvement over my other version, without the volume problem I mention above; and it makes for a very nice audience show from this tour.

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Hamburg '75

8/4/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (6:14)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (3:08)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:24)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:28)
1-05 In the Cage (8:19)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (5:21)
1-07 Back in NYC (6:28)
1-08 Hairless Heart (2:53)
1-09 Counting Out Time (3:55)
1-10 The Carpet Crawlers (5:35)
1-11 The Chamber of 32 Doors/The Story of Rael (10:28)
1-12 Lilywhite Lilith (3:07)
1-13 The Waiting Room (9:56)
1-14 Anyway (3:55)

2-01 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (4:37)
2-02 Lamia (7:23)
2-03 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats/Arrival (5:18)
2-04 The Colony of Slippermen (6:31)
2-05 Ravine (1:54)
2-06 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:42)
2-07 Riding the Scree (4:28)
2-08 In the Rapids (2:29)
2-09 It (7:56)
2-10 The Musical Box (11:24)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: At the Congress Centrum in Hamburg. I think I have a soft spot for Lamb shows recorded in Germany, as they seem to sound quite nice in general. That perception may have made me rate this a bit higher than it really deserves, but it's still a nice recording.

The introduction from Peter starts low and hissy, but the sound greatly improves. I do think the whole recording is a bit too slow--the track times for the songs all seem to be a bit longer than on other shows, and also the tempo just seems a bit slow. There is some occasional chatter from the audience, but nothing too horrible.

There is a cut in "Carpet Crawlers" which removes the end of a chorus and the first few lines of the second verse. Peter's introductory story used almost all German, but as the stories continue he uses less and less, until by the last story section he is speaking mainly in English with the occasional German words stuck in. Hackett is compared to the slipperman. The band do a nice version of "The Waiting Room," a great showcase of their improvisational skills.

The first disc ends after "Anyway," which I felt was a bad place to end the disc, as usually that song segues directly into "Anaesthetist." But in fact on this night someone screws up, or there is a small technical problem, which makes this a perfect place to end the first disc. What happens is that "Anyway" actually ends, then there is a pause, then some fumbling on the keyboards from Tony, and then the strumming that begins "Anaesthetist" finally starts up.

On the second disc I noticed that Pete was sounding tired--part of this may have just come from the recording being slow, but by this point in the tour he was probably tired also. "Silent Sorrow" cuts off early and jumps into the opening of "Slippermen"--the entire "Arrival" improv is at the end of the "Silent Sorrow" track. I think a tiny bit of the beginning of "In the Rapids" is also cut, as well as the very end of the intro for, and the very beginning notes of, "The Musical Box." The sound gets low during the loud bits of "Box."

As I said at the beginning, another nice German Lamb show.

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Groningen '75

10/4/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (4:48)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (3:00)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:20)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:24)
1-05 In the Cage (8:01)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:09)
1-07 The Story of Rael (1:18)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:13)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:40)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:36)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:54)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:47)
1-13 The Story of Rael (3:46)
1-14 Lilywhite Lilith (2:37)
1-15 The Waiting Room (9:20)
1-16 Anyway (3:37)
1-17 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:31)

2-1 Interlude/Lamia (8:50)
2-2 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:30)
2-3 The Colony of Slippermen (8:50)
2-4 Ravine (1:52)
2-5 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:32)
2-6 Riding the Scree (4:11)
2-7 In the Rapids (2:32)
2-8 It (4:20)
2-9 Intro: Box (partial)(2:04)

Type/Quality: Soundboard/Very Good

Comments: (See my remaster of this recording, next entry.) At the Martinihal-Centrum in Groningen, Holland. I say this is a "soundboard" recording, but really that is just a euphemism. I understand that the roadies recorded this one using open-air microphones situated near the soundboard (I think a similar method was used to get the two very early live shows I have at the beginning of the Trick of the Tail tour). Regardless, this is a great recording of almost the entire show. Missing bits: almost the entire piano intro at the beginning, and the encore(s). We only get part of Peter's story for "Musical Box" before the recording cuts off. There is also a small break and cut in the transition between "Lilywhite Lilith" and "Waiting Room."

One memorable part of the show comes at the very beginning. You can hear Peter begin to sing the first lines, but his singing suddenly cuts off, and resumes a few seconds later. This, apparently, is because he fell flat on his face on the stage! Like a trooper he got right back up and went on with the show (it must have been easier than that time a few years before this when he jumped into the audience and broke his ankle!).

I've always wanted to have a show like this--a soundboard-quality full recording from this point in this tour. If I had any criticism (apart from wanting the encores in there), it would be that Peter's stories are rather lackluster, most likely due to the language barrier. This recording was released by Meeksgenesis at the end of 2006.

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A Blaze of White Light (PRRPGS09)

10/4/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:16)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (4:46)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (ending)(0:35)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:23)
1-05 In the Cage (8:03)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:15)
1-07 The Story of Rael (1:08)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:19)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:24)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:59)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:49)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:55)

2-01 The Story of Rael (3:48)
2-02 Lilywhite Lilith (2:57)
2-03 The Waiting Room (9:14)
2-04 Anyway (3:32)
2-05 The Supernatural Anaesthetist/Interlude (4:27)
2-06 Lamia (7:07)
2-07 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:29)
2-08 The Colony of Slippermen (8:48)
2-09 Ravine (1:56)
2-10 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:33)
2-11 Riding the Scree (4:13)
2-12 In the Rapids (2:33)
2-13 It (5:30)
2-14 Intro: Box (partial)(0:47)

Type/Quality: Soundboard/Very Good

Comments: At the Martinihal-Centrum in Groningen, Holland. I had high hopes for this remaster, just as I had high hopes for the original (above entry). Since what I wanted was a perfect Lamb show, I was disappointed: this one is imperfect from the get-go, with Peter falling on his face and flubbing the opening lines of the first song. The quality is good, but to my ears the improvements over the original are very subtle, and the open-air microphone does not pick up as good a sound as it could: for instance, I thought the drums throughout the show were too low in the mix, sucking a lot of energy out of the performance.

Still, this version has been nicely fixed up. The notes on the PRRP web site mention three patches that had to be made to the original, but I'm not sure what the patch source was. The beginning of the show was one of the patches, and we finally have a full piano intro from Tony. Another patch must have been used to fix the transition between "Lilith" and "The Waiting Room," which originally had a break in it. I don't know where the third patch went, and the remaster notes do not elaborate.

The people at PRRP chose not to patch in a full encore from another source, which I think was the right decision (unfortunately there was no audience recording from this date to use). I understand why they chose to follow the Archive box set tracking for their discs, but it irritates me in the extreme, as one of my particular pet peeves about Lamb tour shows is the constant mis-tracking of "Fly on a Windshield" and "Broadway Melody of 1974." Common sense, people! Use your common sense! Ahem.

So this is not the ultimate Lamb show that I am still looking for, but it's one of the handful that comes close for completeness and quality.

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Rotterdam '75

11/4/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (4:41)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (4:41)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (ending)(0:34)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:33)
1-05 In the Cage (7:44)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:07)
1-07 Back in NYC (5:17)
1-08 Hairless Heart (2:13)
1-09 Counting Out Time (3:52)
1-10 The Carpet Crawlers (5:41)
1-11 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:44)
1-12 Lilywhite Lilith (2:54)
1-13 The Waiting Room (5:54)

2-01 Anyway (3:33)
2-02 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (4:19)
2-03 Lamia (7:00)
2-04 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:31)
2-05 The Colony of Slippermen/Ravine (10:09)
2-06 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:29)
2-07 Riding the Scree (4:12)
2-08 In the Rapids (2:24)
2-09 It (4:09)
2-10 The Musical Box (11:20)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Fair

Comments: At the Ahoy Sportpaleis in Rotterdam, Holland, this is unfortunately not the best version of this particular show. My other version, called Master of Rotterdam, includes the Rael stories, comes from the master tapes, and sounds better (see next entry). This version has the stories edited out in addition to its other problems, not the least of which being an overall muddiness and the fact that it has split second pauses between all tracks (accompanied by a pop, usually).

The recording starts a bit into the piano intro for "Lamb." As I say, the sound is muffled, but for a good deal of the show it could be worse (later on, it becomes so). There are a couple of instances of microphone fumbling during the first song, but after that there is very little noise from that quarter. The last bit of "Back in NYC" is cut; the song ends abruptly during the second "porcupine" section and goes straight into "Hairless Heart." There is some audience talking at the beginning of "Carpet Crawlers." "Waiting Room" is disappointingly and suspiciously short, especially for a show coming at this point in the tour (the next entry has the complete song, which runs a full two minutes longer).

"Silent Sorrow" sounds good; so good that it might be from a different source, though I suppose this is not the case (no one else mentions it). There may or may not be a cut in "Ravine;" the sound changes midway through the song. Starting at "Slippermen," the recording seems to get mushier and more difficult to make out. For the encore, we finally are treated to a story from Pete, but by that time the sound is so bad that it's impossible to make out what he's saying anyway. The next entry is a major upgrade to this gig and definitely the preferable version.

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Master of Rotterdam

11/4/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (4:44)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (3:02)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:16)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:29)
1-05 In the Cage (7:38)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:12)
1-07 The Story of Rael (1:13)
1-08 Back in NYC (5:59)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:23)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:51)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:34)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:33)

2-01 The Story of Rael (2:44)
2-02 Lilywhite Lilith (2:54)
2-03 The Waiting Room (8:19)
2-04 Anyway (3:34)
2-05 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (4:01)
2-06 Lamia (7:01)
2-07 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:20)
2-08 The Colony of Slippermen (8:21)
2-09 Ravine (1:46)
2-10 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:31)
2-11 Riding the Scree (4:13)
2-12 In the Rapids (2:24)
2-13 It (3:58)
2-14 The Musical Box (11:35)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: At the Ahoy Sportpaleis in Rotterdam, Holland, this is the Highland version of this gig, supposedly from the master tapes (hence the snappy title). It is a surprisingly major upgrade to my other version of this show, in that in addition to having the stories and sounding better, it also has much fewer errors and cuts than the other version. "Waiting Room" weighs in at its normal length, instead of the paltry six minutes of the other version, and "Ravine" seems to be at its full length and tracked correctly. The sound does not vary in quality as in the other version, and there do not seem to be any real cuts except in some of the stories. Interestingly, though there seemed to be an incredibly muddy and basically inaudible story for "Box" on my other version, this version does not have the story at all--you simply hear Pete say the title of the song. The second part of the Rael story starts somewhat in, with Pete already on the Supernatural Anaesthetist part. Other than these small cuts, there is very little wrong with this show, and I'd say it easily ranks among the better audience recordings from this tour.

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Brussels '75

12/4/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (6:06)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (1:14)
1-03 Fly on a Windshield (ending)/Broadway Melody of 1974 (3:56)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:34)
1-05 In the Cage (7:54)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:02)
1-07 The Story of Rael (part 1)(2:03)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:10)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:35)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:53)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:35)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:28)
1-13 The Story of Rael (part 2)(4:19)
1-14 Lilywhite Lilith (3:03)
1-15 The Waiting Room (8:56)

2-01 Anyway (3:34)
2-02 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (4:15)
2-03 Lamia (7:12)
2-04 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats/The Colony of Slippermen (intro)(5:05)
2-05 The Colony of Slippermen (6:47)
2-06 Ravine (incomplete)(0:22)
2-07 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:50)
2-08 Riding the Scree (4:15)
2-09 In the Rapids (2:31)
2-10 It (4:17)
2-11 The Musical Box (13:28)
2-12 The Knife (10:12)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Fair

Comments: At the Vorst National (or Forest National) in Brussels, Belgium, this is an OK Lamb boot whose main good point is that it contains a second encore. And not just any second encore, but the rare "Knife," which only occurs on a couple of other recordings of this tour. The sound is unfortunately a bit muddy and rather distant, and my version has tiny split second pauses between each track. Some of the stories are hard to make out. This may be more due to the fact that Pete stays in French for most of his stories here than that the sound is bad. It was rare that Pete told so much of his stories for this tour in another language, but perhaps he was feeling more confident about his French that night.

This boot has an interesting take on the tracking of the second and third songs of the show--usually boots err on the side of putting almost all of "Broadway Melody" on the same track with "Windshield." However this one only has the beginning of "Windshield" on the second track, and puts all of the jam from that song and all of "Broadway Melody" on the third track. I still don't understand why it was so difficult for people to figure out how to track these songs. The very first line of "Crawlers" is missing, but this may be due to Pete missing his cue rather than to a cut. A very little bit of the opening section of "32 Doors" is missing--the song fades in. During the second story of Rael, Pete gets the audience to repeat some phrase--I'm not sure what it is, but it was rare that he got the audience to do any participation in these shows, so it's interesting. "Waiting Room" employs some voices towards the end--whether it is Pete or just a sample from a radio broadcast, I'm not sure. There is possibly a cut in that song--it's much harder to tell with "Waiting Room" though, for obvious reasons. The only big cut is in the much-abused "Ravine," which is missing all but the very beginning. Actually not that much in the way of cuts for one of these shows, and if one can ignore that somewhat sub-par quality, one might be able to enjoy this show.

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Lamb Stew

15/4/75

01 Watcher of the Skies (7:41)
02 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:18)
03 Back in NYC (5:54)
04 Hairless Heart (2:32)
05 Counting Out Time (3:54)
06 The Carpet Crawlers (5:35)
07 Lilywhite Lilith (2:51)*
08 Anyway (3:32)
09 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (partial) (1:17)
10 The Colony of Slippermen (intro) (0:26)
11 Ravine (partial) (0:25)
12 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:29)
13 Riding the Scree (4:22)
14 It (4:14)*
15 The Musical Box (11:33)*

Type/Quality: Radio/Good-Very Good

Comments: This one's a little weird. It comes mostly from the Empire Pool in London. The Empire Pool show was broadcast on the radio many times and mercilessly bootlegged; there are probably dozens of different bootlegs just from this one show, and even so, mine didn't exactly match any of the ones I saw on the boot sites I looked at. It came very close to one version that had the same name as this. So, same name, almost the same track list: therefore probably the same show. The starred tracks also correspond to the tracking of the other version I saw, in that they are all NOT from the Empire Pool, but from the very same Shrine Auditorium show used in the Archive 1 box set (I have multiple copies of these starred songs, both on compilation discs and on the boot Twilight Alehouse). The Shrine tracks are clearly from a different recording and they don't sound quite as good in quality as the other tracks. Quality is generally very good, with various small crackles and pops. As in Twilight Alehouse, this boot begins with the track that was only played as an encore on this tour; I can only assume that this was an encore played at this gig, but it could just as easily be from some totally different show (actually I have since learned that the radio show this was recorded from played it that way--there were several radio broadcasts of this show, but all of them started with "Watcher"). These versions of "Back in NYC" and "Carpet Crawlers" also appear on my Genesis Rarities compilation boot entitled Highly Illegal, though they are better quality here. "Cuckoo" features some particularly interesting variations on the flute line by Pete. Pete generally adopts a very relaxed, laid back sort of vocal style for this show, almost as if he had had a few pints before getting on stage. You'll notice that tracks 10-11 are all very short; for some reason only tiny instrumental clips of these songs were included here, though I've seen other boots from this show with the complete songs. "Ravine" seems to proceed smoothly into "Light Dies Down," so it could be the last 25 seconds of the song. I know this sounds crazy, but "It" has the intro to "Supernatural Anaesthetist" tacked onto its opening. This must have been something whoever created this boot did to eliminate the segue from the actual previous track, "In the Rapids." It also has to do with the fact that the broadcast of the Shrine Auditorium material put "Anyway" right before "It," and "Anyway" would normally have been followed by "Supernatural Anaesthetist." So there you go. Get it?

Musical Box

15/4/75

1 The Musical Box (10:56)*
2 The Knife (9:21)+
3 In the Cage (6:49)
4 Hairless Heart/Counting Out Time (6:28)
5 The Carpet Crawlers (5:41)
6 The Waiting Room (8:50)
7 Anyway (3:33)

Type/Quality: Radio/Good-Very Good

Comments: I received this boot and the above boot in the same shipment, and in listening to the two of them I started to hear some similarities. Though I could find a similar boot on a site to match to Lamb Stew, I could find nothing that corresponded even remotely with this one, and I was at a loss as to the origin of any of these tracks. However, luckily I had accidentally chosen Lamb Stew, which is from exactly the same show as this. I listened very carefully and decided that tracks 4, 5 and 7 of this boot are identical to their counterparts on the above boot. I assume from this that tracks 3 and 6 are also from the Empire Pool show. The quality here is basically comparable--the volume level is higher and sounds fuller, but there are probably more pops and crackles in this one.

The first two tracks both sounded different than the subsequent Lamb tracks; they also both sounded very familiar to me. After extensive searching and listening, I have discovered that * is actually from the same show as my Live in Montreal boot, and + is the very same as on the official Live release of 1973. I have no idea how they ended up on this boot, but there they are. There is some static in "Musical Box," especially in the "Old King Cole" section. There are some clicks near the end of "The Knife," and, as I said before, some minor pops and crackles throughout. I'm fairly certain this one was transferred from vinyl at some point (possibly the above boot as well). "In the Cage" has had its last verse smoothly edited out for some reason. It goes straight from the "raindrops keep falling on my head" refrain to the "keep on turning" refrain, with no apparent hiccups. I doubt the band omitted the verse themselves, so I blame it on the radio station (I've read a theory that this verse was edited out by the station because Pete flubbed the lyrics for that section; this seems quite possible). Another interesting editing problem is the applause--there is applause at the end of almost every track, then the track fades out, and the next track fades in. This fade-out/fade-in occurs even for songs that should go right into one another, like "Counting Out Time" and "Carpet Crawlers." The only songs that actually fade into one another are the ones that absolutely have to: "Hairless Heart" to "Counting Out Time" and "Waiting Room" to "Anyway." I believe that the majority of the track-ending applause has been added after the fact. "Heart" and "Counting" have been grouped onto one track. This version of "Waiting Room" is TOTALLY AWESOME. Truly evil. I also have this very same "Waiting Room" on my compilation disc called Odds, Ends, And Instrumentals, which gives me outside corroboration that my dating this at 15/4/75 is correct.

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Awed Man Out

15/4/75

01 Watcher of the Skies (7:26)
02 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:38)
03 The Story of Rael/Back in NYC (7:35)
04 Hairless Heart/Counting Out Time (6:44)
05 The Carpet Crawlers (5:48)
06 Lilywhite Lilith (2:40)
07 The Waiting Room (9:35)
08 Anyway (3:38)
09 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats/The Colony of Slippermen (Arrival)/Ravine (4:39)
10 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:32)
11 Riding the Scree (4:07)
12 In the Cage (6:46)
13 It (4:18)*

Type/Quality: Radio/Very Good

Comments: Another Empire Pool bootleg. This is better than the previous entries for completeness and quality, but better Empire Pool material is below. This "Lilywhite Lilith" is actually from Empire Pool, not the Shrine (although "It," with the * next to it, is from the 24/1/75 Shrine performance--AGAIN!!). Also we get to hear part of the "Story of Rael," and track 9 has much more to it than the corresponding songs on my previous shows from this night. It's actually an interesting kind of medley, and the instrumentals don't sound bad at all blended together like this. The ordering and the tracking are a bit odd, I'll admit (what the heck is "In the Cage" doing down there!?), but I don't feel like fiddling with this one myself as this is a fairly well-known boot and comes from a radio broadcast that was played basically in this order. The only song this boot is missing from this night that was eventually broadcast on the radio is "Grand Parade." As Lamb tour performances go, this one is quite a bit better than the Shrine Auditorium show IMHO.

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A Perfect Vintage

15/4/75

01 Watcher of the Skies (7:43)
02 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:22)
03 In the Cage (6:46)
04 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (2:50)
05 Back in NYC (6:08)
06 Hairless Heart (2:34)
07 Counting Out Time (3:56)
08 The Carpet Crawlers (5:48)
09 The Waiting Room (6:18)
10 Anyway (3:29)
11 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (1:13)
12 The Colony of Slippermen (Arrival) (1:54)
13 Ravine (1:27)
14 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:31)
15 Riding the Scree (4:15)
16 Back in NYC (censored)(6:03)

Type/Quality: Radio/Very Good-Excellent

Comments: Another Empire Pool bootleg, and not the last!! The majority of this particular incarnation is from pre-radio broadcast media. I thought when I was getting this that it would be the perfect Empire Pool show, but the name is rather misleading. This version has no "Lilywhite Lilith," no story of Rael, and "Waiting Room" has been severley edited. Also my version of this disc had split second pauses between tracks, which totally killed the flow of the music. As on all versions of the Empire Pool show, the last verse of "Cage" has been edited out. Also the keyboard ending section of that song is gone. One curious thing on this disc is the inclusion of a censored version of "Back in NYC," which messes with Peter Gabriel's vocal when he sings "shit" so that it just sort of sounds like he's going "sh-sh-sh." Again, not as perfect as its name implies, but the sound quality is certainly improved.

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The Light Goes Down on Empire

15/4/75

01 Watcher of the Skies (7:45)
02 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:20)
03 In the Cage (7:07)
04 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:19)
05 The Story of Rael (1:33)
06 Back in NYC (6:06)
07 Hairless Heart (2:31)
08 Counting Out Time (4:00)
09 The Carpet Crawlers (5:46)
10 Lilywhite Lilith (2:54)
11 The Waiting Room (9:21)
12 Anyway (3:30)
13 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (1:21)
14 The Colony of Slippermen (Arrival) (1:52)
15 Ravine (1:26)
16 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:32)
17 Riding the Scree (4:29)

Type/Quality: Radio/Very Good-Excellent

Comments: If you're wondering, by the time I got this disc I was in fact quite sick of Empire Pool and all of its works. However, it was my determined intention (thanks to the generosity of Dave Kempler, who basically shamed me into this!) to make a complete version of the Empire Pool broadcast, and this was the only bootleg I knew of which actually included the synth bridge linking "Cage" with "Grand Parade." This disc is definitely the most complete version of Empire Pool out there (besides the audience recording, but we're talking radio here). Its quality is also very, very good, like all the other versions of Empire Pool. This one had a little bit of hiss and some very few pops, but other versions also had these things, and anyway I truly do believe that the sound on this one has more depth and power than A Perfect Vintage, even though that version had less hiss. Anyway, this became the main source for my most perfect version of the Empire Pool performance, below. By which I mean, none of the other Empire Pool discs above, including this one, are worth anything--what you really want is the next one.

I'd also like to say that technically, if they were working off of the song title, this boot should actually be called "The Light Dies Down on Empire," not "Goes Down."

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Type/Quality: Radio/Excellent-Very Good

Comments: Yes, it's Empire Pool again (this is a Coaster Factory release). In making this particular bootleg, with a clever title invented by yours truly, I learned the hard lesson that it's very hard to make the "perfect" version of anything. However, this is the most complete version, with all the broadcasted songs, including the end of "Cage," the beginning of "Parade," the unedited "Waiting Room," and all the other songs. I also tried to put together the best quality version around, but I hit a snag. I assumed Perfect Vintage, which comes at least in part from pre-radio material, was the best source out there, but Vintage was incomplete and my version originally had pauses which I had to remove. The pauses were gone, but some of the track changes were left a little awkward. And of course, there's also the school of thought that says the best show is one that comes almost entirely from the same source. So the obvious answer was to use Light Goes Down, which was the most complete. While it does have more hiss than Vintage, I feel that the sound has more power and depth. However, the problem with this was that Light does have sound problems, most obviously in "Watcher," but also elsewhere. My final solution which resulted in this bootleg was to take Light and replace three of its 17 tracks with the corresponding songs from Vintage. The replaced tracks are the first one, "Watcher," the middle one "Crawlers" and the last, "Scree." The latter two tracks had audible pops in them on Light. Even the Vintage version of "Scree" had audible pops at the very end, which I removed by simply cutting off some of the end applause and fade off (maybe a second of it). I don't believe the Light source had any other problem tracks, and I've listened to this version and it sounds pretty fantastic. The difference in quality between the spliced in tracks and the Light tracks is probably only noticeable if you have a discerning ear and/or if you already know (by reading this) that they have been replaced. I tried to make the transition smooth and I think I did a pretty good job. Anyway, I really think this is the best version out there, unless you have the full soundboard tapes--and you probably don't.

Also, to make this recording even closer to a definitive one, the inimitable David Kempler helped me out by dehissing the thing. This has resulted in a really excellent-sounding recording, flawed only by the audible difference between the inferior pre-FM Vintage tracks and the clearer and more powerful Light Goes Down tracks. Still very good stuff.

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We Are the Lamia of the Pool (PRRP10)

15/4/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:26)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:46)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:18)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:22)
1-05 In the Cage (7:34)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:36)
1-07 The Story of Rael 1 (1:31)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:05)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:39)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:50)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:38)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:52)
1-13 The Story of Rael 2 (2:59)
1-14 Lilywhite Lilith (2:57)
1-15 The Waiting Room (9:20)
1-16 Anyway (3:37)
1-17 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:23)
1-18 Interlude (1:53)

2-01 Lamia (6:56)
2-02 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:18)
2-03 The Colony of Slippermen (8:57)
2-04 Ravine (1:44)
2-05 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:29)
2-06 Riding the Scree (4:06)
2-07 In the Rapids (2:26)
2-08 It (4:30)
2-09 Intro: Box (3:29)
2-10 The Musical Box (11:36)
2-11 Watcher of the Skies (8:01)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: I know what you're thinking. "Another show from the same date! That makes seven! What kind of crack is this guy smoking?!" I know, I know. Several entries above, I speak of being sick of the Empire Pool gig and everything it stands for. Nevertheless, it is a very famous Genesis show because of its many radio appearances, and it really is a fantastic performance of an incredible album. So it is finally nice to have the complete performance, with all the songs and all the stories in the right order (including that last verse of "Cage" that was cut from all the radio versions--for no discernible reason).

Thankfully this is a remarkable audience recording from this tour--it's very rare that you come across a Lamb show that is this complete and in this good quality. Unfortunately, it can never match up to the excellent quality of the many radio broadcasts, but it does very well against other Lamb audience recordings. The only cut I could hear in the whole darn thing was a small interruption at the very beginning of the second Story of Rael (you miss Pete's description of Lilywhite Lilith).

A couple of caveats--there are several versions of this audience recording out there. The two I usually see are the PRRP version and a more generic version, probably untouched-up, from the master. My track times do not match either version, but the track configuration is identical to the PRRP (and the times are pretty close), so I am making a bit of an assumption that this is what I have. Also, my particular copy seems to have suffered from a slightly bad burn somewhere along the line--fortunately it only affects the encores. Both have crackles in the background. Depending on which stereo I play them on and how loudly I play them, I hear the crackles to varying degrees. Since I have seven other radio quality copies of "Watcher," I'm not worried about it too much, but this is a problem that other versions probably don't have.

This is definitely one of those audience shows that you've got to have, even (or perhaps especially) if you already have one of the many radio shows from this gig. This is among the best performances of the album that the band ever did, complete and in nice quality. Highly recommended!

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Southampton '75

16/4/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (4:34)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (beginning)(0:48)
1-03 Intro/Drum Solo (1:30)
1-04 Fly on a Windshield (ending)/Broadway Melody of 1974 (3:39)
1-05 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:15)
1-06 In the Cage (7:06)
1-07 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:33)
1-08 The Story of Rael 1 (1:35)
1-09 Back in NYC (5:46)
1-10 Hairless Heart (2:33)
1-11 Counting Out Time (3:56)
1-12 The Carpet Crawlers (5:28)
1-13 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:28)

2-01 The Story of Rael 2 (4:18)
2-02 Lilywhite Lilith (2:28)
2-03 The Waiting Room (8:49)
2-04 Anyway (3:20)
2-05 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (4:09)
2-06 Lamia (6:45)
2-07 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats/Arrival (5:38)
2-08 The Colony of Slippermen/Ravine (7:46)
2-09 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:25)
2-10 Riding the Scree (partial)(2:47)
2-11 In the Rapids (2:24)
2-12 It (3:46)
2-13 Intro: Box (2:51)
2-14 The Musical Box (10:20)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Fair

Comments: At the Gaumont Theatre in Southampton. I got this boot on the assumption that it would be fairly good sound quality and a pretty complete Lamb show. It lives up to the latter part, but not so much the former. Though you can hear what's going on and even make out Pete's stories and intros fairly well, the sound is very dull all through, and the speed is a bit too fast for the whole show. My version has some unfortunate split second pauses which sound like low pops between all the tracks. There is some mic fumbling in various places, though not particularly annoying or notable except during the second part of the "Story of Rael."

The recording starts a bit into the piano intro of the first track. Something goes wrong right in the middle of "Fly on a Windshield," while Pete is singing. He stops to point out the problem to the audience, adding "Good evening, by the way." He hints facetiously to the audience that they can look forward to many more "highlights" of this type in the show. He gets Phil to do a drum solo which leads very nicely back into "Windshield," a bit after they had stopped the song (they restart it right at the big instrumental jam). The recording and the gig carry on with no particular problems until the end of the first disc. The beginning of the second section of the story is a bit cut--it comes in as Pete is describing Lilywhite Lilith. Pete compares Tony to the slipperman. By this point in the tour he was telling the story pretty well. There is a small break in the second half of "The Waiting Room," which is a great jam very similar to the more famous and better quality version of the night before. The big cut in the recording, and the only really bad one, occurs in "Riding the Scree." The song gets a bit into the opening instrumental section, then subtly crossfades into the part just before Pete starts singing. The song then continues to the end--most of the great keyboard work from Tony is unfortunately gone.

Pete's intro for "Box" is a pretty good one, which is punctuated by not one but two drum rolls from Phil. This isn't a bad Lamb show, but I was expecting slightly better quality. Also I am as always annoyed by people's seeming inability to track this show correctly--what the heck is "Ravine" doing on the end of "Slippermen," anyway?

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Liverpool '75

19/4/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (incomplete)(3:33)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (3:10)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:17)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:24)
1-05 In the Cage (8:00)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:02)
1-07 Back in NYC (6:04)
1-08 Hairless Heart (2:39)
1-09 Counting Out Time (4:01)
1-10 The Carpet Crawlers (5:42)
1-11 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:41)
1-12 Lilywhite Lilith (ending)(0:54)
1-13 The Waiting Room (8:53)

2-01 Anyway (3:49)
2-02 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (4:09)
2-03 Lamia (7:06)
2-04 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:31)
2-05 The Colony of Slippermen (8:49)
2-06 Ravine (1:46)
2-07 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:40)
2-08 Riding the Scree (4:13)
2-09 In the Rapids (2:30)
2-10 It (4:04)
2-11 The Knife (9:24)

Type/Quality: Soundboard/Very Good-Excellent

Comments: At the Empire Theatre in Liverpool. Previous to the release of this recording, there were no audience or soundboard recordings available for this date. So this recording gives us a look at a late Lamb tour soundboard show that has not been heard before. It also--joy of joys--gives us a soundboard quality recording of the rarest number on this tour: "The Knife." Ha ha!

Now for the bad news. As with most soundboard recordings from this tour, this recording suffers from some rather major cuts. You get one right off the bat, since almost the entire first verse of "Lamb" is missing. Unlike some other professionally-taped Lamb shows, this recording omits all of the story sections. Most tapes regularly run out at around the end of "Waiting Room," but this one runs out right after "32 Doors," so we are missing all of "Lilywhite Lilith" except the closing forty seconds or so.

It is actually very fortunate that the cut came early, since it means we get to hear the full performance of "Waiting Room" from that night. As I probably have said several times on this page, this number is one of the most creative, innovative pieces Genesis ever played as a band, and they seem to have tried to outdo themselves for inventiveness every night, especially as the tour wound to a close. This performance is most definitely no exception to that rule: this is a sweet improvisation, with some unusual operatic-sounding samples thrown in.

As he did at random points throughout the tour, Peter skips a few lines of lyric in "In the Rapids." It is likely that the band played a first encore of "Musical Box," since they seem to have done that on most other nights of this tour. If so, it is entirely cut from this recording. Fortunately, as mentioned before, we have a full version of "The Knife," which was only played a handful of times on this tour. It is not the last time the Gabriel band would play it, but it is one of the last times, and it sounds vicious and awesome. After "Knife," there are some random cymbal hits, and a short chunk of the venue's outro music ("Old Man River") before the recording cuts out.

I'd definitely put this show among the must-hears for this tour.

The original version of this show that I was given had a unique tracking error: what should have been the last track on each disc was shifted to track one, with all of the other tracks following in the correct order. The version detailed above is my repaired copy--I just moved the tracks to correct the ordering error.

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1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:04)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:53)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (1:44)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:55)
1-05 In the Cage (8:04)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:22)
1-07 The Story of Rael 1 (2:33)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:03)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:39)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:52)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:40)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:57)
1-13 The Story of Rael 2 (6:56)
1-14 Lilywhite Lilith (2:54)
1-15 The Waiting Room (8:20)

2-01 Anyway (3:43)
2-02 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:35)
2-03 Improv (1:27)
2-04 Lamia (7:06)
2-05 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:19)
2-06 The Colony of Slippermen, a) The Arrival (2:26)
2-07 b) A Visit to the Doktor & c) The Raven (6:31)
2-08 Ravine (1:48)
2-09 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:35)
2-10 Riding the Scree (4:14)
2-11 In the Rapids (2:36)
2-12 It (6:44)
2-13 Intro: Box (3:07)
2-14 The Musical Box (10:59)
2-15 Applause and Play Out (3:58)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: At the Palace Theatre in Manchester. This was the first of two days Genesis played here, both of which were recorded and have been remastered by Hogweeds (I have both--I got the second night, below, first). This one is actually a bit lower in quality than the tape of the next night, in my estimation. There seems to be a bit more talking by the audience, and perhaps the sound is a bit duller. Really the two recordings are very close in quality. They both document excellent performances by the band. This is one month before the tour ended and Pete left the band forever. By this time in the tour the band was quite comfortable playing these numbers and it shows. Pete had also worked on and messed around with the Rael story a lot--unlike earlier shows, by this time he was telling it in the first person, and the story told before "Lilywhite Lilith" is particularly long and detailed, with lots of little gags in it. It's a real pleasure to listen to all the instrumental jams on here. In "Waiting Room" Pete I believe supplies some vocal improvisations near the end. He unfortunately, however, seems to have some kind of mental blockage during "In the Cage." He just can't remember the beginning lyrics, and the intro is extended before he finally starts singing, and he only sings the last couple of lines of the introductory verse. If you listen, you can hear the audience reaction as Pete comes out on stage in his Slipperman costume during the "Arrival" section of "Colony of Slippermen". This is the totally complete recording of this, with even the applause at the end as people cry for a second encore which would never come. Apparently it was fairly standard for the band to do a second encore, but because they had started late this night they did not have time (the venue actually had a curfew). The only bit of this recording that has been patched is part of the beginning of the "Arrival" improv, which is missing due to a tape flip--corresponding music from the next night is spliced in in its place.

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1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:03)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:43)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:17)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:25)
1-05 In the Cage (8:00)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:26)
1-07 The Story of Rael 1 (2:08)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:01)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:35)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:51)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:36)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (6:09)
1-13 The Story of Rael 2 (6:17)
1-14 Lilywhite Lilith (3:01)
1-15 The Waiting Room (8:31)

2-01 Anyway (3:41)
2-02 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:24)
2-03 Improv (1:42)
2-04 Lamia (7:06)
2-05 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:15)
2-06 The Colony of Slippermen, a) The Arrival (2:37)
2-07 b) A Visit to the Doktor & c) The Raven (6:27)
2-08 Ravine (1:44)
2-09 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:34)
2-10 Riding the Scree (4:06)
2-11 In the Rapids (2:29)
2-12 It (6:33)
2-13 Intro: Box (1:28)
2-14 The Musical Box (12:53)
2-15 Watcher of the Skies (8:06)

Type/Quality: Audience/Very Good-Good

Comments: At the Palace Theatre in Manchester. This was the second of two days at that venue, the first already documented in HW02. For this show, the band were able to play two encores, and the taper was able to record them both. Actually on this recording both "It" and "Box" have been replaced by the matching songs from the previous night's performance, as a new tape was used to record them this night and it had problems ("Watcher" still has those problems--it's wavery, so wavery that it's barely listenable). At the beginning of "Box" you can hear the audience talking and the taper coughing. The rest is from 28/4, however, and it sounds absolutely stellar. Peter's vocals seem a bit far away, but the rest of it sounds really excellent, and the performance is awesome--it could be one of those very rare nights where everything actually worked. "Waiting Room" is really particularly rocking--Pete even adds some gibberish vocals to a bit of it. By this time in the tour, about one month before its end, they were pretty comfortable with the material and had more confidence when it came to playing around. As they did later in the tour, apparently, Pete tells the stories in the first person. There is no intro story. Pete's stories are hard to hear, because the vocals are already sort of low in the mix and because his voice gets especially low during these sections. The story before Lilywhite Lilith is very, very long--it could be that Pete was stretching it on purpose to give the rest of the band time to resolve some technical glitch. The end of the first disc actually has the beginning of "Anyway" on it before the fade off. This is really a great show.

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Bristol '75

30/4/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:20)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:49)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:13)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:32)
1-05 In the Cage (7:50)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:05)
1-07 The Story of Rael 1 (2:39)
1-08 Back in NYC (5:18)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:46)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:37)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (4:58)
1-12 The Carpet Crawlers (end)/The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:58)
1-13 The Story of Rael 2 (6:12)
1-14 Lilywhite Lilith (incomplete)(2:18)
1-15 The Waiting Room (8:20)
1-16 Anyway (3:27)

2-01 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:40)
2-02 Interlude/Lamia (8:43)
2-03 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (part 1)(1:17)
2-04 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (part 2)(2:05)
2-05 The Colony of Slippermen (8:29)
2-06 Ravine (1:45)
2-07 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:27)
2-08 Riding the Scree (3:59)
2-09 In the Rapids (2:26)
2-10 It (4:01)
2-11 The Musical Box (12:02)
2-12 Watcher of the Skies (7:55)

Type/Quality: Audience/Fair-Good

Comments: At Colston Hall in Bristol. I was rather disappointed in this boot. I wanted to get it after reading Simon's entry on it on The Movement, wherein he describes it as a "nice recording" and rates it as an "A-"--a very high rating for a non-soundboard Lamb show. Though my track times do not match other people's versions of this show (this one has the odd rarity of starting its second disc with "Supernatural Anaesthetist"), it does match Simon's (and in fact I have reason to believe my copy is only one step removed from Simon's). But my version does NOT sound like an A-. It starts out very muffled and dull, and stays that way through the whole show. The stories are basically indecipherable. The sound is there, but it's not what one could describe as crisp. There are also multiple cuts throughout the recording, which I shall now detail.

There is a small cut in "Back in NYC." There is also a small cut/break right in the last chorus of "Crawlers," which causes the track to shift so that the very ending of that song ends up on the beginning of the "32 Doors" track. There is a large chunk of the middle of "Lilith" gone. After "Lamia," there's a cut into "Silent Sorrow." Then the tape seems to screw up totally and there is a long break, after which the track shifts once again, putting the remainder of "Silent Sorrow" on a separate track. After "It," there is another cut which seems to remove part of the intro for "Box"--I say "seems" because the story is so hard to make out that I'm not sure at what point it's at when the track cuts in. There are other points during the course of the recording where the track dileneations are not quite on--the next song begins slightly before the track changes, etc. I don't see how anyone could grade this an A-. Perhaps Simon's version is of a much lower generation than mine (though see my comments earlier about this). Probably if I hadn't expected a lot more of this boot, I wouldn't have been so disappointed and would have rated it higher (perhaps a "Good-Fair" would be more accurate). It does have the second encore of "Watcher," which is fairly rare for a Lamb boot. Though muddy, it could be worse--but I remain disappointed. Much better are the boots above and below this one, at Manchester and Birmingham.

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1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:13)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:49)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:21)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:36)
1-05 In the Cage (7:51)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:19)
1-07 The Story of Rael 1 (2:19)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:12)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:30)
1-10 Counting Out Time (4:06)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:41)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (6:00)
1-13 The Story of Rael 2 (6:56)
1-14 Lilywhite Lilith (3:03)
1-15 The Waiting Room (8:54)

2-01 Anyway (3:37)
2-02 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:41)
2-03 Improv (1:27)
2-04 Lamia (7:04)
2-05 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (2:54)
2-06 The Colony of Slippermen, a) The Arrival (2:32)
2-07 b) A Visit to the Doktor & c) The Raven (6:25)
2-08 Ravine (1:48)
2-09 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:36)
2-10 Riding the Scree (4:05)
2-11 In the Rapids (2:32)
2-12 It (6:28)
2-13 Intro: Box (1:23)
2-14 The Musical Box (12:46)
2-15 The Knife (9:25)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: At the Hippodrome in Birmingham, this is a show from one of two nights in a row at that venue. The previously released FAde 1 has always been dated as 2 May '75, which logically makes this one the other date of 1 May (though the Hogweed spokesperson mentions in his notes that he has always been rather shaky on the original date and that the two shows could easily have been on the opposite dates). This show is naturally very similar in quality and in set to FAde 1 (even down to the very rare second encore of "The Knife"). The sound is all right, a bit far away. There is hiss and even the occasional bit of static. There's not much talking, but when there is, it's very noticeable. Pete forgets the entire second verse of "In the Cage," and doesn't even mumble to try and cover it up! This suggests to me that it was the first night, but I suppose you never know when you're going to forget lyrics. As in FAde 1's show, Pete tells the Rael story in the first person. Pete and Phil do a lot of wild yelling at the end of "Counting Out Time;" it's great.

Near the end of disc 1, I started to notice some downsides to the sound quality. I was hearing small breaks and possibly some waveriness due to slight tape speed problems. This carries into the beginning of disc 2, I believe. It's not really that bad, but I'm a bit surprised at encountering these kinds of problems in a Hogweed show. They don't sound like burner errors either. Actually upon reading the notes for this show provided by Hogweed, it is explained that these problems, which occur during "Chamber" and "Lilith," are due to pitch drops, and were not repairable. During the Rael story after "Chamber of 32 Doors," some guy in the audience keeps coughing, to my irritation and doubtless to the irritation of the people standing near him--possibly even he was irritated.

The recording fades out after the end of "Lamia," and fades in to "Silent Sorrow," suggesting that perhaps there's a bit of the beginning of that song missing. If so, it can't be much. (Actually, according to the guy from Hogweeds, a good chunk of "Lamia" has been spliced from another show--that of 30 April '75. This show is also used to put in the first few seconds of "Crawlers," which was missing on the master tapes of this recording.) As is usual with Hogweed and FAde releases of Lamb shows, the first disc ends just as "Anyway" begins, then the end of "Waiting Room" is repeated at the beginning of the second disc. This is a pretty good audience show, considering, and certainly worth it for the "Knife" encore. As this comes from later in the tour, there's lots of great improvising, especially in "The Waiting Room," and Pete tells the story well. Glad to have it. And I would also like to once again compliment the Hogweeds people on their excellent album artwork.

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1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:20)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:44)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:19)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:27)
1-05 In the Cage (8:04)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:23)
1-07 The Story of Rael 1 (2:11)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:07)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:36)
1-10 Counting Out Time (4:04)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:48)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:52)
1-13 The Story of Rael 2 (5:58)
1-14 Lilywhite Lilith (3:01)
1-15 The Waiting Room (8:16)

2-01 Anyway (3:37)
2-02 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (4:07)
2-03 Lamia (7:08)
2-04 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:31)
2-05 The Colony of Slippermen (9:20)
2-06 Ravine (1:41)
2-07 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:33)
2-08 Riding the Scree (3:46)
2-09 In the Rapids (2:31)
2-10 It (6:58)
2-11 The Musical Box (13:31)
2-12 The Knife (9:20)

Type/Quality: Audience/Very Good-Good

Comments: The first FAde release (Fan Approved definitive editions), this one covers the second show (or the first! see previous entry) at the Birmingham Hippodrome in the UK. Quality-wise, I'm cutting the FAde boys some slack with my rating. It's really more of a Good than a Very Good. Still, not bad, and a totally complete show, with a very, very rare encore of "The Knife." No, I don't mean that they never played "The Knife" as an encore, don't be silly! Just this tour it was very rare. This could very well be the last time Pete sang "The Knife" with the band until the reunion gig in '82. The introductory story is missing here--most likely it was not told, as seems to have been common late in the tour. The other stories are here, and they are interesting because they are told differently (slightly) than those from earlier in the tour--the biggest difference being that Pete tells them in the first person, as though he actually is Rael, whereas he usually used the third person and referred to Rael as "our hero." The story is told quite well here, I think.

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Wiesbaden '75

12/5/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (4:52)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:35)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:16)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:33)
1-05 In the Cage (7:03)
1-06 In the Cage (conclusion)(0:32)
1-07 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:05)
1-08 The Story of Rael (1:34)
1-09 Back in NYC (5:43)
1-10 Hairless Heart (2:39)
1-11 Counting Out Time (3:30)
1-12 The Carpet Crawlers (5:28)
1-13 The Chamber of 32 Doors (partial)(2:06)
1-14 The Story of Rael (3:25)
1-15 Lilywhite Lilith (3:04)
1-16 The Waiting Room (7:15)

2-01 Anyway (3:28)
2-02 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (3:55)
2-03 Lamia (6:48)
2-04 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:17)
2-05 The Colony of Slippermen, a) Arrival (2:05)
2-06 The Colony of Slippermen, b) and c) (6:00)
2-07 Ravine (1:39)
2-08 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (incomplete)(2:56)
2-09 In the Rapids (2:19)
2-10 It (3:58)
2-11 Intro: Box (2:15)
2-12 The Musical Box (partial)(1:03)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: (See next entry for a better version of this gig.) Played at the Rhein am Main Halle in Wiesbaden, Germany, this recording catches the band later in the Lamb tour, when (band tension or no) they had become damn good at playing what I believe to be their best album. My track times here do not match Simon's version of this show, but having acquired Simon's version I know that they are the same recording. The unfortunate difference between Simon's version and this is that his has the full "Musical Box," whereas mine fades out after a minute.

Here are some other things about this show: The first story Pete tells is a mix of English and German. He starts out trying to tell it all in German, but a loud fan shouts that he can't understand him and Pete translates to English as well. Regardless, the story is very short and actually sounds more like the introduction Pete put before the concert in earlier tour gigs--it only covers Rael's initial entrapment underground, and does not mention his "romantic adventures" or the carpet crawlers. The song "32 Doors" is heavily cut--only a bit more than a third of the song is present. Pete's second story section is lengthier and seems more like the story he usually told. The band do a great evil jam for "Waiting Room."

On the second disc, there is unfortunately another large cut (not even counting the missing nine or so minutes of "Musical Box"); the end of "Light Dies Down" and all of "Riding the Scree" are gone. These rather gaping holes in the recording hurt its value, but the quality is not bad and this is a good performance by the band.

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Wiesbaden '75 (alternate)

12/5/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (4:59)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (2:59)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (1:50)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (3:17)
1-05 In the Cage (7:29)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:54)
1-07 The Story of Rael (1:40)
1-08 Back in NYC (5:59)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:35)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:58)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:50)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (partial)(2:08)
1-13 The Story of Rael (3:47)

2-01 Lilywhite Lilith (3:06)
2-02 The Waiting Room (7:34)
2-03 Anyway (3:34)
2-04 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:23)
2-05 Interlude (1:42)
2-06 Lamia (6:59)
2-07 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:24)
2-08 The Colony of Slippermen (8:30)
2-09 Ravine (1:42)
2-10 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (incomplete)(3:02)
2-11 In the Rapids (2:26)
2-12 It (5:24)
2-13 Intro: Box (part 1)(0:09)
2-14 Intro: Box (part 2)(1:32)
2-15 The Musical Box (10:43)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: At the Rhein am Main Halle in Wiesbaden, Germany. This version of the recording matches Simon's track times, and though its cuts are basically identical to my previous entry, this one has the full "Box" encore, and it is probably lower generation. The sound is more powerful and in listening to them both I decided the speed is probably more correct on this one (it's a bit slower than the other). I think I was a bit generous with the quality rating on the last, because even though I think this one sounds better than the other I was going to rate it a Good-Fair; I will keep them both Good for now.

The stories here are identical to the other version. As I mention in the previous entry, there is an argument among the crowd as to what language Peter should tell the first story section in--there is a very vocal and American-sounding audience member who convinces him to use English, but he tells it primarily in German. "32 Doors" is cut as in the other version. In Peter's second story Tony Banks is compared to the slipperman, a rare variation. Though it is also in the first version of this recording, I did not mention in my first entry that there is a hiccup or repeated portion of music as "Lilywhite Lilith" becomes "Waiting Room." There is the same cut near the very end of "Light Dies" which removes "Scree" entirely--"Rapids" starts a second or two in (which I didn't mention in my first entry but which happens in both versions).

The story for "Box" in both versions is identical, but for some reason in this version the recording appears to cut off right near the beginning--hence the track break which makes the story two tracks in this version. There does not seem to be anything missing from the story. Fortunately (as I said earlier) we have the complete "Musical Box" here. This is probably one of the better examples of a show from very late in the tour.

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Echoes of the Broadway

15/5/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:38)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (4:39)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (0:33)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:28)
1-05 In the Cage (7:54)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:12)
1-07 The Story of Rael (1:17)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:20)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:17)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:54)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:37)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (6:03)

2-01 The Story of Rael (4:12)
2-02 Lilywhite Lilith (2:46)
2-03 The Waiting Room (8:09)
2-04 Anyway (3:28)
2-05 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (4:15)
2-06 Lamia (7:02)
2-07 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:39)
2-08 The Colony of Slippermen (8:27)
2-09 Ravine (1:40)
2-10 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:30)
2-11 Riding the Scree (2:06)
2-12 In the Rapids (2:29)
2-13 It/Intro: Box (7:22)
2-14 Drum Solo (3:36)
2-15 The Musical Box (11:31)

Type/Quality: Audience/Fair

Comments: Played at the Palais des Sports in Rheims, France. (See below for a better version of this gig.) This is a full show, but it has problems. There are lots of low microphone bumps scattered throughout the recording. There is a cut in "Scree" which removes all of the vocals except the last line: "Here I go!" There is a small break in the first story of Rael. Also the entire second disc has periodic speed problems which result in patches of nauseating wavery sound. This is the most unfortunate problem, and while it does not mess up the whole disc, the parts where it does happen are rather hard to listen to. After "It" there is a very loud repeated stomping noise which continues throughout the call for encore and the rigamarole that happens before "Box" is played. It's either the audience stomping in unison or the taper clapping with his microphone in his hand. This is very late in the Lamb tour and features one or two interesting things. As Pete did later in the tour, he provides a kind of screaming vocal improv to part of the "Evil Jam." After the show Pete starts telling the story for "Musical Box" in French (all the stories are told in mainly French, one of the foreign languages Pete had the most command over--still the stories are abbreviated due to his lack of fluency). He gets through it, but then the old Genesis technical bug curse rears its ugly head, and the band is actually forced, after some hemming and hawing, to perform the old drum solo. Not really a "one-handed" one, but a drum solo all the same, with some improv vocals from Pete and possibly a bit of help from other band members. Then the band are finally able to carry on and play the encore. The sound quality is not perfect, but it would have been quite a nice show if not for the speed problems. As it is, it's ok, and I find the appearance of the drum solo this late in the band's career an interesting rarity.

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Rheims '75

15/5/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (5:05)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield (3:02)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (2:18)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:31)
1-05 In the Cage (7:34)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:45)
1-07 The Story of Rael (1:00)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:11)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:34)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:54)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (1:31)
1-12 The Carpet Crawlers (continued)/The Chamber of 32 Doors (intro)(4:45)
1-13 The Chamber of 32 Doors (continued)(5:23)
1-14 The Story of Rael (4:10)

2-01 Lilywhite Lilith (3:06)
2-02 The Waiting Room (8:41)
2-03 Anyway (3:33)
2-04 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:36)
2-05 Interlude (1:44)
2-06 Lamia (7:08)
2-07 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:40)
2-08 The Colony of Slippermen (8:41)
2-09 Ravine (1:51)
2-10 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:36)
2-11 Riding the Scree (cut)(2:11)
2-12 In the Rapids (2:30)
2-13 It (4:11)
2-14 Intro: Box/Drum Solo (7:08)
2-15 The Musical Box (11:18)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Fair

Comments: Played at the Palais des Sports in Rheims, France. When I traded for this show, it was with the hopes that I would receive a recording of the 20 May 1975 gig played in Paris, which I was not even really sure existed. I eventually discovered that this version is simply an alternate version of Echoes of the Broadway (seen above). An easy way to tell, besides comparing the stories (which I have, and they are identical), is the fact that both shows have a very rare "drum solo" (really just a half-hearted improv piece) before the encore. Also both versions have exactly the same cut out of "Scree," removing a huge chunk of the song including all of the lyrics except the last line, "Here I go!" I doubt that a show from 20 May exists.

Be that as it may, however, this version of the 15 May show--while it has its problems--is actually a marked improvement over Echoes of the Broadway. It's better because it does not have the nauseating speed problems of the Highland version. It may also have a better overall sound quality. However, as I said, it does have problems. The sound level is inconsistent, at times shooting down in volume (and, at rarer intervals, shooting up). There is an incredible amount of microphone fumbling and bumps. They don't sound loud, which is odd because usually bumping the microphone covers all of the other sounds on the recording. These bumps almost sound like they're occurring on stage--but this is impossible, because the band just couldn't have produced so many bumps, unless they were all clumsily lumbering around the stage, knocking into microphone stands in the middle of songs. There is a small break/cut in "Crawlers," which presumably is what caused the track break in the middle of the song. Only the smallest bit of about two words is missing from the song. Further senseless tracking occurs at the end of disc one, where the beginning of "32 Doors" is on the end of "Crawlers," and the second story of Rael is inexplicably at the end of the disc--I can't think of another Lamb show which breaks the discs that way.

On to an even dirtier disc two. At the end of "Lilith," the recording fades off. When it fades back up again on track 2, it has started before the fade-off of track 1--creating a small hiccup. "The Waiting Room" is a pretty good version and, as usually happened later in this tour, Pete provides some crazy vocals near the end. Later, during "Lamia," Pete provides some more unfortunate vocals: he messes up the lyrics somewhere around the second verse, and it takes him quite a while to get back on track. (I didn't mention this during my comments on Echoes of the Broadway, but the screw-up is also present on that recording.) At the beginning of "Slippermen," a high-pitched hiss creeps into the recording. By "Ravine," the hiss has turned to a sound more like the snow on a non-receiving television channel. Both sounds are unfortunate. The hiss does seem to subside to an extent, however. As mentioned before, there is the big bad cut in "Scree." Also heard throughout the recording are the odd scratches, added by some burner at some point (probably), and coming usually at track edits or before or after cuts in the recording. There aren't that many of them.

Finally, as described on my entry for Echoes, there is a lot of stomping from the audience after "It," followed by the story for "Box," followed by a short improv number before the band finally play the encore. "Musical Box" has one break/cut in it, right after the third time Pete sings "Play me my song." It cuts out maybe two or three seconds of the song. All in all, though this is not the show I wanted it to be, it's still a fairly good one and I'm glad to have it.

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San Sebastian '75 (AKA Rael is Not Afraid of ETA)

18/5/75

1-01 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (beginning cut)(3:18)
1-02 Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 (4:31)
1-03 Broadway Melody of 1974 (ending)(0:33)
1-04 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:36)
1-05 In the Cage (7:57)
1-06 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:09)
1-07 The Story of Rael (3:01)
1-08 Back in NYC (6:07)
1-09 Hairless Heart (2:52)
1-10 Counting Out Time (3:53)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:45)
1-12 The Chamber of 32 Doors (6:19) (11/4/75?)

2-01 The Story of Rael (4:16)
2-02 Lilywhite Lilith (2:44)
2-03 The Waiting Room (9:14)
2-04 Anyway (3:39)
2-05 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (4:09)
2-06 Lamia (7:19)
2-07 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:10)
2-08 The Colony of Slippermen (9:00) (11/4/75?)
2-09 Ravine (1:40)
2-10 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:42)
2-11 Riding the Scree (4:12)
2-12 In the Rapids (2:39)
2-13 It (4:08)

Type/Quality: Audience/Fair

Comments: At the Velodromo Anoeta in San Sebastian, Spain, this show--a landmark since it seems to be the last extant recording available from the Lamb tour--exists in multiple versions, including a remastered version which Simon rates a modest B+ (and which I have; see next entry). Unfortunately, this version is probably the worst one out there. I was unable to positively identify it with any of Simon's versions, because he does not have track times for all of them to compare against; but the tracking itself definitely matches the version that he calls Rael is Not Afraid of ETA (and do I know what "ETA" stands for? No, other than "Estimated Time of Arrival," which is probably not right in this context). Unfortunately it is this version of the show which Simon claims has spliced songs in it--and I am inclined to believe him. He sets the date for these two replaced songs as 11/4/75--a show in Rotterdam which I have; I haven't sat down and closely compared the tracks, but they are probably not from 18/5/75.

Let's take a trip through the show. The very beginning of the recording features a voice talking--probably at the main microphone, because there's heavy reverb, and probably in Spanish. It may be someone introducing the band, but if so, the recorder subsequently had some kind of problem, because the first song comes in part of the way through the second verse. The sound on this recording is messed up: the vocals are usually very low, some of the louder bits (and even bits that wouldn't normally be loud) are very, very loud, and the sound is scratchy. There is also what seems to be a steadily increasing, terrible hiss which is like a powerful white noise machine. The recording is pockmarked with occasional scratching noises that almost sound like disc errors, but are probably some form of microphone bump. They are particularly bad in the second half of the show (some very bad tracks: "Silent Sorrow," "Light Dies Down," "It"). "Carpet Crawlers" fades out and cuts a little into the beginning of "32 Doors" (which, as mentioned earlier, is probably from a different gig). The first part of the story of Rael, though long, is basically impossible to make out due to the bad quality of the recording. However, the second part on the beginning of the first disc can actually be heard if you listen carefully.

It is fairly easy to recognize the splice of "Slippermen"--there is a cut between the end of "Silent Sorrow" and the beginning of that song, and also the recording stops after "Slippermen" before coming back in with "Ravine." Also at least the opening of "Slippermen" sounds noticeably better than the rest of the disc--though not that much better. Parts of "Ravine" are surprisingly--and unrealistically--loud. There are also some volume fluctuations in "Scree" and "It."

As I said, there are other versions of this recording--the others seem to have the actual "32 Doors" and "Slippermen" from San Sebastian, and at least part of the first encore, "Box." My version cuts out right after "It." Actually I don't think this would prove to be a particularly good show in any of its forms: the source recording just doesn't sound that good, and even the remastered version probably can't do much to add energy to what sounds like a very tired band. Peter's voice doesn't sound so great at this point, and at this point the tensions in the band might not have made for fantastic music-making. Still, this show is valuable if only for the fact that it's probably the last show available from this tour. Later shows claim to exist, but given most information I've seen, they are probably all fake (witness the fake 20/5 show, above this one).

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San Sebastian '75 Remastered

18/5/75

1-01 Intro (0:10)
1-02 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (beginning cut)(3:02)
1-03 Fly on a Windshield (2:47)
1-04 Broadway Melody of 1974 (1:47)
1-05 Cuckoo Cocoon (2:59)
1-06 In the Cage (7:24)
1-07 The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging (3:53)
1-08 The Story of Rael (2:48)
1-09 Back in NYC (6:15)
1-10 Hairless Heart (2:36)
1-11 Counting Out Time (4:05)
1-12 The Carpet Crawlers (5:48)
1-13 The Chamber of 32 Doors (5:45)

2-01 The Story of Rael (3:57)
2-02 Lilywhite Lilith (2:58)
2-03 The Waiting Room (8:58)
2-04 Anyway (3:40)
2-05 The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:26)
2-06 Interlude (1:38)
2-07 Lamia (7:08)
2-08 Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats (3:18)
2-09 The Colony of Slippermen (7:20)
2-10 Ravine (1:39)
2-11 The Light Dies Down on Broadway (3:37)
2-12 Riding the Scree (4:11)
2-13 In the Rapids (2:31)
2-14 It (4:44)
2-15 Intro: Box (1:37)
2-16 The Musical Box (incomplete)(8:12)

Type/Quality: Audience/Fair-Good

Comments: At the Velodromo Anoeta in San Sebastian, Spain. This is the remastered version of the show--it still doesn't sound all that great, but it is much more complete than my previous version, and seems to be without patches from other sources. As suggested by Simon's site, I believe this is the last recording of the band available before Peter's departure.

As in the first version, some indistinct Spanish talking at the beginning cuts suddenly into the middle of the first number. The first story is still very hard to make out (the general quality is very muddy), but it seems that the band may have some slight technical problems. If this is true, they don't last particularly long. "32 Doors" opens as usual but the first few lines of lyric have been cut.

The second story is clearer than the first, and almost entirely in English, not Spanish. There is some very long applause from the audience when Pete compares the slipperman to Steve Hackett. The actual "Slippermen" song cuts off after the "some concern" line and goes straight into "Ravine." "Box" gets through most of the final instrumental passage, but cuts off abruptly before reaching the "She's a lady" section.