By Nick Tate
Photos featured from the book: Armando Gallo – Photographer Journalist
Genesis fans have been treated to a year-long feast for the ears, with the 2025 reissue of “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” (expanded and remastered) and a trio of tribute albums commemorating the double-LP’s 50th anniversary. Now comes a visual companion to those albums — a feast for the eyes to complement those releases.
Armando Gallo’s “Remembering…The Lamb” is a coffee-table book, featuring unpublished photos from three 1975 Genesis performances of the epic album live in California, including the January 24 Shrine Auditorium show in Los Angeles included in the anniversary reissue.
The softcover book contains roughly 100 photos of the “Lamb” shows — Peter Gabriel’s swansong with Genesis — and dozens of backstage images and candid photos of the band. Because the tour was (regrettably) never captured on video, Gallo’s book may be the best visual record of the multi-media “Lamb” shows, which set a new standard for theatrical progressive rock.
“On those unforgettable California nights in January 1975, Peter Gabriel commanded the stage with a magnetic theatricality that made [this] tour legendary,” says Gallo, a veteran journalist, photographer and music writer. “Clad in elaborate costumes and shifting between mesmerizing personas, Gabriel transformed the concert into an immersive theatrical spectacle.”
In addition to the stunning photos — which Gallo shot cinema-verité style, without enhancements, special effects or even lighting, in most cases — “Remembering…The Lamb” also features Gallo’s recollections of meeting Genesis in the 1970s, interviewing Gabriel & Co. during the album’s recording sessions and touring with the band on the first leg of the 1975 “Lamb” tour. Although Gallo published brief accounts of his time with Genesis in an Italian rock periodical some 50 years ago, the new book is the first publication to fully document those sometimes-contentious recording sessions, his interviews with the band and the “Lamb” shows.
Because Genesis manager Tony Smith granted Gallo virtually unfettered access to the band — Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks — Gallo’s book is more than merely a travelogue or tour book. It offers an intimate glimpse of Genesis at the top of its game, almost as if it were produced for close family and friends. Gallo’s insights into the writing, recording and staging of “The Lamb,” based on interviews with the band and his own personal observations (including his track-by-track descriptions of the concerts) give the book an added depth and a host of inside-scoop tidbits that have not been revealed before.
For instance, in an interview with Gabriel — at his countryside home near Bath, England, a month before the album’s release — the Genesis front man revealed that “The Lamb” was initially conceived as single album, then expanded to a double LP. But even the final release contained far less music than the band produced during recording sessions at the legendary Headley Grange in England and Island Studios in Wales.
“We thought we could do everything in 45-50 minutes, which is the maximum for a single album,” Gabriel said, “but the ideas and songs multiplied and in the end we had to cut a lot to reduce it to a double album.”
Other revealing details from Gallo’s interviews with Gabriel and his bandmates:
• Several tracks on the album — including “The Chamber of 32 Doors” and “Lilywhite Lilith” — were written years before, with “Anyway” actually penned in 1968, barely a year after Genesis formed.
• While recording “The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging,” Gabriel invited Brian Eno — who was recording in a nearby studio — to add synthesizer effects to his vocals. “The track was originally instrumental, a kind of march,” he said, “but it has been so altered it sounds like a song by Gilbert O’Sullivan.”
• “The Waiting Room” was conceived live in the studio and was distilled to just a 3-minute track from hours of extended jams. “On tape, we have almost 10 hours of jams and we had to resist a thousand temptations not to include them in the album,” Gabriel said. In a separate interview, Collins recalled the experience of playing the piece for the first time at Headley Grange: “It was raining hard as we were playing the instrumental jam and at the end a rainbow appeared. True!”
• Genesis had flirted with turning the story of “The Lamb” into an animated film or movie, like the Who’s “Tommy.” The idea was abandoned, but informed the band’s decision to project multi-media images illustrating the “Lamb” narrative of Rael’s surrealistic adventures in New York City on three large screens behind Genesis during its stage shows.
• When the album was recorded, the band was deeply in debt, despite its growing international acclaim. “Genesis have been together for seven years, and only in the last few months have we managed to sell a good number of records and fill large venues,” Gabriel said. “However, we have accumulated so much debt that we are still quite a bit in the red.”
• At the time of the album’s release, Collins and Rutherford were making plans to move to Los Angeles, but Banks said he’d never leave his English home (adding, however: “I would sign a one-year deal for the sun!”) Meantime, Hackett was essentially homeless, having given up his London flat before the tour started. “I’ve been living in hotels for a year now,” he said, “and I believe that I will continue to live like a rock and roll gypsy.”
• In perhaps the most surprising revelation in the book, Collins noted the final “Lamb” show with Gabriel was unplanned and a bit of a disappointment for Genesis. “Peter’s last gig with the band was in Besancon in France. It was supposed to be in Toulouse [the following night], but because of lack of interest, no tickets had been sold so the concert was cancelled,” he said. “We were backstage in the dressing room in Besancon, and someone said ‘We’re not playing tomorrow night, so this is the last night.’ And it was terribly anticlimactic because we had all built up to this last night with Peter. So, Peter played ‘The Last Post’ on his oboe, and we went on stage and did ‘The Lamb.’ ”
As intriguing as these historical footnotes may be, the real highlights of “Remembering…The Lamb” are Gallo’s photos of the band writing, recording and performing the album live — offering readers a front-row seat to the proceedings. In short, it’s the perfect companion to listening the live and studio recordings of this landmark album and tour.
Here’s a sampling of some of the most compelling images in the book, along Gallo’s personal reflections on the band and the groundbreaking 1975 concerts he chronicled with his camera and pen.
“Peter Gabriel’s expressive vocals and storytelling mastery brought the surreal journey of Rael to life, guiding the audience through each twist and turn of the narrative. Gabriel’s ability to blur the boundary between concert and theater elevated the performance into something extraordinary.”
“Steve Hackett’s presence on guitar was nothing short of electrifying. His innovative techniques — finger tapping, nuanced sustain and shimmering harmonics — added a spectral quality to songs like ‘The Chamber of 32 Doors’ and ‘Fly on a Windshield.’ With each note, he conjured a sense of wonder and mystery, lifting the audience into the surreal world of Rael and ‘The Lamb.’”
“Phil Collins was the rhythmic backbone of the band’s most intricate and dramatic moments. ‘The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’ demanded not only technical precision but also a dynamic responsiveness to the changing moods and scenes of the live show. Collins’s style — fluid yet forceful, always inventive — helped shape the album’s journey, from the pounding urban energy of the title track to the surreal atmosphere of songs like ‘The Lamia’ and ‘The Colony of Slippermen.’”
“Tony Banks conjured the sonic landscapes that defined ‘The Lamb.’ His command over piano, Mellotron and synthesizers was central to Genesis’s live sound. His performances on tracks like ‘In the Cage,’ ‘The Chamber of 32 Doors’ and ‘Riding the Scree’ showcased his virtuosity and storytelling prowess, elevating the concert experience and immersing audiences in a dreamlike world.”
“Mike Rutherford anchored the band with his distinctive guitar and bass work throughout ‘The Lamb’ tour. His deft interplay, shifting fluidly between thick bass lines and evocative guitar passages, was both grounding and adventurous, adding emotional depth to songs like ‘In the Cage’ and ‘The Carpet Crawlers.’ His presence was crucial in translating the ambitious concept of the album into audiences night after night, a compelling live experience that resonated with the audience.”
“For the audience, those nights in California remain etched in memory as the night Peter Gabriel and Genesis invited them into a dreamscape where music and imagination remained supreme.”
“Remembering…The Lamb” is available here: Armando Gallo – Photographer Journlist
For more on the many Lamb 50th releases…
Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition): A Detailed Review & Analysis of a Landmark Concept Album: https://progreport.com/genesis-the-lamb-lies-down-on-broadway-50th-anniversary-super-deluxe-edition-review/
Steve Hackett – The Lamb Stands Up Live at the Royal Albert Hall (Album Review): https://progreport.com/steve-hackett-the-lamb-stands-up-live-at-the-royal-albert-hall-album-review/
Dave Kerzner releases ‘IT – A Celebration of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway’ featuring Francis Dunnery: https://progreport.com/dave-kerzner-releases-it-a-celebration-of-the-lamb-lies-down-on-broadway/
Nick D’Virgilio – Rewiring Genesis: A Tribute to The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway: (Album Review): https://progreport.com/nick-dvirgilio-rewiring-genesis-review/
10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway: https://progreport.com/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-lamb-lies-down-on-broadway/
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