For this first classic Genesis line-up, the years 1974-5 were the years of both their greatest triumph and their most dramatic loss.
Gabriel's pre-eminence in the press - not something he himself had wanted, but an inevitable consequence of his outlandish performances - was beginning to be too much for a group which had always considered itself a democracy.
Two further things happened which widened the gap between him and the rest of the group: he was offered an opportunity to work with "Exorcist" director William Friedkin as scriptwriter, and needed to spend time with his wife Jill following the problematic birth of their first child. However, in November he re-joined the group in the studio where they'd been writing the music for what was to become the line-up's masterpiece and Gabriel's swansong: "The Lamb Lies down On Broadway".
It was the ultimate concept album: a double LP-long surrealist tale of a Puerto Rican youth - Rael - dragged into a netherworld beneath Manhattan to experience a series of bizarre adventures and some kind of inscrutable mystical epiphany. The group went on to perform the entire album to over 100 audiences worldwide (including the LA Shrine gig preserved on the Archive), many of whom, thanks to record company release cycles, had never even heard the album, and were perhaps expecting to hear their favourites. Despite this, it is a tour which has legitimately gone down in rock music history.
Batwings Over Watford
"Peter looked beyond Genesis for future projects. He'd been asked to write a script by film director William Friedkin. As Peter seemed more excited by the film project than Genesis, the 
band went into the studios to start work without him."
"While Gabriel was waiting for Friedkin to confirm whether his film would go ahead... he took some time to be with his wife and baby, further aggravating the relationship with the band, who started to prepare some instrumental work for the next album, 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.'"
"Peter then returned to the studios, when the film project was abandoned. 'The Lamb' was released in November 1974, as a double album, and was performed 'live' at over a hundred shows world-wide. Gabriel played the lead role of Rael, a New York Puerto Rican punk who undergoes a kind of transcendental experience. The 'Lamb' involves lots of bizarre characters, strange lyrics and an impenetrable story line. The show's special effects included three projection screens and the use of two Peter Gabriels - a dummy and the real one - which were impossible to tell apart!"
Chris Welch
