This took some time to realize but it is worth committing to print. You can see by the new Poll to the right that I would like some opinions on double-albums. Those closest to me know that I am a Pink Floyd afficionado and feel that all other music pales in comparison. Having said that I have chosen a side. While I am no fan of the Genesis of the 80s (paperlate, sussudio, and those other shitty pop songs) I have become quite a fan of the Progressive Power-House that Genesis was in the 1970s up until the departure of Peter Gabriel. In my opinion the greatest double album ever pressed to vinyl was The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, released in the year of my birth, 1974, and marked Gabriel's last collaboration with Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, Steve Hackett and of course, Phil Collins. It relays the story of a young male by the name of Rael emerging from the subway in New York City and hiding a can of spray paint he recently used to leave his mark on the city. A mysterious cloud engulfs Manhattan and Rael finds himself in a nightmarish alternate reality in which he must confront and conquer his short-comings if he is to return to "the freedom I (he) had in the rat-race".
Like Pink in the Wall, Rael does find himself in the end and the consequences are far less tragic. There is no question that it is Genesis' finest production and I would argue that no other double-album compares in story telling, musicianship, and raw emotion. Having said that, the poll is actually a list of my own favorites. If I have left any better albums out, I would love to know and discuss them.
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