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Peter Gabriel’s last outing with Genesis is something I’ve heard since I was kid, barely able to comprehend the bizarre quasi-mythological story being told in the songs. Now I’m an equally perplexed adult, still barely able to “get” The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, despite the nice new remastered CD edition which has the complete original libretto and lyrics. And yeah, this is one rock opera which demands a thorough reading of its rhyming, sometimes humorous libretto.

Lamb is ostensibly the story of a Puerto Rican-born street kid named Rael, lurking in the streets of the Big Apple and announcing his name to the world with his can of spray paint. A series of misadventures leads him to an underworld beneath the streets of Manhattan, which in turn becomes a bizarre mixture of seemingly-familiar mythological archetypes and far-fetched ideas from Gabriel’s own imagination.

In short, this makes OVO look tame by comparison.

I like Gabriel’s way with words and the music here, particularly “Carpet Crawlers” and “The Chamber Of 32 Doors”. On their own, several of the songs stand up well. I really only get baffled trying to take in the larger canvas of Lamb’s surreal storyline - but hey, if the music hits you in the right mood, this double-album is way ahead of its time. And even at its most cryptic, I find Gabriel-era Genesis far more stimulating and thought-provoking than, say, Invisible Touch-era Genesis.

Disc one
1. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (4:52)
2. Fly On A Windshield (4:22)
3. Broadway Melody Of 1974 (0:33)
4. Cuckoo Cocoon (2:11)
5. In The Cage (8:13)
6. The Grand Parade Of Lifeless Packaging (2:47)
7. Back In N.Y.C. (5:43)
8. Hairless Heart (2:13)
9. Counting Out Time (3:40)
10. Carpet Crawlers (5:17)
11. The Chamber Of 32 Doors (5:14)

Disc two
1. Lilywhite Lilith (2:44)
2. The Waiting Room (5:24)
3. Anyway (3:07)
4. Here Comes The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:58)
5. The Lamia (6:56)
6. Silent Sorrow In Empty Boats (3:06)
7. The Colony Of Slippermen (8:16)
8. Ravine (2:04)
9. The Light Dies Down On Broadway (3:32)
10. Riding The Scree (3:55)
11. In The Rapids (2:28)
12. it. (4:15)

Released by: Atlantic
Release date: 1974
Disc one total running time: 45:28
Disc two total running time: 48:41

In 1993, after splitting with Alan Parsons Project co-founder Eric Woolfson (who was destined for a new career in musical theater with his Freudiana project, which itself resulted in an excellent if obscure Project album), the aforementioned Mr. Parsons re-launched his group minus the Project moniker - and, for the first time, accepted songs written by members of the long-time group members. (Virtually all of the Project tunes were written by Woolfson and Parsons, with a few choice contributions by orchestral arranger Andrew Powell of Ladyhawke fame). But almost ten years before 1993’s Try Anything Once album, there was a self-titled one-off effort by the Project backing band, operating under the name of Keats.

With such legendary session players as guitar god Ian Bairnson and ex-Pilot members David Paton and Stuart Elliott, Keats isn’t short on talent - but the Keats album sounds like it’s a little short on inspiration. Parsons produces, and that’s a big part of the problem - it sounds like a lost Alan Parsons Project record, only the songs aren’t anything that leap out at the listener. “Walking On Ice” is the best song here by miles, with some excellent vocal harmonies and intriguing keyboard and synth work. Most of the other songs are the aural equivalent of blending into the wallpaper, with a distinctly 80s sound (and one of which veers dangerously close to copying Survivor’s “Eye Of The Tiger”).

This reissue by Renaissance Records - an indie label which has released CDs by such artists as Bill Mumy and The Be Five - is rounded out by two interviews and some previously unreleased tracks. The interviews are informative, if rather perfunctory, but will yield little information not already known to die-hard Alan Parsons Project fanatics.

1. Heaven Knows (3:56)
2. Tragedy (5:01)
3. Fight To Win (4:10)
4. Walking On Ice (3:31)
5. How Can You Walk Away (3:41)
6. Turn Your Heart Around (3:44)
7. Avalanche (4:06)
8. Give It Up (4:25)
9. Ask No Questions (3:24)
10. Night Full Of Voices (3:56)
11. Hollywood Heart (3:43)
12. interviews with Alan Parsons and Ian Bairnson (26:00)

Released by:
Release date:
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When you see a quarter of a dozen screenwriters on a project, run screaming. Sometimes the same applies to composers, but not always - some of my all-time favorite soundtracks are the products of triumvirates of musicians. Take, for example, the soundtrack from 1996’s Doctor Who movie, or the soundtrack from Alien Nation. But I’ve never before encountered a computer game whose music was cooked up by committee - however, in the case of Emperor, it works.

Before any screams about the lack of availability information on this, I’ll go ahead and point out right now that the Emperor soundtrack is a limited edition item which was only available with some pre-orders of the game. And I have to complain bitterly about the lack of neat packaging, or, for that matter, almost any packaging whatsoever. I was reminded somewhat of the days when I had to generate my own Babylon 5 CD covers. But when was the last time anyone bought a CD because of cool packaging? Okay, aside from last Tuesday, probably not anytime recently. The music is what counts. I just had to vent about the whole “generic CD-ROM paper envelope” treatment.

The musical duties for Emperor were split three ways between composers David Arkenstone (who has worked on prior Westwood/Electronic Arts titles such as the Lands Of Lore series), Jarrid Mendelson (who composed music for the Command & Conquer sequel Tiberian Sun, and Westwood’s primary in-house composer Frank Klepacki (who we recently interviewed here at theLogBook.com). That’s a bit of a problem in places, because there are places where I’d swear that they thought they were still composing for a Command & Conquer game.

Klepacki’s music remains the truest to what went before with the music from Dune 2000, Westwood’s previous interactive foray into Frank Herbert’s fictional universe. (And this is a no-brainer, since Klepacki did all of the music for that game.) David Arkenstone’s themes for the Harkonnen are all cut from the same heavy-metal cloth, while Mendelson’s Ordos orchestrations demonstrate that he’s been listening to a lot of Nine Inch Nails.

The highlights include the pounding anthem “Ride The Worm” and “Not An Option”, quite possibly the best Nine Inch Nails song that Trent Reznor & co. never actually played.

Despite my misgivings about some of the music fitting better into the Command & Conquer millieu than the world of Dune, it’s all quite enjoyable, and stands well on its own apart from the game. Klepacki especially is proving without a doubt that he’s ready to score a movie or perhaps some TV.

1. The War Begins (4:33)
2. The Machine (4:50)
3. Not An Option (3:52)
4. Unstoppable (5:50)
5. Ride The Worm (5:35)
6. Sabotage (4:19)
7. Harkonnen Force (5:29)
8. Assembling The Troops (7:42)
9. Ghola (3:48)
10. Legacy (6:14)
11. The Specimen (5:06)
12. The Spice Must Flow (4:47)
13. Tribute To Evil (6:21)

Released by: Westwood Studios / Electronic Arts
Release date: 2001
Total running time: 68:26

I’ve long had a love-hate relationship with the final Police album, but upon a recent listening I finally decided I love it more than I hate it.

So what’s not to like? Quite simply one of the most overexposed songs of the 1980s, “Every Breath You Take”. And hey, I even like the song, but it was played so often that I can really only bear to hear it once a year or so. (That said, I’ll take “Every Breath” over anything the current crop of producer-packaged teenybopper acts can cough up, so my boredom with the song is a relative thing.)

What is there to like about Synchronicity? Possibly Sting’s best work ever, with some crisply literate lyrics and some excellent music to go behind them. Mixing mythological metaphors with literary references and interesting concepts, the songs are both memorable and thought-provoking. So much so, in fact, that I think it points out why I skip “Every Breath” most of the time - its somewhat repetitive and predictable lyrics are sharply out of place on Synchronocity.

Some of the better songs, including “King Of Pain” and “Wrapped Around Your Finger”, made a somewhat smaller splash as singles, while others - including the mesmerising “Tea In The Sahara” - can only be found on the album. Overall, even with the clichè-ridden “Every Breath”, Synchronicity is an outstanding album, engaging both musically and intellectually.

1. Synchronicity I (3:23)
2. Walking In Your Footsteps (3:35)
3. O My God (4:00)
4. Mother (3:03)
5. Miss Gradenko (2:00)
6. Synchronicity II (5:04)
7. Every Breath You Take (4:13)
8. King Of Pain (4:59)
9. Wrapped Around Your Finger (5:12)
10. Tea In The Sahara (4:11)
11. Murder By Numbers (4:31)

Released by: A&M
Release date: 1983
Total running time: 44:30