Hogweed 02 (HW 02)
Date 27-Apr-1975
Venue Palace Theatre, Manchester
Country England Type Audience
Quality * A-
01 The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway 05:14
02 Fly On A Windshield 02:45
03 Broadway Melody Of 1974 02:15
04 Cuckoo Cocoon 02:25
05 In The Cage 08:03
06 The Grand Parade Of Lifeless Packaging 03:24
07 Rael Story Pt.1 02:32
08 Back In N.Y.C. 06:03
09 Hairless Heart 02:38
10 Counting Out Time 03:54
11 Carpet Crawlers 05:38
12 The Chamber Of 32 Doors 06:00
13 Rael Story Pt.2 06:54
14 Lilywhite Lilith 02:56
15 The Waiting Room 08:15
01 Anyway 03:40
02 Here Comes The Supernatural Anaesthetist 02:38
03 Interlude 01:30
04 The Lamia 07:12
05 Silent Sorrow In Empty Boats 03:13
06 Arrival 02:25
07 The Colony Of The Slippermen 06:31
08 Ravine 01:51
09 The Light Dies Down On Broadway 03:34
10 Riding The Scree 04:16
11 In The Rapids 02:34
12 It 06:58
13 The Musical Box Story 02:57
14 The Musical Box 11:02
15 Watcher Of The Skies 03:49
- Total Running Time : 2:13:06
Recording comments
Hogweed release HW02
I gave this an A+ because, for an audience, this is top notch. If this were a soundboard, this would be an A-. There are no cuts that I could hear. The bass is way up there, but that's what equalizers are for.
Palace Theatre, Manchester, 27th April 1975
This is a recording of the complete concert from the triumphant British leg of the Lamb tour. It is a beautifully clear and undistorted recording, which I have been able to remaster from the master tapes (many thanks to Colin Dodd for providing them). As Colin points out in his essay, the concert began late, and the venue curfew meant that only Musical Box was played as an encore.
The music is immaculately played (as always), and the concert features an outstanding Waiting Room. By this stage in the tour they were stretching out a bit more on this improvisation, and both the frightening first part and the driving build up are extended, and have many different elements not heard previously. Perhaps, knowing that they had done their BBC recording of the tour (at the 15th April London concert), they felt freer to experiment a bit more in front of a very supportive home audience. Hackett seems to be refining his solos on Fly on a Windshield and Arrival. One moment of distraction; at the conclusion of Cuckoo Cocoon, Gabriel finishes his final flute phrase a bar early, and quickly repeats it. He then misses the first lyrics of 'In the Cage'.
The British audiences were some of the most enthusiastic of the Lamb tour (rivalled only by the Italians, who sadly only got that one show at Torino). Not only did the band extend their improvisations, but Gabriel responded with elaborating and humourising his stories, to which the crowd respond energetically. There are some great interactions; I love his "...a huge roar on my right" at which a few members of the crowd (presumably on his right :-) roar!
There is another noteworthy moment in Counting Out Time; during this song (as for the whole concert), slides were thrown onto 3 projection screens behind the band. Some images during this song show diagrams of female anatomy with arrows and numbers pointing out relevant parts. The audience can be heard laughing at these as Gabriel sings "...digesting every word the experts say" (about 36 secs into the track). There is also some audible amazement during 'Arrival' as Gabriel appears as the Slipperman.
This show has not been commercially bootlegged, and has only been circulating among traders either on CDRs from Colin's masters, or low generation tapes. Hence, although it is one of the better recordings and performances of the Lamb, it has not been widely known.
Colin recorded the concert on 2 Maxell C120 Low noise cassettes. He captured the entire concert, flipping the tape during the applause at the end of Chamber of 32 Doors, and again during the beginning of Arrival. I have edited some applause into the first flip, and taken a section from Colin's recording of the 28th to patch the intro of Arrival (it is interesting how similar Hackett & Colin's 'improvisation' is one night to the other). I have then chosen to place the edit between CDs at the end of Waiting Room - not only does this give 2 discs under 70 mins (preferable for duplicating), but it allows me to include the full recording of the audience calling for a second encore at the conclusion of the concert.
Due to this recording coming from a low noise tape, the treble was a little muted. On the CDR of this show that has been in circulation, the tops are boosted considerably, giving a rather hissy recording. So the challenge (as often the case) was to attenuate this hiss while keeping the treble detail. The result (I hope you'll agree) is an open and clear recording with considerable top end detail. There are a few moments when lack of detail in the master leads to a graininess in the treble. Sorry, but there just wasn't much there, and to smooth it off would remove what subtlety was to be heard in Phil's drumming. I've chosen to preserve as much as I could of the music, at the expense of 'textbook' audio.
The bass end of this recording is lovely and rich, showing Rutherford's bass and pedal work. If you're a Rutherford fan, this is the lamb show for you. If anything I have had to soften the bass off a little, but otherwise the equalisation balance on the master was very natural.
The recording was made on a machine with automatic record levels, so I have manually restored the true volume dynamics. For instance; if you have the original version of this, you'll notice that Tony's solo keyboard intro at the beginning of the concert gets louder, until Peter's "And the Lamb..." and Phil's first drum splash knocks the levels down again. I have reconstructed these levels to sound more natural, and the rest of the band now come in powerfully as they should do. Fortunately the response of the auto record was quite long, 10-15 secs before responding to a quieter section in the music, so the short-time dynamics, the 'punch' of the recording, are not affected.
Lastly, the tape was in mono. I have added subtle early reflections to add depth and space to the final sound. If you're listening on headphones, you may notice the effect, but the stereo field is still predominantly centralised.
Genesis - Manchester Palace Theatre - Sunday 27 April 1975
By Colin Dodd
When Genesis arrived in Manchester for two nights at the Palace Theatre time had nearly run out for the classic Banks, Collins, Gabriel, Hackett and Rutherford line-up. At the time, of course, we had no idea that Peter Gabriel had already decided to leave the band and that once the few remaining dates of the tour had been honoured he would no longer be a member of Genesis.
To us in the UK this was a long overdue chance to see Genesis playing on home soil again. The many who had scrambled to get tickets for the original British dates had been frustrated to see the tour cancelled when Steve Hackett severed a tendon in his hand. To rub salt into the wound tickets had to be returned to the venue for a refund and then re-issued for the new dates a couple of months later. Actually, while this may have been an inconvenience for most it was a blessing in disguise for us as our original seats, obtained by postal application to the theatre, had been at the back of the top balcony. However, with the band more popular than ever, there were only two ways of ensuring better seats: paying a hugely inflated price to a tout or all-night queuing. To a bunch of school kids, not exactly overburdened with the folding stuff, the first wasn't an option, so we took the cheaper, if slightly more uncomfortable option, of spending a long, sleepless night sitting on a freezing pavement outside the theatre. Or rather I did as the rest of our crew all cried off at the last minute with various implausible excuses. Actually, despite it being one of the coldest nights of the year, it was a pretty enjoyable night. Anyone who has ever done this will know of that certain camaraderie that develops among the members of the queue, probably because everyone there is indeed as sad and hopelessly obsessed as each other.
Despite a late scare when a large contingent of late-comers arrived at dawn and tried to jump the queue I eventually emerged victorious from the box office clutching four tickets for each of the two shows. Bleary-eyed I caught the train back home with a smile on my face. Everything was indeed wonderful with the world, except maybe for the fact that I still had to convince school that I really had been so ill on the Monday morning that I had been unable to phone in sick.
On the night of the gig we arrived in Manchester in good time. A few pints has always been a part of the pre-gig ritual and we duly settled down in the pub just across Oxford Road from the theatre and waited for the doors to open. From the outside the Palace doesn't promise much, with its plain tile covered walls. Those who have Gentle Giant's live 'Playing the Fool' album will be familiar with its exterior as it appears twice on the sleeve. Quite why I have never understood as the Giant never played there, always preferring the Free Trade Hall on their visits to Manchester. Inside, however, is a different story. The Palace is a classic British Victorian theatre, all dark polished mahogany and red velvet seats. A lovely venue, but one that has fallen out of favour for rock gigs these days, visiting bands seemingly preferring the much inferior Apollo.
At seven thirty the doors were opened. We finished our pints and headed across the road to the theatre. I had decided to record both nights, so the first problem was getting the recorder past the security on the door. Anyone who was around at that time will remember that the Army and RAF greatcoats were an essential part of the dress code, indeed one was de rigueur for the weekend hippie about town. Thankfully you could have hidden a small recording studio under their generous cut, so a small cassette recorder proved no problem. I wish that I could remember which model it was for those who care about such things; all I can remember is that it was a Philips machine and it's model number began with a N. It had automatic record level and a built in mic, which might sound horrific now, but in those early days of recording gigs had some distinct advantages. I had previously tried taping on a couple of occasions with my previous machine, another Philips with manual recording level. Sadly both attempts, Genesis in Manchester on the Selling England tour and Camel a couple of months later, had been total disasters. Although the machine had a crude VU meter it had not occurred to me that it would be wildly inaccurate and next to impossible to see in the darkness of the theatre. After listening to the results, which amounted to little more than several hours of distortion, I plumped for an auto record level machine for future taping. Actually considering that it was a very basic machine by modern standards I got some fairly good results from it. It served me well until just after the Earls Court gigs two years later and then went the way of all things.
After negotiating security next stop was the merchandise stall. Some nice t-shirts featuring an impressive Genesis logo made up from various animals and birds, some pretty crappy t-shirts featuring another somewhat less inspired design and programmes. The badges featuring the animal and bird logo had apparently all been sold by the time the tour reached Manchester, lucky that a friend picked up one for me at Liverpool.
So we settled down, loaded the recorder with a Philips C-120 (more about them in the notes on the following night) and waited. And waited. And waited. Another enduring memory from gigs in those days was the number of times that the start was delayed due to 'technical problems'. In the spirit of the times we amused ourselves by joining in the 'Wally' chorus. A word of explanation here for those not versed in the ways of UK gigs in the Seventies. This was another part of the pre-gig ritual, after the beer, the merchandise and maybe a puff or two of weed. Simply some wag yelled 'Wally' as loud as they could and waited a few seconds to hear a chorus of several hundred other calling 'Wally' in reply. More join in and eventually a good part of the audience is yelling 'Wally' at each other. This was then repeated ad nauseum until everyone was completely bored with it all, which in my experience used to take several hours. Need they look any further for proof of the detrimental effects of drug and alcohol abuse?
But as soon as the lights go down any delays were forgotten. Manchester audiences have always been one of the noisiest, liveliest and most vociferous in Britain and tonight they were clearly up for it. A single spotlight picked out Tony Banks as he played the piano introduction, slides of the New York skyline came into focus on the three large screens at the back of the stage, the rest of the band kicked in and we were away. Immediately the changes from the last tour were obvious. Peter, dressed in jeans, tee shirt and leather jacket, prowled the stage, spitting out the words and gesturing at the front rows. Gone was the slightly mysterious figure of previous tours as he assumed the persona of Rael for the next couple of hours. Gone too were the continuous costume changes, which for me at least was good news. I may be alone in this but I always had mixed feelings about the costumes. I didn't mind the Fox Head when it was introduced, despite it being a somewhat cynical attempt at attracting publicity. It had great shock value, because at the time no one expected it. On the Autumn 72 tour supporting Lindisfarne it was amusing to watch the puzzled faces as Peter, already striking enough with shaved forehead, make-up and an elaborate necklace, left the stage only to return in a red dress and fox head. But by the time of the Selling England tour it had, to me at least, got a bit out of hand, as one costume change followed another and the visuals began to take over from the music, at least in the eyes of the media. The surprise and the shock value had gone.
Instead tonight we were seeing a different kind of visual presentation as the story is echoed by ever changing slides on the backdrop screens. They had used back projections on the Selling England tour, but this time they were much more fully realised and tied in with the music, whereas previously they had been largely unrelated images. It's easy to forget how groundbreaking this was at the time; slides and projections had been used before of course, primarily by a lot of the psychedelic bands some seven or eight years earlier. However, no one had really developed the idea beyond flashing the odd slide onto a backdrop or the oil wheels beloved of early Floyd and Jefferson Airplane. Other than the change to a white body stocking for "The Lamia' the only costume in the show was the somewhat controversial Slipperman. Controversial of course because the rest of the band have subsequently claimed that Peter's vocals were impaired by it, but for shock value it was well worth it. There were a number of noticeable gasps from the audience as Peter emerged through a plastic tunnel and it was all the more effective for being the one costume change in the show.
Although probably not my favourite tour from the Gabriel era, there is no doubt the Lamb represents the pinnacle of the band's achievements in terms of stage presentation. And there is no doubt who was the star of the show. In hindsight it's easy to see how the resentment from the other members of the band grew at this time. The hardcore fans understood the extent of their contributions, but on stage there was only one place that the audience's attention was focussed. If Peter had a slightly bigger influence over the direction and writing of the album than Tony, Mike, Phil or Steve might have wanted, it was on stage that he really took over. Peter has gone on record as saying that he felt he had assumed as much control of the band as he thought he could get away with by this point, and it was not hard to see exactly what he meant.
It's hard to try to pick out musical highlights, the Lamb has always existed as one piece of music for me, rather than a lot of individual tracks, but special mention must go to 'The Waiting Room', which built and improved on the studio version. Genesis live were always very structured with little room for improvisation but here they let go just a little. In fact the overall impression on the night was that the whole piece sounded stronger and more powerful on stage, but then by their own admission Genesis always did struggle to recreate their live impact in the studio. All too soon the band were concluding the set, launching into 'it', the final number. The old International Times logo flashed onto the screens and among the strobe lights we could just make out two Peter Gabriels, one on either side of the stage. The dummy Peter was an inspired idea bearing in mind the conclusion of the Lamb story, even if the roadies did occasionally pull practical jokes by standing in for him. The conclusion of the set brought the crowd to their feet, baying for more and the band eventually returned to great cheers as Peter begun his long introduction to 'The Musical Box'. After a whole set of new material everyone was keen to hear a few of the old classics and they finished the number to riotous applause and left the stage for a second time. Those of us who had read the reports from the US and European gigs in NME, Melody Maker and Sounds knew that we still had 'Watcher of the Skies' to look forward to, but after five minutes of deafening applause and calls for more some doubt began to creep in. Eventually we were told that due to the late start the show had run over the eleven o'clock curfew and there could be no more. No one was impressed by this piece of archaic legislation, still in force as far as I am aware, which rules that live music must cease by 11pm on a Sunday. As it was we hung on until it was obvious that it really was all over, raving about what we have seen, cursing whoever it was that introduced Sunday cut-offs, but happy in the knowledge that we would be back again to see it all again tomorrow.
And the recording? Well if you are reading this there is a good chance that you already have, or are soon to get, a copy of the Hogweeds version of this show. I'm quite pleased with the way the tape came out. The acoustics in the Palace were always good and there isn't too much of the theatre's ambience in evidence. Overall it was one of the better recordings I did with that machine and the tapes seem to have stood up to the time of time pretty well. Enjoy!
track looks like CDDA with probability 100%; no need for sector alignment. Checksum file saved to disk. No errors occured. Enjoy!
-dave@qb
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