More Beastly Folklore (The Beast and the Lamb) and Book News

This is my 400th post since starting the blog!

I'd like to use it to announce the publication of a new substantially revised and updated version of Decadent London which should be out by the end of this month, published by Accumulator Press.

The book has been thoroughly revised, new material has been added and musician and writer Max Decharne kindly agreed to write a foreword.

Decadent London will be available on The Big Cartel and from the following bookshops in London:

Treadwells

Watkins

Atlantis

Two free talks have been arranged so far to promote this new edition, both can be booked through Eventbrite:

6 December Westminster Reference Library to coincide with the excellent Yellow Book Exhibition (which has been extended to 9 December). Talk begins at 6.30pm. Details here.

12 December Kensington Central Library - with Nina Antonia and Darcy Sullivan - see here

Today is the 45th(!) anniversary of the date of the original release in 1974 of my favourite lp The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. There's a good article about it here.

As a bonus we learn therein that Headley Grange, where it was recorded, was a 'former poorhouse [that] had been owned by Aleister Crowley, which had drawn devotee Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin to record there.' [Most of Led Zep IV and parts of Physical Graffiti] In Hugh Fielder's Book of Genesis Peter Gabriel says in an interview: 'We were working at Headley Grange which I felt was partly haunted by Jimmy Page's black magic experiments ...' Steve Hackett has often remarked: 'If anything was a haunted house that place was. You'd hear extraordinary noises at night - it was almost impossible to sleep.'

As far as I'm aware there is no connection between Crowley and Headley Grange - there could be confusion with Page's ownership of the Great Beast's former home Boleskine on Loch Ness during the 1970s.

The Lamb lies down on Hammersmith Broadway

To the HMV Apollo (I used to go regularly when it was the Hammersmith Odeon) last night to witness a re-enactment of the Genesis double lp from 1974 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, a record that affected me greatly when I first heard it that year as an impressionable teenager; it's still one of my favourite records, if not the favourite. I have always given tribute bands a wide berth (although most reformed groups these days are their own tribute acts) but I'd heard good things about The Musical Box from Canada.

The recreation of the group and the show from this period was uncanny and at times I had to tell myself that this wasn't actually Genesis playing. The level of detail even extended to the narration delivered by 'Peter Gabriel' in a pretty good impersonation of his speaking voice (albeit with a slight French accent) including his habitual nervous coughs and hesitations - bizarre. I was interested in seeing the original slides that had accompanied the 'real' concerts in 1974 and 1975 projected onto 3 screens above the group - Musical Box had purchased them off the band. Apparently on the original tour they rarely worked properly but last night seemed to function perfectly, the contemporary shots of New York now look like period pieces, but certain songs such as Counting Out Time benefitted from the visual accompaniment. What do you know - they're also available to view on You Tube.

The playing was immaculate and some songs really came off well live - The Chamber of 32 Doors for example. The Waiting Room, probably the most avant garde track Genesis ever recorded, sounded even better than the one on the lp: a tribute group improvising in the style of Genesis, very strange.

Not as great as the first time I saw the real group in 1977 at Earl's Court but surprisingly good and the only chance I'll ever have to see the live version of the Lamb.