I just discovered your site and am loving it so far! 

I'm so glad there are people who've done some dedicated research on this artistic world I've loved since childhood (I'm on the young end for early Genesis fans, and idolize TMB because it lets me travel back in time and experience what I never could have otherwise).

I've had a quick question about the Lamb that, looking at this site, I realized you could probably answer if anyone could. 
Is there any evidence to tell whether Rael or John is the older brother? I've always kind of assumed Rael was younger, just based on personality, but I could be completely wrong about that. 
I could see it working both ways. I'd be really curious to know. 

Thanks!  Holly


Hi, dear Holly!


It's so good to hear from not only a "young" lover of the Lamb...but, another woman (who loves this work, as much as I do)!
This is very heartening to me...as I feel this is an incredibly significant, romantic work for both men AND women, to enjoy together.  ;-)


Ok, to try to give you my best guess as to Peter's mind (when he was conceiving of the original idea of his alter-ego of Rael), based on my lengthy research.
Firstly, Peter  (nor any other member of Genesis) has ever intoned the age difference of John and Rael - in any interview I've ever read or heard.
As you know, Peter envisioned The Lamb to be a tale of self-discovery...a journey to the depth's of one's soul & back, in order to bring into focus the meaning of our respective existence, in this world.
Having entered into a life's fascination with Jungian Theory/Psychoanalysis of the various facets (dark and light) of ourselves, as human beings, Gabriel set out to do, in his words, a sort of "Pilgrim's Progress".
A Hero's Journey of the Self:  which John (the "good/enlightened" version of Rael)  and Rael (his "unenlightened/dark" side) - represent the split personalities of the Soul of this single, half-Puerto Rican street gang member.


Who would be considered "older" - I'm not sure if that actually applies?
But, let's postulate that Rael actually DID have an older brother named John (in the real world, outside the surrealistic underground, post-Fly-on-the-Windshield apocalyptic Wall sweeping through NYC, that Rael exists in - during the telling of the Lamb).
Peter had no brothers....only a younger sister ( Anne )...so, no familial reference, there.
Steve Hackett DOES have a brother named John, though....but, that John is younger than both Steve and Peter (he is a wondrously gift musicians, as well, by the way.  Amazing flute-player)!


So, it could go either way, I suppose -but,  if you want to take it further than the original premise that John/Rael are actually 2 sides of the same being =  no age difference, at all.


Does this help with your (very intriguing) question, Holly?


What does everyone else think?  We are open to other opinions, here, at LileighWhite.com...especially, this being the 40th Anniversary year of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway!!  ;-)


All my best...and "High Five's" to all you women Lamb-lovers, out there, too!


xoxo, Lil

Hi Lil,

I can't believe that I've never been here before!! 

... the Lamb was a seminal album for me. 

I'd been a Genesis fan for years and watched them rise up through gigs in noisy college bars to larger and larger venues worthy of their soaring instrumentals and Peter Gabriel's inexhaustible antics. 

"Selling England by the Pound" had been an amazing album and we couldn't wait for this new body of work hatched in secret and surrounded by much rumour and speculation. 

The day arrived ... I bought the album ... raced home and sat transfixed for the next 90 minutes or so with my mouth open almost unable to fully absorb all of the sounds and emotions that were being literally thrown at me out of my (less than efficient) Wharfdales ... then I played it again ... and again ... and I've been playing it ever since. 
I still have the original vinyl ... it's on my iPod and permanently resides in my car, unlike me, it never gets old :)

I queued in the freezing cold for tickets ... the queue was, surprisingly, fairly short. 
Then Steve Hackett hurt his hand, tour postponed tickets refunded. 
Then the tickets went on sale again back to Manchester on another freezing cold morning ... the album had been out for quite a while by now and the queue was all the way around the block!! 
... I made it to the counter and, being in the days of the old swipe machine for credit cards, when I tried to sign my name my hands were so cold that I couldn't get a decent version of my signature. 
The guy was going to turn me away until my buddy got my ticket on his card, he has a higher tolerance to cold than I do :) 
So I almost missed the concert but, thankfully, when the night came there we were ... balcony seats for the most amazing gig I've ever attended ... and there have been many of them (Watcher of the Skies for an encore ... does it get any better).

Thanks so much for your incredible insight and knowledgeable videos ... you obviously love this piece of work as much as many of us do and it's a pleasure to watch each session. 

Rod


~~~~~~~~~~~
Wow, Rod !!  What a story!  
What a personal HISTORY you have had with the band (reaching even from their earliest days)!
Bravo, my friend...bravo - to both you AND the friend who spotted you on the credit card purchase of those deliciously rare concert tickets!
I can only imagine (and dream) of what it was to be there, in the balcony with you...looking down on that now-iconic riser and  boulder-laden stage, with Gabriel attaching himself to the pneumatic hose (to inflate his hilariously-attached Slipperman costume balloon'd gonads, etc)!    *wheezing with delighted laughter*
I obviously have watched TMB's Denis Gagne perform this madcap maneuver, many times ...but, to have seen Gabriel, himself, confound the audiences of 1975 with this visual satire of Rael's chance meeting with VD must have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
I'm so very pleased that my humble website and documentary-videos on the Lamb have hit a tuning-fork of Lambs-Wool pleasure for you...one so close to the original presentation.
All my best to you...and all my thanks, as well.


Xoxo, Lil