I need someone to believe in, someone to trust

Genesis - The lamb lies down on Broadway - 1974

It seems quite evident, in retrospect, that sooner or later Genesis would feel that they had to release a full-blown conceptual album. After all, this was the 70s, and you couldn't really be a progressive band without one of those.
The concept itself is a bit muddled and confusing. The story has a protagonist, Rael, a Puerto Rican street kid, who is in New York, and he will experience a series of very bizarre events, and meet some very bizarre characters along the way. Curiously enough, I have never been too interested in the lyrical content of the album, at least not from the point of view of a conceptual piece. But it's worth mentioning that the meaning of the story has been debated for decades. And while I have never paid to much attention to the overarching plot, I always loved the lyrics as individual songs, and the imagery has always been to me intriguing, strange and sometimes a bit scary.
But musically, this is one of the finest albums ever made. And no, I'm not talking within the confines of Genesis discography, or even progressive rock. It's one of the finest albums ever made. Period.
What makes this album so great is not really too easy to describe. The two albums that form it are quite different in style, with the first one being probably the most accessible, with more direct rock songs, while the second one is more prog oriented with longer instrumental pieces. The first album I find a bit more similar to what Peter Gabriel would do in the not-too-distant future after leaving the band (which he did right after this album). I like the first one much more, but I think it's because it's the more varied and because it's more different from other things the band had done before.
This album is eclectic, confusing at times, and much grittier than anything they had ever done. Well, gritty for progressive standards, at least. And while I think that there are a few tracks in the second album that are not really necessary, this is still one of the few albums that I will enjoy regularly playing from beginning to end.
And, last, but definitely not least, there's Peter Gabriel's voice, which in this album shines brighter than it ever did. His singing is versatile, innovative and he puts so much passion in some of the tracks that it actually gives me goosebumps every time I hear them.

• For the tour of the album, Peter Gabriel changed his look completely, cutting his hair short, wearing plain white t-shirts and leather jackets. Basically, he adopted the punk aesthetics before punk was a thing. 
• Another interesting thing about the tour was that Gabriel insisted they should play the album in its entirety. That's one hour and a half of completely material. I don't know how well that sat with audiences (although prog audiences would take anything on general principle).
• "Broadway Melody of '74" is a bit of a time capsule of 70s America, mentioning all sorts of characters (Lenny Bruce, Howard Hughes, cheerleaders, Ku Klux Klan, Groucho, etc.). There's a line that goes: "There's Howard Hughes in blue suede shoes, smiling at the majorettes smoking Winston cigarettes". There's a distinct possibility that at some point I used to smoke Winstons because of this song. 
• "The Carpet Crawlers" is probably the first song I ever heard by Genesis. It was a massive hit throughout the late 70s and early 80s in Argentina. 
• Someone described the album, because of how much debate the lyrics have caused, as the Ulysses of progressive music. Considering that I have never been able to fully understand either (I actually never managed to finish James Joyce's book), it's probably an apt comparison.
• The title of the post is a line from "The Chamber of 32 Doors", which is an amazing song.
• Still, I'm not going to put that song. It's impossible to choose one song. This is a double album, for one, and a brilliant one, with a lot of excellent tracks. So I'm going to put 3 videos, which will be 5 tracks. First "Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of '74", which are probably my favourite tracks of the album. Then we have "Anyway/Here Comes the Supernatural Anaesthetist" (the "supernatural anaesthetist" is Death, and I can't think of a better metaphor). "Anyway" is just beautiful, the other one much more progressive, but I couldn't resist with that title. And then, "In the Cage", with a pretty good fan video. 

No habrá flores ni vientos que lo hagan gritar

Invisible - Invisible - 1974

After his previous band, Pescado Rabioso, disbanded, Luis Alberto Spinetta tried to achieve a different sound. Different not only from his previous material, but also from the sound most of our rock was adopting, with distorted riffs and overdubs, in the style of Led Zeppelin, for example. 

He formed a new band, called Invisible, originally just a trio, with him on vocals and guitar, plus drummer and bass player. 

Out of all the albums by the band, this is the one I am least familiar with. Their future releases would have a few tracks that, while never commercial, were big hits and quite accessible. 

This album, though, is pure madness. Brilliant madness, but madness still. It makes me think of a crazier King Crimson, and I never thought such a thing would be possible. It's a strange mixture of rock, jazz, fusion and, well, Spinetta. 

It is the kind of music that you would expect teenagers to listen to in another galaxy. Or in another universe altogether. 

Strangely enough, I find that I like it a lot more during the instrumental parts. But as I said, it's an album I'm not extremely familiar with, and it's the kind of thing that requires a lot more listens to get into. 

• As usual, if you're interested, you can listen to the whole album here. 
• The album cover was a work of Dutch artist M.C.Escher, famous for drawing impossible figures and strange, imaginary worlds. 
• The song I chose to share here is the opening track, "Jugo de Lúcuma" (Lucuma Juice). The lucuma is a fruit from the Andes region in Perú.