Rael is a street kid in New York City, spoiling for a fight with the world, and then the ground opens under him. Genesis built a whole double album around that fall. The English pastoral whimsy of their earlier records gets swapped for Manhattan grime and a hero with a chip on his shoulder.

Charisma Records put it out on 22 November 1974, four sides conceived as a rock opera. The title track sets Rael loose above ground; everything after it follows him into a subterranean world of symbolic figures and strange trials, a psychological allegory of self-discovery wearing the clothes of a street adventure. Peter Gabriel wrote the story and sings every part of it, so the album asks you to follow a voice rather than a set of singles.

This is the sixth Genesis studio album and the last to feature Gabriel, who left the band once the promotional tour finished. That makes it the closing statement of their first era, and the most demanding thing they recorded: progressive rock and art rock at album length, narrative first, with no interest in meeting a casual listener halfway. Come to it with time set aside and both sides running in order.