Having played in numerous cover bands in my time, I understand the value of such things: it’s a supply and demand thing. People who enjoy live music want to see their favorite songs performed — but at the same time the artists responsible for those songs are limited by time and space in the context of touring.

Now, there are all sorts of splintered aspects to the live cover music world — from old rockers who simply enjoy playing classic rock songs in small neighborhood bars for beer and for the love of it, to Top 40 bands who make a living constantly updating the play list according to the latest hits, to incredibly ambitious “tribute bands” who replicate albums and/or famous concerts by a specific act.

Probably the most renowned of these tribute artists would be the Musical Box, a group that painstakingly recreates the live experience of multi-costumed, musically glorious, Peter Gabriel-era Genesis. They’re on tour right now doing The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, which is, along with Selling England By the Pound, the sky-high artistic achievements for the band.

The Box show comes to Connecticut’s Ridgefield Playhouse on Nov. 15, if you’re interested in archival spectacle of the finest kind.

All of which brings to mind a most glorious experiment that took place several years ago — the sort of brash and wonderful and improbable undertaking that few musicians can imagine or pull off.

The late Kevin Gilbert, with his superb and criminally overlooked band Giraffe, decided they would learn the entire double-disc Lamb Lies Down On Broadway just for the hell of it — and play it live in a club one time just to prove they could. Unreal: This ain't "Johnny B. Goode" we're talking about. And, at Progfest '94, they by-God did it.

Despite the efforts of Gilbert estate, where at long last it's fairly convenient to purchase many of his all-are-worthy projects, it's damned hard to get your hands on a recording of Giraffe doing The Lamb live. You can find clips of the show on Youtube if you hunt it down.

Meanwhile, bless him, my pal Greg H. brought me a copy of the first, self titled Giraffe album — truly excellent — AND their in concert performance of Lamb. (Perhaps my priorities are out of order here: shouldn’t I be trumpeting the superb Giraffe original material as I have another of Gilbert's bands, the immortal Toy Matinee? Perhaps)

But listening to how insanely perfect Giraffe nails Lamb is breathtaking and overwhelming — again, just in the kooky context that they set out to learn this ridiculously complex and melodic work for the sheer stinkin’ joy of it. That makes me so happy. THAT'S love.