Listening to the second album this morning -- my first in more than a decade -- I still think it forces Gabriel into unbecoming drag. Given rock 'n' roll arrangements, he bellows, which means even good tunes like "D.I.Y." and "On the Air" sound like affectations.
The quieter things like "Mother of Violence" come off best. I'm glad he got this phase out of his system; or, rather, learned what his limits and strengths are. The punk-influenced guitar things on Melt are vast improvements.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 29 January 2022 20:29 (two years ago) link
PG2 feels like stuff that had to get worked out, but yeah for sure.
― poster of sparks (rogermexico.), Sunday, 30 January 2022 02:21 (two years ago) link
3 was really such an inspired shift
― ufo, Sunday, 30 January 2022 02:26 (two years ago) link
speaking of bad investments, wasnt womad funded by the mob or something?
― kurt schwitterz, Sunday, 30 January 2022 05:41 (two years ago) link
Vastly disagree with that (Alfred's) take on PG2. That album is a direct continuation of PG1 with some kind of eclectic/eccentric rock sound to it that is nowhere as avant-garde as, say, Beefheart or Zappa, but not exactly conventional mainstream either, which I find makes for a unique and highly interesting sound with many great pieces. It may not have a Solsbury Hill butbon the whole I think the songs are much better than on its predecessor. White Shadow and Flotsam & Jetsam in particular rank among my all-time fave PG songs but there is not a track on there which I dislike. If there is anything I mind about the album it is that songs like Animal Magic and Perspectice are a bit sameish in regards to the opening tracks. PG3 on the other hand sounds far more conventional/mainstream, which is probably also why I find it less interesting myself (although very good).
― Valentijn, Sunday, 30 January 2022 17:26 (two years ago) link
The jagged, abrasive arrangements on III put it over for me. I hear how "No Self-Control" and "Not One of Us" are not dissimilar to similar rock songs on II, but I cringe hearing his I'm-in-character-now voice on, for example, "DIY."
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 30 January 2022 17:33 (two years ago) link
I'd say that the third album is more "theatrical" than the second, in that it's a change from presenting the tracks as songs to setting them as small movies with sampled sound effects and expressionistic backgrounds. I see Scratch as his only really "song-based" record (rather than based on sound or concept); I basically agree with Valentijn's assessment.
― Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 30 January 2022 18:28 (two years ago) link
I think thishttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_All_Odds_(soundtrack)
might be the only time Phil Collins successfully ethered PG
― west elm girls (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, 3 February 2022 22:44 (two years ago) link
I never knew about this!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO6fAJcN89k
― west elm girls (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 4 February 2022 18:14 (two years ago) link
it's solid!
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 4 February 2022 18:22 (two years ago) link
who is that singing the chorus?
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Friday, 4 February 2022 18:27 (two years ago) link
Sinead
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 4 February 2022 18:28 (two years ago) link
oh duh!
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Friday, 4 February 2022 18:29 (two years ago) link
The quieter things like "Mother of Violence" come off best.
Agreed. I like PG best when he underplays, which he's done less and less of over the years. The only song on Up that really works for me is "The Drop."
I see Scratch as his only really "song-based" record
Check out a little album called So.
― dinnerboat, Friday, 4 February 2022 21:12 (two years ago) link
You can't spell SONG without SO
― Bill Kristol Meth (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 4 February 2022 21:16 (two years ago) link
II is a fine album but I could do without Perspective and Animal Magic which I think are pretty rubbish. Indigo, White Shadow, DIY, mother of violence are wonderful.
― akm, Saturday, 5 February 2022 21:14 (two years ago) link
“Perspective” has some of my favorite lyrics ever— “Oh Gaia, if that’s your name, treat you like dirt but I don’t want no blame”.
― Johnny Mathis der Maler (Boring, Maryland), Saturday, 5 February 2022 21:45 (two years ago) link
wow i did not know about that willie/sinead cover, thanks much for that!
― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 6 February 2022 03:24 (two years ago) link
New album and European tour in the works:
https://petergabriel.com/news/i-o-the-tour-announced/
― lord of the rongs (anagram), Tuesday, 8 November 2022 14:29 (one year ago) link
lol it's actually finally coming out?
― ufo, Tuesday, 8 November 2022 14:38 (one year ago) link
The new album should be called "$/$".
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 8 November 2022 15:41 (one year ago) link
I suspect for a lot of boomers, 2023 will be the year of "use it or lose it."
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 8 November 2022 15:46 (one year ago) link
in disbelief that this is happening. torn between biting the bullet and getting london tix and waiting for a US tour announcement. I don't have a job right now so waiting probably best
― akm, Tuesday, 8 November 2022 16:07 (one year ago) link
I say this as a fan, bit I'm going to suggest that this will not be a hot ticket.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 8 November 2022 16:09 (one year ago) link
Though maybe things are different in Europe, who knows.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 8 November 2022 16:10 (one year ago) link
Pretty sure there will be a really nice live video that I can watch on my own couch with my own wine and snax
― blissfully unawarewolf (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 8 November 2022 16:11 (one year ago) link
Could there be a more Peter Gabriel-y album title than i/o ?
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 8 November 2022 16:41 (one year ago) link
Yes, "Peter Gabriel."
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 8 November 2022 16:43 (one year ago) link
I like to think that the guy in Vampire Weekend is singing "It feels so unnatural, Peter Gabriel 2"
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 8 November 2022 16:45 (one year ago) link
lol that's what I've always thought and I will not be convinced otherwise
― J. Sam, Tuesday, 8 November 2022 16:47 (one year ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, November 8, 2022 9:43 AM (forty-three minutes ago) lol unavoidable
― i'm right back on my shit (Hunt3r), Tuesday, 8 November 2022 17:33 (one year ago) link
he's stuck with that as the title for this album for like 20 years, I'm surprised he actually went through with it
― akm, Tuesday, 8 November 2022 17:34 (one year ago) link
also have always heard the VW song that way
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 8 November 2022 17:41 (one year ago) link
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Tuesday, 8 November 2022 18:00 (one year ago) link
Thanks for bumping the thread, I don't think I would have heard about this otherwise. My wife and I were just talking last night about a summer trip that could include a London stop (we want to see the Hilma af Klint show at the Tate), so I just went ahead and bought some cheap seats for the June 19 show.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 8 November 2022 19:31 (one year ago) link
PG is high on my list of longtime faves who I've never seen perform. Pretty psyched about it, regardless of what the new album is like.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 8 November 2022 19:32 (one year ago) link
I've mentioned before that I did see him on that dual tour with Sting in 2016 or so, and he was still pretty good! They both were, honestly.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 8 November 2022 19:33 (one year ago) link
I've seen him 5 times, I think (an amnesty show in 88/89, twice on the Us tour, again at a festival after Us, and then not again until the Back to Front So tour). I still kick myself for not going to the Growing Up shows and the Sting tour; don't regret, per se, skipping the orchestral ones though, as I find those albums a dire slog.
― akm, Wednesday, 9 November 2022 18:09 (one year ago) link
Miami was the last stop on his Secret World tour and it remains a top fiver.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 9 November 2022 18:12 (one year ago) link
yeah those shows blew my mind. the video release doesn't really capture how great they were.
― akm, Wednesday, 9 November 2022 18:26 (one year ago) link
The Growing Up and Secret World tours were as cool looking as any concert I have ever seen. I have a feeling we won't get anything so elaborate again, the guy needs to refill his coffers. Then again, while I didn't see it, as I understand it the So Redux tour, while relatively subdued, visually, was still pretty striking.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 9 November 2022 19:11 (one year ago) link
The most I know is The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Sledgehammer, and the end credits for WALL-E.
― gauzestromboli, Wednesday, 9 November 2022 20:34 (one year ago) link
the Back to Front tour was very stripped down, yeah, I think the idea was to have it visually compliment the original So tour (everyone dressed in black and white). There were projections, but no elaborate staging.
― akm, Thursday, 10 November 2022 15:15 (one year ago) link
I have a feeling this tour might be more elaborate though. that said, peter is old and I don't expect him to ride a bike around the stage (and obv he's not going to fall backward into the audience again...I actually can't recall if he did this on the Secret World tour but I think no? He did it at the Amnesty show I saw)
― akm, Thursday, 10 November 2022 15:16 (one year ago) link
As long as there are white oxford cloth shorts and ethnic waistcoats, I'm in.
― MaresNest, Thursday, 10 November 2022 15:23 (one year ago) link
collarless shirts!
― akm, Thursday, 10 November 2022 15:26 (one year ago) link
*shirts duh
― MaresNest, Thursday, 10 November 2022 15:29 (one year ago) link
I saw him on the Still Growing Up tour - the tour following the Growing Up tour, which I think was basically the same but with some setlist changes, not sure if there were other changes. Maybe riding segways on Games Without Frontiers? Anyway, it was visually the most impressive concert I've ever been to. The hamster ball was obviously a highlight, as was Peter and Melanie walking upside down on the inner ring of the circular stage during the second half of Downside Up.
I saw him once more afterwards, on the next tour in 2007 where the idea was that they would fill the setlist with songs that they hadn't played on the previous tours (some big ones like Sledgehammer, Solsbury Hill, In Your Eyes were repeated nonetheless), which meant for an awesome set including songs such as Rhythm Of The Heat, On The Air, Intruder, Family Snapshot, Mother Of Violence. There were no props or anything for that show, but the setlist (and the nice location - stage in a park) made it really special.
While liking the material, I skipped the New Blood and Back To Front tours, but am very excited to see him next year. I got tickets for some seats in the back of the arena, which still came at 135 euro's a piece... possibly twice as much as those Growing Up tour tickets were back then, so I'd say they should be able to afford some more hamster balls, but I'm also not sure if Peter is still able to bounce around as he used to.
― Valentijn, Thursday, 10 November 2022 15:47 (one year ago) link
I'm expecting the return of the Slipperman costume at those prices.
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 10 November 2022 18:07 (one year ago) link
Slipperman costume currently on loan to The Musical Box.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 10 November 2022 18:08 (one year ago) link