Peter Gabriel

Anyway, "Moribund the Burgermeister" is a great, weird number, but there's also not much separating it from past work. "Modern Love" is a no frills rock tune, very much no way he would play something like that today (sadly; he could use an injection of livelihood on his last albums), "Excuse Me" is a semi-comic relief number with barbershop quartet opening. "Humdrum" is also very Genesis-like, but I think it's the best tune on the album.

The second album I've actually never heard, in all my years of being a fan. I keep meaning to pick it up, especially since everything's been remastered. People say it's pretty underrated...

I never really liked his third album, myself. The songs just never really clicked with me, except maybe "Intruder".

i've never heard the simple minds version, but Robert Wyatt covers it, and beautifully at that

For me, "San Jacinto" and "Rhythm of the Heat" come damn close...

So!

"Red Rain"!

Oh yeah man, I have totally been on a Red Rain trip of late. Just can't get away from that song at all.

Listened to it driving through the farmland surrounding Bristol, VA in bright, bright sunlight following a hotel morning today. 100% arcadian.

Listen to the sound of the drums before the break!

xpost

Fantastic! I grew up in VA.

I <3 Daniel Lanois 4-ever.

Yeah, "Red Rain". "Mercy Street" too. Something about that line: "swear they moved that sign."

It's funny, because I was browsing YouTube and had just finished watching this when I saw this thread. These two have always struck me as two sides of the same coin, both following a particularly English trail of slightly ethereal slightly mad overflowingly creative whimsy.

Peter looks so young there!

Were he and Kate ever in a romantic relationship with one another? I thought I remembered reading this, but I can't find anything confirming it. I must have made it up.

Doesn't he? I'm not sure, but it would be kind of weird, like siblings making out. Which is also creepily awesome in their case (and only in their case, right?).

aaaaaaahhhhh! It's the performance of "Another Day"! I haven't seen this in awhile. WOW. Thanks!

No really, this has made my night. Oh my god.

I know. Mine too.

New album is called "Big Blue Balls"!!

Here Comes The Flood

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn306/Floridian_20/GabrielCatII.jpg

IS HE GOTH OR NOT? LOOK AT THAT PICTURE!

He's going to marry Kate Bush and they're going to rein as king and queen of the desert island. And we're all going to be happy. Just you wait.

Peter Gabriel is even more heavenly than Brian Eno, and that's saying something.

Here Comes The Flood

― Sleep Tundra (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You)

Here comes the late-night revive of the borderline goth thread by drunken Bimble, amirite?

hahahahah too right

HCTF = epic

whoa kate in the clip

As good as that is, the version on Fripp's Exposure is ten times better.

I saw PG live on the So tour, which was some big poppy stuff amid a lot of other stuff I didn't really get. And yet it was still a quasi-religious experience, although I couldn't really tell you why.

san jacinto KILLIN me right now

BLAST FROM THE PAST:

Is it just me, or does Pete look more than a little like Ed Helms in that HCTF clip?

SAN JACINTO
SAN JACINTO

Just to take me to heaven on that live album, goddamnit, wings, take me...take me there

Solsbury Hill.

HERE COMES THE FLOOD

"White Shadow" is awesome! Are there any other songs in this world where pedal steel sounds so epic?

not a rhetorical question btw

Passioni: walloping beats, Fairlights backing violin lines, something called "Arghul drones," * a boys choir singing "With This Love," a track called "It is Accomplished" waiting to become a pop song. I love this album.

* I learned much about music by studying Peter Gabriel instrumental credits.

It's a good'n'.

Sharing "your eyes" with a stranger at a bar

It must be hard holding that jukebox up over your head.

Someone tell Axl that it has been 12 years since the last Peter Gabriel album of original material.

he said recently maybe he'll be done soon. yeah right!

PG is part of a group that teaches the world how to take better videos when filming brutality as a firsthand witness.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/teaching-citizens-shoot-better-video-witness-brutality/

Aw he's a good guy

Birdy ost is my favorite pg album now. No words just vibes for miles.

Has Gabriel ever spoke about Gary Brooker from Procol Harum as being an influence? Listening to A Salty Dog right now and man sometimes the melody and phrasing and even tone of his voice reminds me of Gabriel (or I guess it could be an coincidence or even vice versa as they are essentially contemporaries)

He supposedly has brought him up as an influence, though I don't know when/where. At the least Brooker (and most of Genesis, a couple of years later) all went to Charterhouse.

And, ha!, I've never heard this before:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct_R6CPD5-o

So Peter Gabriel is doing a co-headlining tour with Sting this summer. Following his anniversary tour of "So," I think it's safe to say Peter Gabriel has officially ended his epic winning streak of originality and invention.

Pretty sure that ended with this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TC8dwdz7Yg

I'm looking forward to the all-lute cover of Rhythm of the Heat.

Riding Pernwaves

Well then:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_OtfstmDgo

So the guy follows up doing the most boring thing possible - a summer tour with Sting - by releasing something new? Relatively speaking, of course, because that sounds like a leftover from "Up." Wish the rhythm, track weren't so generic and boring. Guy used to be so good with drums and percussion. Backstory:

"I wrote a song a few years back – 'I'm Amazing,' which was, in part, inspired by Muhammad Ali's life and struggles," Gabriel wrote. "At the time of his death, when so many people are celebrating his life and thinking about all he achieved, it seemed the right time to release it."

Mentioned this on another thread but I'm pretty sure I would rather see this than Peter Gabriel proper these days:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjOCaL-rmOM&feature=youtu.be

Gabriel live is still pretty great. He really knows how to stage things, and I heard amazing things about the "So" redux tour (despite it being the most boring choice short of touring with Sting; someone's got to pay those Real World bills).

His voice is well-preserved and there's still a hint of menace in even the new track, but yes, he's mostly boring now. Which he's certainly entitled to — after a lifetime on the road and a ruined marriage behind him, I can empathize if he just wants to be a wealthy family man for a while. As a selfish fan, though, I wish he took more risks. Someone like Robert Plant is the kind of late career I'd hoped for him. Or, more ambitiously, David Bowie — though it's clear now that Gabriel isn't nearly as restless or daring.

can't bring myself to go see him with Sting this year, but yeah the So tour was amazing.

i thought he'd done quite a lot to not be thought of in the same breath as Sting these days, ah well

oh I dunno. i saw a live DVD from an early '00s show in which Gabriel mostly played with a laptop or behind keyboards and his voice heaved with the sound of alimony and boredom.

Huh? What tour was that? The boring orchestra tour behind the boring orchestra albums?

Growing Up Live, was it?

Is that the one where he was on a Segway for part of it? Can't remember, but I know I saw the Up tour (which, like the Us tour, was designed by Robert Lepage), and it was cool. In the round? Also, literally in the round:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh80jJNgRrY

Honestly, I don't know much of what he's done the last 20 years or so, but the rot seemed to set in w Us. There really didn't seem to be the same energy once he hit the, uh, big time.

I think Us was pretty good, actually. Good songs, pretty, neat/novel performances/arrangements, like "Digging in the Dirt." It's not like he's done much since, but like I was saying before, even the stuff on Up - which I like - is pretty rhythmically inert, like band in a box generic. The soundtrack to Rabbit Proof Fence is great, though.

I liked Us, too. He'd really assimilated his African influences by this point, not just tacked on for effect but part of the melodies and structure of the songs. "Come Talk to Me" is beautiful, even if I don't fully know (or care) what the hell he's singing about. And the Secret World tour was his best, if only for Paula Cole in lbd and combat boots.

Although he's turned into Randy Newman at times, he's still put out really great one-off songs like "Burn You Up, Burn You Down" and "Signal To Noise".

I love Us. Didn't used to, especially when it was new, but I revisited it a couple of years ago and now it really moves me.

Us is tremendous and stands with his best work imo.

Us has the first evidence of the alimony voice I mentioned above and needs more fast ones, but I could tell at the time he was the sort of guy who abjured fast ones because they weren't serious; that's why the two fast ones are a "Sledgehammer" knockoff and an extended conceit about his dick which I hope Rosanne Arquette liked (the conceit, that is). I loved the tour, still one of the grandest I've seen.

Also: he still had the aura of a mainstream star in '92-'93: the Miami Arena was sold out that night.

lol I deleted "kiss that frog" from my iTunes and the album is better for it.

looking through his catalog the proportion of "fast ones" to great ones doesn't seem unusually low fwiw. he's recorded some great uptempo tracks but that's not really what I look to him for.

i really hate burn you up, burn you down. talk about a bog standard, pg in a box track. blech

Was Sting ever on a Disney soundtrack? Anyway the Gabriel tune from Wall-E was very nice I thought. Co-written by Randy Newman's cousin Thomas!

Thomas Newman!

It wasn't the paucity of fast ones on albums that bothers me as their increasing desperation, as if he bowed to pressure to Write Some Hits. Remember "The Barry Williams Show"?

Thomas Newman is great, he's fashioned a nice little sound world for himself in film.

It wasn't the paucity of fast ones on albums that bothers me as their increasing desperation, as if he bowed to pressure to Write Some Hits. Remember "The Barry Williams Show"?

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, June 17, 2016

ah gotcha. totally agreed then. and lol that's another one that is conspicuously absent from my library.

I don't hate Us. I bought it on CD when it came out, tho I must've sold it at some point. Production-wise it feels very heavy and adult – there is a slightly hermetically sealed vibe. At the same time, virtually all of the songs are drab therapy mumbo jumbo – as if he crossed the "Is he speaking to God or a person" rubicon of "In Your Eyes" and that was that. I mean, at least "Kiss That Frog" tries something else.

The only thing I unabashedly love on Us is "Blood of Eden" – which suffers from all of the above problems but just has a lovely melody and atmosphere. Incidentally Sinead toured w him at WOMAD when I saw him and got booed roundly. He went all "spiritual protector" with her – standing by her and glaring at the crowd disapprovingly.

i saw that tour as well, just a year or so after the US tour. it was great, and was the last time I saw him live until the So tour.

I like the orchestral covers record because the song choices are all pretty interesting, but the orchestral versions of his own songs are terrible, I just can't listen to it, it adds absolutely nothing. I assume there's a reason the new original album is like 15 years overdue at this point.

US is a recording of a man who's never had a conversation in his life, hence the marvel of therapy.

Did you come talk to him?

us is grebt, and not least because it was the soundtrack to my first oral sexing

not terribly into the 'fast' songs, but come talk to me, love to be loved, blood of eden and digging in the dirt are among his best

dude is 66 years old and has been musically active for 49 of them; y'all are pretty demanding about him breaking new ground in 2016 jeez

Love Us, and loved the tour, my first proper BIG concert

((Was Sting ever on a Disney soundtrack?))

He wrote and recorded a bunch of songs for The Emperor's New Groove, all of which except two were cut, and one that was kept didn't have Sting on it. From Wikipedia:

After Sting's songs for Kingdom of the Sun were dropped from the new storyline, Sting remained on the project, though he was told by the studio that "All we want is a beginning and an end song." The song, "Perfect World", was approached "to open the movie with a big, fun number that established the power of Kuzco and showed how he controlled the world", according to Feature Animation president Thomas Schumacher. The filmmakers had asked Sting to perform the song for the film, though Sting declined telling them that he was too old to sing it and that they should find someone younger and hipper. They instead went with Tom Jones, who was eleven years older than Sting.

there's a very interesting unreleased documentary made by sting's wife about the whole thing

dude is 66 years old and has been musically active for 49 of them; y'all are pretty demanding about him breaking new ground in 2016 jeez

Yes tho the point I'm making is that he slowed up considerably when it came to breaking new ground around 42. It seems like a combination of age, commercial pressure and the whole Real World endeavor probably sucked a lot of inspiration out of him.

For me, those first four records are really a different beast than everything that came after – the sound of Genesis's frontman finding his way in the pop marketplace. So is an interesting record for sure – but it's got that same experimental vibe as the self-titled records (impressionistic songs, narratives about psychological experiments, etc.). Us to me is where he begins to leave all that behind.

Think it's fair enough to wonder what's going on with some of these guys (see also Bryan Ferry to an extent) when their studio output dries up in early middle age...a curiosity, rather than entitlement (hopefully)

wonder why he's not on Spotify.

Bryan Ferry has actually been pretty prolific lately. I think he works like Gabriel does, starting sessions in fits and starts with various combinations of musicians, then spending a ton of time in the studio combing through the different takes and shaping the songs from them, which takes a lot of time. That's why they have such superstar credits. It's not like those cats are in the studio all at once, just dropping by for a day here and and a day there. I doubt they even know if they're on the record until the end, and even then, I wonder if they can always hear themselves.

Check out the credits of Ferry's latest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avonmore_(album)#Personnel

Then check out the credits on Gabriel's Up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_(Peter_Gabriel_album)#Personnel

He's always worked like this, but this is clearly an epic conflation of several different sessions cobbled together into an admittedly cohesive but maybe sort of inert album.

There's some great, great stuff on Up so I wouldn't say he's lost it. To me it really does go back to the rhythm. His more recent stuff is often more loop-y and plodding, less naturally dynamic.

The orchestral stuff I think it some of the dullest music ever made. His arrangements of his own music are dull, his covers are daft - why rearrange familiar songs into such radically new forms by jettisoning the melodies and arrangements, but keeping the lyrics? If he had just written new words no one would have known they were covers. Makes it seem gimmicky.

Gabriel covering Elbow is like Will Smith covering Richard Blackwood's 'Who's Da Man'

"Think it's fair enough to wonder what's going on with some of these guys (see also Bryan Ferry to an extent) when their studio output dries up in early middle age...a curiosity, rather than entitlement (hopefully)"

I don't think it's that unusual, I think it's entirely natural that people's creativity slows down in middle age. People like McCartney are a real exception.

i guess I never paid attention to the credits on Up, I had no idea Tdchad blake or peter green were on it

His accent is weird, speaking voice that is. It's obviously a 'posh guy trying to lose his posh voice' accent but it's ended up coming out really odd. I'm trying to think what it's like but all I can come up with is a South African trying to impersonate Brian Eno.

I'll rep for his cover of "Listening Wind" on the orchestral album, the lone bright spot to me. It sounds like a Security-era experiment, and even the original could have come from PG 3.

The documentary SlimandSlam referenced is called The Sweatbox. Really terrific stuff! Buried for years, but a bootleg with a time odd was uploaded earlier this year.

Gabriel strikes me as being like Paddy McAloon of Prefab Sprout and Matt Johnson of The The in that I'm sure he has an enormous cache of unreleased material that had never been bootlegged

Really? I have honestly never thought I'd Gabriel that way at all. Does he usually release a lot of b-sides or anything that would suggest that?

he probably has an enormous cache of unfinished stuff.

"Think it's fair enough to wonder what's going on with some of these guys (see also Bryan Ferry to an extent) when their studio output dries up in early middle age...a curiosity, rather than entitlement (hopefully)"

I don't think it's that unusual, I think it's entirely natural that people's creativity slows down in middle age. People like McCartney are a real exception.

ahahahaha... wait... can't tell if serious.

I never would have predicted it, but the Peter Gabriel/Sting show tonight was pretty awesome.

i watched some youtube clips of this and then was sad that I'm going to miss it, because it looks pretty good. also sting sings Dancing with the Moonit Knight!

Yeah, part of it, at least, before Message in a Bottle. I was really impressed by the format, with combinations of Sting singing Sting, Gabriel singing Gabriel, Gabriel singing Sting, Sting singing Gabriel, and both often backing the other. Sting in particular seemed like he was having more fun than I've seen him have for years, often super happy just swinging his arms back with the backing singers, or playing bass (as he did on Big Time, with Tony Levin handling the synth bass). A lot of the times the guys not playing were still hanging on stage, singing and dancing and having a good time.

Back in the first couple of Lollapalooza iterations they made a big deal of acts guesting with each other, and certainly this kind of thing happened back when Gabriel and Sting were on the Human Rights Now tour, but it's been a while since I saw a collaborative tour, with this sort of musical chairs going on.

wow both the new songs that have come out recently (The Veil, today, and I'm Amazing, a few months ago) are not very good. They aren't terrible but they're hardly memorable or breaking any new territory. I'd like to think he's holding back on great things for the album but these give me zero hope, and I'm a huge fan.

His catalog is finally on Spotify. Listening to the car album now.

I
WILL
FIND
OUT

Why are all the songs on Us marked “explicit”? Did he go back and add a bunch of obscenities to bring it up to date?

he says the word sex in digging in the dirt.

He went with the remixed versions, all of which feature DMX.

“Kiss That Frog”!

man, Passion is close to topping my list of his best.

It's the last album he made where I don't skip at least one track.

I like Passion Sources even more.

His whole catalog is on Bandcamp now - and when I say his whole catalog, I mean it; you can even get the German-language versions of the third and fourth solo albums.

I saw someone mentioning Peter Gabriel just now, and I was reminded how much I enjoyed his tour with Sting. On paper it's a cash grab, but in practice it was something I wish more bands would do. There were Peter Gabriel sections and Sting sections, but what I remember most were the long stretches that fused both bands on stage and often featured Sting in a supporting role: playing bass, or lined up with the backing singers, or helping out Gabriel in the front. It was just a nice thing, and it was the most fun I think I've ever seen Sting have on stage. Here's a clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjhLD8LZ-Hc

Well, Sting has made clear Peter Gabriel's one of the few artists of his generation he genuinely likes or disturbs his chronic self-regard.

(An aside and not for this thread, but Sting's tour with Paul Simon sounded the same way: combining bands, covering each other's songs.)

I remember this because of Brexit - I think right after the ill-fated vote, Sting trashed it while introducing an appropriate Gabriel-era Genesis song. (Forgot which, but I'm sure fans can probably guess.)

I *think* he sang a snippet of "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight."

(Answer: yes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1voIdykzHk

Late 80s Peter Gabriel is kind of hilarious.

I just two-listened to Passion as a result of this thread and … with 2022 ears it sounds like every Hans Zimmer/Gladiator-style score I’ve ever heard. Lots of mysterious, Shankar violin drones, Nusrat banshee cries trailing into Real World’s cutting edge Lexicon reverbs, and so, so much tribal percussion.

Then you have “A Different Drum,” which sounds like he couldn’t help but add some of his own vocal stylings to the brew, which appears to employ some kind of Lyric Generator about rivers flowing and whatnot. IIRC, this is also the scene where Jesus is walking alone and one-by-one his disciples and followers appear next to him, as if he’s Steve Perry and Journey filming a music video on a shipping dock.

Also, I completely forgot that Shaking the Tree has a title track – which combined with the jaunty piano groove sounds a bit like Peter Gabriel and His Heavy African Friends.

I love Manu's playing on the title track.

I have to admit, Passion's become my favorite Gabriel, thanks to that combination of genuine respect for local sources + keyboard and percussive schlock + New Age quieter passages.

“Led Zeppelin? meh, just sounds like a cornier Greta Van Fleet amirite?”

also note PG invented tribal percussion in 1980 when he decreed that Phil Collins was not allowed to touch his cymbals

u rite abt “shaking the tree” tho. i play it once a year for my partner on International Women’s Day and she throws stuff at me.

xxxp yeah it's a great soundtrack. The Criterion DVD or Blu-ray has a nice bonus feature that was made in the late '80s or '90s where Gabriel goes over the whole creative process. I spend so much time watching films that I've stopped listening to soundtracks - it's probably best to hear most of them within the context of their respective films anyway - but Gabriel's was definitely one that held up well as its own album.

saw this the other day, peter gabriel with liz fraser and paul buchanan from the blue nile:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca-ZTr_e0LM

Is that from that Ovo thing? I forgot all about that!

it is, yes. they sing on two tracks of that - 'downside up' and 'make tomorrow'

Passion is phenomenal and I won't hear otherwise

Yeah what the hell Passion invented what would later become clichés. It had an amazing effect on 1989 me, may have been one of those formative listening experiences.

^^ this

My path for contemplating 80s Gabriel is comparing "I have the Touch" with "Come Talk to Me." I like both songs, and they have some lyrical themes and musical flourishes in common.

His approach was almost always agglutinative - building up thin layers of harmony that become orchestral in the aggregate.

You see the way he foregrounded of drums and percussion, and pushed guitars to become textural and atmospheric because they don't have to do as much song-shaping work.

So this track seems funky, spiky, listenable pop song that can still be plausibly called a little weird. The grainy underproduced making-of style video is retro-charming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0cYreDaYFg

A decade later, a similar sentiment is expressed inna mature stylee. It's more confident, more sweeping, less anxious. But the core is the same: a shy Englishman yearns for connection over a lush synth pad and a thuddy quasi-tribal drum line.

People like the album version with Sinead, people like the Secret World version with Paula Cole. I am a corny-ass sentimentalist and sometimes gravitate toward the live one with Melanie Gabriel (for whom he wrote the song for in the first place).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyD04YMYUzk

That "I Have the Touch" has to be the best fan-made video I've seen yet. Excellent.

I Have the Touch is incredible. Jerry Marotta absolutely dominates.

Come Talk to Me is Divorcée Biko.

It's pretty wild how Marotta has played on so many of my favorite Peter Gabriel records, but he's also a big part of Hall & Oates. Less surprising now, but before I became familiar with their '70s-era experimentation (including Hall's work with Fripp), I only knew H&O through the big '80s hits.

Come Talk to Me is Divorcée Biko.

― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, January 22, 2022

you say that like it's a bad thing

Yeah, Marotta is an absolute stud and was supposed to be in the 90s Crimson before pulling out. He’s also epic on Songs from the Big Chair.

Re. Passion, I said it on another thread but even as I never quite give up on him there’s always been something missing for me about Gabriel that is hard to put my finger on. Yes, his voice is magic. Yes he has great melodic sense and a nose for electronic arrangements. But there’s something kind of facile lurking under the surface that I think Xgau may be trying to get at here in his typically inscrutable way:

If Gabriel can't resist orchestrating his rock and roll, better he should lay on third-world rhythms than simulate first-world themes. But self-conscious primitivism hasn't cured his grandiosity--lyrical protestations notwithstanding, the only time those rhythms are around him and inside him, in control and in his soul, is on "Shock the Monkey," which has a good old first-world hook. Only Gabriel probably doesn't want to be cured--bet he admires African music not because it flows like a stream but because it taps the divine, and while he may know in his head that animists can't have one without the other, he's not about to become a believer.

Althugh my first purchase, Security doesn't hold up well. These days it's Passion, So, and Melt, in that order.

Yeah, Marotta is an absolute stud and was supposed to be in the 90s Crimson before pulling out. He’s also epic on Songs from the Big Chair.

Trivia: his only Tears credit is on "The Working Hour," for "percussion and saxophone arrangement." Always sounded to me like Gabriel ghosted him c. "So" for some reason. Bits and pieces of Marotta are on that album, along with stuff from Copeland and programmed drums, but clearly Manu Katche caught his ear. I want to say only "Red Rain" is mostly all Marotta but the hi-hat.

Don't know if he pulled out of KC, per se. He plays drums on the Sylvian/Fripp "First Day" album (which Fripp hoped would segue into a Sylvian-fronted KC) but by the time they toured it Pat Mastelotto was playing drums and that was that. Clearly Jerry Marotta lost his prog mojo around that same time, since after losing the Fripp and Gabriel gigs he became the go-to guy for the Indigo Girls. Then again, he's played with tons of folks.

Great long Marotta interview here:

https://thehustle.podbean.com/e/episode-246-jerry-marotta/

He says he got his first touring gig when he was 16 or 17, his teachers let him take his high school exams with him on the road!

(He claims he played drums on "Head Over Heels," but he's not credited for it on the record.)

he became the go-to guy for the Indigo Girls. Then again, he's played with tons of folks.

IV, So, Birdy, Passion and Up, in roughly that order

Sorry sorry US not Up Jesus

III, IV, Birdy and Passion for me.

IV feels kind of hit-or-miss even though III and So are my favorites and it sounds like a logical and crucial link between the two. I do like "San Jacinto," "I Have the Touch" (though I prefer the single remix), "Shock the Monkey" and "Kiss of Life," but the rest don't really come together for me.

I always think of Marotta when I hear Songs from the Big Chair because it's his playing that clears up the whole mess about the stereo channels being incorrect for so long, even on the original vinyl release:

https://superdeluxeedition.com/feature/exclusive-remixing-tears-for-fears-and-the-stereo-channel-saga/

I asked Steven Wilson what he thought and his opinion was that most mixers would have mixed the metal chimes from left to right so he was dubious about the fact that right to left was correct. Thankfully, as he was liaising regularly with Roland Orzabal at that point, discussing the new stereo and 5.1 remix, we had an easy way to check with an authority. Roland told us that since Jerry Marotta is right handed, the toms on "The Working Hour" would have been mixed “low tom on the left and high tom on the right”. Lo and behold the original LP is the reverse of this. If there was any further doubt Steven Wilson also checked with the original producer Chris Hughes who confirmed categorically that the metal chimes should go from left to right. That information effectively proved that the original UK vinyl pressing is incorrect – the stereo image is the wrong way round which is why the master tape has the 1998 Jon Astley note (see above) stating that it should be reversed. That instruction was either not followed for the MFSL CD or as is more likely they used different tape sources. ("Head Over Heels" on the MFSL runs slightly longer than the standard album version which means that cannot have used the same tapes.)

I wish he'd done more producing.

I think he does a lot of producing, I just wish he would *produce* it. Like, Bryan Ferry works much the same way, assembling tons of talented musicians than piecing together songs from various takes. But he's downright prolific compared to Gabriel. Wiki brings things up to date, more or less:

Since 2002, Gabriel has been continually working on what he has given the tentative title of I/O, his tenth studio album. It was originally set to be released 18 months after Up, but touring pushed the release far away...He did an interview with Rolling Stone in 2005 stating that he had 150 songs in various stages...From 2013 to 2016, he posted regularly on social media about recording the new album...In 2019, he spoke on BBC Radio 6 about how he had taken a hiatus from making music due to his wife being sick, but he had begun to return to it now that she had recovered... In 2021, he was interviewed multiple times about his new album, and revealed that he had been recording with Manu Katche, Tony Levin and David Rhodes on 17 new songs... He posted multiple photos to his Facebook and Instagram of these sessions...As of 2021, the album remains unreleased.

On his Instagram there are pictures posted in the studio as recently as October, so probably an album soon. Like, 10 years or so.

sylvian didn't get along with marotta so he was fired from the first day sessions early on, so when it came time to tour they held auditions and chose mastelotto. shortly after the first day, fripp did put together a kc lineup of fripp/belew/levin/gunn/marotta but wasn't happy at all with how it worked in rehearsals, and ended up replacing marotta with bruford and mastelotto.

both iii and iv are close to greatness but just aren't quite consistent enough. i prefer iv of the two

"The Family and the Fishing Net" is a slog tho

III always seemed rock solid to me. It's easily my favorite PG album.

'Plays Live' has fantastic versions of the songs from Security, even Family... sounds taut and weird.

III, IV, Passion, So, Us for me. But heck, I even like Up!

Am I the only one who thinks his first album is the best? Kind of a mess, sure, but I love hearing musicians going off in every direction at once, even if they don't always land gently.

I don’t think it’s his best but I am surprised that nobody has put I or II in their lists.

Each of his albums up to and including Passion are wonderful. Us was okay but the middle-age stuff started to lose me.

Am I the only one who thinks his first album is the best? Kind of a mess, sure, but I love hearing musicians going off in every direction at once, even if they don't always land gently.

― hey mac, see you down the dulce domum (Matt #2),

I'd include his debut on the list of first albums that charm because they present several possible futures.

I don't have a problem with any of his albums, I don't think. Or at least the problems are slight, and not significant enough to derail the rest. In fact, I think there's a lot of his later stuff that sort of slid under the radar, like a lot of "Up" (which is weird and scary) or "Rabbit Proof Fence." Or "Ovo," which I forgot existed.

II and Up are my favourites.

II - 'White Shadow' may be my all-time fave PG song.

I think Up deserves to be held in higher general regard than I'm getting the impression that it does. Darkness, Sky Blue, No Way Out, I Grieve, Signal To Noise and The Drop are all amazing songs.
In particular, I think 'I Grieve' is an extremely strong piece where lyrics and music go together to create more than the sum of their parts. How he sings "They say life carries on" in the first half, as if that is what people tell him but he can't believe it... But then there is the positive shift in music and tone in the final verse, as his grief actually progressed and he starts to see life in everything himself and finds acceptance, relief. So beautiful.

There's a lot of what someone on the Meatloaf thread called "broadway rock" on PG I & II, like he thought he'd be Bruce Springsteen before he discovered Fela Kuti. Even on III — Family Snapshot sounds like a Bat Out of Hell castoff.

But there’s something kind of facile lurking under the surface

I still love his voice and the sinister atmospheres (I love The Family & The Fishing Net!), but this is right: there's always some schlock in the mix, which has gotten worse over the years.

The power chords and sax solo in the "I'm ALIVE!" section of "Family Snapshot" is cornball as hell yet works.

I also really love OVO actually, especially 'Time of the Turning', 'Downside Up' and 'Make Tomorrow'.
Paul Buchanan obviously does a great job on the latter two, although I'd have loved it if studio recordings had been available with Peter himself singing (as opposed to the released live version of Downside Up with Melanie, which is fine, but also not very smooth/somewhat shaky - which might be a consequence of the two of them being pulled upside down with cables halfway during their performance)

we gave I a few listens a couple months back. it'd been a while for me, and my partner only really knew (and loves) "Solsbury Hill," so her reaction really highlighted for me what a wacky grab-bag it is. "Here Comes the Flood" was her other main keeper. same for me plus "Moribund the Burgermeister." "Excuse Me" was when the wheels started to come off for her. i basically like the messiness of it, exactly in that "i'm going solo, look, i can do all these things!" kind of way.

but for me, boy, if he'd waited a year and just put out the best of those first two albums as one record, it'd be a HELL of a record.

tbf tho, i don't think he has a single album i'm truly in on, all the way through, so it's just part of my relationship to him as an artist that i accept a certain grab-bag quality.

but for me, boy, if he'd waited a year and just put out the best of those first two albums as one record, it'd be a HELL of a record.

Funny you should say that; I discovered the first two albums through this inexplicable compilation:

https://www.discogs.com/release/1462984-Peter-Gabriel-Revisited

good lord, that cover

I remember it!

Did we ever do a PG poll?

he thought he'd be Bruce Springsteen

I'd always wondered about this (from a RS interview):

On a very random point, I’ve always read that “Solsbury Hill” was inspired not only by your decision to quit Genesis – but a Bruce Springsteen concert you saw in London in 1975. Is there any truth to that?

I’m trying to think, because I think that was written prior . . . I don’t know. I saw Bruce’s first gig in London, I think at the Odeon house. That blew me away. Second only in my favorite gig list to Otis Redding in 1967. But I don’t think it’s connected to “Solsbury Hill.”

The story goes that Bruce is the “eagle that flew out of the nest” and you were so inspired that you wanted to leave Genesis and do your own thing. Is that just a bunch of hogwash?

I think that is hogwash. Because when I left Genesis, I just wanted to be out of the music business. I felt like I was just in the machinery. We knew what we were going to be doing in 18 months or two years ahead. I just did not enjoy that.

I remember that once I met Bruce at CBS. He had an armful of Roy Orbison records under his elbow. So I think he drew from rich veins of rock history and absorbed and pulled them together in a very interesting way with a great band.

On the other hand, Roy Bittan plays on most of the second album.

I only like a few things from I and II. FWIW, I also prefer the version of "Here Comes the Flood" Gabriel recorded for Robert Fripp's Exposure. (Both the original and later mix over the one on Gabriel's debut, with a preference for the original mix of the Exposure recording.)

xp IIRC Dave Marsh may have been the one that really pushed that "Springsteen inspired Gabriel to leave Genesis" theory back in the '70s, and I think he regurgitated that in his Heart and Soul... book.

Re: Up, yeah it does have some excellent cuts especially “Darkness” and “I Grieve”. But “The Barry Williams Show” is just so goddamn irritating.

Had no idea Paul Buchanan was on Ovo!!!

Had no idea Paul Buchanan was on Ovo!!!

Scroll up, I posted a video of him and liz Fraser singing 'downside up'

Did we ever do a PG poll?

Always wanted to do a massive genesis + solo works poll tbh

Just to see if Tony Banks' solo albums garner any votes

The Barry Williams Show sucks, but I know why it's there. Same reason Steam is on Us. Steam is better than The Barry Williams Show, but regardless neither sinks either album, which tbh are already pretty long and sloggy. Nonetheless, too many highs and ideas that catch my ears and pique my interest. And yeah, "I Grieve" is beautiful. Didn't that first sneak out on the "City of Angels" soundtrack? Another great soundtrack deep cut is this weird, lovely one from Wall-E:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEc7nQZi2Og

The first Tony Banks album is one of my favourite Genesis-related albums of all time, so there would certainly be at least one vote, yes.

xp

I'd say II is my favourite of his solo records. I acknowledge the sincerity of his "personal" albums, but if he's going to be singing a grandstanding anthem, it sounds less banal to me if it's about "Mozo" or whoever than about his family life. I can see why he felt he had to change gears on III, it was a bold change in direction, I just don't like any of the songs. The uptempo stuff on So sounds really bad to me, a lot of effort making the tracks sound cheap and plasticky.
I still feel his most valuable collaborator was Tony Banks, though, so take than into account.

III is basically Gabriel as Peter Hammill, with a Fairlight and a much bigger budget.

...which seems as good an excuse as any to post this recently unearthed clip of Gabriel, Hammill, Stewart Copeland et al doing a Hammill song at WOMAD in 1982.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqtWnEo3uFQ

That's interesting, strange mix though. I was having a funny/horrible vision of them doing an impromptu live version of "Wooly Bully" or something.

Fabulous jacket!

Always wanted to do a massive genesis + solo works poll tbh

― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, January 24, 2022 1:58 PM (forty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Just to see if Tony Banks' solo albums garner any votes

― hey mac, see you down the dulce domum (Matt #2), Monday, January 24, 2022 2:04 PM (thirty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

All he needs is a miracle

Sorry, I preemptively denounce myself

Yeah some of A Curious Feeling isn't bad thinking about it, parts of it were adapted for use in the soundtrack to 'The Shout' too. Bankstatement and his "classical" albums = hard no.

I really would read an article about how so many of the artiest weirdo prog guys of the '60s/'70s -- Yes, Genesis, Asia -- transformed into the most anodyne commercial pop bands of the 80s...

Yeah some of A Curious Feeling isn't bad thinking about it, parts of it were adapted for use in the soundtrack to 'The Shout' too

It was the other way round actually, the bit of music on The Shout was really just a demo which he fleshed out later for the album.

Another great soundtrack deep cut is this weird, lovely one from Wall-E

His catalog is full of hidden gems, some of which were collected on the recent "Rated PG" and others on "Flotsam And Jetsam" comps.

And who could forget
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySkA91dT5Rg

and..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBkS_zcgV3k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fylPc2INzio

(Co-produced by Nile Rodgers and Peter Gabriel)

^^ Raises a "what if" if Rodgers had produced So.

I think he's on "So," by way of the Laurie Anderson collaboration.

For some reason The Family and The Fishing Net slapz way harder in German
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGT-oAhzCW8

The whole Scratch My Back/New Blood/Live Blood/And I'll Scratch Yours cycle bums me out so hard, idk if I've ever listened to any of them in full

Like 'Up' has some jams, but then it's like is there anything that's really popped off in the last 20 years besides Wall-E

well he hasn't really put much new material out since up and it might very well be for the better considering how dire the covers album was

I agree, that cycle bummed me out, too. It's like he had so little to say he finally resorted to a (boring) covers album, a (boring) orchestral album, etc. Just spinning wheels. That's why I was so relieved his tour with Sting proved so lively, even if it was just another case of wheel spinning. That (2011) RS interview I alluded to showed he's at least self-aware of stuff.

Someone might look at your career and say, “This man has committed career suicide. He had this gigantic breakthrough album in 1986, and then he waited six years to follow it up. Then he waited 10 years to follow that up, and here we are 10 years after that and the next one isn’t even close.” How would you respond to that?

I’m sure that’s correct, commercially. But I have had a really interesting life. And that seems to be a much more sensible goal at age 61. If I can still pay my bills, which does become an issue sometimes, then I’m a happy guy.

i did not care for him in genesis but spank the monkey and sludge hammer were pretty good!

he looks like a guy who invested his So-era money well

Lol I bet he didn't! He looks like a guy that sunk a whole bunch of his money into the studio and recording other people and elaborate stage sets and VR theme parks and shit like that who now occasionally has to tour with Sting to refill the coffers.

I call that investing wisely (I'm aware of the studio expenditures).

screw VR theme parks, I want a real Gabriel theme park

Apparently Real World Studios was a wiring nightmare, I heard he designed it so that there were multiple recording interfaces all around a large space which all had to be connected to the control room. This of course was before it could be done wirelessly. Probably soaked up the royalties for "Red Rain" on its own!

Gabriel theme park - go on the Solsbury Thrill rollercoaster, then the Sledgebumper cars.

Grab a Moribund Burger before heading over to the Washing of the Waterpark, with its Red Rain sprayground.

In winter, check out our new ski resort, Excellent Snow.

For those that dont know, I wasn't joking, he really did, with Laurie Anderson and Brian Eno, plan for a long time on some sort of futuristic theme park in Spain.

https://ew.com/article/1994/05/20/peter-gabriels-real-world-experience-park/

That performance with Liz Fraser and Paul Buchanan is cool, although Liz is almost lost in the mix.

not so sure about the Home Sweet Home ride

the "Don't Give Up" ride is the best, where you and your buddy embrace each other on a spinny platform 100 feet up in the air and have to hold on for dear life. safety not guaranteed

My fave attraction at the Washing of the Waterpark is the "Here Comes the Flood" wave pool.

Fair to say now that Pete would have put one to better use than MJ did

Obvious Shock the Monkey experiential “ride” joek withdrawn.

Just don't go into the Milgram's 37 booth.

At the DIY stand you make your own Peter Gabriel playlist.

for the record I still staunchly oppose a genesis kitchen sink poll. a watered-down mess for all parties

PG’s solo career is long and deep and deserves its own poll (with option to vote for PG-era genesis tracks).

Collins and Collins-era Genesis would be fine too I guess.

I'd love a PG poll.

thanks for all the PG tips in this thread :-)

We need to watch our language or else the thread will be designated PG-13.

A lost opportunity that Peter never released that many solo albums.

Although I guess the Rated PG compilation has already made use of that idea

ITT pitch your concepts for horrible '70s album titles/covers in the style of I've Got My Own Album To Do

The Minneapolis tribute band PG-13 has, on their Shows page, a 2021 gig called Let's Take The Boat Out (on a boat).

Ooh ooh! I know!

In the spirit of From Genesis to Revelation, Gabriel could release a greatest hits collection but with every song redone with explicit lyrics. Call it From PG to R.

Jerking off on Solsbury Hill...

Something in me, white and sticky
All the time it's getting stronger...
I feel it in my head, I feel it in my toes
I feel it in my c**k, that's the place it goes

In your butt
The light, the heat
In your butt
I am complete

But not F**k the monkey, that's a bridge too far

I grieve is great but y'all sleepin on no way out

woah I need to check out PG-13

I grieve is great but y'all sleepin on no way out

No Way Out is extraordinary. Upthread I mentioned how the music and lyrics of I Grieve add to one another, the same might be said for the riff of No Way Out hammering the realization of 'what happened' in. The sequencing of these two ultra powerful songs makes perfect sense as well and even add positive resolution to the sad theme.

^^ OTM the sequencing puts the songs in conversation in a way that enhances both

+ in a body of work not lacking for good lyrics, I find analogy of goldfish:bag::spirit:body deployed here just exceptional. indelible shit. also a really beautiful contribution from Tony Levin... and then that riff

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.

PG2 feels like stuff that had to get worked out, but yeah for sure.

3 was really such an inspired shift

speaking of bad investments, wasnt womad funded by the mob or something?

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).

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."

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.

I think this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_All_Odds_(soundtrack)

might be the only time Phil Collins successfully ethered PG

I never knew about this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO6fAJcN89k

it's solid!

who is that singing the chorus?

Sinead

oh duh!

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.

You can't spell SONG without SO

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.

“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”.

wow i did not know about that willie/sinead cover, thanks much for that!

New album and European tour in the works:

https://petergabriel.com/news/i-o-the-tour-announced/

lol it's actually finally coming out?

The new album should be called "$/$".

I suspect for a lot of boomers, 2023 will be the year of "use it or lose it."

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

I say this as a fan, bit I'm going to suggest that this will not be a hot ticket.

Though maybe things are different in Europe, who knows.

Pretty sure there will be a really nice live video that I can watch on my own couch with my own wine and snax

Could there be a more Peter Gabriel-y album title than i/o ?

Yes, "Peter Gabriel."

I like to think that the guy in Vampire Weekend is singing "It feels so unnatural, Peter Gabriel 2"

lol that's what I've always thought and I will not be convinced otherwise

Yes, "Peter Gabriel."

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, November 8, 2022 9:43 AM (forty-three minutes ago)

lol unavoidable

Could there be a more Peter Gabriel-y album title than i/o ?

he's stuck with that as the title for this album for like 20 years, I'm surprised he actually went through with it

also have always heard the VW song that way

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Miami was the last stop on his Secret World tour and it remains a top fiver.

yeah those shows blew my mind. the video release doesn't really capture how great they were.

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.

The most I know is The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Sledgehammer, and the end credits for WALL-E.

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.

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)

As long as there are white oxford cloth shorts and ethnic waistcoats, I'm in.

collarless shirts!

*shirts duh

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.

I'm expecting the return of the Slipperman costume at those prices.

Slipperman costume currently on loan to The Musical Box.

OK, I'll settle for a convincing impersonation of a teenage Puerto Rican gang member.

He'd get cancelled!

Just the fox mask please

Singing flower or stay home.

Singing flower or stay home.

https://i0.wp.com/musicalbrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/flower02.jpg

Just came back from a screening of the new King Crimson documentary, where Tony Levin appeared for a Q&A. He mentioned that he'll be joining Peter Gabriel's tour next year AND that it will indeed come to the U.S. as well as NYC (though dates have not been announced yet). He also mentioned that he plays on the upcoming album, enough that he knows what the music's like (this was in the context of an earlier answer where he mentioned that he's been recording more for what sounded like unknown indie artists, thanks to his ability to record on his own home set-up which means clients don't need to fly him anywhere or book studio time). However, he has no idea when the album will be released.

Idk about this, kinda weak.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIDu6a9COmg

not a great sign that the music he's been working on for 20 years sounds so by-numbers

maybe there is a different mix? this is pretty boring, especially given the players.

PG completing a circle by sounding like Big Big Train

Also reminds me slightly of "It's Raining Men"

it... sounds like a PG song!

When the drums come in at 34" the keyboard bit really reminds me of 'This is the Picture'

I quite liked his contribution to last year's Leonard Cohen tribute on Blue Note, even if his LC impression is a bit over the top.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-e__5L9Kt0

Makes me wish he played with different musicians more often.

New one's goofy but I like the unabashed progginess of the concept. Peter Gabriel in 2023 earnestly bellowing PAN-OP-TI-COM is like Neil Peart never died.

PG completing a circle by sounding like Big Big Train

ha, you are correct...and I find them unbelivably boring and dull. his voice saves this for me but only just. weird choice for a single.

xpost lol! I'm digging it. Kind of Steve Kilbeyish lyrics.

not a great song but it does sound like vintage gabriel, fwiw

the acoustic guitars are a bit of a throwback

yeah. I think it's nice just to hear him again. after 20 years away though I was kinda expecting something a bit...I dunno...fresher

Is this album going to have an equivalent of "The Barry Williams Show", where he takes on a hot-button topic from a previous decade?

not to be all "well actually," but everybody's running around saying that this is the first self-composed shit he's put out since Up, but he put out singles as such here and there, most recently two songs in 2016, one concerning Muhammad Ali, "I"m Amazing," that I remember thinking was good when I heard it…

Got a horrible feeling some of those singles will reappear on the album

I don't think they will, he already put them out on that flotsam and jetsam compilation.

Gabriel isn’t one to put one-off songs into studio LP’s proper.

I really like this, although the mixing is odd

PG says in the Full Moon Club update that "we're finally starting out with a new record of new songs and slightly used... items." :/ That might include a couple of songs that were premiered on the So Back to Front tour (which I can't say as I remember).

Based on what he says in the video it sounds like they're releasing a song every month in the running order of the album. This invites the suspicion that he's still tinkering with it.

is this more old-guy-diddling-around-on-synths stuff

Would you prefer old socks

"old socks" would be my two-word review of Up.

is this more old-guy-diddling-around-on-synths stuff

not really, I would probably like that more tbh

Just posted via Bandcamp:

Hi there,

If there’s anyone out there who actually wants to do a deep dive into the music from i/o and how it was created we’re resurrecting the Full Moon Club here as a membership club with a subscription for the price of a cup of coffee every month.

We’ll put some other versions of every song in here, whether it’s another mix, maybe a demo, or perhaps more than one demo just showing how the thing got created or what some of the ideas that influenced the lyrics might be.
This will be for the hardcore, we’ll be doing these full moon releases so just look up at the sky and check out when the moon’s getting bigger and you'll know there's something new coming your way.

Along with the full moon club we’re going to try and learn, so we’d appreciate some feedback as to what might be of interest for you… we may put in extra tracks or some other live stuff, I don’t know... tell us what you’re interested in and we’ll see if we can rustle it together.

A few of you may well have bought Panopticom, so there are few extras already available here that will hopefully make up for that including an extended Full Moon Club video where we start to deep dive into the making of Panopticom.

I hope a few of you stick with me for the ride.

Peter.

Plus actual link -- 3 pounds a month:

https://petergabriel.bandcamp.com/subscribe

Peter is now writing and recording, and working on a plan to create a streaming service for digital medicine and an Interspecies Internet.

Hi there

I'm on my way I'm making it

finally able to talk to squirrels via my pgabphone

^^ rejected "Big Time" lyric

I always enjoy it when elder statesmen musicians become tech evangelists/futurists

Gabriel going to send a CD-ROM installer of the new album to every address.

Todd Rundgren was a pretty fun one of those, dude was a pioneer of both the Philips CD-i and the Amiga Video Toaster, plus he actually built an early version of Patreon (I guess?) back in the late nineties

PatroNet.com has launched Todd Rundgren's revolutionary new software, The Interocitor, for the delivery of creative content, way beyond just downloading music. This on-line service allows Todd to establish a relationship with his fans in a way that will bring artist and patron closer than ever before possible. For only $40.00 a year you can have access to Todd like you have always wanted but never could before.
The Interocitor is a multiple channel, 3D environment that will include:

1. No longer wait two years for a new CD, get the music as soon as Todd records it. Hear the new CD "One Long Year", also available see several new flash animation that accompany a few songs.
2. Live and taped concert web casts. Footage from the current "Power Trio" tour, see Kasim fall and break his leg on stage. Stop into the Tiki Room's cocktail lounge before watching a show from "With A Twist" tour. Order a tropical refreshment from our friendly bartender served in a Tiki God cup. Check out the Mai Tai Museum while there.
3. Games based on Todd and Utopia's music. Help Todd climb to the top of the pyramid to save Singring from eternal imprisonment in the glass guitar while Roger, Kasim and Willie try to stop him. Or play a game of "Concentration" using sound bites from all of Todd's solo albums.
4. The House Of Fashion, archiving the many colorful stage costumes Todd has worn throughout his career. Photos spanning Todd's career and life. Fans will have the ability to submit and have their photos of Todd hung in the gallery as well.
5. The Castle of Mystery where you can get your deepest and darkest questions answered. Find out if you can levitate Todd.
6. Live chats with Todd. Receive post cards and e-mail from Todd himself. (in 1999 he sent out the "Twelve E-mails Of Christmas")
7. Surprises on every wall, you will just have to explore and experiment.
(not all the content listed will be available right at the launch)
Check out what all the excitement is about at www.patronet.com.

Join Todd! Come Closer!! Peer over his shoulder!!!

wow that's interesting. has Pampeldouche ever acknowledged this?

Prince was such a tech futurist that he seemed to compulsively give up on each new format or medium before anyone even had a chance to adopt them.

When Ralph Gabriel was not delivering cables he was a technician in research and development for the Rediffusion Company in Hastings, where he designed the first fiber-optic cable-TV system. Called Dial-a-Program, a prototype was installed for experimental purposes in the medical department of Case Western Reserve in Ohio.

“Unfortunately, the patent only lasted for fifteen years,” says Gabriel, “and the potential of cable TV was hardly recognized at the time. A lot of brilliant study was not made use of or capitalized on—extremely frustrating for my father.”

i remember gabriel's cd-roms being super lawnmower man futuristic

I like panopticom!

eve was an interesting thing I played around with for a while

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Gabriel:_Eve

would be cool if roms of this were available on the web. maybe they are.

dang, i had Eve as a kid when a friend's father bought it on remainder

also do not forget:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDFXlYfEHuI

New one up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKY_J3h2wJQ

Mobile phone are apparently bad.

Plus a further 'here's what's up'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSlAqoVd5Ow

I'm afraid to listen. Why is this the second one designated "monkey butt mix" or whatever? Are these not the album versions?

He's releasing 'Dark Side' and 'Bright Side' mixes of each song

But are either them the actual album mix? I just want to know if I'm not liking these remixes or not liking these songs..

he hasn't said which of the mixes will make he album. the dark mixes are by Tchad Blake and the Bright ones by someone else. I prefer the dark mix of the first song by some measure.

this song is cool!

Monkey butt mix ftw

is that the mix that's meant to be heard in a closed bathroom

he hasn't said which of the mixes will make he album. the dark mixes are by Tchad Blake and the Bright ones by someone else

Really liking the new songs and hearing the different versions. Trying not to listen to the lyrics (come on Peter, "PanopticoM"?)

US and Canada tour dates have been announced:

http://petergabriel.com/live/

Plus, new song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6swOrAJGBWw

He's tended his pipes remarkably well hasn't he

Of all his prereleased tracks, that one worked the best for me

$140 for the cheapest tickets at the Forum - that's double what I paid for decent seats at the Hollywood Bowl show with Sting in 2016. That's really disappointing.

I looked into pre-sales of several shows I was interested in this week, including Wu-Tang, Buddy Guy's farewell tour and Peter Gabriel, and at minimum you had to pay at least $100 for any of them, even for the worst seats in gigantic venues. I get the impression ticket prices may have inflated after last year's ridiculous market for concerts. I may switch gears and just frequent the local jazz clubs this summer.

Wow, nothing cheaper than $110 in Philly. I want to go - I have a soft spot for Peter Gabriel - but I am already shelling out for Depeche Mode tickets.

He's tended his pipes remarkably well hasn't he

Tbf, he may have recorded the vocals 20 years ago!

Sounds like the end credits song of a film about an eminent English scientist slowly succumbing to Alzheimer’s

good song; he played this on the back to front tour as 'daddy long legs', it's better with actual lyrics now. also snagged tickets; too expensive, assuming it's the last time I'll ever see him.

got tickets for his October show here...pretty excited. Not cheap but I guess pretty reasonable in the current climate. Got 6th row of the first deck for $110 each + bullshit.

I'm going too! Glad he scheduled a Twin Cities date so I didn't have to arrange a whole trip out of state to see him.

yeah I had almost pulled the trigger on Chicago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VONhkxrQKbU

L-R: Don Johnson, Peter Gabriel, Tony Levin

the best Genesis lineup imo

Needs more Glenn Frey

I dunno, I was never a fan of the “Glennesis” era of the band tbh

Wrapped up in some powdered wool-I guess I'm losing touch.
Don't tell me I'm dying, 'cause I ain't changed that much.
The only sound is water drops, I wonder where the hell I am

"Do it just the way we planned
You be cool for twenty hours and I'll pay you twenty grand"

I'm sorry it went down like this
And someone had to lose, it's the nature of the business

Glennesis, roffles

You can check out of the home by the sea any time you like, but you can never leave

There's gonna be a heartache tonight, o lord

Glennesis rules

Yeah but what about Don HenEsis?

This is the end of Don HenEsis

All she wants to do is dance (and she can't)

Selling Laurel Canyon by the Pound

Lulz

Desperadomino

For context:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yiihxkda8sQ

classic ep. so many terrible line readings

Okay I was pretty happy with "DesperaDomino" until I remembered this is a Gabriel thread, so I ought to focus on Gabriel/Eagles confluences, as opposed to Genesis/Eagles confluence.

Here's the best I could come up with:

"Biko, sweet darling, you get the best of my love"

In Your Lyin' Eyes?

^ very good, bravo Josh

shock the peaceful easy monkey

And a new one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9DLlv7FuYs

Per Bandcamp mailout:

The song features Soweto Gospel Choir, who were recorded at High Seas Studios in South Africa.

'The older I get, I probably don't get any smarter, but I have learned a few things and it makes a lot of sense to me that we are not these independent islands that we like to think we are, that we are part of a whole. If we can see ourselves as better connected, still messed up individuals, but as part of a whole, then maybe there's something to learn?'

I can't explain what exactly but something in his singing lines reminds me of Mia by Gorki (former Flemish band, RIP Luc De Vos 2014)

While I'm not super-excited about any of the individual images accompanying these songs (or the songs themselves, for that matter), I do appreciate how PG is emphasizing the work of the respective artists by discussing them in his Full Moon Club videos. It's as if he decided to do this instead of making traditional music videos, which seems like the right move at this point (more dignified, dare it be said).

iirc each of the songs on Us got a respective commissioned artist interpretation.

I'd forgotten that — I dig out Us about once a decade.

A little late but:

The Rhythm of the Heat Is On

So we have what could be 1/3 of the album out so far and i imagine I'm not alone in being well... probably satisfied, not disappointed per se, but I have the feeling that we haven't yet hear THE song from this album. Each album has them and they aren't always the single or most popular song; I'd say Mercy Street, Here Comes the Flood, Indigo, Intruder, Family and the Fishing Net, Washing of the Water, Signal to Noise....I just don't feel like we've gotten that yet from this album. I like all of this stuff, but I'm worried I haven't heard the 'singular' song from this album yet.I guess if one isn't forthcoming it would be the Court, and while I like that, it's a bit short of the goal.

yeah… I stan pretty hard but nothing has grabbed me yet.

This guy has synched the audio from Plays Live to a couple of horrendously shitty audience videos of the 1983 tour and it's STILL amazing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwh5D4mwIQI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LveARHkcYmk

plus "the outtakes" - tracks played on those three audience videos not on Plays Live

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wUKkOcLqCY

Here's a pretty aggro one from 1978 where everyone seems to be on speed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GcPPiF3l7I

many great moments on those first two albums - too bad they're not appreciated as much as the later stuff

i fuckin loved and still love plays live

it's fun enough to sorta see that facepaint from the cover in action

And another new song!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca-cyvU8P04

this is good as hell

fun fact: the saxophonist in the above 1978 video went on to be the super buffed saxophonist in Lost Boys

Not bad. It has a lot going on but the mix is uncluttered.

New tour is on!

SETLIST SPOILERS

SETLIST SPOILERS

SETLIST SPOILERS

SETLIST SPOILERS

SETLIST SPOILERS

May 18, Krakow

Washing of the Water (acoustic version)
Growing Up (acoustic version)
Panopticom
Four Kinds of Horses
i/o
Digging in the Dirt
Playing For Time (new version)
Olive Tree (world premiere)
Home (world premiere)
Sledgehammer

- intermission -

Darkness
Love Can Heal
Road to Joy (world premiere)
Don't Give Up
The Court
Red Rain
Unknown new song
What Lies Ahead
Big Time
Live and Let Live (world premiere)
Solsbury Hill

- Encore -

In Your Eyes

- Second encore -

Biko

Hmm. Any word on the staging?

I am very disappointed he is not coming to Atlanta. A road trip may be in order.

XP Pretty straightforward, it looks almost like a bandstand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9y2YIaTZSs

Hmm. Maybe he needs to refill the coffers. In the past (esp. on the Us and Up tours) the staging was cool as shit, but probably pretty expensive. I heard the So:Redux tour was minimalist but still looked pretty cool. The tour with Sting was simple but effective. This looks fine.

That big circular thing above the stage reveals itself as some sort of screen, like Pink Floyd but no, he's not floating about in a tank of amniotic fluid or projected as a giant hologram, towering over the audience.

Ten songs from i/o huh

Hmm. Maybe he needs to refill the coffers

Ticket prices were especially high for MSG so I was expecting something elaborate to justify the cost.

I’d also red Lepage was involved again so I was expecting something Us level given the size of the arenas, but apparently he was just consulting, he didn’t do a big design. Screens and projections are fine but absolutely everyone does them now.

And another new one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtSybUyAmig

I noticed the moon was looking pretty full last night

Why this wasn’t the lead single is beyond me. By far the best of the new tracks.

Exact same verse melody as “Kiss That Frog”, interesting choice.

i find this one a bit disappointing for that reason

Still waiting on a Beardyman collab

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju85sA8UTjc

"Road To Joy" is a great uptempo song that lives up to it's title.

Still no official album release date?

1 track a Month, album at the end of the year

I stand corrected - Wikipedia:

Gabriel announced on January 9, 2023 that he would be releasing singles from the album on each full moon, and the alternate mix (either 'Bright-Side' or 'Dark-Side') every new moon. He has since stated that he might continue in this release format if he has enough stamina to keep up.[31][32][22] Gabriel has stated that he has 20 or so possible songs for the album.[22]

We're being mooned by Peter Gabriel

Well, tbf, releasing one (version) of a song at a time, once a month, gives him time to, you know, work on the album. I mean, it's only been 20 years, which is why so much of this stuff sounds like he could have released it in 2000. He'll need another 20 years to make it sound contemporary, 30 years to make it sounds ahead of its time, like his best stuff. Just let the guy work.

feel obligated to point out that Road to Joy was a Bright Eyes song title ten years back

...and presumably a Schiller/Beethoven reference in both cases

Saw him in concert yesterday, with that setlist posted above, so half hits/classics and half new songs. It all sounded incredible to me. There's this one new song that he hasn't released yet called 'Love Can Heal', when they started playing it I thought they were building up to Mercy Street but it went somewhere else, somewhere astoundingly beautiful. I'm not sure if I was ever moved as much by a live song as with that one.

The staging is very pretty, there are different art projections from different artists on the circle and the panels throughout the show. It becomes a bit of a live museum.

No deep cuts from his earlier work but it's not exactly 'the same old stuff' either, there's some variations and good uses of different instruments. I especially appreciated the brass. And the hits/classics are a joy!

that's great to hear. the youtubes have been slightly underwhelming to me but experiencing things live is always different.

Tbf he's always been a compelling performer. The first time I saw him on the "Us" tour it was the full Lepage staging, the second time in a much smaller place where nowhere near as much fuss and he was still great. He was great with Sting a few years back, with a pretty modest stage.

The Miami show on the Secret World tour is one of the best I've ever seen.

So the first time I saw him on that 1993 tour was the (then) Spectrum in Philly, the usual arena. But the second was in 1994 in Bethlehem, PA, in a place that only ("only") held 6000.

That Miami show was the last on the tour, or at least domestically; just before or just after the encore they said farewell and sang happy birthday to a band member.

I read an interview with one of his band members once, and they claimed the vegetarian diet Peter put them on made them all gassy, and all those bits where one them came up to the front to mug with Peter was often them sidling up to fart on him.

https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1164006457/photo/peter-gabriel-secret-world-tour-in-atlanta.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=_X9NiCibHevgzv-OyoE7eJ0g-dmZNaZHKrzH0Ot0yNY=

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/wmYhqYFQ8QTjtkSxkq3fUA.jpg

Tony Levin is like "hey Peter, put THIS in your fruit cage."

Show me round your toot cage

the US tour with the full Lepage stage was likewise the greatest giant arena show I've ever seen, even with Paula Cole doing the Sinead parts

I read an interview with one of his band members once, and they claimed the vegetarian diet Peter put them on made them all gassy, and all those bits where one them came up to the front to mug with Peter was often them sidling up to fart on him.

That reminds me of one of the grossest stories Andy Richter liked to tell about his time on Late Night back when they were on NBC. It involved Sting, but it was basically him making fun of his vegetarian diet as well - apparently Sting forgot to flush the toilet in his dressing room and when Richter went in there, all he was this green cloud in there and naturally he had to tell the whole office about it.

*all he saw was

xxpost Yeah, it was super rad. I got to see his "Seven Streams of the River Ota" here some years back (all seven or eight hours of it), and the staging was just as neat.

Okay, dark-side mix of the new one out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D9sTZBCbco

once again, I prefer this Tchad Blake mix, but could do without that splash ending.

just occurred to me that he's yet to actually release a video for anything

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pekWm8tvA9Y

Seeing him tomorrow night in London, the set list is heavy on the new stuff and not enough pre-So material for my preferences but I'm guessing it'll still be a good time.

Update: Concert was great! Yes, not the setlist of my dreams but still a joy to see him. What a warm and generous stage presence he has, introducing the band at the beginning, the end, several times in between, and soliciting a round of applause for the tech and stage crews too. Seems like a very sweet dude. Hell of a band, great production, video, etc.

Saw him last night, have been wanting to for many years.... but 9 new songs was just too many, sad to say.

I didn't realize Wolfgang's Vault had the Amnesty International show that was broadcast from Giants Stadium back in June 15, 1986. I thought Peter Gabriel's set was the best, with "Biko" one of the highlights - a stronger performance than, say, the one in the 1987 concert film done in Athens (where it felt a little rushed to me):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LwbSeZx990

Lots of VHS recordings are on YouTube, but this is not surprisingly the best looking/sounding upload, probably coming from the broadcast master.

FWIW, back in 2009, Lincoln Center projected this as part of a larger Amnesty International/Secret Policeman's celebration. IIRC the turnout was actually pretty low for this screening, which was more like a casual all-day thing they held in the Walter Reade Theater - I didn't even have to get a ticket, the usher just let me in. I arrived just in time for Lou Reed's set and stayed to the end except for a quick meal break during Bryan Adam's set. I think by the end it was just me and a group of women a few rows up who were a delight - they didn't talk over the music, but between songs, they reminisced about attending the show in their 20's, at one point making a crack about not realizing it would be 20+ years before they saw the Police again. Anyway, it was great to see in the best possible quality on a great sound system.

God, I remember those screenings at the American Cinematheque and the Beverly Hills Paley/Museum of Television and Radio (which, sadly, no longer exists; all of their holdings are duplicated in the NYC location), and I’m disappointed that I didn’t go to them. I believe the Secret Policeman ones were in 35mm, and I hope those prints are still in good shape

Yeah bird, that Amnesty performance is excellent

Actually found the whole set here, possibly ripped from the Shout Factory DVD set (which I wasn't aware of until now).

I didn't realize Paley had a location in Beverly Hills - I looked it up and it sounds like there were several factors that may have led to its closing. This was announced weeks before the pandemic and lockdown hit, so if there's any positive spin to it, it's that they closed up before they had to deal with that headache.

Also that Vimeo account user (David M Kabot) seems to host quite a bit of Genesis and Peter Gabriel-related content, FYI

And here's the newest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urEbRC3PSY4

Super unusual to tour behind a record that's not even out yet. I wonder if his hand was forced?

I mean that's not unusual in general, though. The Cure just finished a massive US tour doing just that!

Eh, but how many new songs did the Cure really play? Two or so? Gabriel's set is apparently 50% new stuff.

Hardly that, more like six or seven regularly per set. Very heavily featured!

impressive! still pretty unusual I think.

It also helped that the tour was fully branded with the new album's name, so it's on all the shirts, a lot of the posters, etc., and Robert generally introduced every new song as such.

"Road To Joy" is a great uptempo song that lives up to it's title.

Still no official album release date?

God knows, maybe he started the song in 1986.

writing it or singing it

yes

Fripp is full of great stories, this one about Peter Gabriel (and Steve Lilywhite) —

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e57g_tPUgYw

That's great.

Never listened to fripp interview, he’s charismatically persuasive. Are all of his interviews like that?

P much

Here's the newest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7JrmwYj4g4

okay that bouncy chorus is 100% lifted from a 70s TV theme song

meh. been fairly disappointed with the last few songs; album is shaping up to be less experimental than I was hoping.

Jerry Marotta interview in which he talks quite a bit about working with PG:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/jerry-marotta-drummer-peter-gabriel-paul-mccartney-1234788532/

Great piece, thanks for sharing that. I had forgotten Marotta was the guy staring at the cover in this:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4e/Orleans_-_Waking_and_Dreaming.png

His falling out with Gabriel is … odd.

Staring at the **camera**

His falling out with Gabriel is … odd.

they don't seem to have had a falling out so much as Gabriel just chose to work with katche instead; Marotta's contention that Gabriel chose to diversify his band to head of criticisms of appropriation strikes me as a valid perspective. His other criticisms of Gabriel seem very OTM, particularly re: technology working against him. that anecdote about Gabriel adding more tracks to a song after Tchad Blake was done with a mix is pretty funny.

meh. been fairly disappointed with the last few songs; album is shaping up to be less experimental than I was hoping.

so much is, the second to last one released, is so so good

I do have to disagree with this statement: "Everybody thought Orleans was going to be what would now be the Dave Matthews Band — like, a band that’s very hip, not every song is a pop song, but just a badass group." Maybe Jerry should read ILM's DMB thread

so much is, the second to last one released, is so so good

it's fine but it also sounds like Playing for Time which sounds like Washing of the Water and I don't know how many songs we need that sound like that.

And here's the latest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us5JFGeKRQo

That's pretty.

this and 4 Kinds of Horses are the standouts on the album. Not sure they hit the highs of any previous album standouts, but they are very good.

Peter Gabriel / Security might finally be really grabbing hold of me after years and years of thinking of it as "I Have the Touch," "Shock the Monkey," "Kiss of Life" and some other stuff in between. The mix of the icy, grating qualities of 3 with this thicker fog of enveloping sounds is really fantastic. I'll admit, though, I'm noticing that a lot of the lyrics are suffused with "rich English guy encounters indigenous religious practices." Curious if there's any good writing out there that parses through that in this case.

anyone see him on this tour? heard a lot of good things

I saw him live a couple weeks ago. I think it was the oldest crowd I've ever seen at a concert!

The performance was really solid. He faltered on a few high notes during the first song and I got a little worried, but after that his voice was in top form for the entire rest of the show. Very impressive for a guy his age, he's still got the range! His band was great too, a whole lot of talent there. They played "Don't Give Up" and their singer actually did Kate Bush's part justice.

I'm a pretty casual fan, so I was taking Gabriel's measure as a person for the first time. He seems like a genuinely great guy who is way too ready to jump on every passing silicon valley hype train. His opening monologue had HUGE TED Talk energy. Later on, he introduced Panopticom and did this whole tech evangelist monologue about how humanity is about to give birth to a new child called AI, and it’s going to be dangerous but it’s also going to revolutionize medicine and it’s going to give every child their own affordable, personalized, perfect education, and everybody’s gonna be surveilled all the time but it’ll actually be good cuz it’ll prevent bad behavior. I was squirming in my seat!

But like I said, he also seems like a really good person. He really went out of his way to feature his band members and talked them up constantly, making sure everybody knew their names. The show’s visuals were extensive and featured the band members on the same level as Gabriel pretty consistently. If you didn’t know better you might assume it was more of a collective than a solo artist show. I respect that! They certainly deserved it, they were fantastic.

He played waaaay too much of his new stuff, but that's to be expected I suppose.

thanks for the review - going on tuesday, pretty excited!

going in a few weeks. Looking forward to it because I'm a fan of 40 years, though I feel like this album is kind of limp and most of the set is devoted to it (plus sledgehammer and big time, two songs I really wish he'd stop doing). I've watched a lot of youtube videos so already know what to expect staging wise.

tour seems to have sold very erratically across the US; apparently lots of seats in some venues didn't sell, and prices got cut day of show. didn't happen in the bay area though.

tour was great. video and effects set-up was genuinely impressive, new songs were presented with a lot of great (if a bit addled, as onesecondbefore points out) context, and tony levin, manu katche, and david rhodes can still rip, and the longtime camaraderie between gabriel and these guys was charmingly evident. his voice still sounds pretty spectacular, and he was moving pretty well during the livelier numbers.

the cellist/backing vocalist was featured just enough that when "don't give up" started you'd be confident she'd kill it, and kill it she did

I think it was the oldest crowd I've ever seen at a concert!

yeah i was the youngest one there by some years. everyone sat patiently through the (pretty good) new material, and when one of the songs everyone knew came on, they came to life.

Yes, some of the special effects he had going were genuinely pretty cool. I particularly liked the glass pane effect in the second act... You'll know what I mean when you see it. I also thought some of the video behind certain songs was pretty cool. Sledgehammer's video seemed corny at first but really grew on me as this explosive celebration of fecundity.

Probably buying cheap tickets for tomorrow night, I assume nosebleeds on the side will still provide an OK view?

I think that really depends on the venue, but I was in a nosebleed on the side toward the back and I had an OK view.

I went to the Madison Square garden show last week (I so never want to go there again, but I ended up there for PG this year, Roxy last) and to my ears he is singing his old shit in the original keys and sounds great…

I can't always remember the deep cuts from Us or Up, and I think he did some of that stuff, but I think it is pretty ballsy to play that much shit that the casual fan isn't going to be familiar with… after the closing "Biko," a lady who was sitting behind me asked me and my friend why everyone wasn't en masse singing along "ay aye ohhhhh"; "I saw him in Denmark" (or some other place in Europe) "and everyone in the place was singing aong…why doesn't a NYC crowd do that?" Maybe NYC crowds are really standoffish, as many have suggested. It is true that the crowd was very very old, well off and uptight, and it makes me appreciate the much younger, drunker and stoned-er crowd I encountered for QOTSA and probly will for Lightning Bolt in a few weeks…

I mentioned in the (er) Replacements thread that I've read some fans disappointed at hearing the hits shuffled in, saying it kind of breaks the mood and feels like a pointless attempt to liven things up when PG heads (no doubt already seated and comfy) don't need it. Personally, I'd rather have something like "Mercy Street" over "Sledgehammer" or "Big Time," say, given the set seems to be largely "New Songs, plus Selections from So."

I've read some fans disappointed at hearing the hits shuffled in, saying it kind of breaks the mood and feels like a pointless attempt to liven things up

i'd bet this is like 15 people out of 15,000 in a crowd

I agree. if you want to see some real bellyaching and moaning about setlists, go look at hoffman forums reviews of this tour. But I'll take what I can get. Ive been lucky enough to see him 5 times (at Amnesty in the late 80's, twice on the Us tour, once right after that for a WOMAD thing, and a few years back on the So revisited tour).

I've seen him ... three times before? Four? Twice on Us, once on Up, once with Sting. To be fair, I've not read any negative reviews of this tour, which surprises me, because none of the new songs have really clicked with me, at least in their pseudo-released forms. I'm intrigued by how many people love the staging, not that I'd necessarily expect anything else, but because the Us and Up tours were pretty cool, yet the last couple of outings seemed more conservative and paired down, like he'd had a talk with his accountant.

i've never seen him so i'm really excited
i try to avoid pre-release tracks for albums these days

I'm a little surprised he's not including a link to the album with each ticket or something like that.

i have no idea what he is thinking regarding the release of the album. though, all the tracks bar one are now available.

He's probably thinking, hmm, I should spend a few more years on this.

Or maybe he's thinking, just wait until they hear the other 30 songs!

Or maybe he's thinking, is it too late to call Buckethead?

It's never too late to call Buckethead.

Show tonight was lovely, though I guess I wish it was a little more lively, plus it would have been better suited to a theater. Still, Gabriel's voice sounds great, and the band was great, and I give a lot of credit for the pretty audacious setlist.

went last night - amazing show. def echo josh's sentiments. i hadn't listened to anything prior but the new songs worked live pretty well i thought.

i actually kind of get those comments about the hits breaking up the vibe a bit now?

the staging/video stuff was amazing, so creative and just a model for how to do a cool arena show.

only quibble is he didn't play many hits and i would have loved something like "shock the monkey" or "games without frontiers" instead of "big time" (esp cuz he played sledgehammer already)

"digging in the dirt" was a highlight...his cellist really nailed "don't give up" - amazing voice and also she didn't try to imitatie kate bush, made it her own

so glad i went

he did do those weird rambling AI speeches sounded like gibberish basically

i actually kind of get those comments about the hits breaking up the vibe a bit now?

The worst was the transition from the beautiful song about his mother to "Big Time."

yeah "Big Time" is not a favorite of mine and why play it when you've played a far superior song in the same style w/"Sledgehammer"?

he always plays that, he must like it, but weirdly it's a song that I don't recall anyone loving, ever (like Steam)

the band clearly loves playing "big time," so i was cool with it. i did lol at the only transition from that somber song being "what time is it??" *crash, bang*

also the skeleton flipping off the crowd on the video screen

I like "Quiet Steam" from the Flotsam & Jetsam collection — he played a bit of it on the Secret World tour before launching into Loud Steam. I'm hoping he does more music in that spare, subdued mode in future: minimal instrumentation, turbulence just below the surface, etc.

I've always been a big fan of the Massive Attack remix of "Games Without Frontiers."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mauZeyroS0Y

yeah that was a great remix/remake.

Quiet Steam was def preferable to Steam as released, but it also set a template for most of what he's done since; like, a lot of Up sounded like that. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it gets kind of dull.

I'm just bummed that for a guy so interested in rhythm, and with so many great drummers to choose from, he's often defaulted for much of the past 25 years to these sort of boring, canned loops.

I heard "Quiet Steam" on the "Digging..." cassingle. Imagine my surprise when I heard the album version.

me as well. 'surprise' is one way of putting it.

He really took a sledgehammer to it

I have a feeling every Peter Gabriel song starts pretty chill and/or slow, and either he realizes it and decides to pep something up or someone else does. A useful reminder: the evolution of "Sledgehammer"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJU_MLQc2fc

I will say that I actually prefer Steam to Sledgehammer these days

I've been playing this version at DJ gigs lately and people go crazy once it kicks in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg3VdmCD-H4

Kurt s I want you to mash that up with Eminence Front SO BADLY