Peter Gabriel

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!