Peter Gabriel

Album release finally announced, December 1. Putting out both mixes and you can choose which one you want (plus the atmos mixes on blu ray, which I don't deal with). Giant deluxe box with a book of course as well which I'll also skip because I've stopped spending money on things like that.

https://petergabriel.com/news/i-o-release-date-announcement/

I've made playlists of both the bright and dark side mixes, and on the whole enjoy the Blake/darkside mixes slightly more but honestly the differences are very very slight; I imagine he got them into an almost done state and then asked each person to just finish and polish them, but there are no differences in arrangements, big discrepencies on reverbs, or different musical or vocal takes that I've noticed.

Rumor is that he will tour again next year (this coming from someone who talked to Tony Levin's tour manager who told them he was on tour half of next year with Gabriel again)

The last "Y' he sings at the end of DIY on 'Plays Live' is the most insane thing ever, it's kinda thrilling.

I'm looking forward to his next record, hope he gets working on it soon.

there was some indication that he planned to just continue releasing new songs on full moon days and if so, I think that's a cool way to go forward. I know this release strategy annoyed a lot of people who were just like "give me the full album now" but as an ongoing policy for clearing out his backlog of work it's a promising direction. of course he'll probably not do it.

The last "Y' he sings at the end of DIY on 'Plays Live' is the most insane thing ever, it's kinda thrilling.

i'm like oddly thrilled i'm not the only person who knows this

He really pushed his voice around, pretty much from the early Genesis period, even within his first solo record, Moribund, Dolce Vita, Excuse Me, Modern Love, Waiting... all very different approaches.

I think he was still trying to figure out what he wanted to be. I don't know if I first saw it here or elsewhere, but I found this interesting clip from Fripp speaking about working with Gabriel and specifically the role of the producer:

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

Holy crap, And Still is completely amazing, absolutely the best song of this batch and one of my favorite songs that he's ever recorded. As someone whose mother died this year, it was really, really moving. Musically it feels like the one song from the album that is arranged in a completely new way.

I didn't post about it, but the show was so good.

Ayanna Witter-Johnson doing "Don't Give Up" absolutely stole the show

I really liked "Love Can Heal," which I forgot he did when he toured with Sting. Don't think it was changed much in six years.

Ayanna Witter-Johnson doing "Don't Give Up" absolutely stole the show

― The SoyBoy West Coast (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, November 10, 2023 1:30 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

she was wonderful

so angry we didn't get this tour here

Album leaked.

He's been leaking it himself for the past year, lol.

I was about to say, how the fuck it could be leaked.

there's only one song left 'unreleased'

As a complete album, that is.

All the mixes are the ones he's already released! There's zero leaking here, there's more "I have assembled the previously existing songs as a playlist oh and here's the one other one."

he should have released all the stems and had a fan mix contest, and then released the best mixes submitted by his fans.

Well it leaked in an organised form at least

He's released a lot of tracks in the last year, we're all aware here. Many acts do this. Now [i/o is out in, to quote PaulTMA, in its full form as a downloadable thing. Whether you care about this form is another question.

Which mix tho

All the bright and dark mixes, apparently.

yeah he's releasing both and you can choose which one you want so I assume the preview versions shipped and that's how the final song got out. hasn't shown up for me in my regular places yet though.

When you reach his age, leaking is almost inevitable

Did that entire Scratch My Back/I'll Scratch Yours project produce a single good song?

I liked his cover of Elbow's Mirrorball, Bon Iver's Flume, Arcade Fire's My Body Is A Cage, and Radiohead's Street Spirit. So almost half the album. The other tracks are alright but I never felt like revisiting them; I particularly dislike the very very slow take on Heroes (which I thin is the one song that has gotten some traction, I remember hearing it in at least one movie or movie trailer).

The covers by other people: I liked Eno doing Mother of Violence, Elbow's Mercy Street, and that was about it.

The bigger problem with that project was the endless New Blood Orchestra stuff he did, all of which was boring

his "the book of love" has been in so many movies and shows (not exactly answering your question tbf)

i got a kick of randy newman's very silly version of "big time"

*out of

oh right, yes book of love keeps getting reused and in fact I think it predated the rest of Scratch My Back. It's also kind of dull to me.

The "Book of Love" version in movies is the 2004 version not the Scratch My Back version afaik

That whole orchestra era of like Scratch My Back/New Blood/Live Blood then with the capper of I'll Scratch Yours is so dire

I gotta say, even after listening to the released tracks I wasn't expecting his voice to sound this un-gravelly.

no he sounds great on this; but maybe the vocals were all recorded 15 years ago.

He sounded great live!

He claims that finishing the lyrics is what prevents him from completing anything, so...

Studio rats like him and Bryan Ferry share that complaint.

I mean, they have to sing the songs, so I guess it makes sense. Just like singers choosing the setlist live. But Pete, like Ferry, also likes to fiddle, forming the songs as he goes, which adds an extra few years (apparently) to everything before he even gets around to the lyrics.

Was it here or somewhere else where I saw that anecdote about Gabriel taking just about any opportunity to procrastinate? It might have been an interview with Lanois or Lillywhite. They said things were already running way behind, but when someone had to go the airport, Gabriel offered to drive them himself. The producer had to intervene. "No! You stay behind and keep working!"

ha i no wonder i appreciate gabriel so much.

i woke up and realized i missed his show here and i'm seriously p crushed. never seen him. he's going around again soon it think i read here, so...

unconfirmed but I did hear that he was planning on touring again next year (this was someone on the hoffman board who heard this from tony levin's touring manager).

I'm positive Gabriel will tour again ASAP. Pete's gotta eat.

Anyway, final song is out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huUgfDhS6Ko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNUvHa0xfhc

I didn't realize he was using Nick Cave's sound suits for artwork. (Not the musician Nick Cave.) I know someone who works with him and introduced me to his work many years ago - basically I'd go see him and he'd be working on an exhibit, and Cave was often there, but it's been amazing to gradually see his profile grow so much over the course of that time.

His retrospective here a couple of years ago was great. The right kind of whimsy, very thoughtful.

he has a different artist for each song

Listening now, it's better than I expected, honestly, even having heard some of the recordings and heard most of the songs live. Good for you, Peter Gabriel.