Peter Gabriel | ||
| Allmusic Biography : As the leader of Genesis in the early 70s, Peter Gabriel helped move progressive rock to new levels of theatricality. He was no less ambitious as a solo artist, but he was more subtle in his methods. With his first eponymous solo album in 1977, he began exploring darker, more cerebral territory, incorporating avant-garde, electronic, and worldbeat influences into his music. The record, as well as its two similarly titled successors, established Gabriel as a critically acclaimed cult artist, and with 1982s Security, he began to move into the mainstream; "Shock the Monkey" became his first Top 40 hit, paving the way for his multi-platinum breakthrough So in 1986. Accompanied by a series of groundbreaking videos and the number one single "Sledgehammer," So became a multi-platinum hit, and Gabriel became an international star. Instead of capitalizing on his sudden success, he began to explore other interests, including recording soundtracks and running his company Real World. By the time he returned to pop with 1992s Us, his mass audience had faded away and he spent the remainder of the 90s working on multimedia projects for Real World. Following his departure from Genesis in 1976, Peter Gabriel began work on the first of three consecutive eponymously titled albums; each record was named Peter Gabriel, he said, as if they were editions of the same magazine. In 1977, his first solo album appeared and became a moderate success due to the single "Solsbury Hill." Another self-titled record followed in 1978, yet received comparatively weaker reviews. Gabriels third eponymous album proved to be his artistic breakthrough, however. Produced by Steve Lillywhite and released in 1980, the album established Gabriel as one of rocks most ambitious, innovative musicians, as well as one of its most political -- "Biko," a song about a murdered anti-apartheid activist, became one of the biggest protest anthems of the 80s. "Games Without Frontiers," with its eerie chorus, nearly reached the Top 40. In 1982, Gabriel released Security, which was an even bigger success, earning positive reviews and going gold on the strength of the startling video for "Shock the Monkey." Just as his solo career was taking off, Gabriel participated in a one-shot Genesis reunion in order to finance his WOMAD -- World of Music, Arts and Dance -- Festival. WOMAD was designed to bring various world musics and customs to a Western audience, and it soon turned into an annual event, and a live double album was released that year to commemorate the event. As Gabriel worked on his fifth album, he contributed the soundtrack to Alan Parkers 1984 film Birdy. His score was highly praised and it won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes that year. After founding Real World, Inc. -- a corporation devoted to developing bridges between technology and multi-ethnic arts -- in 1985, he completed his fifth album, So. Released in 1986, So became Gabriels commercial breakthrough, largely because his Stax homage "Sledgehammer" was blessed with an innovative video that combined stop-action animation with live action. So climbed to number two as "Sledgehammer" hit number one, with "Big Time" -- featuring a video very similar to "Sledgehammer" -- reaching the Top Ten and "In Your Eyes" hitting the Top 30. As So was riding high on the American and British charts, Gabriel co-headlined the first benefit tour for Amnesty International in 1986 with Sting and U2. Another Amnesty International Tour followed in 1988, and the following year, Gabriel released Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ, a collection of instrumentals used in Martin Scorseses film. Passion was the furthest Gabriel delved into worldbeat, and the album was widely acclaimed, winning the Grammy Award in 1989 for Best New Age Performance. In 1990, he released the hits compilation Shaking the Tree. Gabriel labored long on the pop music follow-up to So, finally releasing Us in the spring of 1992. During the recording of Us, Gabriel went through a number of personal upheavals, including a painful divorce, and those tensions manifested themselves on Us, a much darker record than So. For various reasons, not the least of which was the fact that it was released six years after its predecessor, Us wasnt as commercially successful as So, despite positive reviews. Only one single, the "Sledgehammer" knockoff "Steam," reached the Top 40, and the album stalled at platinum sales. In 1993, Gabriel embarked on the most ambitious WOMAD tour to date, touring the United States with a roster including Crowded House, James, and Sinéad OConnor, with whom he had an on-off romantic relationship. The following year, he released the double-disc Secret World Live, which went gold. Later in 1994, he released the CD-ROM Xplora, one of many projects he developed with Real World. For the rest of the decade, Gabriel concentrated on developing more multimedia projects for the company and working on a new studio album. Up was released in 2002, a full decade after Gabriels last studio effort. Dense, cerebral, and often difficult, the record peaked at number nine but failed to sell well in America. It fared slightly better in Canada, where it went gold. He then turned his attention to a host of different projects, although the release of Big Blue Ball -- a compilation of collaborative performances recorded at Real World Studios during the 90s -- helped placate fans while Gabriel focused his energies elsewhere. He eventually returned to the studio for another album, 2010s Scratch My Back, which featured orchestral covers of songs originally performed by Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Paul Simon, David Bowie, and others. Gabriel uncharacteristically delivered the sequel to Scratch My Back quickly, releasing New Blood -- a collection of orchestral reinterpretations of his own songs -- in the fall of 2011. The following year, Gabriel held a lavish celebration of the 25th anniversary of So, releasing several deluxe editions of the record -- the largest being a four-CD, two-DVD, two-vinyl box -- and launching the Back to Front tour, where he played So in its entirety. In 2014, Gabriel was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo act, joining Genesis, which had been inducted four years earlier. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 18 Title: Peter Gabriel Released: 1977-02 Tracks: 9 Duration: 41:30 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Moribund the Burgermeister (04:18) 2 Solsbury Hill (04:21) 3 Modern Love (03:38) 4 Excuse Me (03:20) 5 Humdrum (03:25) 6 Slowburn (04:36) 7 Waiting for the Big One (07:14) 8 Down the Dolce Vita (04:42) 9 Here Comes the Flood (05:54) |
| Peter Gabriel : Allmusic album Review : Peter Gabriel tells why he left Genesis in "Solsbury Hill," the key track on his 1977 solo debut. Majestically opening with an acoustic guitar, the song finds Gabriels talents gelling, as the words and music feed off each other, turning into true poetry. It stands out dramatically on this record, not because the music doesnt work, but because it brilliantly illustrates why Gabriel had to fly on his own. Though this is undeniably the work of the same man behind The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, hes turned his artiness inward, making his music coiled, dense, vibrant. There is still some excess, naturally, yet its the sound of a musician unleashed, finally able to bend the rules as he wishes. That means there are less atmospheric instrumental sections than there were on his last few records with Genesis, as the unhinged bizarreness in the arrangements, compositions, and productions, in tracks such as the opener "Moribund the Burgermeister" vividly illustrate. He also has turned sleeker, sexier, capable of turning out a surging rocker like "Modern Love." If there is any problem with Peter Gabriel, its that Gabriel is trying too hard to show the range of his talents, thereby stumbling occasionally with the doo wop-to-cabaret "Excuse Me" or the cocktail jazz of "Waiting for the Big One" (or, the lyric "youve got me cookin/Im a hard-boiled egg" on "Humdrum"). Still, much of the record teems with invigorating energy (as on "Slowburn," or the orchestral-disco pulse of "Down the Dolce Vita"), and the closer "Here Comes the Flood" burns with an anthemic intensity that would later become his signature in the 80s. Yes, its an imperfect album, but thats a byproduct of Gabriels welcome risk-taking -- the very thing that makes the album work, overall. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 18 Title: Plays Live Released: 1983 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:29:45 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 The Rhythm of the Heat (06:26) 2 I Have the Touch (04:43) 3 Not One of Us (05:50) 4 Family Snapshot (04:48) 5 D.I.Y. (04:06) 6 The Family and the Fishing Net (07:34) 7 Intruder (04:43) 8 I Go Swimming (05:04) 1 San Jacinto (08:27) 2 Solsbury Hill (04:42) 3 No Self Control (05:02) 4 I Don’t Remember (04:18) 5 Shock the Monkey (07:09) 6 Humdrum (04:23) 7 On the Air (05:22) 8 Biko (07:00) |
| Plays Live : Allmusic album Review : Although he had thrived on live performance as a member of Genesis, Peter Gabriel waited until he was four albums and six years deep into his solo career -- with the hit album Security and the Top 40 "Shock the Monkey" chalked up to his credit -- before he took the plunge into concert recording with this album. Released as a double-LP and two-CD set (but also later in a single CD "highlights" edition, missing four songs), this is a fine summing up of the artists early solo years. Most of his biggest hits and key album tracks are represented in tight, inspired performances -- the notes concede that some of what is here was sweetened after the fact in the studio, but the immediacy of the stage performances wasnt lost in the process, and that emotional edge and intimacy give songs such as "Solsbury Hill," "I Dont Remember," and "Shock the Monkey" a sharper, deeper resonance than their studio renditions, fine as those are. Its that side of the performance that makes this release well worth owning, for anyone enamored of Gabriels voice or songs, even if nothing here wholly supplants the studio originals. And the band -- Tony Levin (bass, stick, backing vocals), Jerry Marotta (drums, vocals), David Rhodes (guitar, vocals), and Larry Fast (keyboards) -- is in excellent form as well. What is lacking is the cohesiveness that one might have gotten from a live album assembled from a single concert; derived from a multitude of shows, the individual songs are excellent unto themselves, but theres little sense (or even the illusion) from song to song of any forward momentum across the album, and that might be the one major flaw here. But this is a suitable capstone to the first phase of Gabriels solo career, and also a peculiar one in certain respects -- given the effort that obviously went into assembling the album, the packaging is almost minimalist by the standards of live albums and double albums of the era (the LP version even put both platters into a single sleeve). | ||
 | Album: 3 of 18 Title: So Released: 1986-05-19 Tracks: 9 Duration: 46:27 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Red Rain (05:38) 2 Sledgehammer (05:16) 3 Don’t Give Up (06:32) 4 That Voice Again (04:53) 5 Mercy Street (06:20) 6 Big Time (04:29) 7 We Do What We’re Told (Milgram’s 37) (03:21) 8 This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds) (04:25) 9 In Your Eyes (05:29) |
| So : Allmusic album Review : Peter Gabriel introduced his fifth studio album, So, with "Sledgehammer," an Otis Redding-inspired soul-pop raver that was easily his catchiest, happiest single to date. Needless to say, it was also his most accessible, and, in that sense it was a good introduction to So, the catchiest, happiest record he ever cut. "Sledgehammer" propelled the record toward blockbuster status, and Gabriel had enough songs with single potential to keep it there. There was "Big Time," another colorful dance number; "Dont Give Up," a moving duet with Kate Bush; "Red Rain," a stately anthem popular on album rock radio; and "In Your Eyes," Gabriels greatest love song, which achieved genuine classic status after being featured in Cameron Crowes classic Say Anything. These all illustrated the strengths of the album: Gabriels increased melodicism and ability to blend African music, jangly pop, and soul into his moody art rock. Apart from these singles, plus the urgent "That Voice Again," the rest of the record is as quiet as the album tracks of Security. The difference is, the singles on that record were part of the overall fabric; here, the singles are the fabric, which can make the album seem top-heavy (a fault of many blockbuster albums, particularly those of the mid-80s). Even so, those songs are so strong, finding Gabriel in a newfound confidence and accessibility, that its hard not to be won over by them, even if So doesnt develop the unity of its two predecessors. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 18 Title: Shaking the Tree: Twelve Golden Greats Released: 1990 Tracks: 12 Duration: 07:32 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Solsbury Hill (?) 2 I Don’t Remember (?) 3 Sledgehammer (?) 4 Family Snapshot (?) 5 Mercy Street (?) 6 Shaking the Tree (?) 7 Don’t Give Up (?) 8 Here Comes the Flood (?) 9 Games Without Frontiers (?) 10 Shock the Monkey (?) 11 Big Time (?) 12 Biko (07:32) |
 | Album: 5 of 18 Title: Shaking the Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats Released: 1990-12 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:17:42 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Solsbury Hill (04:21) 2 I Don’t Remember (03:48) 3 Sledgehammer (04:55) 4 Family Snapshot (04:28) 5 Mercy Street (04:43) 6 Shaking the Tree (06:24) 7 Don’t Give Up (05:55) 8 San Jacinto (06:40) 9 Here Comes the Flood (04:31) 10 Red Rain (05:38) 11 Games Without Frontiers (04:06) 12 Shock the Monkey (03:57) 13 I Have the Touch (03:44) 14 Big Time (04:29) 15 Zaar (02:58) 16 Biko (06:58) |
| Shaking the Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats : Allmusic album Review : Greatest-hits albums are a traditional way of buying time for artists between albums. Peter Gabriels, entitled Shaking the Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats, arrived in December of 1990, as he was toiling away at the follow-up to his smash So, which was four years old at that point. As greatest-hits albums go, its pretty good, containing all the hits, plus an effective re-recording of "Here Comes the Flood" and a good new song in the form of the title track. While the sequencing may leave something to be desired -- it is neither chronological, nor as supple as a good mix tape -- it does contain nearly everything a casual fan could want (nothing from the second album, though; both "On the Air" or "D.I.Y." would have been nice additions), making it an effective sampler. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 18 Title: Revisited Released: 1992 Tracks: 15 Duration: 1:02:10 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 On the Air (05:28) 2 Modern Love (03:38) 3 Indigo (03:33) 4 Solsbury Hill (04:21) 5 Perspective (03:29) 6 Waiting for the Big One (07:17) 7 Animal Magic (03:29) 8 Humdrum (03:25) 9 D.I.Y. (02:47) 10 Mother of Violence (03:13) 11 Slowburn (04:36) 12 Exposure (04:17) 13 Moribund the Burgermeister (04:18) 14 Flotsam and Jetsam (02:22) 15 Here Comes the Flood (05:54) |
| Revisited : Allmusic album Review : A good but useless compilation of Peter Gabriels first two solo albums. Revisited contains some wonderful music, but fans would be better served by the individual albums, and casual fans will prefer Shaking the Tree, which has all of his big hits, including material featured here. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 18 Title: Us Released: 1992-09-14 Tracks: 10 Duration: 57:29 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Come Talk to Me (07:04) 2 Love to Be Loved (05:15) 3 Blood of Eden (06:36) 4 Steam (06:01) 1 Only Us (06:30) 2 Washing of the Water (03:52) 3 Digging in the Dirt (05:15) 4 Fourteen Black Paintings (04:36) 5 Kiss That Frog (05:17) 6 Secret World (07:01) |
| Us : Allmusic album Review : Six years after earning his first blockbuster, Peter Gabriel finally delivered Us, his sequel to So. Clearly, that great span of time indicates that Gabriel was obsessive in crafting the album, and Us bears the sound of endless hours in the studio. Its not just that the production is pristine, clean, and immaculate, its that the music is, with only a handful of exceptions (namely, the "Sledgehammer" rewrite "Steam" and the fellatio ode "Kiss That Frog"), remarkably subtle and shaded. Its also not a coincidence that Us is, as Gabriel says in his liner notes, "about relationships," since the exquisitely textured music lets him expose his soul, albeit in a typically obtuse way. Since the music is so muted, its no surprise that the album failed to capture a mass audience the way So did, but its foolish to expect anyone but serious fans to unravel an album this deliberate. Gabriel is as adventurous as ever, yet he is relentlessly sober about his experiments, burying exotic sounds and percussion underneath crawling tempos measured atmospherics -- this is tastefully two-toned music, assembled by a consummate craftsman who became too immersed in detail to make anything but an insular, introspective work. Some gems are easier to unearth than others -- "Digging in the Dirt" has an insistent pulse, "Blood of Eden" and "Come Talk to Me" are quite beautiful, "Secret World" is quietly anthemic -- yet, given enough time, the records understated approach and reflection becomes its most attractive element. But it takes a lot of spins and patience to get to that point, since this is an album he made for himself, and only those dedicated to the artist will have the patience to decode it. | ||
 | Album: 8 of 18 Title: Secret World Live Released: 1994-08 Tracks: 15 Duration: 1:39:55 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Come Talk to Me (06:13) 2 Steam (07:42) 3 Across the River (05:56) 4 Slow Marimbas (01:45) 5 Shaking the Tree (09:18) 6 Red Rain (06:14) 7 Blood of Eden (06:57) 8 Kiss That Frog (05:56) 9 Washing of the Water (04:06) 10 Solsbury Hill (04:45) 1 Digging in the Dirt (07:36) 2 Sledgehammer (04:59) 3 Secret World (09:11) 4 Don’t Give Up (07:35) 5 In Your Eyes (11:34) |
| Secret World Live : Allmusic album Review : Peter Gabriels second double-disc live album doesnt have the energy of Plays Live, which isnt surprising; his newer material is more subtle and doesnt easily lend itself to live performances. Thats part of the reason why the Secret World tour was filled with cutting-edge visuals and stage effects. Unfortunately, its very hard to record a light show, and the result is a thoroughly bland album. | ||
 | Album: 9 of 18 Title: Die Nixe • The Mermaid Released: 2001-11 Tracks: 14 Duration: 1:13:47 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Ouvertüre (08:34) 2 Bibabeinelied (03:04) 3 Muschellied (06:32) 4 Fischerlied (06:32) 5 Hexenlied (02:08) 6 Schlaflied (07:51) 7 Finale (01:27) 8 Overture (09:31) 9 Octupuse’s Song (03:33) 10 Song of the Seashell (07:34) 11 Fisherman’s Song (05:53) 12 Witch’s Song (01:44) 13 Lullaby (07:47) 14 Finale (01:31) |
 | Album: 10 of 18 Title: Up Released: 2002-09-19 Tracks: 10 Duration: 1:07:03 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Darkness (06:52) 2 Growing Up (07:35) 3 Sky Blue (06:39) 4 No Way Out (07:55) 5 I Grieve (07:25) 6 The Barry Williams Show (07:18) 7 My Head Sounds Like That (06:31) 8 More Than This (06:04) 9 Signal to Noise (07:38) 10 The Drop (03:04) |
| Up : Allmusic album Review : Ten years is a long time, especially in pop music, but waiting ten years to deliver an album is a clear sign that youre not all that interested in the pop game anyway. Such is the case with Peter Gabriel, who delivered Up in 2002, a decade after Us and four years after he announced its title. Perhaps appropriately, Up sounds like an album that was ten years in the making, revealing not just its pleasures but its intent very, very slowly. This is not an accessible record, nor is it easy to warm up to, which means that many may dismiss it upon a single listen or two, never giving it the time it demands in order to be understood (it does not help matters that the one attempt at a single is the ham-fisted, wrong-headed trash-TV "satire" "The Barry Williams Show," which feels utterly forced and out of place here, as if Geffen was pleading for anything resembling a single to add to the album). Really, there is no other choice for an artist as somber and ambitious as Gabriel to craft an album as dense as Up; those who have waited diligently for ten years would be disappointed with anything less and, frankly, theyre the only audience that matters after a decade. And theyre not likely to be disappointed, since this album grows stronger, revealing more with each listen. Initially, it seems to simply carry on the calmer, darker recesses of Us, but this is an uncompromising affair, which is to its advantage, since Gabriel delves deeper into darkness, grief, and meditation. It may take a while for him to emerge from the darkness -- there is little of the comfort of a "Come Talk to Me" or "Blood of Eden," which are immediately soothing on Us -- but there are glimmers of hope throughout the album, even in its darkest moments. Again, it takes awhile to sort all this out -- to unlock the form of the songs, then their meanings -- and its such a somber, hushed, insular affair that some dedicated listeners may not bother to spin it the appropriate number of times. But those serious fans who want to spend time with this will find that it does pay back many rewards. | ||
 | Album: 11 of 18 Title: 2003‐06‐07: Mountain View, CA, USA Released: 2003 Tracks: 17 Duration: 2:10:50 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Growing Up (08:51) 2 Shock the Monkey (10:58) 3 Solsbury Hill (04:04) 4 Sledgehammer (06:55) 5 Signal to Noise (11:04) 6 In Your Eyes (12:21) 7 Come Talk to Me (06:58) 8 Father, Son (05:48) 1 Red Rain (06:39) 2 More Than This (06:15) 3 Secret World (09:33) 4 Games Without Frontiers (05:41) 5 Mercy Street (07:26) 6 Darkness (06:41) 7 Digging in the Dirt (06:44) 8 Don’t Give Up (08:55) 9 The Tower That Ate People (05:50) |
 | Album: 12 of 18 Title: Hit Released: 2003-10-31 Tracks: 29 Duration: 1:15:29 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Solsbury Hill (?) 2 Schockiere den Affen (?) 3 Vorschlaghammer (?) 4 Gib nicht auf (?) 5 Spiel ohne Grenzen (?) 6 Erfolg (?) 7 Dich niederbrennen, dich zur Weissglut bringen (?) 8 Erwachsen werden (?) 9 Im Schmutz graben (?) 10 Das Blut Edens (?) 11 Mehr als dies (?) 12 Biko (?) 13 Dampf (?) 14 Roter Regen (?) 15 Jetzt kommt die Flut (?) 1 San Jacinto (06:34) 2 Du bist nicht wie wir (05:35) 3 Wolkenlos (04:47) 4 Der Rhythmus der Hitze (05:19) 5 Kon takt ! (04:34) 6 Ich bin traurig (07:24) 7 Handauflegen (06:06) 8 Absturz (03:02) 9 Der Turm, der Menschen fraß (04:06) 10 Stadt der Liebe (05:23) 11 Vater, Sohn (04:57) 12 Signal an den Lärm (07:34) 13 Unterseite oben (05:32) 14 Schnappschuß (ein Familienfoto) (04:30) |
| Hit : Allmusic album Review : Peter Gabriels work doesnt lend itself easily to compilations -- not because he didnt cut singles, since he made many terrific stand-alone singles, but because his body of work is so idiosyncratic, even contradictory, that its possible to have perfectly valid differing perspectives on his catalog. This results in differing opinions among fans, so its perfectly logical that Gabriel and his associates would have a unique view of his own work, as captured on Hit. Billed on its slipcase as "The Definitive Two CD Collection," Hit spans 29 tracks culled from his entire solo career, from 1977s Peter Gabriel to 2002s Up, plus the previously unreleased "Burn You Up, Burn You Down." It certainly is a generous compilation, and it does contain the basics: "Solsbury Hill," "Shock the Monkey," "Sledgehammer," "Dont Give Up," "Games Without Frontiers," "Biko," "Red Rain," "Big Time," and "In Your Eyes." But the devil is in the details, and in this particular case, the details push Hit away from the broad-based appeal of So and closer to the dense, subtle territory of Us and Up. This is achieved, of course, through the track selection, which is heavy on recent material (note: none of the edit details are present on the back cover, hence their presence here): from Up, theres "Growing Up [Tom Lord-Alge Mix]," "More Than This [Radio Edit]," "The Drop," "I Grieve," and "Signal to Noise," which amounts to half the entire album; the previously unreleased 2003 live track "Downside Up"; "Cloudless" from the soundtrack to the 2002 Rabbit-Proof Fence and "Lovetown" from the 1994 Philadelphia soundtrack; "The Tower That Ate People [Steve Osborne Mix]" and "Father, Son" from OVO; the 1990 Shaking the Tree remake of "Here Comes the Flood"; from Us, the album track "Love to Be Loved," plus the singles "Digging in the Dirt," "Blood of Eden [Radio Edit]," and "Steam [Radio Edit]." Thats a grand total of 16 tracks dating after the career high watermark of So -- 16 tracks covering two full albums, plus a lot of odds and ends. Theres unquestionably good material here -- not just the Us singles, but much of Up was quite excellent, even if it requires several listens to appreciate -- but the heavy emphasis on this post-So work skews too much to the new (nine of the 14 tracks on disc two are of relatively recent vintage), at least if the yardstick is either an evenhanded appreciation of Gabriels entire solo work or a portrait of his best-known, best-loved work. After all, there are many singles missing -- "I Have the Touch," "I Go Swimming," "Come Talk to Me," "Kiss That Frog," and "Secret World" among them -- plus other worthy uncollected rarities (his deliriously paranoid "Out Out" from the 1984 Gremlins soundtrack needs to finally get a CD issue) and many, many terrific album tracks that would have had given this compilation greater breadth and depth, including "Moribund the Burgermeister," "Mercy Street," "Intruder," "Family Snapshot," and the tremendous pair of "On the Air" and "D.I.Y.," the two best cuts on the underrated Peter Gabriel 2 (which is once again consciously ignored by Gabriel, with this exhaustive collection featuring nothing from the record). If some of these 12 songs had managed to get on Hit, it truly would have been definitive, capturing the entire scope of his solo career. As it stands, its a very good collection, one that delivers most of what is expected, even as it presents a relatively up-to-date self-portrait of the artist. | ||
 | Album: 13 of 18 Title: Growing Up Live Released: 2003-11-03 Tracks: 17 Duration: 2:11:35 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Here Comes the Flood (05:59) 2 Darkness (06:52) 3 Red Rain (06:17) 4 Secret World (08:33) 5 Sky Blue (08:11) 6 Downside Up (06:04) 7 The Barry Williams Show (09:46) 8 More Than This (07:17) 9 Mercy Street (07:40) 10 Digging in the Dirt (06:15) 11 Growing Up (07:58) 12 Animal Nation (15:50) 13 Solsbury Hill (04:19) 14 Sledgehammer (06:11) 15 Signal to Noise (08:03) 16 In Your Eyes (10:50) 17 Father, Son (05:25) |
 | Album: 14 of 18 Title: Scratch My Back Released: 2010-02-12 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:11:22 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Heroes (04:11) 2 The Boy in the Bubble (04:29) 3 Mirrorball (04:50) 4 Flume (03:02) 5 Listening Wind (04:24) 6 The Power of the Heart (05:53) 7 My Body Is a Cage (06:14) 8 The Book of Love (03:54) 9 I Think It’s Going to Rain Today (02:36) 10 Après moi (05:15) 11 Philadelphia (03:48) 12 Street Spirit (Fade Out) (05:06) 1 The Book of Love (remix) (03:40) 2 My Body Is a Cage (Oxford London Temple version) (06:03) 3 Waterloo Sunset (Oxford London Temple version) (03:49) 4 Heroes (Wildebeest mix) (04:06) |
| Scratch My Back : Allmusic album Review : Considering the slow trickle of completed albums he has released since becoming a superstar in 1986 -- just two albums of songs with vocals, paired with two albums of soundtracks and two live records -- deliberate is expected from Peter Gabriel, so the slow, hushed crawl of Scratch My Back is no shock. What may be a shock is that Gabriel chose to follow 2002’s Up with a covers album but, like all of his work, this 2010 record is highly conceptual no matter how minimal the end result may be. Designed as the first half of a two-part project where Gabriel would cover 12 different artists who would then return the favor by recording their own versions of Gabriel’s compositions -- the counterpart album naturally bearing the title I’ll Scratch Yours -- Scratch My Back divides neatly between six songs from his peers (Bowie, Paul Simon, Randy Newman, Neil Young, Lou Reed, David Byrne) and six songs from younger artists (Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Stephin Merritt, Bon Iver, Elbow, Regina Spektor). Gabriel doesn’t dodge familiar tunes, choosing to sing “Heroes” and “Street Spirit (Fade Out),” but he twists each tune to his own needs, arranging everything with nothing more than piano and strings, a change that’s almost jarring on Simon’s “The Boy in the Bubble,” yet it stays true to the undercurrent of melancholy in the melody. Indeed, all of Scratch My Back is stark, sober, and spare, delving ever deeper inward, a triumph of intellect over emotion -- a noted contrast to almost all cover albums that celebrate the visceral, not the cerebral. Immediate it may not be but fascinating it is, and after hearing Gabriel turn all 12 of these songs into something unmistakably his own, the appetite is surely whetted for its companion piece. | ||
 | Album: 15 of 18 Title: New Blood Released: 2011-10-10 Tracks: 14 Duration: 1:17:41 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The Rhythm of the Heat (05:41) 2 Downside Up (03:52) 3 San Jacinto (06:59) 4 Intruder (05:08) 5 Wallflower (06:26) 6 In Your Eyes (07:13) 7 Mercy Street (06:00) 8 Red Rain (05:16) 9 Darkness (06:11) 10 Don’t Give Up (06:40) 11 Digging in the Dirt (04:58) 12 The Nest That Sailed the Sky (03:54) 13 A Quiet Moment (04:48) 14 Solsbury Hill (04:35) |
| New Blood : Allmusic album Review : Almost every one of Peter Gabriel’s best-laid plans winds up going awry, and so it was with Scratch My Back, his 2010 collection of orchestral covers of some of his favorite songs. He had hoped to have the artists he covered return the favor by interpreting his songs but that project never got off the ground, so he pursued New Blood, an album where he turned that orchestra upon his own songs. New Blood is in every way a companion piece to Scratch My Back; it’s cut from the same aesthetic cloth, its austere and cerebral without being chilly, it finds emotion within intellect. Some songs aren’t considerably different tonally than the original versions -- this is particularly true of the So material, with “Mercy Street” and “Red Rain” seeming no different in their transition from Synclavier to symphony -- but the ones that are heavily reworked, such as “San Jacinto” and “Intruder,” are startling, rearrangements that seem to give the songs a new set of bones. New Blood isn’t always as astonishing but that’s fine: the faithful adherence to melody on “Don’t Give Up” and “In Your Eyes” functions as something of a palate cleanser, and even when the album isn’t risky it’s always quietly absorbing. | ||
 | Album: 16 of 18 Title: Scratch My Back / And I’ll Scratch Yours Released: 2013-09-20 Tracks: 24 Duration: 1:48:28 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Heroes (04:11) 2 The Boy in the Bubble (04:29) 3 Mirrorball (04:50) 4 Flume (03:02) 5 Listening Wind (04:24) 6 The Power of the Heart (05:53) 7 My Body Is a Cage (06:14) 8 The Book of Love (03:54) 9 I Think It’s Going to Rain Today (02:36) 10 Après moi (05:15) 11 Philadelphia (03:48) 12 Street Spirit (Fade Out) (05:06) 1 I Don’t Remember (03:40) 2 Come Talk to Me (06:18) 3 Blood of Eden (04:39) 4 Not One of Us (03:49) 5 Shock the Monkey (05:50) 6 Big Time (03:29) 7 Games Without Frontiers (03:22) 8 Mercy Street (05:28) 9 Mother of Violence (03:00) 10 Don’t Give Up (05:28) 11 Solsbury Hill (05:24) 12 Biko (04:19) |
| Scratch My Back / And I’ll Scratch Yours : Allmusic album Review : Considering the slow trickle of completed albums he has released since becoming a superstar in 1986 -- just two albums of songs with vocals, paired with two albums of soundtracks and two live records -- deliberate is expected from Peter Gabriel, so the slow, hushed crawl of Scratch My Back is no shock. What may be a shock is that Gabriel chose to follow 2002’s Up with a covers album but, like all of his work, this 2010 record is highly conceptual no matter how minimal the end result may be. Designed as the first half of a two-part project where Gabriel would cover 12 different artists who would then return the favor by recording their own versions of Gabriel’s compositions -- the counterpart album naturally bearing the title I’ll Scratch Yours -- Scratch My Back divides neatly between six songs from his peers (Bowie, Paul Simon, Randy Newman, Neil Young, Lou Reed, David Byrne) and six songs from younger artists (Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Stephin Merritt, Bon Iver, Elbow, Regina Spektor). Gabriel doesn’t dodge familiar tunes, choosing to sing “Heroes” and “Street Spirit (Fade Out),” but he twists each tune to his own needs, arranging everything with nothing more than piano and strings, a change that’s almost jarring on Simon’s “The Boy in the Bubble,” yet it stays true to the undercurrent of melancholy in the melody. Indeed, all of Scratch My Back is stark, sober, and spare, delving ever deeper inward, a triumph of intellect over emotion -- a noted contrast to almost all cover albums that celebrate the visceral, not the cerebral. Immediate it may not be but fascinating it is, and after hearing Gabriel turn all 12 of these songs into something unmistakably his own, the appetite is surely whetted for its companion piece. | ||
 | Album: 17 of 18 Title: And I’ll Scratch Yours Released: 2013-09-23 Tracks: 12 Duration: 54:46 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 I Don’t Remember (03:40) 2 Come Talk to Me (06:18) 3 Blood of Eden (04:39) 4 Not One of Us (03:49) 5 Shock the Monkey (05:50) 6 Big Time (03:29) 7 Games Without Frontiers (03:22) 8 Mercy Street (05:28) 9 Mother of Violence (03:00) 10 Don’t Give Up (05:28) 11 Solsbury Hill (05:24) 12 Biko (04:19) |
| And I’ll Scratch Yours : Allmusic album Review : Three years in gestation -- which, in Peter Gabriel time, is a mere handful of months -- And Ill Scratch Yours, the companion piece to the 2010 covers album Scratch My Back, finds most (but certainly not all) of the artists who were interpreted on Gabriels album returning the favor by tackling the progressive singer/songwriters back catalog. Not every artist chose to scratch Gabriels back. Radiohead reportedly were irked by his version of "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" and Neil Young followed his own path away from Gabriel, so Joseph Arthur was drafted to contribute an entirely too moody version of "Shock the Monkey" and, better, Brian Eno dug into the dark, unsettling corners of "Mother of Violence." Eno is a contemporary of Gabriels -- he contributed to Genesis masterwork The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway -- and, like on Scratch My Back, the veteran artists provide a better, riskier experience than the younger acts. Generally, the newer artists here -- Bon Iver, Regina Spektor, Arcade Fire, Elbow, Feist; Stephin Merritt is a grand exception with his nervy reading of "Not One of Us" -- favor the moody, foreboding side of Gabriel while his peers prefer to play around. Lou Reed turns the celebratory "Solsbury Hill" into a dirge befitting Magic and Loss (and changes the lyrics to read "my friends would think I was a slut" because, you know, sexual danger), David Byrne seizes upon the new wave disco menace of "I Dont Remember," Randy Newman spins "Big Time" into vaudeville, and, best of all, Paul Simon turns "Biko" into the folk protest anthem it always longed to be. And there are moments scattered among the younger acts worth hearing, too: Arcade Fire retain the ominous, dangerous air of "Games Without Frontiers," Spektor lends a gorgeous shimmer to "Blood of Eden," and Feist retains the delicacy of "Dont Give Up." This doesnt amount to a cohesive record -- although it favors the contemplative, there are too many shifts in mood here from track to track -- but it is without question a worthwhile record, as its best moments are strong, substantive reinterpretations that illustrate just how good a songwriter Peter Gabriel is. | ||
 | Album: 18 of 18 Title: Rated PG Released: 2019-04-13 Tracks: 20 Duration: 1:39:28 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 That’ll Do (03:55) 2 Down to Earth (05:58) 3 This Is Party Man (06:36) 4 The Book of Love (03:36) 5 Taboo (05:46) 6 Everybird (04:24) 7 Walk Through the Fire (04:02) 8 Speak (Bol) (06:32) 9 Nocturnal (03:47) 10 In Your Eyes (05:07) 1 That’ll Do (03:55) 2 Down to Earth (05:58) 3 This Is Party Man (06:36) 4 The Book of Love (03:36) 5 Taboo (05:46) 6 Everybird (04:24) 7 Walk Through the Fire (04:02) 8 Speak (Bol) (06:32) 9 Nocturnal (03:47) 10 In Your Eyes (05:07) |