Whatever happened to Peter Gabriel?

Okay, admittedly I don't follow every single snippet of news regarding him but what I do know is that he hasn't put out an album in eleven years.

He could have written one track a year and had enough material for an album by now.

Is he officially retired now?

 

I am sure he is still in the running somewhere. He is now in the position to release what he wants, and when he wants. I think he wants his records to be events and for the material to be strong.

 

He's toured quite a bit the last few years, first with the orchestra thing, and then with the So anniversary.

He's played a couple of new songs on this most recent tour, but there's no indication a new album is in any way forthcoming.

I don't really know what's up with PG...I get the feeling he starts a LOT of ideas and songs, but has difficulty seeing them through to completion, or organizing the (presumably hundreds) of ideas and songs he's accumulated into some semblance of a record.

 

I guess you really mean an album of new original material. He has put out some live albums and of covers and re-recordings during that time.

Yeah, it's about time. I've kind of let go of the guy. I haven't been really thrilled with anything he's done since So.

 

He's playing tonight somewhere in England. He's released some soundtrack stuff and some one-off songs, plus a covers album and an album of his songs re-recorded with an orchestra.

He keeps busy-ish, but I'd like an album of 10+ new songs, too.

 

You meant a solo album ?
Because during the eleven years you mentioned, he has actually released four albums for the mainstream market (two lives, one cover album, and one multi-artist album with him participating), and a hundred and three (103 !) double-CD live albums for the hardcore fans !

So he released 107 new albums during those 11 years. 'Retired' you said ?

(and not ONE real solo album - I know that's what you meant).

 

Yes, that's exactly what I meant.

I've seen the remix albums, the cover albums, iPhone apps, the endless years of trying to find every conceivable way to regurgitate a back catalog.
Just my opinion, but it points to someone who either has been quietly working on a new album all these years or someone who ran out of ideas after 2003.

 

Well, considering that Up came a full 10 years after Us, which came 6 years after So, I'd guess he hasn't run out of ideas, he's just predictably slow as ****!

 

Car to Scratch 1 year
Scratch to Melt 2 years
Melt to Security 2 years
Security to So 4 years
So to US 6 years
Us to Up 10 years
Up to nowhere 12 years and counting

progress?
2012 we did get a fragmented instrumental with a guide voice track on the Back to Front tour
25th anniversary of SO, which was one year late! still touring it

throw in Birdy 85, Passion/LToC 89, OVO 00, Long Walk Home 02, Scratch my Back 10, New Blood 11
extensive touring since 2002

he suffers from writers block, financial security, and perfectionism

his albums have become too regimented
too many samples - sucks the life out of it (Us and Up)
get the band and cut these live in the studio - limited takes

 

...And let's not forget about endlessly torturing legions of old school Genesis fans with a few "Will he or won't he?" reunion rumours

 

http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/11/peter-gabriel-debuts-new-song-what-lies-ahead-watch

 

I caught the Back to Front tour last year in Vienna (I didn't fly there to see the show, he just happened to be performing while I was there), and though the performance was fine musically I found it a slightly depressing experience. It was the first time I felt that Peter was just going through the motions and rehashing old glories without bringing anything fresh to the table (the most he could muster was a half-written song with nonsense lyrics). The orchestral tour at least put a new spin on old material (his and others'). A song like "Biko" just seems like empty ritual 20 years after apartheid ended.

 

I saw Peter at the Roxy in L.A. on his first tour, and in Boston for the Melt and Security tours, all of which are among my most treasured concert experiences. I haven't seen him live since, but most of the concert video clips I've seen have reminded me strongly of the Security show. They had some added technology added, but the basic vibes seemed to be derived from Security.

 

In a forum that loves to plot graphs and charts, surely someone can run the statistical analysis on this curve!

My engineer's estimate would be 16 years (2018!).

 

I'm worried. He's one of my favorites.

 

he is just one of those guys for lack of a better term "got old" he looks old and and well he just isn't that happening anymore.......hey it happens......he had a lot of groundbreaking ideas at first...they stopped and he didn't go mainstream either so.....you get a guy who looks like a 58 year old accountant........

 

Hey, at least he's being real! If he chose to, he could probably put out some substandard (by his standards) fluff that might satisfy some but he doesn't want to do that so more power to him!

 

Nope. I dont think this is the case with PG.
As the guy a few posts up said, he's just notoriously slow. The man does a lot of other things and has since he left Genesis.
My thoughts are that the hugeness of the Genesis thing scarred him and he has spent his life since then taking in different musical interests at his own pace. I quote "I walked right out of the machinery"

 

Starting with the title and despite the hand-wringing questions, your thread seems like a deeply incurious one driven by a sense that Peter Gabriel owes you fresh solo albums and a relentless pop music career, amd most of the replies are falling in line with this air of sullen entitlement and dismissiveness. He's old, tired, going through the motions, a spent force making everbody sad.

There's this thing called Wilipedia, and the page devoted to Peter Gabriel is thorough almost to the point of exhausting a casual reader. Check it out. The quantity of cool stuff he's done and released since Up makes this thread's pretense of an absent artist with an enervated creative drive wandering in limbo seem pretty silly. Side-stepping the product-shifting timetable of pop stardom doen't equal being a disappointing loser.

 

He's been touring. Also of course appeared at his Hall Of Fame Induction earlier this year. I also remember seeing him perform on one of the late night talk shows not too long ago (between a year and three years ago). I think it was on Jimmy Fallon.

 

As Dukes Travels mentioned, he does a lot of other things - and if I'm going to be honest, humanitarian projects that have the potential to leave a far greater mark on history than another album. He's an older man with more money than he could reasonably spend in the days he has left and the ear of any number of world leaders. I can't say I blame him for putting a new album on the back burner.

 

If Peter never did anything after ' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway ' His career would have been remembered as tremendous. But Peter's solo career was just awesome. What a talented guy Peter is just a amazing musician he is, and what a showman.

 

I found him between the couch cushions while I was cleaning today--he's okay.

 

On one hand it's great that he's had enough success and invested in his studios etc wisely that he can work at a pace that suits him, but on the other hand a little "hunger" can sometimes inspire creativity too. I'd prefer to see him somewhere in that middle range where he feels the need to create but so much so that we get every little whim that the decides to record.

 

Meh, what's your hurry?

My wallet sez: take yer time, Pete. My to-get list is becoming unmanageable.

Up was great, right up there with Security and Melt. When/if a new one shows up, it will be on PG's schedule, not ours. I'll get it without waiting for reviews.