Help me dive into Peter Gabriel's solo career

Long time Genesis fan but have never delved deeply into PG's solo career other than the hits. However I've recently started to put my foot in the water so to speak trying out his first few self titled's. The first one with 'Moribund The Burgermeister' sounds amost like a Lamb leftover. Same with 'Games Without Frontiers'. The self titled albums from everything I've read have had a lot of critical if not commercial success. Which of these do SH folks consider the best?

The So album I had way back and still enjoy throughly. But I'm in the dark on anything post-So. Gabriel has such a distinct and likeable voice I hope I am at the beginning of discovering some excellent music.

 

I would start with III and move onto Security (IV). I find PG's first two solo albums fairly patchy. But you are correct in that "Moribund" sounds very Lamb-y. The first album has better songs but Bob Ezrin's production is heavy handed. II sounds better but the songs aren't as strong; IMO of course. After the first two albums, PG was pretty consistent in quality even if he isn't the most prolific ex-Genesis man out there.

 

I would do the first four in order. After that he pretty much lost me.

 

Scratch my back isn't bad at all, though....

 

I'd definitely recommend Melt and Security. Us is pretty decent, too.

 

"Humdrum" is a good one.

 

His first Live album is actually a great introduction as well as fantastic.

Try "No Self Control" live.... Fantastic.

Solsbury Hill.... Sublime...

 

I started my journey back in the early 90's with the Shaking the Tree compilation. Nice overview of the albums up through So. After that I would recommend Melt as good place to start.

 

Andy, go absolutely with the first four albums in chronological order.

 

And don't be put off by the fact that the first two aren't that good.

 

Melt is his masterpiece. Car and Scratch both have flashes of brilliance but as others have noted are uneven in terms of quality (I would also argue the same goes for Security).

After So he pretty much coasts.

 

Secret World-Live. Great band, great performance, great mix. The Us album never really did much for me, but even those songs have a lot of spark on the live one.

 

I can't add anything much new to this, but I'd say that PG2/Scratch is the weakest in terms of material and that PG3/Melt and PG4/Security are pretty flawless. He redid 'Here Come's The Flood' sans Ezrin, on Robert Fripp's 'Exposure' Album. The title track of that album is reworking of the same title from PG2. I was playing Exposure last night, coincidentally.

If you haven't seen it, then there's a really good South Bank Show documentary dedicated to the making of PG4.

 

I pretty much like them all. I didn't get into him until the SACDs came out. Now he is a top 30 artist for me. And it is not like he he has 30 albums to pick up.

 

3

 

Start at the beginning, 1. Great album. Then work up through the albums. People change and grow and it is fun to live the process.

 

"Melt" is the masterpiece.
"Car" is very close, a declaration of intentions the beginning of a brilliant career, a couple of songs are less interesting like "Excuse Me" and "Waiting For The Big One".
"Scratch" was a step ahead a good album to discover if you are in the mood.
"Security" is the "Nebraska" of Peter with some flaws but with good songs.

 

For me:

Melt
Security
Car
Scratch

 

The follow-up to "So" was the soundtrack for "The Last Temptation of Christ", called "Passion".

It is largely instrumental, save for some wordless vocals here and there, but I think it is an outstanding album.

Well worth checking out if you like instrumental music with ethnic/world music influences.

 

PG2 a lesser album? In my world it's one of the best records of all time, including one of the greatest songs ever, White Shadow.

 

Well worth hearing.

 

You can't really go wrong with the first 4 albums.

 

3 blew me away on first listen, from a technical point of view, I love the effects/processing on this album

 

I agree with this.

 

I liked up to Passion, but after that it's pretty much it for me.