The opening combo of "On The Air" and "D.I.Y." is fantastic, and "White Shadow" is great too, but yeah.... The rest of PG2 is minor Gabriel. Probably his weakest "main" album for me along with Us. PG has basically written this album out of his history, but in fairness, he's done the same with PG1 aside from "Solsbury Hill." Yes, "Here Comes The Flood" shows up on compilations, but never in the original full-band PG1 rendition.
Side 2 is nowhere near as strong, to my mind. I like “Indigo” and “Animal Magic” but the rest of it doesn’t do a lot for me. Maybe I need to give it another chance but I have been listening to this album for 25 years, so maybe not
I don't think that you're wrong at all. I find side two to be disappointing ... I actually like exposure
I'm going to go against the grain here and declare PG2 to be one of his best efforts for me, certainly his most underrated. He hasn't yet nailed his signature sound as a solo artist and while it may lack the standout tracks of the debut, the album feels a lot more cohesive to me. There's an appealing directness here, an emotional vulnerability on display, contrasted with the next two albums where he has the defense screens were up a bit more. Side one is pretty much flawless and though the second side is a bit patchier, it still delivers some solid material (most notably "Indigo" and the chilling "Exposure"). It certainly isn't the first or last album to be front loaded in this way. Gabriel's comments about being forced to work more quickly here are telling. As the years wore on, I found that he tended to overwork things to the point where the results were a bit dry and sterile, but this album has a refreshing immediacy to it by comparison.
My Peter Gabriel 2 LP, which I bought at the time of the original release is just about unlistenable - sibilant, spitty, grossly distorted cymbals. I always blamed it on the album being horribly recorded and/or mastered. Then a couple of years ago I finally bought a remastered CD version and it sounded much, much better (though I still have a big issue with the production style, as I mentioned above.) It was only then that I realized that my LP was defective when I bought it at the time of its original release. It only took me nearly 40 years to figure that out. Doh!
I prefer PG2 to PG1, mainly because it is a more consistent listen to my ears. That said, it doesn't have a single track as great as "Solsbury Hill", and it doesn't really hold a candle to the work Peter would subsequently produce. Still, you can hear the direction he was moving in at the time and "On The Air" and "D.I.Y" are solid tracks that warrant a place in any list of Gabriel highlights.
Ever notice the lyrical connection between the last track of PG’s first album and the first track of his second album? When the night shows The signals grow on radios ... Every night, I'm back at the shack and I'm sure no one is there I'm putting the aerial up, so I can go out on the air
Why does that sound different than I'm used to? It's ultra clear on the vocal intro, it almost sounds remixed. Does anyone know what mastering it might be? I've had the SuperDisc and I now have a Japanese pressing and I've always found this album murky sounding. But this sounds different and better. I don't recall hearing the echo/reverb so clearly on his voice.
I never liked PG2 as much as PG1, but it's still an interesting effort. I found it in the cutout bins for a buck or two back in the day. Always thought side one ended so strange with "White Shadow" and the run out groove. Agree that side two is weaker. To me, there's nothing on the album that's as strong as the best tracks from PG1, but "White Shadow" and "On The Air" come close.
Licensed to YouTube by itspetergabriel, Live Nation Video Network (on behalf of Real World Records); EMI Music Publishing, UBEM, SOLAR Music Rights Management, and 3 Music Rights Societies I don't know if it's any help, but they are the details on it. I have the sacd and it is very clear like this
I listened to PG2 last week ... I prefer the live versions of On The Air and DIY ... Exposure is great ... don't remember liking much else. --Geoff
I've been following and appreciating this thread, and decided to register just so i could show some support for PG2. I love it, for some reason it has a special place for me. It's not like it was the first pg i got into or anything either. And it's funny that so many are saying Exposure is the standout track, as for me i think it's the weakest.. On The Air - great, DIY - i really like the chord progression and melody in the b part before the chorus. I forget if it has been mentioned already, but the single mix of DIY has saxophones that weren't on the album mix - made me wonder if sax was recorded for more of the songs as well. Fantastic melodies on songs like Indigo, Flotsam & Jetsam, A Wonderful Day.. In a way it's the most "rock" album he's done, especially tracks like Animal Magic, Perspective, and On the Air. And I do have a soft spot for the 70s rock sound. I also have an affinity for the weirder/less central points of artist's careers.
It was 10 solid years between Us (1992) and Up (2002)... are we gonna take over/unders on if or when I/O will get released (assuming of course, that it ever will get released)?
Welcome, glad you joined us. This album certainly has some very high points. Please continue to give us your feelings. I am virtually oblivious to singles but I will certainly look to put the single version up when we get to the song.
I reckon this version of Exposure is the best track Gabriel ever did solo. The rest of the LP is patchy for me & kinda where I lose interest in his stuff.
On The Air We have a synth line rise slowly and then we are hit with some nice guitars and the beat kicks in. This is very cool uptempo rock song and has a really good feel. For the longest time I didn't really appreciate the studio version, because I really liked the live version on Plays Live, as is often the case I was familiar with Plays Live before this album. I don't know if it's the mix, the recording or the ambiance used, but the vocal has a very claustrophobic sound .... perhaps too much mid range EQ? Anyway this is a very good opener to the album.
Ummm - you have those two statements flipped, actually: It was Rutherford (and of course Banks) who were the main chordal writers, while Hackett wrote also. Hackett was definitely a junior/novice writer when he joined the band and was playing catch-up to the others until W&W (where he more or less reached parity). By his own admission he mainly wrote "bits" for group written songs for most of his time in Genesis (certainly up to and including TLLDOB). Also Rutherford played (and wrote) more rhythm guitar (chordal) parts than Steve did. Steve was always more the guy to add the icing to the cake in the band's music (through his lead playing and unique colorings/soundscaping/effects) though of course like I said he gradually evolved into a more equal writer - but even then he was never allowed to be a totally equal writer which was a large part of why he left - being denied both time off to record a second solo album to deal with his growing backlog of band rejected (and other non-band intended) material, as well as having his "Then I want an equal share (4 band members = 1/4) of the band albums going forward as a writer" compromise rejected. The band said they didn't want to work to quotas, preferring to go with what they all considered were the best songs that everyone brought to the table, regardless of which member(s) wrote them, and that more often than not they happened to prefer Banks and Rutherford's songs over Hackett's.
You really think the band peaked with their first two singles: 1968-02 - The Silent Sun/That's Me 1968-05 - A Winter's Tale/One Eyed Hound and that it was all downhill from there? Wow - I never saw John Silver replacing Chris Stewart on drums as making much of a noticeable difference (either good or bad) myself.
Given the outpouring of musical styles (and as a hindsight-infused nod to his later eons-long delay between albums) I'd call it Here Comes The Flood.
I've always found PG2 to be less than the sum of its parts. That is, taken individually I can enjoy most of the songs on it. Played together, I find the whole thing to be a wash of uninteresting sameness. With an exception for Mother of Violence which is gorgeous. To be honest, I enjoy Me and My Teddy Bear more than most of the stuff on PG2
Lose interest? He had just started! I guess you bought it upon release? I did and was curious to see what he would do next...
