Peter Gabriel Album by Album

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, Nov 26, 2018.

  1. jjjos

    jjjos Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    I downmixed the video version from the Play DVD 5.1 mixes and added it as bonus track in my iTunes library.
     
  2. Ere

    Ere Senior Member

    Location:
    The Silver Spring
    Wasn’t there was only one non-album b-side?
     
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  3. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    A near perfect record. What an amazing opener with Intruder and closer with Biko. I love the sequence of the album and it has such a cool vibe throughout. It's the perfect album to play someone who doesn't know his music. I love the entire album aside from Start and a few other sax moments, but that's a minor complaint. I still prefer the first album, but this one is more important and more cohesive. 5 stars!
     
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  4. Squealy

    Squealy Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Vancouver
    I’ve always wondered whether “Start” is called that because it was intended to be the opening of the album, until he decided to go with something more striking. (If so, he should have changed the title!)
     
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  5. prudence2001

    prudence2001 Forum Resident

    PG III is where I got on-board with Peter. I had heard Games Without Frontiers late, late at night on some radio station and loved it as it sounded so fresh and unlike most anything I'd heard before. It would have been in 1980 because the single was a minor hit here in the USA at the time. Unfortunately the DJ didn't say the track name or artist, but it was kind of obvious it might be called what it was, so I went to the local record stores to look for it. IIRC it took a while to find the album, but I finally did and bought it straight away. The whole thing blew me away and to this day is my favorite PG record. I didn't know of his connection to Genesis at the time, and only had heard Your Own Special Way, Follow You Follow Me, and a couple of the radio tracks from Duke, and it wasn't until the following year when I went off to University that some new friends in the dorm clued me into what I'd been missing from Genesis (this is before ABACAB), the first three Gabriel records, Voyage of the Acolyte, Please Don't Touch, and Spectral Mornings (one dorm mate had a recording of SH at Reading in 1979 that got a lot of playtime), and even Anthony Phillips. IMO, PG III, along with Talking Heads Remain In Light and King Crimson Discipline are probably the greatest records from the early 1980s.
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2018
  6. xj32

    xj32 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Racine, WI
    I don't know how to describe my feelings toward PG III (Melt) other than to say its one of my "Life" albums. I was 12 in 1981 about a year after its release and had older cousins who were huge Genesis and Gabriel fans and turned me on to the album. At the time my bands were Kiss, Queen, AC/DC, The Cars and REO Speedwagon. I'm not sure what hooked me about the album but something did and soon after my parents bought me the cassette. While I never had it on vinyl I have had 2-3 cd pressings and the 2000's SACD remaster. This is a perfect album to me whose songs tell so many stories and offer so many textures. It is not only one of my top two favorite Gabriel albums along with Passion, but one of my top 5 favorite albums of my life and while other albums have come and gone, I can always return to this one and enjoy it. To me there is not a weak song in the bunch! Sorry if this is a but "touchy feely", but this album is recorded magic!
     
  7. robcar

    robcar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    Simply stated, this is Peter Gabriel's first undisputed masterpiece, and the first of three peerless albums that would place him at the pinnacle of rock artistry, clearly outshining his former band. I don't know if this is my favorite Gabriel album, but it's hard for me to find separation between it and the two studio albums that would follow it (omitting the Birdy soundtrack).

    From the sonics to the musicianship to the songs themselves, there is nothing unfocused or inessential on offer here. Each song fulfills its purpose with precision. "Family Snapshot" is chilling; "Intruder" is sinister; "Lead A Normal Life" is moving; and "I Don't Remember" is palpable with frustration and anger.

    Then we have "Games Without Frontiers" and "Biko", two songs that were quite ahead of their time in early 1980 but would set a trend for social-topical rock songwriting throughout the 1980s. Gabriel had always been one to slip social commentary into his songs (indeed, this was the thing that was missed the most in the music made by Genesis after Gabriel's departure), but these were his first two explicit forays into political songwriting. Simply stated, political protest music gets no better than "Biko", which is probably the most important Peter Gabriel song of them all. It is rare that a song can be cited as a catalyst for a generational change in national/international policy, but if ever a single song could be, it's probably "Biko".

    It is hard to understate the enormous influence and power of this album.
     
  8. robcar

    robcar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    Well, So is pretty much flawless as well. Hard to go wrong with either one.
     
  9. abzach

    abzach Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
    Ok, I think 3 is his most overrated album.
     
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  10. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Intruder
    ----------------------------------------------------
    Starting with the ominous sounding drums and some scraping of the guitar strings and then a rhythm guitar playing a repeated chord that gives the song a sort of Psycho feel. We also have an electric piano playing against that rhythm guitar. Then we get a nice melody with an effected Gabriel vocal adding a disturbing element to this flourish.
    Gabriel's vocal comes in with an ominous sound and a deadpan delivery that increases this feel. The vocal shows its first sign of excitement as the protagonist is slipping the clippers through the telephone wires. Then that little musical exclamation mark comes back in with Gabriel's distorted howl sounding ever more disturbing.
    We then get a neurotic percussion solo, that leads us into the next verse.
    Interestingly in the first verse the protagonist tells us he knows ..... In the second verse we are left in no doubt of the motivation, as the intruder tells us he likes instead of knows, about these things.
    Even the whistling just prior to the end of the songs has an ominous feel about it.
    At the time this was one of the most original sounding songs I had ever heard. It manages to impress and creep out the listener at the same time. The deadpan vocal delivery is perfect. The effects that were put on the individual elements within the song are all perfect in creating the foreboding atmosphere that drives this song.
    This track is and was something special. In hindsight it is disappointing that this track wasn't in the list of best opening album tracks, because this is definitely one of the best opening tracks on an album ever. It is original sounding. It has an incredible feel. Although certainly not a pop song it leads us into this album about as well as it would be possible to do so.
     
  11. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    It is certainly high rated amongst Gabriel fans, personally I think deservedly so. It is so unlike anything around at the time, and yet still very accessible.
    Definitely an unusual album, but to em at least, captivating.
     
  12. Tristero

    Tristero In possession of the future tense

    Location:
    MI
    What a bold, chilling way to open the album, dropping the listener right into the heart of darkness right out of the gate. The beat is like a punch to the gut, simply yet relentless, while the minimalist piano and guitar licks hint at something more unnerved. As Mark noted, Gabriel's detached, deadpan delivery in the verses makes his more urgent statements ("Snipping the clippers...", "Intruder's happy in the dark") all the more potent. As ever, PG is master at modulating moods for dramatic effect. For me, the piece de resistance is that xylophone solo, which seems to mirror the protagonist's fractured, unhinged mental state underneath the cool exterior. This track must have been a real eye opener for his fans at that point--only something like "Exposure" hints at this kind of malevolence. Gabriel has always come across in his public persona as a pretty caring, sympathetic person and yet he's obviously fascinated by the darker side of human nature as well.
     
  13. dbz

    dbz Bolinhead.

    Location:
    Live At Leeds (UK)

    Indeed, he was capable of creating a very unsettling atmosphere. This is a case in point. Don't think there was ever anything quite as disturbing in the Top of The Pops studios. (with the exception of Jimmy Saville, ha ha)

     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2018
  14. Ere

    Ere Senior Member

    Location:
    The Silver Spring
    In 1980 Atlantic Records chief Ahmet Ertegun listened to the rough mix of Peter Gabriel's third solo album and famously questioned whether Peter was going insane.
    Shortly thereafter, Atlantic dropped Gabriel and his now classic album was released instead on Mercury Records.

    Fast forward to late 2012: a member of the Genesis/Gabriel-sanctioned torrent site shares a tape he found in a bin of cassette tapes in a London music shop later in 1980.
    He thought he was buying a copy of the released album, but it turned out to be the rough mix version that Gabriel shopped around during his hiatus between labels.
    A fascinating glimpse into the process of a record's realization.

    "This is the order the tape was in, different than the official PG III release…"

    01. Intruder (Different end)
    02. Start (Rough mix)
    03. I Don't Remember (Rough mix)
    04. Family Snapshot (Alternate Take)
    05. No Self Control (Rough mix)
    06. Bully For You (Unreleased)
    07. And Through The Wire (Unedited complete Lyrics)
    08. Lead A Normal Life (Rough mix)
    09. Not One Of Us (Unedited)
    10. Games Without Frontiers (Rough mix)
    11. Biko (different mix/different end)

    [​IMG]
    Artwork 2012 by David Raphael.
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2018
  15. Man, that artwork is ****ing cool! Thanks for posting this.
     
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  16. abzach

    abzach Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
    It is a good album but IMO it doesn't deserve the high praise it gets, it contains boring tracks such as And Through the Wire and it has overall a too hard edge and lacks the warmth of his first and fourth album.
     
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  17. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I understand that completely, but I also think that was the point. I can understand how it may be too cold for some, but that same thing is what makes it so appealing to others.
     
  18. abzach

    abzach Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
    I understand that. Personally I don't like when art in any form gets too hard and cold. I have no problem with a mix like on PG 4 but not when it gets too much.
     
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  19. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Aside from some german language songs on various I don't remember 12" singles, yes I believe so.

    This track is the b-side of the Biko single, for those unaware
     
  20. NettleBed

    NettleBed Forum Transient

    Location:
    new york city
    Love Intruder. Also, the band Primus covered this song on an EP of covers that they did (would have been a Record Store Day item for sure, if it had existed back then).

    The Primus version is also recommended (more for the music than the vocals, though).
     
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  21. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I sort of get the impression that Gabriel was exploring the Mental health issues raised in Dark Side Of the Moon, to a degree. Never a comfortable journey, and in light of a lot of the things going on in the world at the time, it may have effected his way of wanting to present that. Certainly we agree on how it was presented, although we again probably disagree as to whether that was good or bad.
    Probably for me also, when this album came out the music world was full of shiny bouncy pop, and although I like that well enough, it wears thin on me quickly ... this album is almost an antidote for too much shiny happy bouncy pop lol
     
  22. Ere

    Ere Senior Member

    Location:
    The Silver Spring
    David Raphael has also done "fan art" covers for various of the PG-era Genesis albums, that are astonishingly good.
     
  23. abzach

    abzach Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
    I've never listened to much music of that kind, lol.
     
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  24. Rojo

    Rojo Forum Resident

    It was a very original record. I heard for the first time in the late 1980s and was still surprised by its unique sound. I was a big fan for many years but, as time went by, I have been less enthusiastic about it.

    Some key songs in the record, like "Biko" and "No Self Control" I prefer them in their warmer live incarnations.

    I think the impact of the sonical innovations has lost some appeal for me. It has also happened to me with some of the more experimental tracks in "So" like "This is the Picture", which I found impressive at the time of release and far less interesting now.
     
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  25. Ere

    Ere Senior Member

    Location:
    The Silver Spring
    'Shosholozo'
    It was also on the A-side of the Canadian 12" single of 'I Don't Remember' and as such may have come out before 'Biko' was released as a single.
    One interesting aspect of the singles from this album is these two, along with 'No Self Control' all had variations of the album cover photos of Gabriel, with different treatments of the melting face motif.
     
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