Peter Gabriel Album by Album

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

  1. morgan1098

    morgan1098 Forum Resident

    I've been looking forward to when these albums are discussed because there's a significant amount of musical crossover on these three. Obviously "Sky Blue" appeared first on Rabbit Proof Fence, but that soundtrack also has elements of "The Nest That Sailed the Sky" from Ovo and it also has the string intro from "Signal to Noise," but slowed down. There are other examples too. There's a lot of cross-pollination going on with these three albums. Some may find this frustrating but I think it's kind of cool.
     
  2. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Just so nobody gets confused ... we are still on Us
     
  3. morgan1098

    morgan1098 Forum Resident

    Sorry, I was getting ahead of myself. :sigh:

    To get back on track I'll say that I really like @Rfreeman's observation about the compare/contrast between "Washing of the Water" and "Digging in the Dirt." I hadn't even noticed that after all these years!
     
  4. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I wasn't moaning at you mate.... I was just waiting for some one to post "are we up to ... already?" lol

    It struck me as very interesting too.
    Gabriel always thinks about his detail in the minutia it seems
     
  5. GoodKitty

    GoodKitty FloydM

    Location:
    Pacific
    Yesterday, Feb. 13, was Peter's 69th birthday .... :cheers:
     
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  6. Ere

    Ere Senior Member

    Location:
    The Silver Spring
    Runicen's comment referenced Gabriel's output both before and after Up's release in 2002. My point was simply that he was still producing new music and releases throughout that period - all while getting married and having two sons. I'm pretty sure he didn't hand off to others the several tours and hundreds of live performances during the same period.
     
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  7. robcar

    robcar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    I noticed that early on and thought it was a nice use of contrast. "Washing of the Water" is like a hymn in its first part and then becomes sort of a requiem/elegy for the end of a relationship on its last section. The horns add a funereal touch (or at least a New Orleans-style funeral). Great song filled with beautiful imagery.
     
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  8. robcar

    robcar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    There's only one possible response to that, and it has four letters.
     
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  9. Runicen

    Runicen Forum Resident

    I never said he wasn't busy. I just see Up as the delineating point. Even as much as it seemed to be a little oasis of creativity, there were other projects in the pipeline between it and the previous album - much as Passion filled the time between So and Us. Since then, he may have had a lot of life/touring stuff going on, but there's been almost zero in terms of new material.

    Not a personal judgment or anything, but a definite disappointment as a fan who wouldn't mind another glimpse in, so to speak.

    I don't think I'll ever top missing someone pointing out his wife and young songs as "projects" in terms of musical fan myopia though. Technically correct (the best kind), but that's one for the books! :biglaugh:
     
  10. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Digging In The Dirt

    [​IMG]

    Single by Peter Gabriel
    from the album Us
    B-side "Quiet Steam"
    Released 14 September 1992
    Recorded 1989
    Genre Art Rock [1]
    Length 5:16
    Label Geffen Records
    Songwriter(s) Peter Gabriel
    Producer(s) Daniel Lanois
    Peter Gabriel


    "Digging in the Dirt" is a 1992 song by British musician Peter Gabriel. It was the first single taken from his sixth studio album, Us. The song was a minor hit on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 52, but it topped both the BillboardModern Rock Tracks and Album Rock Tracks charts. The song was moderately successful on the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at number 24. It also reached the top 10 in Sweden and Canada, but in the former country, it was his last top 10 hit.

    The music video for the single was directed by John Downer and utilised stop motion animation, a technique used in the videos for Gabriel's earlier hits "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time". The work was painstaking, especially for Gabriel himself who was required to lie still for hours at a time over the course of several days. The video won the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video in 1993. The woman in the video is played by Francesca Gonshaw.

    The video is largely an exploration of the issues in his personal life at the time, the end of his relationship with Rosanna Arquette, his desire to reconnect with his daughter and the self-healing he was looking for in therapy.

    In the video, Gabriel is displayed in a variety of disturbing imagery, including being buried alive, consumed by an overgrowth of foliage (thanks to a gruelling stop-motion process) and flying into a rage while trying to swat a wasp. This time, Gabriel returned to stop motion and claymation that had served him so well in the 1980s, forgoing the computer graphics used in "Steam".

    Initially, the word "DIG" forms in the grass while dark imagery plays. Gabriel morphs into a skeleton while at the same time trying to excavate himself. Ultimately, the viewers are left with a gleam of hope as mushrooms sprout to form the word "HELP," followed by "HEAL" in blooming flowers after Gabriel has emerged from underground, now clad in white.

    The Secret World Live version of the song is far more intense than the studio version. This is due to a chaotic blend of disturbingly high pitched distorted guitar (by guitarist David Rhodes), as well as occasional jarring synth bass stabs (Tony Levin) and an expansive performance by Manu Katché on the drums. The stage craft for the song is considered[by whom?] a highlight of the show. Gabriel wore a special "helmet" with a video camera attached in an antennae-like way, showing in great detail his facial expressions, while moving in time with the music. This is used to create a particularly grotesque image of Gabriel, most prominent during the "freak-out" sequence in which the camera is graphically pointed down Gabriel's throat.


    CD maxi

    1. "Digging in the Dirt (LP Version)" — 5:16
    2. "Digging in the Dirt (instrumental)" — 5:10
    3. "Quiet Steam" — 6:25
    4. "Bashi-Bazouk" — 4:47
    7" single

    1. "Digging in the Dirt" — 5:16
    2. "Quiet Steam" — 6:23
    -------------------------------------------------
    This is a fantastic song, and it is a song that grabbed me from the first time I heard it. Although I enjoyed all the stuff released between Plays Live and this, I was somewhat disappointed that Peter seemed to have lost his edginess, and I think this song reinstated that it was still there. Not that I didn't like the other stuff, but the rock pig needs to be fed sometimes :)
    Anyway, this starts off with a very cool bassline and a shuffling almost ominous feel, and then Gabriel comes in with the half whispered vocal and then we get that wonderful punch in with "this time you've gone too far" .
    The song has an interesting structure with a feeling of two pre-choruses that are quite aggressive and then the mellow chorus proper.
    It is just a really well constructed song, with plenty of musical interest and dynamics and also lyrically it is quite attention grabbing.
     
  11. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Somebody did already post this but just in case anyone missed it

    Quiet Steam
    This is exactly what it suggests. I like the loud version and this version, I don't really fell there is anything wrong with the loud version, and it doesn't sound like Sledgehammer to me. They are both dance directed, but I don't hear them as being the same.
    Anyhow this is a nice alternate version. It is very atmospheric, but it doesn't really go anywhere.
     
  12. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    Dirt is a great song and another groundbreaking video. It does continue the Son of So vibe as it has musical echoes of both Big Time (in the verse and pre chorus) and In Your Eyes (in the chorus - it is a new melody, but you could sing In Your Eyes over the music track perfectly).

    Probably the most memorable track on Us, though I prefer Blood of Eden.
     
    Last edited: Feb 15, 2019
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  13. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Bashi- Bazouk
    This track starts like a harsh anti-ambient track. It has all the trappings of an ambient piece but the opening is a harsh slicing distorted sound and there is a couple of rhythms underneath, that sort of compliment and fight each other. It is an interesting soundscape that leans towards the hi tech digital age.
    It has a building effect and we get some eq altered drums and more rhythm interactions and a nondescript vocal.
    It's the first time I've heard it. It is interesting, but I don't see that it would get heavy rotation from me on a first listen,
     
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  14. Victor/Victrola

    Victor/Victrola Makng shure its write

    Digging In The Dirt is my favorite track on Us if I'm in the right frame of mind (otherwise, it's Blood Of Eden). Dirt is very angry and sometimes a tough listen due to the extreme anger boiling under the surface that explodes in the chorus.
     
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  15. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    I like this version, but merely tolerate the loud one!
     
  16. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    Comes in late, then acts like he owns the place! :laugh:
     
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  17. morgan1098

    morgan1098 Forum Resident

    I LOVE both Digging in the Dirt and Bashi-Bazouk. The groove on Digging is one of the funkiest and dirtiest PG has ever done. It goes perfectly with the image in the video of him swatting at those hornets. There's something very deeply disturbing going on there. And I like how Bashi-Bazouk sounds like an outtake from Passion but with more groove to it. PG was doing great work with some of the Realworld artists at this time.

    BTW, there was a separate single release for "Digging in the Dirt (Raw Stylus Mix)," which makes the groove even funkier, adds some breakbeat-style drums, and drops in samples from George Clinton, Arrested Development, and Manu Dibango. Simon Booth worked on this mix, and not long after he would change is name to Simon Emmerson and become the mastermind behind the Afro Celt Sound System.



    Peter Gabriel - Digging In The Dirt (Raw Stylus Mix)
     
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  18. NorthNY Mark

    NorthNY Mark Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canton, NY, USA

    I would have enjoyed the album a lot more if this version were there in place of the loud version. Very nice!
     
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  19. Runicen

    Runicen Forum Resident

    "Digging in the Dirt" is sort of a middling song to me. I think it works better as a "theatrical" piece in the live show based on PG still using that weird fish-eye camera effect even when I saw him in '03 or thereabouts.

    It's a good groove, but something fails to fully take off for me in it in terms of the song as a whole. The melody isn't particularly strong and the lyrics are good, but not great. Add the visual effect, and suddenly this sense of the "inner monster" comes into full focus. If I had to pin it down to something, it's almost like a song that needs an explanation of its context. You could ALMOST read it like a brash, macho number if it were delivered differently and it's only with the visuals or the context of the album that you "get" the fact that it's not supposed to be a flattering depiction of a character. Then again, I heard it in the context of the early '00s myself, so maybe that wasn't necessary in the early '90s, but it feels like a song that has to be explained for the full impact to come across and that's not exactly a good thing.
     
  20. NorthNY Mark

    NorthNY Mark Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canton, NY, USA
    Interesting--I've never seen the concert visuals, but the lyrical intent always seemed pretty up-front to me ("to open up the places I/we got hurt..."). What I find interesting about the "angry" parts is that they always sounded like quotations from traumatic memories--they obviously seem to be him yelling at his partner (or vice-versa) in a car, but at the same time could be memories of his parents yelling at him when he was little ("Don't talk back!" "Shut your mouth!" "I know what you are!"). Even the title itself sounds like it's about digging more deeply into disturbing things.
     
    Last edited: Feb 15, 2019
  21. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Reading the lyrics yet again, there's nothing saying that he is singing to anyone but himself. Perhaps there is a revisit to old themes in new ways.
    Digging in his own dirt and finding things that make him feel he has gone too far.
    idk, just speculation
     
  22. Runicen

    Runicen Forum Resident

    No disagreement there. I think my first impression of the song - namely, bewilderment! - colors my attitude towards it. The verses and pre-chorus sound almost celebratory about what is happening. Granted, the "Digging in the dirt to find the places..." part defuses this. I don't know, this is strictly subjective and I'm certainly not trying to convince anyone here. It's just how the song comes across to me. PG was a little more adept at creating character studies that seemed more open in their parody or satire ("Not One of Us" would be a prime example). Here, the song needs a little help in my estimation.

    Though, if the live treatment of the song is what that earned us, I'm certainly not complaining. Innovative AND compelling.
     
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  23. Jansson

    Jansson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm Sweden

    This must be a rough mix.

    The only weak track on this album.
    Gabriel should have let it go at a early stage.
     
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  24. NorthNY Mark

    NorthNY Mark Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canton, NY, USA
    Very good point. I guess I tend to enjoy lyrics more when there is some level of ambiguity, but not everyone is going to feel that way.

    You also make an interesting point about the "almost celebratory" aspect in the verses. Initially I was skeptical, thinking "something in me, dark and sticky" sounded mainly unpleasant. But then the "I feel it in my sex, that's the place it goes" suggests that there is indeed something pleasurable/desirable in these dark thoughts/feelings/behaviors. In some ways, that continues the Freudian themes I hear in the song--it gets at one of Freud's most interesting claims, which is that (sexual) pleasure always involves some degree of displeasurable tension to be overcome, and that it usually attaches to intense (but forgotten/repressed) childhood experiences.
     
    Last edited: Feb 15, 2019
  25. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    This is a b-side to the single. as is the song after it
     

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